Friday, October 19, 2012

From Where I Sit

Cleaning tools


The perspective is different when you are sitting on the kitchen floor.  There's lots of time to think, to ponder, to write blogs in your head.  Keep the scrub brush moving on the next six squares.  Spray, scrub, wipe, rinse.  There are more than 400 squares in my kitchen and family room.  I scrubbed them all, with a brush and a powerful cleaner.






It's odd that in the 20 years since the house was remodeled, there's been only one product that would actually take all the dirt off the floor. If it's mopped with anything other than the famous cleaner solution, the dark areas merely become a lighter shade of gray. About a year ago I ran out.  The whole floor had become that unpleasant hue.

The squares in the upper half of the picture had been mopped but
are still gray.  The lower scrubbed squared are bright and white.
So one of the most inspiring of all the Things I get to do today (now that I have more product) is clean, really clean, all those 400 plus squares.  Some obscure ones have been waiting for four years--proof that I'm not a compulsive cleaner.  And from the vantage point of the floor, inspiration comes easily--the dingy cupboards will be next, then the windows.  It's funny that from down here on the floor, the baseboards are really showing their wear--new paint for them and, of course, new paint for the walls.


6 comments:

  1. Funny, I am doing some Fall cleaning too, and was on the floor in the living room and got a good look at some very serious spider living going on in a dark corner. Sucked them bad boys right up in the vacuum!!

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    1. Aren't we all grateful for big, courageous vacuum cleaners! When I was sucking up hobo spiders, you could hear them rattle down the hose into the dirt chamber. Shuddddddder!

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  2. Another thing never changes about cleaning. The girls and I go through the house on Saturday morning with the vacuum, etc. One weekday I mentioned to Emily the kitchen floor had a sticky place. She said she'd noticed that too and would mention it to Laura. I assigned Emily floor scrubbing duty that weekend.

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  3. andrea: what's this magic floor cleaning "stuff"? and does it work on hard wood floors that have been relatively recently re-done? i'm not a compulsive cleaner (shudder, shudder), but particularly for the kitchen were there are crummy old tiles and the bathroom where there are nicely polished wood, i'd like to try my hand...now that i'm feeling much better. thanks from a very slapdash cleaned house to your very clean house! love, kjr and wr

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    1. This magic stuff is called Advanage 20X (no "t" in the word). You can get it at www.advanage20x.com. Pricey but good for cleaning everything. I use it full strength on the cruddy kitchen. I would dilute it a bunch for the hardwood. Love to you both, A.

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