August 30: Lets Talk About Filth and Cleanliness

Before you read this, please note that we are still thinking we are on a grand adventure!  We all need to have challenges to be able to see all our blessings.

We took possession of our apartment on Saturday.  I knew that I did not have expectations of grandeur, but I did expect it to be clean and be ready to move in with just a quick wipe down of all the surfaces.  That is not what we got, but others tried to help make it right.  Today is my first sit down day since we entered this place.  The guys who moved out told the landlord that all they needed to do was a quick sweeping and they would be ready to turn things over.  Obviously they were not Boy Scouts or related to anyone in our families.  Both of us have always been told to leave a place better than you find it.  THEY HAD NOT OR CHOSE TO IGNORE IT!!!  The actual landlord said that this is what he sees when people move out.  We told him to expect more or to withhold the deposit.  We also considered our options on where we could live.  I am not a germaphobic, but I do have standards.  We asked that he replace the hall and stair carpeting as part of our move in and also asked that he allow us to paint the rooms that needed it the most.  The carpet is in and the painting is planned.

We have scrubbed and scrubbed and swept and vacuumed, and scrubbed some more.  We have used 2 large bottles of Pinesol, several pairs of rubber gloves, lots of Soft Scrub, and a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner. I even bought a kneeling pad to make all of the crawling around easier to take.  Am I proud of all the work we have done?  You bet ya!   Are we done, NO but today is a break!  Tomorrow I am going to do the first work in the studio -- It is mostly clean and ready to set up, but I do have some wall washing to do and some windows to clean.  (I generally say I do not do windows----I move.) This weekend we are painting the kitchen and shampooing two rooms. Is this the kind of place I want to live in forever - No Chance!  I do find older homes charming and would consider one in the future, but not a upstairs apartment with 16 steps to the living space.  However, it is now clean and becoming our little home away from home.  We can do anything for a year, and once we actually hang some things on the walls it will be kind of cozy.

Kevin and I did not bring lots of furniture and stuff, but with the 16 steps to be considered, believe me when I say we were exhausted after hauling it all up the stairs.  The last boxes seemed to weigh 10X what the first ones did.   I was really sweating from hard work not because of temps. Everything we brought with us was carried in on Saturday simply because all the rain was expected on Sunday and the carpet layers were expected by 10:00 AM on Sunday.  We had visions of working around them even though the stairs and hallway are smack in the middle of the apartment, and we did what we could.  (Going back to sleep at the Bed and Breakfast was the best idea I heard all day!!!)

A strong indicator of just how I was viewing the steps on Saturday evening would be that I had carried several items including a 6-pack of paper towels up to the top of the steps.  The paper towels slipped from my hand and bounced all the way to the bottom of the steps.  I stood and looked at it and found myself wondering how it was going to work its own way back up the stairs.  Pathetic, right?

My grandson will wonder why I do not have any photos, so here is a shot of our new carpeting for the 16 stairs and hallway.  =0)