Northwest Guilt

I’m suffering from a case of Northwest Guilt.  It’s the guilt, we who grew up in the Northwest learned at a young age that says, if the sun is shining, we must be out in it.  If I am not, then the guilt says there will never be another day as fine as this one and how dare I miss even one minute of it.

It’s a similar mentality to the “psychology of poverty” where a person is unable to save for the future or postpone gratification.  Because each day is such a challenge for the poor, when they get any money, they spend it right away, not sure if there will even be a tomorrow.  This is how the weather has messed with us Northwesterners.  We never know when the sun will return, so each day must be enjoyed to the max.

There are no inside chores that need to be done on sunny days.  The outdoor beckons.  There are weeds to pull, laundry to hang, bushes to trim, cars to wash, sidewalks to sweep.

My problem is that currently, I have more chores to do inside the house than outside. Relatives are soon arriving from Norway for their first ever trip to America.  My policy of only dusting once a year has caught up with me as I find nooks and crannies that have been missed the last couple of years, and the dust is now measurable. 

The weather forecast is no help.  Each day I check it, hoping to find a few raindrops in the near future so I can plan to stay inside and clean, guilt free, but alas, a glorious summer has arrived in the Northwest and the sunshine beckons, so my housework is far from done.

I’ve been rushing inside and back out again before the guilt takes hold.  When I get too hot from weeding, I run inside for a cool drink of water and a quick dusting over a corner of one of many rooms yet to go.

A friend suggested I wait to clean until after our company leaves, since it will need a good cleaning then anyway, but she hasn’t been to my house lately.  It’s crying out for help and no one is coming to its rescue anytime soon. I’m so programmed to be outside on sunny days, I’m actually looking for more work to do than even needs to be done outdoors, just so I can be out in that sunshine.

I’ve pressure washed the driveway, sidewalk, porch, deck, house, steps, shed, and trampoline.  I think pressure washing on a hot day is the equivalent of running through the sprinkler, only much more gets done in the process.  I wish I could pressure wash the inside of my house, too.

The outside of our house is now looking so good, so I’m seriously considering pitching a tent and just hosting our visitors in the yard.  But with my luck, the rain will return just about then.