Experiment Day 4 - Cleaning of the Master Bath

Today was a big change.  While you might think that cleaning the master bath was not a big step forward, you're wrong.  Since Husband had his surgery, some things have fallen away.  I was never a good housekeeper to begin with, but I work a lot and there are the kids, and well. . . I hate to clean bathrooms.  At the old house, we had a maid service that came every other week.  I had clean bathrooms during that time.  However, the larger mortgage with the new house meant we gave up certain luxuries like a maid service.  I miss it.

So, the toilet in the master bath was filthy.  We're in the process of trying to potty train the youngest.  I couldn't, in good conscience, put him on this filthy toilet.  See:

Today, I resigned myself to clean it.  I had to really, really, really scrub.  I wore gloves.  It was nasty.  But now I have a gleaming, clean toilet:

Then I moved further and cleared all the toys and clutter off the sinks, cleaned the giant mirror, washed the sinks and counters, and only put back what needed to be put back.  I cleaned the shower stall, which still needs a serious dose of Comet cleanser, swept the floor, and mopped it.  My bathroom now sparkles.  I don't dread going inside.  I don't worry that when I put my toothbrush down I will do so in a big glob of toothpaste left behind by the eldest child. 

I also cleaned the youngest's "training potty" which had been left unattended apparently since months ago when we last tried potty training.  We've been using the big potty with a smaller seat that comes down, but Hannibal really doesn't like it.  Shortly after cleaning the training potty and telling him, he's running to the bathroom saying, "Mommy, I go pee myself."  And he did, even pulling his underwear down and sitting, and going.  He got a sticker for that.  Success!  It's only early afternoon and I feel accomplished on my day off.

Experiment Day 3 - Minor change

Yesterday, all I got done was moving Igor's vintage Star Wars bank upstairs. Since we moved in, it has resided on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen.  I don't know why.  Probably because Igor didn't have a dresser.  Maybe because when you push the button it plays REALLY LOUD Star Wars music, then C3PO talks and then R2-D2 moves forward and pushes the coin into the bank.  Regardless, now that my father-in-law gave us a dresser that we put in Hannibal's room, Igor has a dresser in his room.  So last night I moved the bank upstairs and put it on Igor's dresser.  Today, I've had to hear it played at least 5 times.  (Didn't help that I gave each kid a quarter to try it out.)  Progress, albeit small.

Experiment Day 2 - Misc Kitchen Duties

Last night, after feeling somewhat accomplished for (1) announcing my experiment publicly and (2) actually doing a small thing as indicated in yesterday's post, my momentum continued:  I took Igor's "College Fund" bank (really an oatmeal box my sister made for my baby shower) upstairs to his bedroom dresser and put a few items of clothing away.  Not BIG progress, but we're looking for small things to move us forward, right?

Today's accomplishment?  Minor kitchen tasks.  Worked late tonight as I'm entering peak season at work and I'm already feeling behind.  When I came home, darling Husband was cooking dinner.  We enjoyed a fine meal of garlic bread, bowtie pasta with sausage and onions and peppers, and salads with croutons and candied walnuts.  Yum!  The sausage turned out to be Hot Italian, so Igor and I did not like it, but the rest (including little Hannibal) loved it.

Husband said he would do the dishes.  However, I emptied the dishwasher and loaded it.  I set the delay to start in the morning.  I am leaving him the big pots, though.  I emptied the kitchen trash, took it to the garage, and put a new bag in (quite amazing in this house, actually!).  Then I took the recycling to the bin in the garage.  It had been stacking up on the counter for several days.  It drives me crazy that they can't walk an extra 5 feet to put the recycling in the bin in the garage.  Instead, they stack it on the corner of the kitchen counter.  It makes the counter messy.  Usually, it stays until trash mornings (Tuesdays), but I've decided I'll try to take it to the garage each night.  The clear, uncluttered counter makes me feel less like my hoarding kin.

