The weatherman is predicting warmer temperatures each day and we might even see some in the 50 degree range. That will melt the snow and drop the amount of oil used to heat our homes.

Feeling the warmth of the sun on my face just makes me feel more alive. And, believe me when I say I need to feel a lot livelier if I have any hopes of tackling the spring cleaning.

I can’t even remember how many springs have come and gone since I’ve done a real spring cleaning that includes washing woodwork, cleaning cupboards and drawers and washing curtains and windows. When I do it, which admittedly isn’t often, it consists of dusting, floor washing and moving piles of junk from one spot to another.

This year is going to be different. This year I’m going to wage a war against the dirt. This year I’m going to attack the dust bunnies with military precision. This year the junk and clutter goes!

I have a really hard time casting out junk, though buying junk at yard and rummage sales seems to be my specialty. Rarely do I end up finding a good use for all the treasures that I think I can’t live without.

At one time I thought I’d make a killing selling this stuff on eBay, so I bought even more of it to sell. Let me just say that was a lot more bother than it was worth and didn’t add a penny to my retirement fund.

Then I thought I’d have a yard sale and let my neighbors buy my junk. My kids even got involved and tried to sell their junk too. All that accomplished was to waste a perfectly good weekend and I ended up with my kid’s junk to boot!

This year I’m really getting rid of it. The kids can take their junk back home and the rest is trash.

My motivation is stimulated in part because I’m tired of having a cluttered dirty house, but mostly because I have a beautiful newly decorated living room and the rest of the house looks like crap.

A while back, water damage to my living room forced me to have some serious work done. The damage has now been repaired, the walls and ceiling repainted and the hardwood floor refinished to a mirror shine. It’s like something out of House Beautiful. I don’t even want to go in it for fear of tracking dirt from the other parts of my house that look like House Yucky.

That’s going to change. The deep cleaning is going to begin. With some warmer weather I can open the windows and let the stale air out and the sweet spring air in.

I now have a truly beautiful living room and the way I see it with some hard work and massive trash removal the rest of the house will be beautiful too. Oh, but wait … there’s a rummage sale going on this weekend and I bet I can find some really nice stuff to decorate my soon-to-be-beautiful house. I guess I better hold off on that spring cleaning for a little while longer.