# Spring cleaning



## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I'm struggling this year

My arthritis is flared again 

So I can't manage

I've lost my cleaner, she now works cleaning schools 

Although to be fair after nine years I ended up cleaning windows , floors etc

She preferred basic tidying of bedrooms and bed changing 

Worries me with a big house I can't really reach the picture rails or the skirting boards 

I've always washed all the paintwork and walls twice a year

But family tumble in and out constantly

I don't think they notice or care

36+family members tumbled in on Friday , my wooden floors are filthy, my home is still a mess

I'm baby sitting a dog because my daughter and grandson have Actualy managed to go on holiday

He has never flown before , he's fifteen 

So listen

We are all a long time dead

But

These special moments are so so precious 

Now shadow and Winston will eat chicken and rice

So realy important to them

So guys

What's important to you ?

Sandra


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

aldra said:


> What's important to you ?
> 
> Sandra


Not housework Sandra that's for sure. My children have grown up with healthy immune systems, no-one has ever had food poisoning after eating here and nothing smells. That's sufficient to keep me happy. As for cleaning paintwork even once a year...no. The house is not a tip ; I have standards, but I don't go mad.

Some of the houses I feel happiest in have a scruffy lived-in look. I have neighbours who live in immaculate clean and shiny houses with everything new and gleaming and they make me uncomfortable.

What's important to me- after husband, family and friends ? Good health, access to as many books as I want to read, and the van so we can travel more or less when we want to.

Drop the standards me dear and look after yourself. By the sound of it it is about time you put yourself first.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Grizzly

Drop inhere 

It has a lived in look, it's so. Lived in

And we have the money to change that but not the energy 

They all drop in, eat breakfast,, especially grandkids , come to talk about problems 

And we are always here 

But as we get older

We are finding its getting harder

Do we realy understand then ?

Prob not

Sandra


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

I think in your heart you've already answered your own question Sandra - yes, we're a long time dead, and spring cleaning is way down my list of priorities (but then, there's only me and it doesn't get a whole lot of usage. It's small enough that when the family visit I can clear up fairly easily). 

I think what I'd do in your circumstances is see what it is that really gets on your nerves - probably the floors, and probably not the walls n picture rails - and see if your cleaner would commit to a 1-off session to do just that thing?


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I wonder Ji

As time goes on

I'm confused

I would like my home to be pristine, it would make me happy

But kids and family float through, a grand daughter lives here

My arthritis is causing me problems 

So no way can a pristine house, family floating through and a resident grand daughter

Equate to a pristine house

Sometimes we need to work out priorities

I haven't worked out mine yet

But I guess at 73

I'm a lost cause

Sandra


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

aldra said:


> But I guess at 73
> 
> I'm a lost cause
> 
> Sandra


Why ?

73 is as good an age as any to re-invent yourself.

Have you read Jenny Joseph's poem:

http://www.barbados.org/poetry/wheniam.htm

When I retired one of my tutor group gave me a copy.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

I have never understood spring cleaning to be honest, never had net curtains to wash and if paint work needs a wash it will be done when I notice it. The Hoover is used all the time unlike years ago, before every household had a Hoover and floors were covered in linoleum and after the winters smokey fires things needed a wash.
We don't smoke, the house doesn't smell what do I need to clean that's not cleaned the rest of the year?
Open all the Windows on a windy day,
to blow the dust and cobwebs away >
Jan


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

If it really bothers you Sandra then cleaning firms often offer a "one off" clean. I have been contemplating one myself. They come and give you a quote and then just do the bits you ask them to do. My mum used to have them come every so often. If it helps you to relax then go for it


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Alternatively Sandra have you thought about employing selected grandchildren as one off- or even regular-cleaners ? They could probably do with the money ( show me one who couldn't), you could show them how to do the job properly -a skill that might well come in useful to them sooner or later, and you get your walls / floors/ paintwork etc washed.

The students I taught used to have a CV book that they had to fill in before they left school and in it they listed the skills they had acquired and presented it to employers when they left. Anyone who had employed them part time or made use of them as dog walkers, baby sitters etc was also invited to comment on their abilites ( or lack of...). Regularly cleaning for Granny and doing a good job is a tick in the right box.

Just a thought...


