I don't know what has gotten into me lately, but I've been cleaning like I'll win something big on a game show! I feel like I'm on Supermarket Sweep, but of cleaning and organization. It's like I'm nesting, only I'm pretty certain that a stray kitten showing up does not constitute this type of behavour. So, I'm not a very cleany person. I do clean around the house and I have been employed as a housekeeper twice in my life, but I do not really find great enjoyment in this act. Probably because I have two septegenarian children who come along right after me and dribble sticky around and throw their toys everywhere. Honestly, I'm surprised I ever learned how to clean, considering that my parents were never very good at picking up after themselves or tidying up. For Christs' sake they can't even bother to put a new roll of toilet paper onto the holder and it's not like we have one that's difficult to manage. Even the one in their own bathroom is made in such a way that you just slide the old roll off or slide a new roll on. But, I digress. So the parents are terribly neat. I'm neater than they are though. However, I think there are two reasons for my current cleaning feats of greatness. One) The Sister isn't here. She won't be living here until October. She has pretty much run this household since she was a teenager. Sometimes we collaborate on placing items and organization, but mainly it's just her way or the highway, so to speak. So, now I can tweak things the way I want them. Mwahaha. Two) it's hot as fuck here right now. No, seriously. The temperatures might be reading low to mid nineties, but the heat indexes have been anywhere between one-oh-four and one-fourteen. Tack onto that 80 - 85% humidity and it's absolutely breathtaking. No, not in that "Oh it's so beautiful! *clutches bosom*" sort of way. I mean, you walk out the door and all of your breath is sucked from your lungs. Today I had Yata inside, because the parents wanted to cuddle him. They thought he needed to go to the bathroom, so I scooped him up to take him outside in the front yard. We stepped outside and in quick movements made it off the front stoop onto the walkway and I just stopped. Yata turned into a limp noodle in my hand and I couldn't even breathe and I felt like I was stuck somewhere inside some wool and I couldn't think. I put him on the ground. He just laid there and then snake moved towards the grass as it was too oppressive for him to even stand up and walk the distance that would normally have taken him two seconds to make. He made it to the grass, laid there, and tried to meow. After what felt like a year, but was probably only one minute, it was evident that he didn't have to go, so I scooped him up and we went back inside. We were in the shade y'all! This weather ain't even playin'. It's even too hot to even think about going swimming. It's not so much the swimming or the short distance it would taken from the door of The Bunker to the water. Somehow it's never even as hot there as it is here. No, it's the fact that I have to step out of my front door and make the few steps it takes to get to the car where the inside temperature is the surface of the damn sun. Then I have to drive to The Bunker, where during the short jaunt there the a/c won't really have kicked in until I'm parking in the drive and turning off the key. Then I have to walk to the door. Which also isn't far as I can park under the carport, but why even bother by that point. It's just too hot. It's a different topic, but what is this about The Bunker? So, if you've read posts before this one you might have well read that I'm into the telly show, Supernatural. The Sister and I both are. Well, she's house sitting right now. She started with one house, but now she's up to two. There would be a third one in July, but I'm taking that one over. Anyway, even with just the two and this house, Home isn't really cutting it, so we came up with names. So, she's currently house sitting at The Cabin, which is Rufus' cabin. The house with the pool is The Bunker, because it is kinda like The Bunker. Our house is Bobby's house, as in Bobby Singer. It's a two story wooden house that's painted blue with a basement and dead cars in the yard, it's a perfect comparison. The only thing missing is the house I'll be at in July. I have no idea what comparison it equates from the show and the only thing that comes to mind are those kitschy motels the Winchester boys are forever staying in, which isn't a bad option, but still... Supernatural fans, what significant building am I missing from this equation? The only other things coming to mind are their childhood home in Kansas, Crowley's Hell, the first vampires' mansion, and Caine's house. Those are just what's coming to mind and none of them fit (or are very significant), except Caine's house perhaps. Anyway, so I have no idea where I'll be living, Supernaturally speaking, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. So, back to cleaning. It's hot and I'm basically stuck indoors, and I can tweak things the way I want them. I have cleaned non-stop for two days and while I've done so many things, when I think about it all, the items only