Cleaning House
Apr. 16th, 2012 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwendolyngraceIt's been a productive three days but not as productive as I'd hoped....
So, you may recall that I've been cleaning out my mother's house* and as a result bringing many many things home, which I haven't really had time to deal with other than shoving it into my back room, storage locker in the cellar, or (because she is awesome and loves me), A's storage bunker at its undisclosed location.
I've been planning around this holiday weekend ("Patriot's Day" which is really only a Massachusetts holiday) to have enough time to get deep into the project of both going through the various boxes that were sitting in my apartment and simultaneously do a little spring cleaning / reorganizing.
Friday night, instead of coming home and immediately getting my stuff marshalled and organised, I went to dinner with A, F, and R, who had come to Boston for the first time, and whom A and I were meeting for the first time. (Convinced her to come to Ascendio, yay!) And that was great fun and totally worth going and yayz. And A gave us both rides home and then stayed for a couple hours to hang out. Which was also great fun and productive but...not cleaning.
Okay, Saturday morning. New start! I was going to get everything out of the back room, pull all the books so I could reorganize the bookcases, etc.
Just as I was getting out of bed, my phone rang. It's my landlord. "What are your plans for this weekend?" Uh. Spring Cleaning. "Well, because the guy who redid the bathroom wants to come and retile. He asked me to give you a heads-up but this is his idea of a heads-up. He's in Needham and he's going to come and look. I think it might take him a couple hours."
Shit. Not only do I really not want people tromping through my apartment right now because, jeebus, it's a sty at the moment...I really, really do not want to put my cleaning plans on hold! Plus, um, I'm not dressed.
So I throw on some clothes and focus on the basics: Path from back door through the kitchen to the bath is clear (mostly - there's a row of boxes waiting to get downstairs but you can walk around them); the bathtub** and bathroom floor are cleared of all products and clutter; scrub the toilet (cause dude, needs it); I was just trying to decide if they would need me to move my car when he showed up.
Commence about half an hour while they stand in my bathroom discussing the tile job. Upshot: No, they don't need to retile, but they DO need to regrout, but they're not going to do it that day.
Fine.
I get back to what I was starting with, which was laundry. I tried cleaning out the back room a little but quickly decided to focus on the front. I switched out a small, crappy folding bookcase in the corner (blocking in my front door with the books, chair, and other stuff that was in front of said bookcase!), replaced it with a larger one I'd brought from the house, rearranged the others. They stick out about 1.5" from the hallway wall (my flat is not ADA compliant, in other words), but they're there, and they give me MUCH more book storage.
I also, in the course of this, decided that it would be really cool if I could move another bookcase from the front into the back and replace the other crappy folding bookcase that was in the corner back there. Ideally this would be a wide bookcase with flexible (enough) shelving that I could also replace the media shelving (so, a 48"-wide unit with about 5-6 shelves). Alternatively, I could just get a high bookcase of up to about 36" wide for the back.
So. Sunday, I got off to Target nice and early to shop bookcases. Really didn't like anything I saw. The "tall" bookcase was still only just shy of 30" wide and nicer options were MUCH more expensive. I also found a replacement clock for my front room but it wasn't ideal.
So I figured I'd run across to Home Depot to see what they had. Nothing was what they had. I momentarily had a "my smartphone is too smart for me" moment when I couldn't find "Yelp" but by the time I looked in Marshalls (again, nothing), I remembered how to use my phone and SUCCESSFULLY followed Google Navigation to the Container Store. Which didn't have any shelves like I was looking for, either. So I went to Walmart (ew), where I found a second clock option and one of the things that was on my Target list that they didn't have, so not a dead loss. From there I tried Lowe's and wound up... back at Target. Sigh.
$27 later I had the 5-shelf bookcase I hadn't really liked but was the best option if I was going to get this project done this weekend. I made it back to my flat around 2 PM, had some lunch, talked to my father (wah wah wah), and proceeded to pull apart the back room bookcase, once again piling up all the books in the front room. That bookcase was not in very bad shape, so I stashed it downstairs (folded up) and did more dishes and assembled the bookcase while watching Game 3 of the Flyers-Penguins playoffs (and OMG, what a fucking disappointing game that was! But I digress).
One horrible display of hockey-fail and one and a half episodes of "M*A*S*H" later, I had assembled a bookcase that was NOT straight. When I stood it up against the wall it was leaning forward at roughly the angle of the tower of Pisa. I bracketed it to the wall and shimmed it (so there) and shelved about half the books and made dinner (it was 8:00 PM). By then it was time for the Ascendio staff meeting. Later, I also put together a second smaller shelf that I had bought sometime before, intended for under the window in the back room. And I did something else cleany last night but honestly I don't remember what. I'll be honest, there was a LOT of rearranging books and looking through old paper.
