That commercial makes me want to scream. I have never known a woman to be that happy while mopping or vacuuming, have you? Merry Maids indeed!!! I'll betcha they wouldn't be so happy had they been at my house today. Last night, Whitney and I scheduled a date for 10:00 a.m. this morning to try and reclaim some order in the kitchen. But you know sometimes, in order to do one task, something else must be done first, and before you can do that, another chore needs to be taken care of.. and on.. and on.. Whitney has recently signed on as a consultant with Pampered Chef, and has lots of new kitchen gadgets and goodies that need a place to live, a place that allows for quick and easy access when she needs to pack for shows, but yet allows us to be able to enjoy using them as well. The cabinet she wanted to use was home to some rarely-used dishes, several small kitchen appliances, and leftover party plates, napkins from who-knows-when. The plan was to move the appliances to the cabinets in the laundry room. However, my poor laundry room has become the catch-all (*as well as quick hideaway for when someone is coming over... just stash it in there and close the door*), and those cabinets were bulging over. Literally. Open one of those doors, and no telling what might fall out. It's a very nice, spacious cabinet, with either six or seven doors, and a wonderful, long countertop for folding laundry. Well, it would be wonderful for folding laundry if I could keep it neat and clean long enough. (see ** above.) In order to move the appliances into the laundry room, the cabinets first had to be emptied and purged of items that either didn't belong in there in the first place, were old/broken/unusable, or that we no longer needed or wanted. I seem to be acquiring a rather disturbing quality in my older age. I'm turning into a packrat. I love bags and boxes, storage containers, baskets... all manner of items with which to organize and keep things tidy... only my space becomes untidy and unorganized because I have so much of this stuff. Well, enough is enough. Today I cleaned and purged the pantry shelves, the shoe bins, and the laundry room cabinets! While I worked on the pantry that holds our canned goods, Whitney cleaned out the spot where we store our boxed items like cereal, PopTarts, rice, batter mixes, yummy quickie dinners, etc. By the time this chore was complete we had filled almost an entire lawn and leaf bag. Next, I parked myself in the laundry room with a little stepstool to sit on, and opened up each cabinet door and just let it all fall out. There were a couple of times that I was concerned about a quick escape in case of an emergency... I had completely barricaded myself between my clothes dryer, the cabinets and the doorway. I found all sorts of things that had been stashed away, and discovered that, not only am I not out of light bulbs, I probably won't need to buy any for at least five years. Later in the afternoon, we decided to make a run to the dumpster. There were a lot of items that we didn't really want to keep, too good to throw away, and with little motivation to have a yard sale, we decided to donate them to a little shop here in town that sells previously-owned items. Whitney took care of that chore and cleared out a little space. By this time, both kids were cranky, even though Corey had a nice nap, and were body slamming each other in the den, fighting over some cute little pretend kitchen appliances she brought back from the little store. That's just what we need. Trying to get rid of stuff... but here she comes bringing more stuff home. It is pretty cool stuff though... little pink appliances with batteries that "really work". They're from the Pottery Barn, so I imagine they would cost a pretty penny if new. Anyhow, the kids loved them, and besides they were *free*, (traded for the junk we donated) so that's fine. They loved them so much, in fact, that the fighting continued until the point that there were bloodcurdling shrieks coming from the den. Whitney was sitting in the floor in the kitchen, I on my stepstool in the laundry room, and we just started screaming too. It was quite the moment. Then, of course, Whitney and I were laughing... but the kids found little humor in it, and continued with their screeching. When we had filled enough garbage bags that it was time to go to the dumpster, Whit suggested we load up the kids and go have pizza at CiCi's. I graciously declined the suggestion, not finding much pleasure in the thought of dining with two grumpy children. My neice calls this type of behavior "natural birth control" for anyone who might witness it. Ha! So we had the bright idea of seeing if GiGi and Pop might like a visit with the munchkins so we could deliver the trash and grab a quiet bite to eat. (Lest you think us cruel, the kids are usually quite angelic