Shhh - don't tell! ...I'm a wimp.

Do any of you remember my minuscule reference to "a clean bedroom" yesterday?

Did you also catch the "beating a rug" part?

The small rug in our bedroom is beautiful - better than it's ever looked after vacuuming. Pure creamy beige. But I didn't vacuum it.

Do you wanna know how it got that way? Do ya?

I took it outside, hung it over the clothesline, and beat it.

With a piece of landscaping timber.

Dimensions of beam: About 3"x 4"x 4'

Weight: I don't want to know.

I swung that piece of wood with all my might against that rug, again and again. Like a star baseball player, I hit a home-run every time. Dust flew everywhere; I'm glad I was upwind. It took me somewhere around 15-20 minutes before I was satisfied with the amount of dust in that rug. It still wasn't all gone, but we had company coming in 15 minutes, and I had other things to do. But still, a ferocious beating for 15-20 minutes with a 3"x 2" piece of timber will do away with a LOT of dust.

Today, every time I move my right arm any farther than 6" away from my body in any direction, my muscles scream in protest. I was baking molasses cookies this evening, and when I tried to cream the butter and sugar together, I honestly couldn't do it. I dropped the bowl and spoon, and just stared at them. It was too painful to beat with that spoon! I've never had butter than felt so ....heavy.

I admit it: I'm a bit of a wimp. Who would have thought that I could get this sore in just 15 minutes? Yikes; I need to do more cleaning or something!

Oh - on a side note....

....You know your house - or at least your kitchen - is cold when you soften butter in the microwave, to use in baking, and it begins to harden as it sits in the mixing bowl on the counter.