Tuesday, June 06, 2006
I'm SPENT!
Whatever happened to the idea of having a chance to relax on the weekend? Clearly that was not an option for The Squeeze and me as we hustled to get the place in showroom conditon for viewings that were scheduled for Monday.
I lost count exactly, but on Sunday we made about 6 or 7 trips with The Squeeze's pick-up truck to our storage unit with excess furniture, clothing, books, etc. The sight of the two of us trying to convince a couch that it did, in fact, come through that door and down those stairs, and thus should be able to reverse that path was nothing short of pathetic. We removed a handrail, a lightbulb, and screen door hardware to finally get it out. I can't wait until we have to move the sofa bed out of the basement when we move! It's actually making us consider hiring movers for the big day.
Thank God our friends offered to postpone our dinner date because I would have lost my mind if we had to somehow squeeze in a few hours of cooking and entertaining amidst all of this stress. After our final trip to the storage unit, and dropping off clothes at the charity bin we bought a couple of "build-it-your-damned-self" night tables to put beside the bed instead of the lovely white melamine bookcase and groovy circa 1970 end table we had in our bedroom. What the hell, exactly, were we thinking?
We grabbed a quick bite and got back to our tasks. My job was to build the night tables, and The Squeeze was going to head to the basement and tidy up that little corner of Hell that we call the furnace room. This room is pretty much a catch-all for any number of tools, bits of wood, shop-vac's, a pile of used furnace filters (why? who knows), boxes of assorted materials from jobs finished but never put away in their place. In short, it's a landfill. If it wasn't for the fact that these little tables were made up of about a hundred and fourty pieces of wood (ok, particle board with thin laminate resembling wood), metal, dowels, cams, screws, nails and things I can't even name, I would have gone to help The Squeeze with his chore. As it turned out, it was around midnight when I finished those tables, and it was time for us to get to bed.
The Squeeze had to get to work Monday morning after his truly enjoyable week off (can you smell the sarcasm?), but being my day off, the grief continued. First order of business was to wash all the sheers in the kitchen and livingroom. I spent the next couple of hours outside weeding our flagstone pathway and front yard, and made my way to what turned out to be a patio in the back yard. Who knew that under all of that soil and patches of weeds (and chives that keep coming back), there was actually a pretty nice sized patio? I would have loved to get more weeding in the back gardens done because they are just frightening, but time was ticking and the first people were booked to come through at 4:00.
After breaking for lunch I scoured my aquariums and nearly flooded the bathroom in the process. Thank God for overflow drains! I got the sheers back up in their places, broke out the vacuum, got busy with the Swiffer (love that thing), cleaned every bit of glass and mirror I could find and cleaned the kitchen to within an inch of its life.
3:15 - Time to clean the bathroom. I sprayed Vim on every piece of porcelain, acrylic, glass and chrome in that room and scrubbed the sink and toilet.
3:30...still need to do the bathtub......and I could really use a shower to wash off all the sunblock from the garden work, not to mention the sweat I was working up inside. Off went the duds, and into the tub I got with the sponge and I scrubbed away at the tub, tiles, fixtures, shower doors. I had my quick shower with nice cool water that I hoped would help me quit sweating - no such luck.
3:45 - Get dressed!!! Gather up the everyday towels, put out the good guest towels and mat, throw everything in the hamper and park it in the laundry room. A quick run through the house. Turn on some soft smooth jazz on the stereo, a couple of spritzes of air freshener, and scribble a quick note about keeping the cat out of the room with the orchids, and I was ready to go.
3:55 - Gather up my things and head out the front door as I see a car pull into the driveway. If only I didn't have to write that note, I would have been gone before they got there. Oh well. I managed to get pretty much everything done that I had planned to except for whipping up some cinnamon raisin bread in the bread machine to give the place that "homey" smell.
According to our realtor, the 4:00 showing he did went very well. She loved the place, and it's smack dab in the middle of where she works, and where her son goes to college. Let's see if an offer comes in.
So that time is here again. That time when we immediately clean up after ourselves because our agent could call me at work and see if he can bring someone through in a couple of hours. Nothing on the kitchen counters. Nothing in the sink. Nothing on the stove. No clutter on the coffee table. Nothing on the dressers. Not a spot on the faucets or sinks. No dirty clothes in the bedroom.
Is it stressful? You bet. But you know, I love having a clean house. It's hard to imagine, but my parents' house is like this all the time. People can drop in there any time and you'd never see a dirty glass on the counter or in the sink. The bathrooms are spotless.
Oh my God! I think I'm aspiring to be like my mother! That's it - tonight I'm getting some sleep.
