The bug has bitten...

My spring fever has manifested in an interesting way this year--an all consuming need to clean.

Shocking, trust me.

Every day I find a new potential project, something beyond the usual mop and sweep. This Saturday, the kitchen was my target. You see, when Matt and I moved in, we decided to use the top of our cabinets as a sort of decorative storage solution. We've got antique silver tea tins and baskets interspersed with pitchers and cake plates, all artfully arranged and quasi-handy, should we need any of them. And, since they hang out in the open air all year round, they need the occasional dust off. LITTLE DID I REALIZE...

When we moved into our house, it had been unoccupied for quite some time, and had been meticulously cleaned before we arrived. Or so I thought. It turns out that the tops of those cabinets were something they missed, intentionally or mistakenly. It never occurred to me to check them before we started sticking our stuff up there. But as I removed it all for cleaning and took a closer look (okay, I was climbing like a monkey on the counter tops), I realized the oversight. You guys. I'm pretty sure no one EVER cleaned the tops of those things. I'll spare you the gory details, but I will say that my efforts to return them to relatively sanitary involved a degreaser, a spackle knife for scraping, and nearly half a roll of paper towels. Seriously upsetting. Seriously squicky.

Anyway, I digress...So we're cleaning. Slowly but surely I'm plotting a course through every room in the house, giving it a nice freshening up in addition to the usual once over with a vacuum and a rag. It's strangely satisfying and compellingly comforting all at once. So, I was just wondering...do you guys have a spring cleaning routine? Any surprises?