Clean clean clean!!

You guys. You guys. Do you know how wonderful having a clean house is??

Okay, so I don't want to call it "depressed," because I think that's quite a strong word and there are quite a lot of people with actual depression, but I have just been in the worst mood, completely blah all the time, feeling totally useless (okay, not totally useless) but do you know the feeling? It was like I was going all Hyperbole and a Half on the world. You know the one.

Anyway, it's not really like I was totally sad. More like I just wasn't happy. There isn't really a word for it. It was not-happy, snapping at Cal for the dumbest things, being irritated with housemates for stupid reasons, wanting to be by myself--it was like PMSing, only I wasn't PMSing.

But now... today we spent half a day cleaning the house. The house has been filthy, at least by my standards. I need all areas that I frequent to be clean. I don't care about going to someone else's house and it being messy and whatnot, but the place where I live needs to be clean and tidy so that I can retire there and just have my mind be at complete peace. Otherwise I just sit and think about all the messy things and it drives me to insanity.

Basically, the counters are *constantly* filthy. In the "we are getting ants and it's winter" kind of way. Crumbs and globs of goop everywhere, all the time. I once cleaned off the counters three times one day, they were so bad. I just don't understand how hard it is to swipe at the counter while the gloop that dripped from your spoon/knife/whatever is still wet and easily cleanable. It just seems like such a simple concept, and no gloop=no ants. (I HATE ANTS. but I do like pie. No, but seriously, ants kind of freak me out. Not exactly in a spider way, but in a "they're crawling all over me omg I need a shower" kind of way. And they are largely preventable!)

Also, there has been clutter all over the couches and the kitchen table, both of which are viewable from my spot in my (usually) clean bedroom if the door is open. It makes the vein in my temple pulse. There will be empty plastic bags from shopping, piles of junk mail, a pack of cards spread pell-mell across the table, coats and bags all over the couches, and they stay there FOR DAYS. I don't mind a bit of clutter. I get a bit messy sometimes, too. But the sheer length of time the stuff stays messy drives me nuts.

(Before anyone says, it HAS all been talked about! Cal's been frustrated too. It's just been one of those "keep on top of people about it" which is equally frustrating. I feel bad because I feel like I barged in to other people's space when I moved here, but still.)

ANYWAY. The entire point of this post is that there is an inspection tomorrow, and we had to clean EVERYTHING. And everything is now clean! I even scrubbed at the cupboard doors, which had somehow gotten gross with stuff splashed on them! And the floors were swept and vacuumed! And our room is tidy, and the table is tidy, and there isn't any anything on the couches, and ALL THE THINGS! I feel like a giant weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. It's so blissful and light and freeing. I feel like I'm sinking into a pile of big fluffy white clouds.

Can a messy/clean house really affect one's mood that much?? Or is it just me being absolutely weird?

After cleaning, I went and had the best shower ever and got totally clean and then put on the best silkiest cleanest pajamas ever and now I'm sitting on the softest bed drinking the hottest, most soothing tea and it's like I'm going to die I'm so content.

Seriously. I'm going to go enjoy the cloud feeling right now. BRB.