Home Depot has been our friend lately. When we were there a couple of weeks ago for mulch and compost, I also grabbed a bunch of cleaning supplies – rags, buckets, Scrubbing Bubbles, Pine Sol, Old English, and Simple Green. I used the entire bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles on our two showers on Saturday. I also washed our shower curtains (much cheaper than replacing soap scummed vinyl shower linings), cleaned all the baseboards, wiped down all the door frames, doors, door jams, door knobs and light switches, wiped down all my kitchen cabinets, cleaned the top of the refrigerator, wiped a few walls and other surfaces, then – back killing me and abdominal ligament pain flaring – pronounced myself done for the day (but making it clear to no one in particular that this was only phase 1 and that there are two more phases to go). Then, I cleaned my sweaty self up and rushed off to L’s baby shower.
I was SO sore on Saturday and Sunday that I began to rethink that whole 3 phases thing. My arms were fatigued from shoulder to wrist and my back was killing me. I seriously considered just leaving everything else or hiring a crew to come and finish the job. But every time I catch a glimpse at the whiteness that is suddenly my baseboards, I know I have to finish.
While I was at the shower, M went again to Home Depot to pick up another HyLoft and some stuff to mount the canoe in the garage. We finally got M’s 14 foot canoe out of our den. (Ladies, if you want something done, just order online whatever is needed to do it. If you have a husband like mine, he’ll be SO excited when it comes in the mail, he’ll not only praise your mad online shopping skills, but he’ll be driven to put it up – even though it’ll take him 8 hours - and a lot of sawdust and grunt work – to do it.) I helped him with getting the canoe into the straps, and then we stood there strategizing over storage.
I think neither of us is ceasing to be shocked with how much prep work is going into getting ready for this baby. In truth, we’re both nesting. M’s been asking me for days “when is my baby’s crib going to get here?” Well, it was delivered to the store today, so I called him and he’s happy as a lark to be picking it up right after work and assembling it in the den (where the canoe once was). We have no more room in the “nursery” because we have to do some clever rearranging of stuff – including the installation of another HyLoft in our garage – so that we can both have a place to put our crap and still have a place to park our cars. We’re big advocates of using the garage for the parking of cars rather than for the storing of crap. The result of this guiding garage philosophy is that we have used nearly every possible wall and ceiling space to hang our bikes, kayaks, canoes, camping gear, lawn equipment, Christmas decorations, etc. from.
So, in essence, Nesting Phase 1 for M was putting together the baby furniture. For me, it was cleaning the baseboards, etc. like a mad woman. Phase 2 for M is installing the canoe hoist and putting up the HyLoft (he’s half way done). Phase 2 for me will be finishing the baseboards in the kitchen, dusting every possible dusty surface in the house (high and low), steam cleaning our rug and living room furniture, and wiping the walls, baseboards and window sills behind where our dirty dogs lie. Phase 3 for both of us will be touching up and spot cleaning just before my shower (mental note: buy more Scrubbing Bubbles), moving the dogs outside temporarily and, for lucky M, will include cleaning our floors.
I tried making the thought of all this work better by enumerating the reasons it’s good we’re cleaning: 1) we haven’t cleaned deeply since we moved in (4 years ago); 2) baby needs a clean house; 3) baby’s shower will be at my house; and 4) my sister is house sitting for us the following week. All true, but I will be glad when it’s finished. Especially since the next time I get to clean like this again might just be in another 4 years.
~Nichole
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