The summer is still barreling along at a frantic pace, and I’m only just hanging on. Thursday arrived and I could no longer put off cleaning the house. No time for special projects–just clean the house. Wipe down the bathrooms, vacuum up the cobwebs. It took me all day. I had hoped to break it down throughout the week, but I just wasn’t home.

I spent a lot of time in the family room, that ground zero of kid-created disaster. I eradicated the broken crayons, the tiny bits of shredded paper, the Legos, the crumbled half-eaten cereal bars and discarded wrappers and yogurt cups from under the sofa. (And that was just the mess of the past few days.) Then I rearranged the furniture and dragged the old recliner out to the garage (a victim of one too many sessions as a trampoline) to be picked up by a Craigslist reader.

After all that, I couldn’t ignore the thick layer of dust on the drapes any longer. I noticed it a couple of months ago, but couldn’t decide what to do. They are the most expensive drapes I’ve ever bought–lined and double-width made to fit our sliding doors. Dry clean? Wash on the delicate cycle and hang to dry? I consulted my mother. She warned me that she has had poor results from both options, and suggested instead tumbling them in the dryer on a cool setting with a couple of dryer sheets. I added a clean, damp towel as well, and used the “extra delicate” temperature setting (one step above “air fluff”).

It worked perfectly. Thirty minutes in the dryer for each panel (because they are so big and I wanted to give them enough room to tumble), and I was able to hang them right up without even touching them up with the iron.

Thanks, Mom. (And Happy Birthday!)