Rainy Tuesday

Fall has decided to return to Chicago. We have had mid and high 70s for a while now, but the rains came last night – and are still coming. The high will be 53 today with rain most of the day and winds gusting to 25 mph for the remainder. I love this stuff. It is dark and cool. Tree trunks are black with rain and are being stripped of many of their brightly colored leaves.

The fall weather makes me want to clean. And eat. I always enjoy a good spring cleaning manic episode, but the fall is different. I want to purge and nest. I have been watching programs like Clean Sweep on TLC, and Clean House on the Style Network lately. They are tremendous.

I have a lot of stuff – but the people on these programs are nearly beyond help. I feel better when I see how bad they are. I envy only the help they get. A crew shows up and empties your clutter-filled room or rooms. On Clean Sweep, they lay tarps in your front yard and put everything you own on them. Then you and your spouse/partner (with the help of a pushy person from the show) engage in the "one touch" rule. You pick something up from the pile and decide to keep it, sell it, or toss it. Do you love it? While you're agonizing over years of crap, a team of cleaners and designers are revitalizing your space. On Clean House, they use your garage sale proceeds and match the total up to a certain amount to do the same – they even have a professional organizer. The people can then gradually bring the small fraction of their possessions that they have decided to keep into clean and organized spaces. I love it.

So now I want to do purge and revitalize. Actually, I've wanted to do it for years, but now I am inspired by these shows. My task is different in that I don't have nearly as much stuff as the people on TV, but most of my stuff is paper. I know that I am ready for such a step (and perhaps am getting older as pointed out to me by a friend) because I have started to dream about having a tube that extends from our back porch into the dumpster below for all of my paper. As I dump crushing loads of paper, I am able to straighten and organize my space, clean and dust every surface with my arsenal of Swiffer products, and fill ample shelving with my cherished books (which have already been entered into my personal library database). The Swiffer products are crucial and are a really big part of enjoying the whole process. Thus, the getting old part. I used to lust after toys – now I desire cleaning products and appliances. When did that happen?

My neurotic personality allows me to visualize this process, and then condemn it to long "to do wish lists." My German blood fuels my desire that everything be in Ordnung, but my lazy side rarely makes it happen.

I used to be able exert the German side in my office when I worked. I relaxed in my strategically-placed lighting that freed me from use of the overhead fluorescent stadium lighting. I had a coffee maker, organized bookshelves (along with a system for colleagues and students to check out books), a color-coded filing system, post-its of all shapes and sizes, desktop wire racks for my current files, places for all supplies, an intricate network of extension cords for all of my video and audio equipment – it was bliss. My apartment was always another story.

Now I have no tiny office in a tornado-proof building to escape to. I have to deal now with my personal possessions and the collections of my former work life in one space. I have decided that this is the week to do it. I have recently celebrated a birthday, and Dave and I are days away from celebrating one year of marriage – I think these are good rationalizations for plugging in the shredder and wiping the slate clean. Oh! and the garbage strike is over too.

I'll keep you updated.

ALSO…
The Cubs play Game Six tonight against the Marlins in Chicago. If the Cubs win, they go on to the next level (I don't like to type or speak the actual name of the next level so as not to incur the wrath of my jinx-fearing husband). It should prove to be perfect weather for Chicago baseball.

Dave and I had "Traditional Austrian Breakfast" yesterday at my favorite Austrian café – Julius Meinl: toast, butter, some slices of incredible ham, some slices of tasty Emmentaler cheese, and a soft-boiled egg in a egg cup accompanied by a tiny spoon. Heaven. Each time I go back to Meinl's, I am reminded of just how Austrian they truly are. Eating the golden yolk of my egg gave me flashbacks of sitting in Arthur and Brigitte's tiny kitchen in Vienna waiting for my eggs. Brigitte used to eat kiwi from her egg cups – which drove Arthur crazy. Obviously, egg cups are for eggs only.

Each Sunday I cross the altar at St. Alphonsus after the 7:45am mass to get into the sacristy and then into the rectory for choir rehearsal prior to our 10:30am mass. This Sunday, I got there early and had to wait for the 7:45 mass to end. I stood in the back of church and noted how tiny the altar servers (one boy, one girl) were. With the new school year, new servers have been inducted into service. But these two were tiny! Servers at St. Al's carry candles on wood candle holders that appear to be about 3-feet tall during the procession, they carry and hold them up during the gospel, they carry them down and back up the aisle at the offertory, and then carry them out for the recessional. I got back to the sacristy just as the servers had returned from that last leg of candle duty. As they let the candles clunk to the floor with a thud and then blew them out, the little boy said to the little girl, "Gee whiz. I don't know about this. These things are heavy!"