Well, slap me on the back. I’m so proud of myself today. I could have sprawled on the sofa, god knows I wanted too, and lazed the day away but I decided to do some things around the house that needed doing so at the end of the day I could feel a sense of accomplishment. Sundays go so quickly and I didn’t want to waste it napping!
I mentioned before I can’t serve two masters so the shop is looking great and my house is in shambles. The laundry, oh the laundry. If only I was rich enough to hire help or throw away dirty clothes and buy new. I had an uncle who did that. He was too lazy to touch water so I don’t think he bathed for twenty years. The billboard says, "the army will make a man of you" but it can destroy you at the same time. He splashed aftershave on top of aftershave until it created a thin layer of crust and he bought a new set of clothes each month when his pension cheque arrived. He threw his old set in the living room of the house he was staying in, the pile was four feet high! Then he would present himself as a man about town in his new duds, as proud as a peacock. It’s a good thing he was handsome in a debonair, Howard Hughes sort of way, but coincidentally, maybe just as weirdly eccentric. I can’t say he ever smelled badly, just hummed like old aftershave and cigarettes.
He lived in an drafty, old, uninsulated house so we invited him to stay with us during a particularly cold winter. After months of observing his lack of hygiene, I demanded that he bathe and give me his clothes, that practically stood on their own! The man had passed away now and I'll spare his memory the graphic filth of his attire, but just let me say that I saw things that day that I’d never seen before and hope to never see again.
His laundry took three cycles in the washer to make the clothing wearable and oh the bleach...well there was a lot of it! I knew he was lying when he told me he bathed the following afternoon because the tub was void of a brown ring when I got home from work. In his condition it would have taken several bath waters to soak off the extra skin of dirt that had accumulated and harden over his body and I knew he wouldn’t have had the wherewithal to clean the tub, never having lifted a finger for domestic chores in his life. I decided not to humiliate him and he smelled fresh enough with his old spice, so I let him think I believed his story. The end of his stay was nearing so I left him with his pride intact. I decided to burn his mattress as I wasn’t going to go there. I understand the homeless man's excuse of why bathing is no longer a part of a daily routine, but when facilities are available, how they can be dismissed I don’t quite know. How some people live!
Now I might not sound like a domestic goddess myself, but I'm the kind of person you'd want to clean your home. I know how to strip away grime and polish to a sheen that will blind you. I've more than my share of elbow grease and I'm not afraid to use it! It's just that I don't do it regularly because I'm exhausted by the time I get home from work. If I was a social butterfly, that might keep me in check, but months go by without company crossed my threshold so there isn't any incentive to be on top of things. These cleaning skills came from my mother either through genetics or learned from watching her work but all I know is I can clean with the best of them, I just choose not to on a daily basis.
I’ve been avoiding the laundry room. Luckily I have enough undies and clothes to go a month or so without having to be a slave in that department. So today I tackled the piles that were spilling out into the hall. I’ll take my towels to work with me tomorrow as I don’t find the front end loaders really clean them well. The heavy weight, commercial machine at the shop beats them to a white I can’t achieve at home.
Then I tackled the bedroom. Changed from cotton to flannel sheets as the nights are getting cool! The settee was piled high with clothes still clean, just got tried on and cast aside. I’m a dropper, where it lands it stays and the art of bending over to pick it up doesn’t occur to me. I swear I was meant to have servants, someone to pick up after me so I can waddle around in my head and not have to worry about incidental things. The bathroom was in hard shape so I got down and dirty and when I left that room it was sparkling like a new penny. Don’t think too badly of me, I do clean the toilet on a regular schedule but the shower was looking a little sad.
I've been putting off cleaning the stove flue so I cleaned out the pipes to prepare for the burning season rapidly approaching. There have been a few nights I toyed with the idea of starting a fire but I’ll hold off as long as possible because once you start it seems to become a regular routine. The chimney sweep guy came last Wednesday so I’m cleared and ready to burn.
Then the real nightmare, the fridge. There were things in there unrecognizable and closer to a science experiment than edibles. All in all it wasn’t as bad as it could have been and only took a few minutes so I was off to clean a few downstairs windows. Living by the sea, the salt air leaves a sticky film on the panes so it’s a constant struggle to keep them clean. I like this job, the reward is instant and the glass sparkles like diamonds. I sure like things to sparkle! I also cleaned the glass on the outdoor carriage lamps. They were filled with spider webs and dead bodies, I think they hang there to catch the bugs attracted by the light. What a mess they make with their poop and webs. Terrible house keepers those spiders, just dropping things and never picking them up!
Then I cleaned off the old chairs from the basement that Sue is going to paint for me after Steve glues them back together. I used steel wool to rub them down and then wiped them with a damp cloth. The dampness did a number on the seats and they’ve all split into three parts. He’ll have to take them all apart to put them all back together. They are slated for the back room at the shop so customers can hook or sit and look at the binder filled with designs. Each one will be a different colour as that’s what my shop is all about…eclectic colour!
I wanted to do a little painting on the back deck posts but the wind was too strong and most of it would have blown on the deck or me and the pups. Another day!
I’m saving the vacuuming for later in the week. I’m pooped and there’s still a few dishes left and dinner to be made. A nice big salad with my favourite homemade dressing. The best olive oil I can find, red wine vinegar and garlic. Something about those flavours makes me want to eat it every day, all day long....great for keeping the ole blood sugar down.