seem like a drop in the pond. Our house is four floors of mess. But I'm not counting the basement because I'm not even tackling that, nor the attic which the entirety of it is The Sisters' bedroom. It's clean and I can't go about mixing her things up. So, I'm really only working with two floors here. The first floor is the foyer entryway and hallway, living room, dining room, kitchen, powder room toilet, den, and sundeck. The second floor is a stairway, hallway, laundry room, master bedroom, master bath, bathroom, office, my bedroom. The rooms may be on the smaller side, but they're crammed full of antique furniture that needs dusting and polishing, as well as pieces of furniture that need to be moved to hoover around, and lots of tchotchke's that need to be dusted around and under. I'm not trying to brag, it's just that if you have a whole bunch of Wal-Mart special plywood furniture, then it's super easy to spray some all purpose dusting formula on a rag or feather duster, nonchalantly go over it all and call it a day. It's another matter entirely when you have to dust and then go over all the real wood bits with wood oil, rubbing it all in. Lots of these pieces have friddly-do woodwork, so you have to sit there and put oil in all the nooks and crannies. Or else it's a chair with wooden bits for legs or partial arm pieces and hardly anything is a straight and smooth surface, basically. It's a lot of work to polish all of this stuff! Which is why The Sister and I generally say "Fuck it!" about all the silver we have in the house because that's a worse job than super oiling all of the wood furniture. Seriously, we probably only polish all of the silver once every five years if it's lucky. It's weird, it's like we're The Mistresses AND The Servants of some manor home. We have all the finery, but we also have to clean it all ourselves. No, we're not rich. We're just either lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it. We see it both ways, depending on which items we're discussing. And no, in the grand scheme of things, as in the real world of antiques or such finery, we've got the junk and no one wants it anyways, and since it was all free, why get rid of it, right? Persian carpets? We say we're lucky to have those. While we like some of the silver or wood pieces, really you could have 95% of it... if it were merely up to The Sister and I. If I ever move, I won't take most of this stuff with me. It's exceedingly heavy and if I were to choose heavy items, I would choose books over most of this other stuff. Also it's quite a hassle in upkeep. If I were to move out of the states, I'd take even less of these things. Basically, I wouldn't take anything I couldn't pack in one or two normal suitcases or a carry on, because who has time for that? But, so I'm not tackling super servant things, but it's important to know since all the little things really do add up. The tchotchke's (or knick-knacks or brick-a-brack or whatever you personally call the decorative pieces on tabletops and bookshelves) have to either be dusted off or windexed, depending upon the item. I generally dust around and leave out the windexing, but this time I'm going all out and I'm even lifting them up and dusting underneath. I won't be moving the books to dust the shelves underneath them or behind them, because that's just ridiculous. The items I'm moving to hoover? None of it is heavy, large furniture like sofas, desks, the grandfather clock, etc. But things like this single chair or that one. This small table or that rocking chair or stool. Large Choctaw baskets, a large geode, the brass umbrella holder in the foyer; things like that. It should be noted that I don't generally move these things, though one probably should when cleaning. So, what have I done? Let's see, shall we? First Floor:
Second Floor:
Jesus H. Christ, I'm tired just from trying to remember all of that and writing it down. I still have so much work to do. Obviously I have oil polishing left to do (dining room, kitchen, foyer, upstairs hall, laundry room, office, bedroom, and master bedroom). I still have all of the hoovering left to do upstairs (laundry room, hallway, master bedroom, bedroom, and office). I'll need to finish switching sides in the office closets, there's also normal straightening up to do in here.
I'll need to straighten up in my bedroom and there's some clothes to put away. Also, while my closet is surprisingly not a wreck, it does need tending to as for the past month I've just been chucking my shoes in there all willy nilly and there's just a pile of shoes instead of neat rows on the shoe shelves. And there's some... stuff... I need to organize better. I'm not even going to start on other projects until those are finished. But there are drawers in various rooms that could benefit from a go-through or tweaking of things or throw pillows or placements of things that I could do, but none of that is all that important at this moment really. So, tomorrow will start Day 3 of Operation Sarah is Nesting and I'll knock out some of those things, so huzzah!
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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