clean my house

I’ve started sorting stuff to either save in an organized way or toss out. I even turned off pro football for a while to avoid distraction. Of course, that wasn’t a big loss anyway.

Spent a good part of the day going through collected mail and tossing out stuff. Felt good.

Even though Sonia has gone to north Florida, I keep thinking “what would Sonia say if I didn’t throw this away?”

She retired and moved to her house in North Florida. Therefore I will be missing the motivator for organization and neatness. However, I’ve been working so consistently on neatness that I think I have started a habit, and I find myself feeling the urge take care of things NOW rather than putting them off.

Even without Sonia’s prodding, I do things. I guess she has started me building habits. I also analyzed that it’s more fun and meaningful when there is another person is involved. After she moves upstate to her retirement home we’re both worried that I won’t have the motivation to continue. One of her great strengths is the ability to look at something and very quickly come up with an organized plan to work towards. She pushes me to throw away stuff, but doesn’t start fights about it, and she doesn’t just grap stuff and toss it when I’m not there. Unfortunately we don’t have a romantic relationship to keep her here, or at least visiting a lot to reinforce the determination I’m developing. I guess the true story of life is that I have to do the thinking and deciding on my own. That’s cool.

Even without Sonia’s prodding, I do things. I guess she has started me building habits. I also analyzed that it’s more fun and meaningful when there is another person is involved. After she moves upstate to her retirement home we’re both worried that I won’t have the motivation to continue. One of her great strengths is the ability to look at something and very quickly come up with an organized plan to work towards. She pushes me to throw away stuff, but doesn’t start fights about it, and she doesn’t just grap stuff and toss it when I’m not there. Unfortunately we don’t have a romantic relationship to keep her here, or at least visiting a lot to reinforce the determination I’m developing. I guess the true story of life is that I have to do the thinking and decidingg on my own. That’s cool.

Today I removed a small room divider and ground off the bolts projecting from the floor, and ground down far enough to allow covering what was left with some kind of cement. I also changed the toilet seat which was so old that the bolts were steel instead of nylon. I had to grind those off also because the nuts were rusted and frozen to the bolts. Got it done, and although it doesn’t look like a big deal, as far as I’m concerned, it was major progress.

We worked on the Florida Room for a couple weekends, and it looks amazingly different – to me – but I’m sure the average person would find it still a disaster.

Sonia walked around today; we went outside so she could walk in the sun back and forth in front of the house. She’s recovering quite nicely from her surgery, and is even thinking of going upstate to her house in Ormond Beach the last two weeks of July. She thinks she will be strong enough to do some cleaning in anticipation of her retirement and permanent move in December.

Anyway, she pointed out some problems with the front door area, mold, grime, and dirt, so I got the Tilex, Simple Green, and Bleach, and washed away. More and More, Better and Better, it is getting!!!

The house is looking better and better. Even rooms where my stuff has been jammed in have been improved. It’s easy to walk through and see things. The main rooms, Living, Dining, Kitchen, Laundry/Utility look normal. Sonia says it is taking on a homey look. She goes in for her surgery on Wednesday, June 27, and will probably get home Saturday or Sunday, and the house will be presentable for her lady friends from work to drop in and visit. Their tendency would be to criticize Sonia for my mess, which would just bounce off my skin – who cares what they think!- but this will keep them from saying: “How could she live like that!!” Anyway, after all her efforts she is moving to north Florida in December, but I think she is a person that has to be constantly involved fixing things, which benefits me, and makes her feel like she accomplished something beneficial for another person.