Summer vacation is too short. You don’t want to waste it on trivial things. You want to do things that will restore your soul. So I’ve spent the past two days of my summer vacation cleaning the apartment.

Last winter, I had bronchitis twice, so I was sick from October through April. It sucked the energy right out of me, and all I did was go to work and come home and sleep. From October through April, I did not do much housework. Then I spent May and June catching up on all the other things I hadn’t done while I was sick.

I spent so long not doing housework, I actually found myself missing housework. I said to myself: Hey, why not spend a couple-three vacation days cleaning up? I said to myself, No one uses vacation days for cleaning the apartment. But, I said to myself, an apartment that is clean will keep me in a better mood; you know I’m in a better mood when things are neat and clean. OK, OK, I replied to myself:– You win, I’ll clean the apartment.

Here’s what I did: I cleaned the bathroom. I cleaned the kitchen. I cleaned the floors, as in I got down on hands and knees and scrubbed. I cleaned the woodwork. I vacuumed and shook out rugs. I dusted. Here’s what I didn’t do: I didn’t wash the windows. I didn’t clean out the inside of cabinets or closets. After all, I am on vacation. I had to draw the line somewhere.