Spring Cleaning: Dexter and Me Under the Bed

We've all heard the story of the Princess and the Pea, about a lady of noble birth who became badly bruised by a pea hidden under layer upon layer of mattresses. And of course, also the tale of Sleeping Beauty, who slept long and hard, awaiting true love's first kiss.

This is a scene that might have come straight from some version of a fractured fairy tale. It was, in fact, time for some spring cleaning. You know it's time when the days start getting warmer, and the light stays longer, and you look around yourself and suddenly SEE the dust and you say to yourself, or even out loud, perhaps: "How could it be that we have been living in such filth?"

That time arrived for me this weekend. I have been working from a long list of spring cleaning tasks. In particular, on this day, I wanted to take the bed apart, remove all of the storage containers underneath, dust and vacuum, flip and rotate the mattress and box springs, and switch from the butter-soft flannel sheets I adore in winter, to more lightweight cotton ones.

Dexter, being a cat's cat, generally hates when things get moved around at home. But he is very interested in being part of pretty much anything that's going on. So when I had the scene at a juncture suitable for Feline Inspection, he came in the bedroom and wandered around for a look around.

The cat's first response was a look of absolute horror: how could a bed explode like this? He had no idea such a thing was even possible! My husband insisted on taking some rather ridiculous pictures of Dexter and me lounging around in the area beneath the bed. Dexter was very suspicious of the whole thing, as you can see. And I was having trouble stifling a grin!

You may see all of the storage containers, as well as the mattress liner and sheets and blankets and all the bed accoutrements, stacked in the background. Before I cleaned everything up, Dexter got busy making cat art on containers and suitcases, leaving tiny paw prints amid the dust. You might consider it a Feline Art Installation, a happening.

You will be happy to learn, as Dexter did, that everything that falls apart can be put back together again. And so that happened too, but it took some time and effort and a bit of elbow grease. And now the bedroom is much cleaner and neater, and we are ready for the change in seasons, hip hip hooray!

The soundtrack for this strange scene is Simon and Garfunkel, with Wake Up, Little Susie.