Today, I got up, washed the dishes, and set out butter to soften to make banana bread with a pair of bananas that have been ripening for a couple weeks. I then cleaned the stove surface (again, desperately needed) and while the bread was baking, I shelved the rest of the books (rearranging the 6th bookcase), re-hung a framed needlepoint on the opposite wall from the new bookcase, and went through multiple boxes and bags and similar containers of things from home. Most of it I've either tabled for later or found a home for. Warm banana bread for brunch. More cleaning; more rearranging, more shelving. A couple things are going to goodwill, some are being thrown away.
What I didn't get to this weekend was going back through my clothes, shoes, and jewelry again to try to pare down. But that can happen another day. Before trash collection this week I'll break down the empty cardboard boxes and get them out.
So, in a nutshell:
-2 loads of laundry
-1 banana bread
-6 reorganized bookcases (2 replaced, 4 rearranged and 1 that wasn't reorganized)
-1 cleaned toilet
-1 cleared out bathroom
-1 clean stove
-3 loads of dishes
-2 boxes for storage
-2 large bags for goodwill
Still to do:
-file lots of bills and papers
-break down cardboard boxes and set out for trash
-set out one folding bookcase for trash
-drop clothes for goodwill
-pick up random bits in the living room
-research/get collectible items up for online sale (etsy? ebay?)
-go through clothes, shoes, jewelry to downsize
-loads of repair jobs (clothes and shoes)
-rearrange old wrapping paper container into new wrapping paper container so that the old one can be used for bags, flat paper, tissue, etc.
-go to storage locker at undisclosed location and stow keeper boxes, possibly retrieve others for more in-depth examination.
At least these are smaller projects that don't take intensive DAYS worth of clean, rest, clean. Today was the worst, though, for the dust levels. About every ten minutes I had to sneeze.
I'm tired.
*House update: She is supposed to close on the 18th (Wednesday!) but they discovered that some years ago (don't even know when) one of the neighbors catty-corner to our backyard built a fence that protrudes about one foot onto our property line. When I talked to her last week they were trying to figure out if the people would remove it. Haven't checked with her since Thursday but will call her tomorrow.
**Funny story. I removed all the stuff from my bathtub but replaced my shampoos and conditioner and stuff so I could shower tonight. In the middle of my shower, I realized that I had grabbed two bottles of shampoo and no conditioner. So there I am hopping out and dashing across the hall to the hallway closet and rummaging in the basket on the shelf (top shelf, of course!) for a bottle of conditioner. Oy.
So, you may recall that I've been cleaning out my mother's house* and as a result bringing many many things home, which I haven't really had time to deal with other than shoving it into my back room, storage locker in the cellar, or (because she is awesome and loves me), A's storage bunker at its undisclosed location.
I've been planning around this holiday weekend ("Patriot's Day" which is really only a Massachusetts holiday) to have enough time to get deep into the project of both going through the various boxes that were sitting in my apartment and simultaneously do a little spring cleaning / reorganizing.
Friday night, instead of coming home and immediately getting my stuff marshalled and organised, I went to dinner with A, F, and R, who had come to Boston for the first time, and whom A and I were meeting for the first time. (Convinced her to come to Ascendio, yay!) And that was great fun and totally worth going and yayz. And A gave us both rides home and then stayed for a couple hours to hang out. Which was also great fun and productive but...not cleaning.
Okay, Saturday morning. New start! I was going to get everything out of the back room, pull all the books so I could reorganize the bookcases, etc.
Just as I was getting out of bed, my phone rang. It's my landlord. "What are your plans for this weekend?" Uh. Spring Cleaning. "Well, because the guy who redid the bathroom wants to come and retile. He asked me to give you a heads-up but this is his idea of a heads-up. He's in Needham and he's going to come and look. I think it might take him a couple hours."
Shit. Not only do I really not want people tromping through my apartment right now because, jeebus, it's a sty at the moment...I really, really do not want to put my cleaning plans on hold! Plus, um, I'm not dressed.
So I throw on some clothes and focus on the basics: Path from back door through the kitchen to the bath is clear (mostly - there's a row of boxes waiting to get downstairs but you can walk around them); the bathtub** and bathroom floor are cleared of all products and clutter; scrub the toilet (cause dude, needs it); I was just trying to decide if they would need me to move my car when he showed up.
Commence about half an hour while they stand in my bathroom discussing the tile job. Upshot: No, they don't need to retile, but they DO need to regrout, but they're not going to do it that day.
Fine.
I get back to what I was starting with, which was laundry. I tried cleaning out the back room a little but quickly decided to focus on the front. I switched out a small, crappy folding bookcase in the corner (blocking in my front door with the books, chair, and other stuff that was in front of said bookcase!), replaced it with a larger one I'd brought from the house, rearranged the others. They stick out about 1.5" from the hallway wall (my flat is not ADA compliant, in other words), but they're there, and they give me MUCH more book storage.
