Unlike some folks (I have no idea if this is true or not, just follow the stream of thoughts), we, Mr. and I, know how to cave into having fun together on the weekends.
Normally, at this time of year, we’re headed off to see our daughter’s so we can be together on Mother’s Day. That’s not happening this year, but we’ll get to Skype this afternoon. To keep my mind off of not being able to see them, I felt compelled to help Mr. with his (our) projects.
Before we headed out, I took a peek on what’s happening in the yard. We have a wounded Robin that has been hanging around. I didn’t realize it was until I captured these shots. See what’s missing, or should I say, what’s starting to regrow?
Since Mr.’s primary job is a landlord, I tagged along with him, just to see what I can capture for fun photos. I end up helping too, just ‘cuz, that’s what wives do. And I also know mostly how to wash walls and curtains.
This project is so big, every surface has to be washed. So we finally agreed (the Whipcracker in me has returned with a vengeance) that the bathroom is the best place to start. I get to remove the old wallpaper. While Mr. removes the old appliances.
The bathroom is very important to be clean for me to use it. After all, my tiny bladder only allows me a maximum # of hours before it is a race to the bathroom. That limits the # of hours I can be dedicated to helping Mr. get this project done.
And there’s no way in h*ll, I’d sit on this throne. And the floor – oh, yuck, my bottle of bleach water, a scrub brush, and gloves occupied my time hoping that we’d get the new stool installed, all the while trying not to think about needing to go pee.
Ew – The old toilet had to go. Oh, goodie, look at the present left behind it. Wait for it, it’s not a flower moon. But I did get a shot of that this week …
Here’s the gift we found. Is that caveman’s hair? Gross …
Once the toilet was out, the wallpaper removal party kicked off. I find when it comes off easily, it’s kind of therapeutic to remove.
But, while we were working in the bathroom, we discovered that there’s some kind of issue with water flow. When the washing machine in the basement was filling up there was absolutely no pressure in the upstairs bathroom where we were working. “Houston – we have another project added to the list.” That water flow issue is going to slow down the installation of the new toilet.
Thinking about water issues caused the potty dance to begin, and that was it … almost. I made it a few more minutes before I said, “That’s it, we (I) gotta go!”
So we jumped into the truck and drove 3 miles to our house so I could pee. Finally. Then we headed back there to finish up the removal of the wallpaper in the bathroom. One stage mostly done. Still, no toilet installed though. The new one is sitting in the hallway.
We couldn’t get off all of the wallpaper, so then the old tub surround came down. We decided instead of painting the original yellow polka-dotted walls we’ll cover them all with wallboard. (LOL, I like how I say, “We’ll”, we all know it is Mr. that’ll do the work!). Then we found that there were damage and mold behind the tub spout. So that board needs to come out and be replaced. And Mr. will have to go visit the home improvement store to pick up more supplies, when the crowds from the weekend are back to work at their homes on Monday.
In all of our years’ cleaning rental units, we’ve never had an issue finding cleaning supplies. This week, in preparation for washing the walls I had made a list of what I wanted to use. The shelves are sparse at the store, guess everyone is finally cleaning or overcleaning? All Mr. could find was a gallon of bleach and a gallon of vinegar. A good thing either one is recommended for cleaning smoke residue from surfaces. Except for porous wood, which we have a lot of in this place.
Yikes … all the vaulted ceilings need washing and painting. The walls need washing, and that wood needs cleaning. If you have any tips on how to wash the wood walls and with what, I’d love to hear your tips!
But … after all of that hard work for the day, we felt a sense of relief and gratitude. On the ride home, we glanced over at each other and smiled. And both said at the same time, “It feels good to make progress and to not think or talk about the virus for a change.”
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Cave and Patti for Lens-Artists #96 Cropping the Shot.
PS – Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in the US. If you get to see your kids in person, give them lots of big hugs! If you see them virtually, know you’re not alone wishing you could be together.
Happy Mother’s Day Shelley! You guys got plenty of work done, wow!
Thank you, John. It feels like we’ve only begun to make a dent in the tasks at hand!
Vinegar works well on cleaning wood surfaces. Do your best to get them dry. If they are unfinished, any moisture will raise the grain and leave the surface rougher than it was before. You can knock that down quickly with some very fine sandpaper. If the wood is finished (stained, sealed, etc.) you can clean it with dish detergent in water. But don’t let it dry on it’s own. It’s always best to dry wood after cleaning,
Good luck. That looks like a big job,
Thanks for the detailed tips, Dan! The wood has a porous finish, so I’m going to try out all sorts of techniques to see what works best. I certainly don’t want to have to redo it – as you said, it is a BIG job!
Wow, Shelley. I’m impressed with all your hard work! You two are a great team. And Happy Mother’s Day! I’m sure your girls will shower you with all the goodies when you can see them in person!
Thank you, Rebecca. We’ve had lots of years of practice working together on these projects.
I hope your Mother’s Day was special. I’m sure I’ll catch up on hugs when I can see my daughter’s in person! 🙂
City girl here. Blue robins??? This post — most entertaining!
LOL – it was the lighting and the low-e filters on the new windows. I like how it helps with keeping the heat out, I’m not liking what it does to pictures or to my plants. Glad you enjoyed the post, I appreciate your feedback!!
Happy Mother’s Day! You certainly have a big job in front of you. I’m interested in how you made it three miles to the bathroom without having an accident…
Thank you, John! Yes, we sure do have a big job on our hands. LOL – yep … it was a miracle that I made it that far. We’ve been practicing as part of our social distancing, we walk daily and I’m up to being able to walk 4 miles without having an accident … 😉
What a job you’re into! I like to use Murphy’s Oil Soap on wood when it really needs cleaning. And as another aside, I found it works great on dog snarf – which we have in abundance. Haha. Like others have said, you don’t want it to sit on the wood, but I also like the smell. You may or may not. But it’s an option. And I don’t envy you that job. But there is a real sense of satisfaction when you finish and it all looks nice and neat and clean. And you don’t have to think about the virus for a while. Win/win. Happy Mother’s Day!
