housecleanus interruptus

[snugglekitty]

michellemybell and I had a great time with the spring housecleaning. Unfortunately, she is sick, and I was distracted, so we didn't get as much done as we'd hoped. (I'm kind of amazed we did as much as we did.) She is going to come back this weekend or next week to do more, because she's awesome.



Yes, it really was necessary that I clean the tops of the spice jars with Fantastik. I'm not fanatic about dirt but they were horrifying.

The kitchen looks really amazing - we got the most done there. The cabinets and shelves have been totally reorganized, and their insides and outsides have been washed. The mouse corpses have been disposed of - there were three in various stages of decomposition - and their turds have been removed. (Ewww.) The sauces and oils for cooking are now all stowed over the sink. The spoons and spatulas for cooking are now next to the stove instead of on the other side of the room. The hutch outside the kitchen door was completely emptied and cleaned, and now has useful things like extra paper towels and sandwich bags in it, as well as stuff we need but don't use everyday like bunt pans and serving trays.

The windows throughout the house are also all totally clean and shiny. The curtains have been washed. So have my duvet cover and the slipcover for the couch.

Still to be done are thorough vaccuuming of the entire house, cleaning the salt off my boots, sweeping and washing the kitchen floor, and taking discarded objects to Goodwill. We also need a new silverware organizer that will fit in the smaller drawer we are now using for silverware. Nor did I even start on the stuff I hoped to do that was particular to my stuff and not the house stuff, like going through papers and clothes, cleaning the lower half of my closet, or re-organizing my CD collection.



I'm feeling a bit out of sorts. I'm in this place where I'm not sure whether to keep going or stop. It's harder if you don't have someone to help, or at least to be company while you're cleaning. We did so much, but things were so bad that the house still doesn't really look good, and that's kind of frustrating. I guess, if I can just relax enough to stop being crazy about it, it should be easy to wait a few days until the sweet M comes back. How to do that is the problem. Once I actually let myself notice how things look it's hard to let go of that.

I think it would help if I left the house for a while. Then, when I come back, I'll notice everything that we did, not everything we didn't do.

So I guess I'll go look at the dyeing books I ordered from the library. They all came in today for some reason. Tomorrow, if it's still driving me crazy, I'll clean some more. But if it isn't, maybe I could start experimenting with dyeing some yarn, which I've been wanting to do. I got excited when I found an unused box of food coloring and an unopened jar of vinegar while cleaning the kitchen - those were the two ingredients I kept forgetting to buy. It should be fun! With the gorgeous weather, I might even be able to do it outside.

Comments

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

I think taking a break in fresh air is a v. good idea. If I was done packing I would kidnap you.

However, last night I needed to become comatose at 10pm. Fortunatley, I am not working today at my job.

[cutieperson]

putting on music i could move to helped motivate me to start doing cleaning on my own a couple weeks ago. it also helped to start when i knew someone would be home within a couple hours; that was two-fold, with perhaps having help soon, and definitely having someone other than me come in and remark on how much better things were looking.

good luck!

[cathijosephine.livejournal.com]

Also, check the stores' half-priced candy aisles for egg coloring on the cheap. That stuff is apparently very good for dyeing yarn as well.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did. I checked about five different stores and none of them had any egg dye left over. :(