I also, in the course of this, decided that it would be really cool if I could move another bookcase from the front into the back and replace the other crappy folding bookcase that was in the corner back there. Ideally this would be a wide bookcase with flexible (enough) shelving that I could also replace the media shelving (so, a 48"-wide unit with about 5-6 shelves). Alternatively, I could just get a high bookcase of up to about 36" wide for the back.
So. Sunday, I got off to Target nice and early to shop bookcases. Really didn't like anything I saw. The "tall" bookcase was still only just shy of 30" wide and nicer options were MUCH more expensive. I also found a replacement clock for my front room but it wasn't ideal.
So I figured I'd run across to Home Depot to see what they had. Nothing was what they had. I momentarily had a "my smartphone is too smart for me" moment when I couldn't find "Yelp" but by the time I looked in Marshalls (again, nothing), I remembered how to use my phone and SUCCESSFULLY followed Google Navigation to the Container Store. Which didn't have any shelves like I was looking for, either. So I went to Walmart (ew), where I found a second clock option and one of the things that was on my Target list that they didn't have, so not a dead loss. From there I tried Lowe's and wound up... back at Target. Sigh.
$27 later I had the 5-shelf bookcase I hadn't really liked but was the best option if I was going to get this project done this weekend. I made it back to my flat around 2 PM, had some lunch, talked to my father (wah wah wah), and proceeded to pull apart the back room bookcase, once again piling up all the books in the front room. That bookcase was not in very bad shape, so I stashed it downstairs (folded up) and did more dishes and assembled the bookcase while watching Game 3 of the Flyers-Penguins playoffs (and OMG, what a fucking disappointing game that was! But I digress).
One horrible display of hockey-fail and one and a half episodes of "M*A*S*H" later, I had assembled a bookcase that was NOT straight. When I stood it up against the wall it was leaning forward at roughly the angle of the tower of Pisa. I bracketed it to the wall and shimmed it (so there) and shelved about half the books and made dinner (it was 8:00 PM). By then it was time for the Ascendio staff meeting. Later, I also put together a second smaller shelf that I had bought sometime before, intended for under the window in the back room. And I did something else cleany last night but honestly I don't remember what. I'll be honest, there was a LOT of rearranging books and looking through old paper.
Today, I got up, washed the dishes, and set out butter to soften to make banana bread with a pair of bananas that have been ripening for a couple weeks. I then cleaned the stove surface (again, desperately needed) and while the bread was baking, I shelved the rest of the books (rearranging the 6th bookcase), re-hung a framed needlepoint on the opposite wall from the new bookcase, and went through multiple boxes and bags and similar containers of things from home. Most of it I've either tabled for later or found a home for. Warm banana bread for brunch. More cleaning; more rearranging, more shelving. A couple things are going to goodwill, some are being thrown away.
What I didn't get to this weekend was going back through my clothes, shoes, and jewelry again to try to pare down. But that can happen another day. Before trash collection this week I'll break down the empty cardboard boxes and get them out.
So, in a nutshell:
-2 loads of laundry
-1 banana bread
-6 reorganized bookcases (2 replaced, 4 rearranged and 1 that wasn't reorganized)
-1 cleaned toilet
-1 cleared out bathroom
-1 clean stove
-3 loads of dishes
-2 boxes for storage
-2 large bags for goodwill
Still to do:
-file lots of bills and papers
-break down cardboard boxes and set out for trash
-set out one folding bookcase for trash
-drop clothes for goodwill
-pick up random bits in the living room
-research/get collectible items up for online sale (etsy? ebay?)
-go through clothes, shoes, jewelry to downsize
-loads of repair jobs (clothes and shoes)
-rearrange old wrapping paper container into new wrapping paper container so that the old one can be used for bags, flat paper, tissue, etc.
-go to storage locker at undisclosed location and stow keeper boxes, possibly retrieve others for more in-depth examination.
At least these are smaller projects that don't take intensive DAYS worth of clean, rest, clean. Today was the worst, though, for the dust levels. About every ten minutes I had to sneeze.
I'm tired.
*House update: She is supposed to close on the 18th (Wednesday!) but they discovered that some years ago (don't even know when) one of the neighbors catty-corner to our backyard built a fence that protrudes about one foot onto our property line. When I talked to her last week they were trying to figure out if the people would remove it. Haven't checked with her since Thursday but will call her tomorrow.
**Funny story. I removed all the stuff from my bathtub but replaced my shampoos and conditioner and stuff so I could shower tonight. In the middle of my shower, I realized that I had grabbed two bottles of shampoo and no conditioner. So there I am hopping out and dashing across the hall to the hallway closet and rummaging in the basket on the shelf (top shelf, of course!) for a bottle of conditioner. Oy.
