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Thursday, May 13, 2010

I don't think this is what they mean by "spiritual high"

The church I belong to has a lot of buildings. Don't ask me how many... I really couldn't fathom a guess, just trust me when I say it's a lot. There are meetinghouses, office buildings, and most importantly, temples.

Growing up I always wanted a HUGE house... my kids would love it if we had a HUGE house... but the older I got and the more responsibility I had... the smaller a house I was content with. Seriously, if I can't clean the whole thing from top to bottom in half a day or less... it's obviously WAY too big.

So, how does the church manage this? Well, that's where the members come in! Hey, it's our building after all, we should do our part. The family and I have helped out a number of times cleaning the windows and mirrors, vacuuming, dusting, polishing at the meetinghouse. There are usually a few grumbles as we get started - but we have a good time. Besides, we bribe them with ice cream afterward... that always helps!

ManOfTheHouse and I got the opportunity to go and help out at the Temple last night. Now, besides being a beautiful building and incredibly peaceful - that is one of the cleanest places on earth... and I got to dust. Imagine me going from surface to surface just looking for a speck of dust... almost HOPING to be able to find some. At one point I resorted to rolling the edge of my rag really small and dusting in-between some fancy trellis work on the edge of a wooden table... thinking that at least I was making some difference :)

I had two cleaners to work with - Alcohol (which I did the mirrors and glass topped tables with - because even in the temple fingerprints happen) and Wood Polish (for the wood and brass... hey, that's what they told me to do, I'm not a cleaning expert - just ask M.O.T.H.)

My problem... the two rags covered in cleaner looked identical. I tried to keep them separate and eventually learned to do this but for the first 20 minutes or so I had to distinguish between the two (you DON'T want polish on the mirrors) by giving the cleaning rags a quick sniff.

A spiritual high? I think mine was the old fashioned kind of high... but no worries, it wore off by 1 a.m. and I finally got some sleep :)

10 comments:

Barbaloot said...

Polish on the mirrors---I'm sure the temple matrons would love that one:)

I helped clean our church the other day and we have a MONSTER vacuum---as in, it covers over half the width of the hall. Believe me when I tell you I had some fun with that one.

Kristina P. said...

I have never helped clean the temple. I thought fairies did it.

Catrina said...

Super funny! How did I not know you had a blog?! And the picture looks just like you btw! :)

Anonymous said...

We got to help hang the chandelier in the bride's room in our temple just a few months ago. They literally took the chandelier down and unhooked every single prism (about 500 or so? I stopped counting) and cleaned each and every one with glass cleaner. I think they were just trying to find something for us to do, since our temple is very small and over 50 people showed up to clean that day. Still, that chandelier SHONE when we were done!

And my sister lost her sense of smell when she was in 2nd grade. Some kid dared her to stick her head in the janitor's bucket to smell what was in it, and it was full of bleach! To this day, she can't smell anything -- skunks, burnt dinner, or messy diapers! (Think she did it on purpose?)

Nutty Hamster Chick said...

Cleaning at the temple is one of my most favoritest things in the world. I love that place.

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

I got to help clean the Rexburg Temple last year. I vacuumed and dusted.
I couldn't see a speck of dust and once in awhile there was a little thread or something that I could vacuum up. I think they must have the same vacuum bag in the vacuum since the temple opened, cause I'm sure it hasn't filled up yet.

I'm with ya on the small house.

Jason and Summer, but really just Summer said...

Sorry no temple cleaning stories for me...I guess I'm not cool like that. In fact I thought it didn't need cleaning...something about the Heavens taking care of it. Wish they took care of the cleaning at my house!! It just took me two days to get it done. Not because of the size have you, but because of the little ones holding on my legs and crying for a snack every thirty seconds. I hate that word!! I think it should be band! So I got way off topic...sorry. Happy to hear your 'high' finally went away. Apparently mine has not and I'm just rambling now....

Megz said...

I love pretend cleaning. I do it at my house everyday.

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

I always wondered how dirty the temple really could get. I meant to go help when it was our wards turn to clean but for some reason I couldn't make it. I regret that.

About your high... did you wake up with a headache the next morning? hehe

LC said...

You always think of such great titles to go with your posts.
Makes me want to get my own spiritual high--without the chemicals.