So that was my day off. I didn’t even turn on the TV or the radio. I got caught up on some much needed home care, listened to the birds chirping, watched boats sailing by and played in the yard with the pups. Oh...hubby tells me my blogs might be too long....he said it’s okay to be novel, just don’t write one......
I mentioned before I can’t serve two masters so the shop is looking great and my house is in shambles. The laundry, oh the laundry. If only I was rich enough to hire help or throw away dirty clothes and buy new. I had an uncle who did that. He was too lazy to touch water so I don’t think he bathed for twenty years. The billboard says, "the army will make a man of you" but it can destroy you at the same time. He splashed aftershave on top of aftershave until it created a thin layer of crust and he bought a new set of clothes each month when his pension cheque arrived. He threw his old set in the living room of the house he was staying in, the pile was four feet high! Then he would present himself as a man about town in his new duds, as proud as a peacock. It’s a good thing he was handsome in a debonair, Howard Hughes sort of way, but coincidentally, maybe just as weirdly eccentric. I can’t say he ever smelled badly, just hummed like old aftershave and cigarettes.
He lived in an drafty, old, uninsulated house so we invited him to stay with us during a particularly cold winter. After months of observing his lack of hygiene, I demanded that he bathe and give me his clothes, that practically stood on their own! The man had passed away now and I'll spare his memory the graphic filth of his attire, but just let me say that I saw things that day that I’d never seen before and hope to never see again.
His laundry took three cycles in the washer to make the clothing wearable and oh the bleach...well there was a lot of it! I knew he was lying when he told me he bathed the following afternoon because the tub was void of a brown ring when I got home from work. In his condition it would have taken several bath waters to soak off the extra skin of dirt that had accumulated and harden over his body and I knew he wouldn’t have had the wherewithal to clean the tub, never having lifted a finger for domestic chores in his life. I decided not to humiliate him and he smelled fresh enough with his old spice, so I let him think I believed his story. The end of his stay was nearing so I left him with his pride intact. I decided to burn his mattress as I wasn’t going to go there. I understand the homeless man's excuse of why bathing is no longer a part of a daily routine, but when facilities are available, how they can be dismissed I don’t quite know. How some people live!
Now I might not sound like a domestic goddess myself, but I'm the kind of person you'd want to clean your home. I know how to strip away grime and polish to a sheen that will blind you. I've more than my share of elbow grease and I'm not afraid to use it! It's just that I don't do it regularly because I'm exhausted by the time I get home from work. If I was a social butterfly, that might keep me in check, but months go by without company crossed my threshold so there isn't any incentive to be on top of things. These cleaning skills came from my mother either through genetics or learned from watching her work but all I know is I can clean with the best of them, I just choose not to on a daily basis.
I’ve been avoiding the laundry room. Luckily I have enough undies and clothes to go a month or so without having to be a slave in that department. So today I tackled the piles that were spilling out into the hall. I’ll take my towels to work with me tomorrow as I don’t find the front end loaders really clean them well. The heavy weight, commercial machine at the shop beats them to a white I can’t achieve at home.
Then I tackled the bedroom. Changed from cotton to flannel sheets as the nights are getting cool! The settee was piled high with clothes still clean, just got tried on and cast aside. I’m a dropper, where it lands it stays and the art of bending over to pick it up doesn’t occur to me. I swear I was meant to have servants, someone to pick up after me so I can waddle around in my head and not have to worry about incidental things. The bathroom was in hard shape so I got down and dirty and when I left that room it was sparkling like a new penny. Don’t think too badly of me, I do clean the toilet on a regular schedule but the shower was looking a little sad.
I've been putting off cleaning the stove flue so I cleaned out the pipes to prepare for the burning season rapidly approaching. There have been a few nights I toyed with the idea of starting a fire but I’ll hold off as long as possible because once you start it seems to become a regular routine. The chimney sweep guy came last Wednesday so I’m cleared and ready to burn.
Then the real nightmare, the fridge. There were things in there unrecognizable and closer to a science experiment than edibles. All in all it wasn’t as bad as it could have been and only took a few minutes so I was off to clean a few downstairs windows. Living by the sea, the salt air leaves a sticky film on the panes so it’s a constant struggle to keep them clean. I like this job, the reward is instant and the glass sparkles like diamonds. I sure like things to sparkle! I also cleaned the glass on the outdoor carriage lamps. They were filled with spider webs and dead bodies, I think they hang there to catch the bugs attracted by the light. What a mess they make with their poop and webs. Terrible house keepers those spiders, just dropping things and never picking them up!
Then I cleaned off the old chairs from the basement that Sue is going to paint for me after Steve glues them back together. I used steel wool to rub them down and then wiped them with a damp cloth. The dampness did a number on the seats and they’ve all split into three parts. He’ll have to take them all apart to put them all back together. They are slated for the back room at the shop so customers can hook or sit and look at the binder filled with designs. Each one will be a different colour as that’s what my shop is all about…eclectic colour!
I wanted to do a little painting on the back deck posts but the wind was too strong and most of it would have blown on the deck or me and the pups. Another day!
I’m saving the vacuuming for later in the week. I’m pooped and there’s still a few dishes left and dinner to be made. A nice big salad with my favourite homemade dressing. The best olive oil I can find, red wine vinegar and garlic. Something about those flavours makes me want to eat it every day, all day long....great for keeping the ole blood sugar down.
So that was my day off. I didn’t even turn on the TV or the radio. I got caught up on some much needed home care, listened to the birds chirping, watched boats sailing by and played in the yard with the pups. Oh...hubby tells me my blogs might be too long....he said it’s okay to be novel, just don’t write one......
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