Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Katherine Stella (Olbrys) Ruggiero, aka “Nana”, is the reason I’m a quarter Polish. She was a good Polish girl who met her Italian husband in high school, and allowed him to do all her math homework. In that way, she passed down an acclimation to commitment. I too met my (Italian looking) husband in high school. But he never did my math homework, which is why I was involuntarily committed to having a C in math.

She also passed down a sort of Polish stubbornness in the form of the grudge. You did not go against the wishes of Nana, or you were in the dog house until further notice. If you didn’t return a phone call promptly, you were done with getting phone calls from her. She was great at the silent treatment. I not only hold the grudge against the person who didn’t call back, I refuse to even pick up the telephone because it was partly to blame in the ordeal. I could hold a grudge against my icy cold beverage because it became warm.

But aside from stubbornness and commitment, Nana is to thank for the one day a month that my house is clean. You see, she was the epitome of cleanliness. I’m pretty sure the term “cleanliness is next to godliness” was coined one night at dinner when someone dropped their perogi on her kitchen floor and realized that it was just as clean as the plate. A Cleaning Goddess (ahem, maniac).

Nana passed before I had kids. Back in the day when “dusting” meant giving shelves a few blasts of canned air. It was also back in the days when making my bed seemed futile because I was just “gonna mess it up again”. Just closing the door on my room seemed much more sensible. And the laundry didn’t get sorted into colors. It just got washed. Period. Some sort of soap. No fabric softener. Sometimes it came out pink. Possibly folded but more than likely stuffed in a drawer.

Although I think there are far better things to do with my time than to spend it making things spotless, I have figured out how to have a clean house. I like things to be tidy. I don’t like clutter. I make my bed right after getting out of it. All-purpose cleaner sits on my kitchen counter and gets used multiple times and hour. I have a favorite laundry detergent, and I use fabric softener, and I’m sure to sort and try not to let the clothes sit in the dryer for too long getting wrinkles.

So I did what any clean-lovin’ woman who’s short on time would do…I hired someone with a clean gene. Once a month, an expert comes into my home and does what she’s good at while I do what I’m good at. For about 15 minutes before my two boys run into the house with dirty shoes and drippy ice pops, I can enjoy the smell of Lysol. It’s really quite wonderful. Nana would be proud.

She might also be proud that there ARE some cleaning habits that were passed down from Nana to me and that I still follow today.

• Always clean behind your ears
• It’s good to wash your whites with one blue item to keep them looking bright

Hmmm – I guess that’s it.