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Well grizzly 

Those that are old enough are two boys and the Megs 

Megs when she's not working or at uni or doing course work for her Masters in law 

Is less use than a damp sponge

How the hell she got through living at uni I don't know

However although all her clothes are washed and on hangers ( so at least they go in the wardrobe)

I no longer enter her bedroom

Grandchild two is flying high ( until he's not )

Young Albert , well he works for pay with Albert , chops logs which he enjoys ,lifts heavy planters that Albert would struggle with, if and when he turns up 

And yes when he needs designer clothes and trainers it's 50/50

He really is well paid because if it isn't designer he won't wear it

But more goes on than you can know

He's a child of a one parent family in a huge family of achievers

And so far it's looking like he won't achieve much

He is intelligent, hates school

And once upon a time his grandparents gave up everything they owned, and I mean gave

To make an epic journey

Should have been impossible

But it wasn't 

It won't be for him either

Sandra


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

*A rhyme (not mine)*

*Dust If You Must*

*by Rose Milligan*

*Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed;
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb;
Music to hear, and books to read;
Friends to cherish, and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair;
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
You, yourself, will make more dust.*


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

If you really do need a cleaner there must be someone somewhere who would like an hour or twos cleaning. My partner is currently looking for this type of work (though she doesn't live by you) but she looks for jobs every day - sometimes for hours with no success mainly because she cant drive. 

A card in a newsagents window or even on Facebook amongst your friend might yield something.
I wouldn't look at cleaning forms if at all possible as they will charge daft money.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I tend to do the housework around here, and I find if you polish anything it will attract dust even more.

I put warm water in the sink, a little WUL, and a microfibre cloth well wrung out, it doesn't flick dust all over, it doesn't attract more dust, it is virtually free, there are no airborne chemicals, and a dry cloth makes sure there are no streaks either.

As someone once said, Housework expands to fill the time available, don't be available.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I would always pay the going rate

But then there is the houndfromhell 

Vicious Untill he's introduced

But with Kath our X cleaner

Loved her to bits

A bit to to much, when she hoovered under the furniture

He was eye to eye

Hoping she would retrieve his tennis balls

Buts she's gone 

And after 9 + years

She never actually tiold she was going

But I still rember 
Once a long long time ago, 50 yrs ago 

I arranged to meet at a cinema

With a guy, a farmer, and I never turned up

So maybe she just felt the same

Sandra


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Just pop Shadow in the motorhome or car while the cleaner cleans.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I'm sure I'll sort it

Eventually

I can't deal with this house at the moment

When a joint flares it can take weeks or maybe only days

This last one is weeks and I'm still struggling to leave the house 

Meanwhile the house is of less and less interest to me

Although Albert has planted up hanging baskets etc 

So who knows?

Sandra


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

Hang on in there Sandra - experience tells you it _will_ get better.

I'm just taking a break from packing the van so feeling pretty upbeat ?


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Well new curtains for the lounge have just arrived 

Needed a summer/spring feeling

A new rug is needed, well the hearth is 8 ft , so maybe a mini carpet, it's a big lounge 

The red winter rug is banished

I need a summer /spring feeling

But did I say we bought some clematis yesterday?

Window boxes planted up and in position

Our Fish are not jumping but the frogs are singing and spawning 

Sparrows and blackbirds mating

Albert gathered wild garlic on his ride today

I love wild garlic

Our daughter and son arehome from from holiday

Winston their dog has gone

So ok he is back tomorrow but not for the night

So no cold nose nudging me to get into bed

He's allowed on furniture because that's what happens at home

Bed no

He is a love and shadow benefits from his company in play

But shadow has his teddy bear back

Winston would kill it and shake it to death

It's 9 years old and needs careful treatment

For shadow a bit like a baby blanket

Sandra


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

... and all's right with the world, (bar creaking aching joints). in SA we say "Alice's rectum". (Alles sal reg kom.)


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

I saw this and thought of Sandra ( and Shadow)

Hope it makes you smile as it did me

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4440472/Adorable-animals-pictured-cuddling-soft-toys.html

( Edit: click on each photo and it enlarges)


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Well here he is grizzly
He has frog that croaks
Never will he touch it

Likes us to croak it 

Winston brings it out of the bedroom

But he doesn't touch it once he's carried it down


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

He's stitched 

Part of him is gone

He's as old as shadow

9 years

Shadow loves him, he's his comfort blanket

When the house fills up with people he grabs his teddy when he's happy or sad

Teddy is there 

Actually he's a dog

Or was once upon a time 

Sandra


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