Dusting Legos

I remember the day when I was challenged by purposeful, thought-provoking, world-changing dilemmas.  But that was, dare I say, over 20 years ago when I was a student of the world and my main ambition was to change it for the better.

Skip forward 20 odd years and my current title is "house wife" and so by interpreting that title I find that I am married to the house.  Which means I'm supposed to care for it, right?  Which translates by all dictionaries as meaning I'm supposed to clean.  I hate cleaning.  There, I said it and I feel better (slightly) for admitting it to the world.  The problem is, admitting it still doesn't make it go away.  See the thing with cleaning is it's like a bad boss - relentless, a slave-driver and never satisfied.  There really is no point when everything is actually clean, is there?  The toilet may be cleaner after I pour half a bottle of Lysol Toilet Cleaner down it, but it still isn't clean.  And I can get down on my hands and knees and scrub the floors until they sparkle - and then the dog walks through to his water bowl and I know my efforts have instantly been erased.

But the biggest challenge I find with cleaning is Legos.  Can anyone out there relate???  I mean I love Legos.  I played with them when I was a kid and they have brought many hours of enjoyment to my kids (and to me for they are quiet and busy while playing with Legos).  But Legos are not something you play with and then put away, at least not in my house.  Legos are something that you play with, create an intricate structure either from the kit directions or from your own imagination, and then proudly display on your shelf.  And that's where the problem arises!

In my house I have shelves and shelves of Lego creations.  Cannon's room is the worst; he has the biggest collection.  London, following his big brother, has some Legos, but not the museum-quantity that Cannon has.  And even Emmy gets into the act every now and then and creates something.

Shelves of Legos

Emmy's creation (note the broken wing...yep, that was my dusting)

So what's the problem? Well, have you ever tried to dust a Lego creation? It's gotta be the most impossible chore there is. For every time the Swiffer cruises over the structure, something falls off. I mean I try my utmost to be gentle, to cradle the figure while lightly passing the cloth over it and then, a piece falls off. Damn! Where does that go? And while trying to put that piece back on, whoops, there goes another piece. Shoot! Where does that go? And then heaven forbid that I might drop a creation and it shatters into a million little Lego pieces that used to resemble a dragon and now resembles, well, a pile of Lego pieces. *$$%#Q! Curse the makers of Legos!

 

Now where does this go?

And while trying to figure that out, I knocked off that little yellow thing.

Fortunately, for the most part my crime goes undetected since the kids don't see what happened.  If I did get called out on it, I suppose I could always blame it on the cat (of course that alibi is defunct now that I'm confessing it on the internet).  But as I was "cleaning" today, I did have to stop and think about the crazy turns my life has taken and how I am standing here contemplating not how to solve the world's problems, but how to dust a Lego.  And I wouldn't change a day.