How shall I reward myself?

I scrub, polish, and dust every single surface and item in the apartment, but the best and most dramatic moments are always when the window washers are done and when the rug comes back from cleaning. What does Finney do the second the rug is put back down? ATTACK. (Good god it’s everywhere. How will I prevail??)

I can never figure out how to take a picture which will show just how clean my place is. I even got under the desk and washed every wire, and tried for the nth time to make it look less like a rats nest under there (failed). I probably sound like an insane person, but yesterday I sat at my desk and worked on the copy edits. The sun was shining in my sparkling clean window, everything around me felt a little brighter, the colors more intense, and the cats were rolling around on the carpet, fed and content. Clean homes are peaceful.

The last thing is finding a nice little something for myself as a reward. In the running: a new bathing suit (but that means shopping, which I hate, so that probably won’t win) new music (a strong contender because it will only cost a few dollars) pedicure (never fails to make me feel pampered and happy) and flowers (another inexpensive pleasure).

Stacy Horn

I've written six non-fiction books, the most recent is Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York.

View all posts by Stacy Horn →

4 thoughts on “How shall I reward myself?

  1. Looks idyllic. I wish the apartment fairy would show up and clean my place. It’s a beautiful place, and I never have the energy to keep it the way it deserves to be. It always looks like a bomb hit it. Yes, a clean place is peaceful and comforting.
    Flowers, definitely, just as a finishing touch to cleaning. Plus something else.

  2. I wish the townhouse fairy would clean mine. At least the downstairs is always tidy; the upstairs was hit by Dan’s bomb.

    The focus this summer, however, is the patio and garden. The daylilies will have to be pulled up and replaced with hostas. The redbud now has grown so big and shadows the garden and patio that the daylilies no longer bloom.

    How about all four as treats?

  3. I’m focused on Buddy right now, who doesn’t seem to be doing well, alas.

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