Cleaning the Empty Nest

When I was a kid, I was impressed by how clean Grandma's house was. Our house was always a mess. You probably had the same experience. When I grew up and got kids, it became clear that my house was going to be a mess for some time. Not only do kids constantly make a mess, they take up the time you might have spent cleaning house (even though it feels like you're always cleaning). By the time you attend to emergency spills and pick up general clutter, you are too exhausted to mop. Besides, someone needs a band-aid or help with their homework. I made sure to apologize to my mother (whose house is now spotless).

Then the kids grew up and went to college. I knew I would miss them, but looking at the bright side, I could now have a clean house like Grandma! There's only one snag in that plan. I have to clean it up.

You might recall that we put an apartment in our attic a few years ago to house the preteen daughters. The older I get, the less likely I am to go upstairs, and it's been quite some time since I really inspected up there. It was shocking. I asked Princess when was the last time they mopped the bathroom floor. She just looked at me funny over FaceTime, because apparently they had never mopped the bathroom. That's been seven years. It's taken me a month to sort and classify the mess of things she left on her bedroom floor when moving out. The bright side is that she moved to an apartment, so half the furniture is gone. Gothgrrl is a professional health care worker, but somehow never noticed how much toothpaste she slung around. How does one get toothpaste stuck in the baseboards? 

My plan was to do something every day, even if it's just a partial project, instead of tackling it all at once. It took over a month before I felt I was making any progress at all, but after two months, I can see a real difference. The upstairs won't be ready for human occupation for another couple of weeks at least (I am also working on the downstairs), but should be really nice by the time they come home for Christmas. And then it will start all over again.