Today was kitchen day on the checklist. For the first time ever, I found myself attempting to make excuses to myself in my head to get out of doing today's list. Ugh. Scrubbing oven, cleaning out all cabinets, scrubbing those baseboards under the cabinets (toe-kicks, actually)...all that fun, greasy, grimy stuff.
Let me just start by saying two things about oven cleaner: (a) it burns the skin. It's the only cleaner you should actually wear gloves to use. (b) it. is. amazing. Spray it, let it sit while you clean out a couple of cabinets, come back with a sponge of warm water and the stuff comes right off. Against the advice on the can, I sprayed it on the range as well, right around the [gas] burners where I have tried every "safe" non-chemical solution I've heard of (vinegar & baking soda, hydrogen peroxide & borax, etc) to get off that stuck-on grease, and the oven cleaner worked like a charm. The entire oven and range look practically brand new. Very cool.
While cleaning the cabinets out, I discovered a few things about myself. For instance, it will be a cool day when I have an entire set of matching dishes and glasses. I also apparently love rice, as I had four separate containers of different varieties of brown and wild rices. And, finally, I must have bought several spices for only one recipe and that recipe didn't work out so well because I have oodles of random spices I never use.
So after the kitchen was mostly done, my sweet friend Bryoney came over under the pretense of painting the dining room chairs. We got out a bottle of Moscato that the neighbor had given us, and my wine key broke! Whaaat?! Ugh. So, somewhere in the process of trying to remove a half-corkscrew with a pair of pliers, the neck of the bottle just broke right in half, vertically, making for kind of a cool pour spout...hey, at least we got it opened. Gotta focus on the positive. So what was supposed to be a painting project turned into sitting on the back porch with a friend talking and listening to the kids' version of life, which is pretty rad. I can paint the chairs tomorrow- it was much more fun talking to Bry.
Tomorrow, another massive to-do list....I'm determined to leave the house as clean as I found it. My mom raised me to leave a space at least as good as you found it, if not better. My mother would literally clean a hotel room before the maid arrived when we checked out.....she may be the only person who made a hotel bed...as a guest. But the whole idea holds a lot of water with me: it's a matter of respect. When the kids and I eat out, I clean the table off, pile all the plates, gather all the silverware, collect all the trash, and brush off the seats. When I stay in a hotel, I gather all the dirty towels and place them on the bathroom counter (so the maid doesn't have to bend over so much), I gather all the trash and make sure it's in the trash can, and I make sure we don't leave a huge mess. I know it's part of the charge of the room to be afforded the ability to be a slob, but another human being has to come behind you and clean whatever mess you make. Why not make that person's day a little better by surprising them with a neat room to clean and not a huge mess?
Same goes for this house...I want to leave it spotless and so I shall. We're getting there; I just gotta buckle down for the next nine days and get it done...easier said than done.
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