I lost count exactly, but on Sunday we made about 6 or 7 trips with The Squeeze's pick-up truck to our storage unit with excess furniture, clothing, books, etc. The sight of the two of us trying to convince a couch that it did, in fact, come through that door and down those stairs, and thus should be able to reverse that path was nothing short of pathetic. We removed a handrail, a lightbulb, and screen door hardware to finally get it out. I can't wait until we have to move the sofa bed out of the basement when we move! It's actually making us consider hiring movers for the big day.
Thank God our friends offered to postpone our dinner date because I would have lost my mind if we had to somehow squeeze in a few hours of cooking and entertaining amidst all of this stress. After our final trip to the storage unit, and dropping off clothes at the charity bin we bought a couple of "build-it-your-damned-self" night tables to put beside the bed instead of the lovely white melamine bookcase and groovy circa 1970 end table we had in our bedroom. What the hell, exactly, were we thinking?
We grabbed a quick bite and got back to our tasks. My job was to build the night tables, and The Squeeze was going to head to the basement and tidy up that little corner of Hell that we call the furnace room. This room is pretty much a catch-all for any number of tools, bits of wood, shop-vac's, a pile of used furnace filters (why? who knows), boxes of assorted materials from jobs finished but never put away in their place. In short, it's a landfill. If it wasn't for the fact that these little tables were made up of about a hundred and fourty pieces of wood (ok, particle board with thin laminate resembling wood), metal, dowels, cams, screws, nails and things I can't even name, I would have gone to help The Squeeze with his chore. As it turned out, it was around midnight when I finished those tables, and it was time for us to get to bed.
The Squeeze had to get to work Monday morning after his truly enjoyable week off (can you smell the sarcasm?), but being my day off, the grief continued. First order of business was to wash all the sheers in the kitchen and livingroom. I spent the next couple of hours outside weeding our flagstone pathway and front yard, and made my way to what turned out to be a patio in the back yard. Who knew that under all of that soil and patches of weeds (and chives that keep coming back), there was actually a pretty nice sized patio? I would have loved to get more weeding in the back gardens done because they are just frightening, but time was ticking and the first people were booked to come through at 4:00.
After breaking for lunch I scoured my aquariums and nearly flooded the bathroom in the process. Thank God for overflow drains! I got the sheers back up in their places, broke out the vacuum, got busy with the Swiffer (love that thing), cleaned every bit of glass and mirror I could find and cleaned the kitchen to within an inch of its life.
3:15 - Time to clean the bathroom. I sprayed Vim on every piece of porcelain, acrylic, glass and chrome in that room and scrubbed the sink and toilet.
3:30...still need to do the bathtub......and I could really use a shower to wash off all the sunblock from the garden work, not to mention the sweat I was working up inside. Off went the duds, and into the tub I got with the sponge and I scrubbed away at the tub, tiles, fixtures, shower doors. I had my quick shower with nice cool water that I hoped would help me quit sweating - no such luck.
3:45 - Get dressed!!! Gather up the everyday towels, put out the good guest towels and mat, throw everything in the hamper and park it in the laundry room. A quick run through the house. Turn on some soft smooth jazz on the stereo, a couple of spritzes of air freshener, and scribble a quick note about keeping the cat out of the room with the orchids, and I was ready to go.
3:55 - Gather up my things and head out the front door as I see a car pull into the driveway. If only I didn't have to write that note, I would have been gone before they got there. Oh well. I managed to get pretty much everything done that I had planned to except for whipping up some cinnamon raisin bread in the bread machine to give the place that "homey" smell.
According to our realtor, the 4:00 showing he did went very well. She loved the place, and it's smack dab in the middle of where she works, and where her son goes to college. Let's see if an offer comes in.
So that time is here again. That time when we immediately clean up after ourselves because our agent could call me at work and see if he can bring someone through in a couple of hours. Nothing on the kitchen counters. Nothing in the sink. Nothing on the stove. No clutter on the coffee table. Nothing on the dressers. Not a spot on the faucets or sinks. No dirty clothes in the bedroom.
Is it stressful? You bet. But you know, I love having a clean house. It's hard to imagine, but my parents' house is like this all the time. People can drop in there any time and you'd never see a dirty glass on the counter or in the sink. The bathrooms are spotless.
Oh my God! I think I'm aspiring to be like my mother! That's it - tonight I'm getting some sleep.
# posted by Dave @ 12:10 PM 
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That's Grandma's house, although she'll tell you all the time that her house is messy. She's so funny.
It's funny, when I told our agent we'd be sure the house is kept clean in case he has to pop in with a client.
"Oh, your place is always clean" he said.
Ya, it's clean because we know he's coming! Sheesh, as if we live like this all the time (but it would be nice!).
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"Oh, your place is always clean" he said.
Ya, it's clean because we know he's coming! Sheesh, as if we live like this all the time (but it would be nice!).
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