What else there is to say

First, thanks to those of you who gave reassuring comments about the toilet. Hubby thinks he can do it -- tomorrow. Today we decided the first priority was getting the house looking like adults actually lived here.

Hubby started with mowing the lawn while Andrew and I went shopping. Hubby burned himself on the lawn mower. I don't know how, but the blisters on his fingers look awful. He soaked them in ice water but is much tougher than I am. He got back into the swing of things.

It was one of those days where removing one level of clutter just reveals another level of filth.

Andrew spent an hour sorting and removing two months worth of recyclables from the mud room, which revealed a disgusting floor which Brian mopped.

I vacuumed the main floor, revealing stains I worked on with the little stain machine.

The kids cleaned their rooms (a major project). They also cleaned the rec room, removing old dishes that now look like forgotten science projects, a couple dozen aluminum cans, and enough trash to fill TWO giant lawn and leaf bags (I kid you not). This of course allowed us to see the floor and table surface -- so out with the mop again.


Brian scooped a months worth of dog poop out of the back yard. Since Hubby had burned his fingers, Brian mowed the back yard and Andrew did the front.

I cleaned the kitchen, which was just ordinary cleaning, except for the apparent science project things that kept appearing, and the main floor bathroom. Hubby mentioned that the basement bathroom (the one with the broken toilet) needed to be cleaned. I reminded him that I do not clean the basement bathroom. It is a matter of principle.

Meanwhile there is laundry. So much laundry. Hubby is mostly doing it, as it is his normal job. I am cheering him on though. I even folded a couple of loads.

Evan even swept the stairs, which were also very gross, moved the mattress that was still out from the last respite, and cleaned his room. He also took photos of it so that Frankie could take them back to the group home with zir. I will take some photos of the house to add, and print the photos of the ways the quilt can be put together so ze can let me know which ze prefers. I might even include some photos of us and the pets.

Anyway, the house is cleaner than it has been since my mother-in-law last visited. It doesn't look like anything you would find in a magazine, of course. There are still piles of books and magazines on almost every surface, but it is clean. Just don't look at the dust under the piles of books.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with myself for the next three or four hours.

Maybe I should go buy the toilet so Hubby can install it first thing in the morning. Or I could offer to supervise the laundry so that Hubby could go.

Of course I could listen to the audiobook on my iPod that I found under the chair when I moved it to vacuum.