over there, so we weren't subjecting GiGi & Pop to any form of torture!) Perhaps I forgot to mention that we are currently in a deep, deep freeze here in the south. So this meant extra bundling to be sure the munchkins stayed warm for the approximately 1/3 mile trip to GiGi & Pop's house. Not time enough for the car to get warm, you see. They look so cute all bundled up with their little puffy coats, scarves and hats. So sweet. Whit and I took care of the trash, ran a couple of errands, and had a quick bite at CiCi's. (Cheap and quick!!!) I won't say it was quiet... it most definitely was not... but it was nice to have all the racket being made by other folks instead of coming from our table. :-) I nearly fell asleep driving home, I was so tired. After picking up the kids and returning to The 409, we walked into our unfinished mess. You know, sometimes in order to clean it up, you gotta make a bigger mess and then work your way back. That's what we walked in on. The bigger mess that we had left behind. How sad and defeated we felt. We had worked our butts off all day... and it looked worse (in the kitchen) than before we started. Well, maybe not WORSE... but still pretty bad. I finished up in the laundry room, swept the floor, tidied everything up and was delighted to walk out and turn off the light. It's the first time in many years that you can see the floor, and the countertop, and even a little bit of empty space left over in the cabinet!! All at the same time!! Now, that's work that nobody will see or notice, but I can tell you that I'm pretty happy about it. But I'm not gonna dance with my mop or anything like those stupid Merry Maids do. I have absolutely not one ounce of energy left. I did sweep up the kitchen floor. I'm pretty stressed because my work week starts tomorrow, but I'm hoping by bedtime tomorrow night we'll have it all spic n span, with a place for everything and everything in its place. For a day or two anyhow, and then the chaos will start creeping back in to once again take over. Now I will muster up enough energy to go get myself a nice hot bath, and hopefully get myself to sleep before much longer. I will have to watch some tv or listen to some music, though, because now I have that horrible Merry Maids commercial stuck in my head. I just want to slug that lady and tell her to wipe that stinkin smile off her face.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Merry Maids
That commercial makes me want to scream. I have never known a woman to be that happy while mopping or vacuuming, have you? Merry Maids indeed!!! I'll betcha they wouldn't be so happy had they been at my house today. Last night, Whitney and I scheduled a date for 10:00 a.m. this morning to try and reclaim some order in the kitchen. But you know sometimes, in order to do one task, something else must be done first, and before you can do that, another chore needs to be taken care of.. and on.. and on.. Whitney has recently signed on as a consultant with Pampered Chef, and has lots of new kitchen gadgets and goodies that need a place to live, a place that allows for quick and easy access when she needs to pack for shows, but yet allows us to be able to enjoy using them as well. The cabinet she wanted to use was home to some rarely-used dishes, several small kitchen appliances, and leftover party plates, napkins from who-knows-when. The plan was to move the appliances to the cabinets in the laundry room. However, my poor laundry room has become the catch-all (*as well as quick hideaway for when someone is coming over... just stash it in there and close the door*), and those cabinets were bulging over. Literally. Open one of those doors, and no telling what might fall out. It's a very nice, spacious cabinet, with either six or seven doors, and a wonderful, long countertop for folding laundry. Well, it would be wonderful for folding laundry if I could keep it neat and clean long enough. (see ** above.) In order to move the appliances into the laundry room, the cabinets first had to be emptied and purged of items that either didn't belong in there in the first place, were old/broken/unusable, or that we no longer needed or wanted. I seem to be acquiring a rather disturbing quality in my older age. I'm turning into a packrat. I love bags and boxes, storage containers, baskets... all manner of items with which to organize and keep things tidy... only my space becomes untidy and unorganized because I have so much of this stuff. Well, enough is enough. Today I cleaned and purged the pantry shelves, the shoe bins, and the laundry room cabinets! While I worked on the pantry that holds our canned goods, Whitney cleaned out the spot where we store our boxed items like cereal, PopTarts, rice, batter mixes, yummy quickie dinners, etc. By the time this chore was complete we had filled almost an entire lawn and