The past few days I've been feeling the cleaning bug and getting a few apartment projects that I've been wanting/needing to do since I first moved in. A year ago.
I finally got tired of waiting around for Keith to feel it too and decided I would think of myself as "single" in order to get these projects done. As in, if I lived alone, these would be done already, so stop waiting on the other half to help. That sounded a lot worse than I intended it to, but sometimes that mentality helps. It sure does in this case.
Basically there are three things that need to get done; cleaning out the hall closet, cleaning and re-organizing what we affectionately call "The second bedroom", and putting the damn shelves up.
I cleaned out the hall closet yesterday and donated a whole black garbage bag of jackets, mitts/scarves/toques and other assorted items that were left over from K's ex. I was expecting it to be a whole lot worse than it was; it turned out to be a quick hour (or two) job. I don't even know why I waited a full year to even look at it. And now it's all organized and cleaned and PRETTY.
The second bedroom is a bit more of a challenge; its probably going to take me two or three days to get it done - really it's an onsite storage closet that has served as a catch-all for EVERYTHING over the years. There's a small freezer in there as well as a couple of deep wall shelves and two shelving units with doors with floor space left over, but we have so much on the floor that you can't really use any of the storage stuff. The shelving units used to be used as extra pantry space, but honestly? There's candy in there thats 4 years old. (Aside: Does anyone know if canned spaghetti sauce goes bad? Gatorade?) The freezer runs off the lightswitch; guess who turned out the lightswitch for months unknowingly? Yeah. NOT looking forward to opening that baby up and seeing the damage.
And then there's just STUFF. STUFF that's piled to the ceiling and Keith hasn't used in years and just really needs to be thrown out/donated. Am expecting some resistance to this, because Keith, as it turns out, is a fucking pack-rat. Doesn't want to throw out ANYTHING. Even if he hasn't used in the 2 years I've known him, and I can't see a situation where he would, ever, HE WILL NOT PART WITH IT. Which explains why I'm facing this predicament right now, doesn't it?
The shelves. Ah, the shelves. The f%&@king shelves. A YEAR AGO, I said, let's take them down. A YEAR AGO, I said, lets spray paint them red. And then winter happened. And I said, let's do a second coat. IN MAY.
They are now sitting in my living room, have been since JUNE, and they are mocking me in all their reddish glory. They need to be put up, they need to be put up NOW. And then I will ignore them for the rest of existence (or until we move).
Oh, TMI, but it has to be said: Do not lean over to reach the bottom of the freezer (which, incidentally, has a giant candy cane stuck to the bottom - those don't go bad, do they?) while not wearing a shirt. Frozen boobies will occur.
5 comments:
Alright, this is an open invitation for any time you get the cleaning urge - you are most welcome to come to New Zealand and clean to your heart's content at my place :) Moving house brings out all the disgusting stuff you've been avoiding doing, like cleaning behind the fridge and stove *shudder*
Also I relate to the pack rat thing. That's Michael. I am do we need to keep a copy of every issue of PC Powerplay magazine since June 1997??? Apparently so. And do you know how heavy those buggers are in a great big pile that is as high as my hips? He can move them himself!
Also, why were you digging in the freezer without a top on in the first place? The mind boggles...
Well done with the organization! I go on cleaning binges and clean and organize for hours at a time, and then not do it again for a month. oops. Good thing T likes to clean!
Frozen boobies! Brrr!
I got most of our house unpacked while Torsten was traveling on business. But he did the vast, vast majority of packing up the stuff in the first place, so I wasn't resentful.
Jess - do I sound resentful? Now you have me all worried, because that wasn't the tone I was trying to get across. Exasperation, yeah. Resentful, no.
It always feels so good when that stuff is done. I often get a bee in my bonnet abour projects that have sat untouched for months as well. I've decided I will do a monthly project until they are all done (which will make for a lot of months).
And I totally get the exasperation with the significant other. We've been in our house for almost a year and a half and still have no baseboards down. I'm about to get the nail gun out and go to town on my own.
Enjoy your new clean, organized spaces. :)
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