James said he didn't have any plans for today, but I knew a few things that needed doing. Unfortunately, none of them was fun.

But we did them anyway. <wry grin>

The bathroom needed much more than the cursory cleaning I've been giving it for weeks, especially the shower compartment. Trouble is, our water is slightly hard and leaves really nasty orange and brown stains on the stall. I hadn't been keeping it at bay enough because the job really hurts my back and my joints. I was using Mr. Clean pads and their extendable scrubbing pole, but they quit making the pads. My only recourse this time was to turn to the Scotch Brite scrub pad and extendable stick. Of course the stupid bugger won't stay extended. It's fine if you just extend it, but any pressure on it makes it telescope in. Grrrrrrrr!

The first thing I actually did was to unplug my sink. Every so many weeks it starts to back up; sometimes it's soap scum. So I plunged it (it turned out to be hair this time), then put baking soda and vinegar down both drains, and then also cleaned James' sink and the whole countertop and accoutrements, and gave the toilet a going-over.

James commenced to cleaning off his dresser while I was scrubbing. It collects a tangle of coins, receipts, tags, model parts, and other paraphenalia and needs scooping off occasionally. He came into the bathroom to hold the glass door to the shower compartment while I scrubbed it hard. I wanted to do a good job and it took a while. I also put baking soda down the shower drain with a white vinegar chaser.

The last thing I did was put the shower head in a Ziplok bag filled with vinegar to remove the soap scale. (It sat there all afternoon and later I scrubbed it with a brush and some Dawn. Much better.)

In addition, I stripped the bed and washed the sheets and blankets, and also the bureau scarves, which were quite dusty, and polished the dresser and the bureau. James also gave the kitchen a good scrub and washed all the leftover dishes. He had to "sweep" the counters because when he separated the rice noodles in their package last night, little shards of them went everywhere! We were walking on rice noodle bits this morning that we couldn't see on the floor last night.

Anyway, with the bathroom almost clean and the kitchen done, it was time for a break (and about time, too, since it was after one). The shower head needed to soak and I couldn't put stuff back on the bureaus until the scarves were dry. So we picked up our Ruby Tuesday coupon ($5 off $15) and went out to lunch! James had some turkey sliders along with the salad bar and I had the sirloin slices with broccoli and mashed potatoes. It was served in this enormous bowl which dwarfed the food...it was so funny!

From Ruby Tuesday we went to Michaels with some coupons; we needed more Command hooks. I bought some clearance items as well. Then we went to Costco, James filled up the truck, and we wandered around the store for awhile, checking out the books and the DVDs, buying some Breathe Right strips and milk. James bought the DVD of Atlas Shrugged. We were home by four.

Alas, our cleaning day wasn't over yet. I retrieved the shower head from the bag of vinegar and scrubbed it. Put the bathroom to rights and hung up two new Command hooks there. Put the bedclothes in the dryer, and ironed the bureau scarves, then ran the vacuum cleaner in the living and dining room. Next I dusted off the things that went on the bureaus and put them back, and followed that by vacuuming the bedroom floor. James helped me change the bed (the mattress is so heavy we have to do it together) and then we folded the clothes, which had been sitting in the dryer since Tuesday.

Of course, all this meant we didn't eat until 8 p.m., but it was all done...hurrah! I had some Kashi Go-Lean cereal for supper while we watched Alaska Wing Men.

Labels: chores, food, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:47:00 PM

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