leaf bag. Next, I parked myself in the laundry room with a little stepstool to sit on, and opened up each cabinet door and just let it all fall out. There were a couple of times that I was concerned about a quick escape in case of an emergency... I had completely barricaded myself between my clothes dryer, the cabinets and the doorway. I found all sorts of things that had been stashed away, and discovered that, not only am I not out of light bulbs, I probably won't need to buy any for at least five years. Later in the afternoon, we decided to make a run to the dumpster. There were a lot of items that we didn't really want to keep, too good to throw away, and with little motivation to have a yard sale, we decided to donate them to a little shop here in town that sells previously-owned items. Whitney took care of that chore and cleared out a little space. By this time, both kids were cranky, even though Corey had a nice nap, and were body slamming each other in the den, fighting over some cute little pretend kitchen appliances she brought back from the little store. That's just what we need. Trying to get rid of stuff... but here she comes bringing more stuff home. It is pretty cool stuff though... little pink appliances with batteries that "really work". They're from the Pottery Barn, so I imagine they would cost a pretty penny if new. Anyhow, the kids loved them, and besides they were *free*, (traded for the junk we donated) so that's fine. They loved them so much, in fact, that the fighting continued until the point that there were bloodcurdling shrieks coming from the den. Whitney was sitting in the floor in the kitchen, I on my stepstool in the laundry room, and we just started screaming too. It was quite the moment. Then, of course, Whitney and I were laughing... but the kids found little humor in it, and continued with their screeching. When we had filled enough garbage bags that it was time to go to the dumpster, Whit suggested we load up the kids and go have pizza at CiCi's. I graciously declined the suggestion, not finding much pleasure in the thought of dining with two grumpy children. My neice calls this type of behavior "natural birth control" for anyone who might witness it. Ha! So we had the bright idea of seeing if GiGi and Pop might like a visit with the munchkins so we could deliver the trash and grab a quiet bite to eat. (Lest you think us cruel, the kids are usually quite angelic over there, so we weren't subjecting GiGi & Pop to any form of torture!) Perhaps I forgot to mention that we are currently in a deep, deep freeze here in the south. So this meant extra bundling to be sure the munchkins stayed warm for the approximately 1/3 mile trip to GiGi & Pop's house. Not time enough for the car to get warm, you see. They look so cute all bundled up with their little puffy coats, scarves and hats. So sweet. Whit and I took care of the trash, ran a couple of errands, and had a quick bite at CiCi's. (Cheap and quick!!!) I won't say it was quiet... it most definitely was not... but it was nice to have all the racket being made by other folks instead of coming from our table. :-) I nearly fell asleep driving home, I was so tired. After picking up the kids and returning to The 409, we walked into our unfinished mess. You know, sometimes in order to clean it up, you gotta make a bigger mess and then work your way back. That's what we walked in on. The bigger mess that we had left behind. How sad and defeated we felt. We had worked our butts off all day... and it looked worse (in the kitchen) than before we started. Well, maybe not WORSE... but still pretty bad. I finished up in the laundry room, swept the floor, tidied everything up and was delighted to walk out and turn off the light. It's the first time in many years that you can see the floor, and the countertop, and even a little bit of empty space left over in the cabinet!! All at the same time!! Now, that's work that nobody will see or notice, but I can tell you that I'm pretty happy about it. But I'm not gonna dance with my mop or anything like those stupid Merry Maids do. I have absolutely not one ounce of energy left. I did sweep up the kitchen floor. I'm pretty stressed because my work week starts tomorrow, but I'm hoping by bedtime tomorrow night we'll have it all spic n span, with a place for everything and everything in its place. For a day or two anyhow, and then the chaos will start creeping back in to once again take over. Now I will muster up enough energy to go get myself a nice hot bath, and hopefully get myself to sleep before much longer. I will have to watch some tv or listen to some music, though, because now I have that horrible Merry Maids commercial stuck in my head. I just want to slug that lady and tell her to wipe that stinkin smile off her face.
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