Cleaning FRENZY!

So Tuesday, I took the day off to recuperate after Monday night’s late night of sealing the floor grout. Me (just me), a tiny paintbrush, and 180 square feet….twice. It’s a sad story.

I don’t want to ruin anyone’s day, so I won’t tell it.

But I will say I slept in on Tuesday and I didn’t feel one bit bad about it. Not even a teeny bit.

I also slept in on Wednesday, but that was because it was my last Wednesday before my school starts back and I’ll have to be in class by 8 the rest of the semester, but anyway.

So my mother-in-law returned yesterday and helped me clean the living room from top to bottom. It’s not that it was THAT dirty, but little things like the pile of crumbs under the couch that never get picked up, the hairballs the cat left behind the couch that I couldn’t easily reach, the cat-sized fur shape matted on the curtains in all the places the cat likes to lay….all that little stuff that hides from daily cleaning got done yesterday. PLUS some. All the leather has been cleaned and conditioned, all the floor mopped, the windows washed, the curtains taken down/washed/ironed/rehung, every surface dusted….then we moved  into the kitchen and wiped, then polished, all the cabinets and table/chairs. Then we ran out of steam.

Actually, it would be more appropriate to say SHE ran out of steam because I ran out WAYYYY before we got the kitchen. But since I can’t sit and watch anyone work, even though they can run circles around me, I kept on going until she was ready to call it. LOL

That brings me up to the cleaning frenzy. Okay, yesterday was cleaning frenzy, too. We’ll call that part one…

Today was part two.

First, I slept in. No, I REALLY slept in. The weather was like artic chill last night, so school delayed two hours this morning an I didn’t have to wake up to put the kids on the bus, so that was awesome, plus, this is my last Thursday before my semester starts (HAHA), so I didn’t even feel bad about sleeping in again. (Tomorrow my semester starts, so goodbye, dear sleeping in)

Then I got the kids off to school and hit the kitchen. Evidently, the MIL left some of her steam here from the day before, because I was all whoopin up on that kitchen disaster.

I emptied all the pantry cabinets (they were the worst) and wiped them out and then returned ONLY the non-expired food back to the cabinet (after wiping all the dust off—yes, I probably should cook more often).

Here’s a photo of what it looks like when a pantry throws up in your kitchen: After I did all that, I kinda got crazy and re-organized most of the other cabinets, moving stuff around to make more sense. When we moved in, I put stuff where it fit, but I had bowls, serving dishes, pans, etc all spread out in different places…just where it fit. Now that I’ve used the kitchen for over a year, I know a little better how my brain works in this kitchen and I moved stuff to make more sense to how I use it. Hopefully more efficient and easier accessible.

Plus, I ditched a box full of stuff that I haven’t used in over a year. I know I *might* find a use for a tin with Gurgenshiem something or other written across it, but chances are, it’s a waste of cabinet space. Seriously. Ain’t nobody got time for dat.

So after I did all most of the cabinets, I removed every last thing off the counter…the pile of magazines, the 50 bottles of random medicines, the tray collecting random receipts and junk, the décor, EVERYTHING! Then I scrubbed the counters. And scrubbed them again.

Then I got sidetracked (hey, it happens) and moved to the fridge….there was lots of expired stuff and dirt in there, too. So it threw up on the now empty counters while I wiped it, sorted the contents, and then returned them to the now clean fridge/freezer. Then I had to wipe the counter and sinks again because the fridge stuff made them dirty.

But finally I was ready to return only the necessary items back to the counters. Would you believe the pile of necessary junk was a whole lot smaller than the pile of un-necessary junk? I didn’t think they were that cluttered, but obviously…

Well anyway. Here’s what a nice polished, organized (although you can’t really see most of that part), clean kitchen looks like:

Except there’s a couple of boxes of JUST expired things on the counter that I felt bad throwing away, so I left them there to use up tonight. And my celebratory Dr. Pepper and glass. And the small pile of things next to the door that came from the junk tray and need to be returned to the car….

Besides all that, it’s a lovely, uncluttered, kitchen. Way better than it was.

And it’s always lovely to run your hand down the counter-top and NOT encounter sticky masses or bread crumbs sticking to your hand from where the kids made lunch. (confession, it could have been from where I made lunch…but it’s more convenient—and also more likely—to blame the kids….lol)

After all that, I had to scramble to get supper (we had leftovers….go, me! cleaning out the fridge!) and get the kids off to TaeKwanDo.

Sometimes I hate being busy, but it sure makes time go faster. Not that I always want it to go faster, but sometimes it’s nice. Like this week, it’s nice. =)

Anyway, I’m wore slap out so it’s off to bed I go. Not to sleep…to veg. But I should sleep…because it’s back to the grind tomorrow! Ick. Yay! <---me being more positive. Like it? Bwahahahaha.

Told you I was tired. I’m stopping now. =)