Clean, Clean, Clean

On Sunday we signed a contract to put our house on the market. On Monday Hubby Tony left for a long-planned work training class. He gets home tonight. At first, I was annoyed that I wouldn't have his help during this crucial period. But then I realized that I don't necessarily need his help to get a lot of things done.

It actually turned out to be an advantage to be alone. With no one else in the house there were no distractions. Each day I rolled out of bed, put on clothes for cleaning, and got to work immediately after breakfast. I ate when I was hungry, and without anyone to talk to it didn't take long to finish up. On Monday I had a dinner commitment, so I quit early. The other days I kept going long past dinner time, and my shower was the last activity of the day instead of the first. Because I was busy doing projects I took a hiatus from regular cleaning; by the end of the week things were scattered over every surface in the kitchen and dining room, and piles of things were stacked in random places throughout the house.

On Tuesday afternoon our realtor came to give me more specific guidance. We walked around the house room by room, and she told me what needs to be done before we welcome the first potential buyers. The list fills up four double-spaced pages of a spiral notebook. So far I've cleaned, organized, purged, decluttered, and disinfected. I called some workers recommended by the realtor to set appointments for them to come out for estimates.

This morning I had a meeting to attend. It felt strange to actually shower first thing in the morning and put on clothes that could be worn out in public. Before I left I figured out what to cook for dinner and took the ingredients out of the freezer. On the way home I took the opportunity to stop by the hardware store and pick up supplies for the next set of projects.

There's still a lot to be done!

Five years ago today: Charmed Circle Deux