I have no photos of the dirt I have been dealing with and there is no way to picture the exhaustion that has been my constant companion for the last week.
Even today I had to wake up earlier than my weary body was ready for, to wait for a new dishwasher to be delivered and installed here at home. But some of the nasty dirtiness of my life is nearly over.
My dirty dishes are rinsed and piled high, awaiting a hot time in the new dishwasher tonight.
Two days of cleaning in our college rental house are finished, although I have to get the oven racks cleaned and back to the house and clean and fix a vacuum cleaner. The carpet cleaners are there this morning for a final cleansing act. It will not be so clean again until after the next set of boys leave. The new lads moved their stuff in yesterday afternoon, but left most of it in the non-carpeted lower level, as they were instructed.
I had a friend work with me and I couldn't have finished without her. She tackled some of the worst jobs of all in the kitchen and bathroom, including a BLACK bath tub. She took a photo, but no one wants to see it!
The renters did a pretty good job of emptying the place out, waiting until the night of the 31st for the final push. We took home some broccoli from the freezer but many trash bags of perfectly good food were tossed into the trash.
The fiancee of a tenant told me she took back the boys empty beer cans and kept the $64! I hope the boys will all find wives who can whip them into shape.
I found a level, a tape measure, a Belgian waffle maker, a Cuisinart sandwich maker, and some nice Chicago Cutlery knives that we could use. And a few dimes and pennies.
A dozen or so un-planted flats of flowers at church are still waiting for me, but garden dirt is much easier for me to deal with than dirty college-boy dirt! I am looking forward to finishing that project.
I am sitting here on a beautifully cool morning, awaiting my new black Bosch dishwasher. The windows are open and the attic fan is pulling fresh air in.
Ironically, the rental house was emptied and is now totally clean--while my own house and garage are overflowing with STUFF. My carpets are in need of shampooing. It is still HOME, and it is MY dirt. However, cleaning the rental house has made me more aware, once again, of just how much we accumulate over time.
And dirt happens everywhere. It is hiding from us in plain sight, as well as under our refrigerators!
Anyway, enough about my dirty life. It is a life I have chosen to live and now I am seemingly trapped in it.
On a "lighter" note--after all that sweat and grime, I came home, thawed out a giant piece of leftover Costco cake we shared at the family reunion picnic on Memorial Day ... and ate it all.
The white sweetness of that cake, decorated in white roses and filled with a creamy white custard (along with a long hot shower), felt like a cleansing elixir (I was just tired enough to be slightly delusional), exorcising all thoughts of the dark and dirty side of life--at least for a moment!
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