Well, off to watch Episode 3 of Season 1 of The Tudors on Netflix.  Then to bed.  Again, just miscellaneous stuff, but it's better than status quo, right?

Turning the House Into a Home - Day 1

In 1998, my husband and I had the worst year ever.  We lost my dad & his mom.  We both changed jobs.  We built a house.  We got engaged.  It was rough. 

Later, we got married and had our reception in the backyard of that house.  Our two boys were born in that house.  And 11 years after moving in, we finally sold the house and moved out.  We did many home improvement projects.  Mostly to sell the house.  We built a deck and didn't get to enjoy it for long before the house was sold.  I loved the house, though we outgrew it.  However, we didn't really make it into a home.  It was a house.

We moved into this house in August 2009.  I love the house.  It's twice the size of the last one.  There are plenty of projects that it will take to transform the house into the home I know it can be.  However, I don't want to wait until we're ready to sell it in 20-30 years before we actually do anything about it.  So, I've been thinking that I should do one thing a day in the house to help make it more homey.  It doesn't have to be big.  It could be as easy as emptying the trash can under my bathroom vanity.  Or putting my clothes away instead of leaving them in the basket in front of my dresser.

You see, I'm the child of two hoarders.  I have the "gene" on both sides of the family.  I lived with a grandmother who had lost a home to fire and felt the need to hoard because she'd lost so much.  I know I hoard a little - mostly clothes and paper.  I work to purge as I can.  But this makes it harder for me to make the house into the beautiful home I know it could be.

I'm also thwarted by the level of testosterone in the house.  My 3 year old is in active potty training.  My six year old likes toys that come in all sorts of little parts (Legos, action figures, etc.).  My husband is recovering from his second surgery this year.  My brother-in-law that lives here is a bit OCD to go along with what we think is Asperger's, but that doesn't mean he's clean.  (For example, Husband and I made a bet that Iago wouldn't remember that a cup of Coke on the table was his.  We were right.  He moved it from the table and dumped it, but put it on the counter for us to clean since it CLEARLY wasn't his.)

Anyway, join me on my journey.  Today's task?  I began logging the bills from the "bill file" into the computer to track them so I could toss some of the paper in the file away.  Not a big step, but it's all about baby steps, right?  We didn't start to walk by running first.

Husband - Another Surgery & Continued Recovery

Husband finally completed his PT sessions - after exceeding the regularly scheduled ones, they approved him for an additional 8.  He completed those, only to end up needing surgery for hidradenitis suppurativa.  In the surgery, they removed a section of skin under his arm (yes, the same arm) that was 15 cm  x 13 cm x 3.5cm deep.  He spent the night in the hospital and the following day they installed a wound vac.  Recovery time?  Approximately 8 weeks until he gets the first new layer of skin back.  Then, probably another 6 months until he's fully healed.  He's stretching so he doesn't get scar tissue that prevents him from stretching his arm all the way up - still painful from the titanium "nail" going through his rotator cuff, but necessary.  He is part of a clinic trial of a new wound care product, so he only needs dressings changed every Wednesday and he goes into the doctor's office to have it done.  He's healing well (now only about 1.3 cm deep and the wound had gone as deep as 4 cm at one of the initial visits).  But we've had to deal with canister changes for the vac, battery failures, mass leaks, and the smell.  The smell is awful.  I have invested in Febreze and am using it liberally on the recliner where he sleeps.  Someone told him to try dryer sheets, but another person told him they only made it worse.  So we deal with it. He's allowed to shower on the morning he goes in for a dressing change and we have a fun cling wrap and painters' masking tape adventure on those days.  But last week, when he leaked, he had to go in early and unexpectedly so he missed his shower that week.  He was happy today when he could shower again.  He has found some great ways to get "partial" showers, but they're not nearly as satisfying.

So, this has kept me busy.  Plus we hosted Thanksgiving at our house (thank you to my father-in-law who brought the smoked turkeys!) and my mom stayed for a week that week. . . I don't think it will be as long next time.