I have been in an obsessive cleaning mode. First the studio, which I ransacked on Monday. Then Friday, when I should have been working in my clean studio, I decided to tackle the house. Now mind you, it hasn't been cleaned in awhile. Sure we pick up stuff; John runs the vacuum to get cat hair up; I make sure the kitchen is somewhat sanitized. But our bathroom, well, it seems our cleaning efforts seldom move up to the second floor.
I was talking to Karyl on the phone the other day when I admitted just how grungy our bathroom had gotten. I lamented I wasn't sure how we even came out of it clean. Then I confessed something so ignorant I can't even believe it popped out of my mouth, "I'm not going to clean it yet because my Mom & Dad are coming in October and I would just have to do it again."
Huh?
So I got to work. And I diligently scrubbed and polished for over 5 hours on Friday. My efforts were not limited to the bathroom, I hit other rooms as well. But the bathroom got the special treatment which included wiping the wood blinds, each section of each blind individually, an endeavor that apparently cannot be short-cut because trust me I tried. Oh my gosh, what a task this is. I am pretty certain I have never done this before because it is a major league pain in the ass which I certainly would have remembered. Imagine about a year's worth of dust petrified by hairspray. Need I say more?
So now, post obsessive cleaning, I am obsessively trying to maintain the clean. We have always squeegeed (not a real word by the way as squeegee is apparently not a verb) the shower, but I added a wipe-down program for the counter. And I am putting things back in their places so stuff doesn't accumulate. Plus I am trying to make the bed every day.
Fifty four hours later and everything still looks good.
I am laughing so hard, MaryBeth!! Way to go!! Incidentally, I must tell you that when Steve and I decided to finally clean our wooden blinds, we took them out into the yard and hosed them off! Who knows what the neighbors thought, but it was better than wiping!! I'm sure John will appreciate your efforts...
ReplyDeleteHugs, Shari
Well, first of all, you have to understand that I didn't even give your idea of waiting for your parents' visit a second thought. It made sense to me!!! :-) Here's a little tip for the future. There are men in vans who drive to your house, take down all of your blinds, clean them and put them back up. They are men from heaven. (I've not seen women in vans doing this job...)
ReplyDeleteYes, my house still looks like it had an attack of squalor.
i didn't know you were supposed to clean the blinds!?! i thought when they got too dirty to see through, you replaced them. that's wrong, huh?
ReplyDeletexxx,
h.
Oh Marybeth! Your post has made me feel so much better! Now I know I'm not the only "artist" who puts off cleaning until absolutely neccesary. Whenever I do clean my husband says "who's coming to visit"? ha! That's bad! Now I guess I'll go put on my surgical mask and tackle that shower!
ReplyDeleteStacey