Thank you for your tips, Laurel! Oh, yes, it’s a huge job and each thing we uncover we discover more jobs to do. I dug through my cleaning stash and I found a large jug of Murphy’s Oil Soap. I use that when I clean our treated wood at home. I like the smell too. I’m going to try it on the wood – I’m fearful that the smoke and the MOS will not be a fragrance I’ll want to remember …?
Yes, once we’re done with this one, we’re definitely going to have a sense of satisfaction. Yesterday, I didn’t work on the place at all. I cleaned our own home which was looking kind of like a rental without attention. I didn’t listen to news, I just cleaned and kept my mind off the virus. It was a win/win too.
I hope you had a very special Mother’s Day.
Well…Mother’s Day 2020 will be one to remember (or not…). Impressive challenge and job well done. And an effective way to keep your mind off what’s hard to think about. Plus missing your kids. Take care.
(I also vote for Murphy’s Oil Soap for wood cleaning)
Yes, this whole year is going to be one to remember (or not, like you said!). Thanks for your vote on MOS. Once I get done with the painted walls, I’ll get brave to conquer the wood. I sure hope it helps make it smell better in there!
I hope you had a nice Mother’s Day and that you’re well and safe.
I’m fine here – Mother’s Day was fine too. Odd, but fine.
Fine and odd, such great words to describe our status! 😉
Hot soapy water on the wood with a scrub daddy. Then dry off.
Bathroom if you can get your hands on a steam cleaner for areas like toilets, basins and tiles. Oh and bicarbonate soda is a good cleaner. X
Thank you for your hot tips!! Scrub daddy is that sponge that’s plastic? I think I have one of those. I could use one the size of a 8×10 sheet of paper so it would go faster!! I’ll have to look through my cleaning supplies to see if I have any bicarbonate soda?!
Yeah go big on your sponge if your doing a big area. Scrub daddy Mrs Hinch raves on about it and I know you have one .
I had Mr. buy me a few large sponges, so I’ll be hitting more of the walls with them this weekend. I may bring my Scrub Daddy along for the extra tough spots. Thank you for the suggestions!!
Good luck to you. Looking forward to the next post and update. Good of Mr getting the supplies in.😁
Thank you!
If you can check out you tube look for Kim and Aggie cleaning tips. They were a cleaning duo on uk TV. And Mrs Hinch shes a uk online sensation on cleaning too. Happy Mothers day X
Thank you for the leads on who to watch! I can’t wait to check them out. Happy Mother’s Day (late) to you too!!!
Wow, would not want that job. Great moon shots.
LOL – it’s funny, no one has said, “Hey, I’ll be over to join in the fun!” … I thought maybe it was just the Coronavirus that was holding people back from wanting to help?! Thank you – I know you like the moon!!
I’m getting ready to repaint our powder room. I was whining about the work until I looked at your photos… I am now grateful that I have a relatively easy job to do.
LOL – I’ll trade projects ;-)!
Wow – you two are go-getters. That is a yeoman’s job to clean it up and get it move-in ready for the next tenant. You have to wonder what was going on in that house? Many years ago the neighbor next door died and they wanted to get rid of the house quickly and took the first offer. It was a husband and wife who had many rental properties – soon a family moved in. Several youngs kids, one toddling around. He was a chef of some sort – went to work with his “whites” on and wearing a chef toque. So they moved out suddenly. The landlord came over to inspect the house. My mom was getting the mail and the landlord woman came over to talk to my mom … I think she just wanted someone to complain to. 🙂 She said she’d been there a few times and noticed the kids ran around naked and added “they were not toilet trained if you know what I mean and it was a light-colored rug.” We saw the carpet installers come the next day – no time to clean underneath the rug or anything. She put the house up for sale – said they were selling all the houses to existing tenants … this had turned her off completely.
We do the work ourselves to save money while the places aren’t bringing in any income. One of these years we’ll either sell or hire the work done! We say that every time!
Yikes – we had a young family that did similar things to a different place, that place was a disaster too. Sigh … I can see why landlords give up on the fun.
That’s terrible – I thought these next door to us were the only ones. The landlord said to my mom “I’m done with this now.”
Yeah, it’s terrible. I do think at some point in time we’ll get to that point too! 😉
I think my comment went to SPAM or cyberspace – hope you can retrieve it Shelley?
Yep, it did and I rescued it!!
Good job, you two. I hadn’t thought about how tough it’d be to get cleaning supplies, but now that you mention it… what a weird problem. Don’t you love the feeling of making progress?
Thank you, Ally. Yes, it’s weird what is suddenly a hot commodity like toilet paper! Yes, we absolutely love the feeling of progress.
Wow, that is a lot of work. Murphy’s Oil Soap was my go to favorite when I lived in homes with wood walls. Mine are rock here in Spain.
Yes, it’s a lot of work. I’m going to give MOS a chance to work its magic. How in the world do you wash the rock walls? How are things in Spain??
I hope the MOS works for you.
Ah, well the rock walls are not polished or sealed or anything so no way to wash them. They are completely natural. Handpicked and placed. Very rustic.
Things here are getting better with Covid. Spain was hit hard but after a very strict lockdown our numbers have been in a downward trend for a few weeks now. Thankfully.
Thank you for the well wishes. We’ve been working on flooring first, I guess today will bring the bottle of MOS out for a trial run!
Glad to hear your lockdown has helped and things are looking better for Spain. Thankfully most countries are seeing the downward trends. Stay healthy!