Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Spring Cleaning

   We cleaned the "jar room" yesterday.  That little place under the basement steps has been nagging me for a long time. I warned the girls last week that spring cleaning was about to begin and we'd do the worst first. 

   The girls didn't seem to mind the idea, so even with several phone interruptions we were able to settle in to start organizing. We had canned goods, extra dishes and kitchen things, too many dead boxes, empty jars fronting all the canned goods, just plain trash, an old fridge, and the usual unmentionables found in unsealed jars. 

   While we were cleaning, boxing, vacuuming up huge cobwebs, and clearing out the empty jars; we were all eyeballing that fridge.  The fridge was a wedding gift from Elv's folks, used at that point, and had served us for 25 years.  Last fall when I decided to freeze the cider in there because it liked to freeze everything inside anyway; it didn't. That is, the whole stack of buckets and jugs of fresh cider had to be moved to other precious freezer space both in my freezer and in the travel trailer freezer.  What a mess! The shelving brackets have been broken out for ages so this one last recalcitrance finalized the end of the old fridge for me. 

   The girls and I were visualizing what we'd do with the huge space the old thing was hogging while we cleaned, so when Lance happened to show up from work we came to the only obvious conclusion.  Telling Lance proved to become a discussion wherein he informed us of the folly of spring cleaning, stupid places for fridges, and the wisdom of waiting till Elv came home.  All of which excuses we quietly listened to and ignored.  While I was trying to loosen the screws to take off the door myself; he took over. 

   The hand rail had to come off the stairs, and everything between the pantry and the door had to be cleared away.  Afterward Lance told Elv it really wasn't that bad to take out.  But you wouldn't have been able to tell that for racket he made doing it. The unwieldy beast now rests in pieces on the patio waiting for disposal. 

   Now you can walk into the pantry and see what's what from any place in the room. Frances and I are making plans to paint the whole room, walls, shelves, floor and stairway this summer.  We'll use Elv's air painter and spray the walls and shelves in snowy white and then brush a barn red onto the floor and stairs. 

   The wash room is next on my list. As far as I know there are no dead appliances in that room, but you never know what the girls and I will notice and dream up while we clean. I am thinking of moving the freezer out of that corner though and putting it where the boot cupboard is...

  Quote of the Day:   Lance had to vent with someone so when Geneva came home he asked her, "Does your mom turn into a terror for cleaning every spring?"  


9 comments:

  1. It almost sounded like you were talking about Lance when you said the "unwieldy beast" part. ~GB

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  2. Giggle. Lance better be thankful he doesn't live at my house, esp. this spring! Poor Clark has a few "unwieldy beasts" ahead of him I'm afraid. :)

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  3. Poor Lance. Proud of the girls for helping willingly. That's probably more than I'd have done. I believe cleaning the jar room and cleaning and wiping the fridge out were my two least favorite jobs at their age. I got pretty good at cleaning out the fridge though.

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  4. How nice it all feels when done. Katrina made the remark this morning about how clean the walls looked in the Dining Room. You must have to be female to understand:)
    I was going to make the comment that your picture should change, the snow is leaving, lovely picture now!!!!!!!!

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  5. Arla, at least your aren't using a hammer to give your walls a distressed look like I just read in a Jan Karon book. Lance can be thankful for that. Sounds like spring fever got in your veins...Have fun! Shilah

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  6. West woods I read that book again last week! What fun! Arla! Go! Isn't spring cleaning fun? OK Maybe the results are what is fun. As soon as I am over this cold, it is on to the next project here!

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  7. That sounds like Noah whenever Mama gets cleaning and has stuff she wants muscle for. :)

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  8. Ha, Ha, I'm wondering what Genevas answer was! Help...her mom don't even do spring cleaning! No I was thinking as I was reading your post, that I really haven't taught my girls well. Guess, my life works better about once amonth to go check out the 'jar room', and do the rearranging that it needs, if it needs a broom, go get one. We do tackle the rest of the rooms, but not always religiously in the spring...when ever they need it!!

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  9. BTW, I don't actually do a systematic spring cleaning usually either,and I'm sure we won't get every wall washed. But there a few places around here that are truly in need of cleaning.

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