Hello everyone. I am feeling “hungover” today without having drunk a bit of alcohol. Yesterday started at 5 am, ended at 3 am, and involved departing and arriving house guests along with a 12 hour round trip to take young D back to school after she couldn’t get a ride. I’m just chugging water, hoping to feel human again, and keeping my mouth shut as I’m finding everything and everyone irritating today.
MP, is this a medical miracle? A hangover without alcohol?
woody, I armed ShawD with the issues you raised for her shadowing. The facility apparently does not deal with such serious cases. No trachs, no turning patients. Strong attempts not to use physical restraining via building good relations. No CNAs.
missypie…does your daughter still like flamingos? The Lily Pulitzer line out at Target in April has a cute flamingo Iphone case and also some makeup/travel cases in the flamingo print.
That sounds cute, NM – I’ll have to try and grab some for my niece.
Shaw if D wants to talk with me she can. I think Woody gave the best advice though. I see her in class but its an auditorium and she sits wither friends. I am the old person who sits in the frontish row. it actually startd because my sinuses were so blocked and the teacher spoke so quietly I had to move up.
Been taking online stats as a pre requisite for a class. Its actually pretty interesting. I wish I could be a full time student and not work
When I take classes, go to lectures, etc I always try to sit in the front. I can focus better and don’t get distracted as easily.
D and her bf are coming tomorrow night, it’s D’s 24th birthday. It finally dawned on me that if we were going to have a holiday meal on Sunday, I had some work to do. I was spoiled the past 15 years with all the wonderful holiday meals at my in-laws. There will be 5 of us with my nephew so decided it was worth eating at home instead of eating out. I’m learning to be a New Yorker and I have ordered some food to be delivered. Will have a little work to do with the sides but not the entire meal.
NM it is amazing that you remember that older D likes flamingos!
DTE, I remain in awe that you are in school
Well officially at 11:00 AM today my S and DIL are now homeowners and I’m feeling poor. We (as with D) were the bank. My investment accounts are starting to feel a bit depleted but I keep saying that I’m just setting it up for when I retire to have income. 
S (ever the lawyer) was able to lock in on the lower March rate even though the closing was today. DIL and H (along with GS) have gone over to clean. S and I are back at work. They will start moving stuff over on Friday (hopefully by then it will basically be cleaned) and furniture is being moved by movers on Sat. After that they have a week to clean their apartment before they need to be out. Lots going on. On top of it I have had this silly cold for a couple of weeks. Starting to feel better but so much to do.
Exciting news about the house, RM! We visited our sons in DC last week and older son mentioned he wants to buy something in the next year or two. Unfortunately, prices are really high in DC.
Happy Birthday to your daughter, college_query! Hope you have fun with her and her boyfriend on their visit tonight.
I quite enjoy the interaction I get with my kids on logistical stuff. ShawD is rewriting her resume for her clinical rotations and her friend said she got more responses when her picture was attached – like ShawD, she is easy on the eyes. So, she asked me if she should do that and which picture to use. ShawSon is working out the logistics of scheduling for this quarter and the summer as they interact. We’re going to take a trip to San Francisco soon to look at whether we want to spend some of our time out there in the winters. It can be rainy there, but we want to look in the places that artists are moving to. Oakland? We’ll stay for a couple of days with our friends on a houseboat, the weekend near ShawSon and then look at neighborhoods.
Shaw - sounds like a fun trip!
I have to ask. Am I weird for cleaning the way I do. H went over with DIL yesterday and her idea of cleaning the house was to find fingerprints and with a paper towel just go over them. When D moved into her house I went over and washed all the walls with a cleaner and sponge. I do that in my house every year (should do it 2x a year but with work I only manage to go through once). H mentioned to DIL that I do the walls every year and she said she had never heard of doing that. So am I the oddity? Is this a New England or Maine thing? Sorry but I’m feeling like I do this every year and maybe I’m the only person who does said thing (although to be honest I got it from my grandmother who did it 2x a year). I don’t consider myself a clean freak but maybe I am.
RM…I grew up in a house that did deep spring and fall cleaning. That meant wiping down walls, wiping out cupboards and cleaning everything in sight! I have to admit that the only walls I wipe down now are bathrooms and kitchen and that happens several times a year if needed because of hairspray or cooking accidents. The other walls I just use a duster wand and get the dust off or wipe down if there are fingerprints or smudges. I wipe out cupboards and drawers at least once a year and my refrigerator many times! I do windows several times a year. I am very bad at dusting my bedrooms and could actually go several weeks in between times. 
When D2 moves in to her new house this month I will be cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms for her. H will be painting the walls. D2’s H is removing all of the oak woodwork and using a sprayer to paint all of it white. That will be a HUGE job.
I am NOT a clean freak - just ask anyone who knows me! I blame it on growing up overseas with servants. But I have never washed walls. If there are spots that are dirty (usually baseboards/trim) I clean those. They usually get dusty/collect dirt. Sometimes the corners get cobwebs and I clean those. How does one clean walls?
shawbridge, I lived in Berkeley in the Bay Area years ago. Besides the Oakland hills, Berkeley had lots of artsy types.
D and her bf arrived last night. I’m working today while they do some sight-seeing, will take the day off tomorrow to join them in touristy activities.
Well the way I clean walls is to take a bucket of hot water with a cleaner (I’ ve used several different ones over the years but think a liquid cleaner. Take a sponge or rag and wet it then use it to wash the walls from top to bottom. Usually that way because it’s typically dirtier the lower you go - scrub as needed without removing the paint of course. I do start with ceilings Rinse and repeat. Eventually the entire room is done. I do that for all the walls in my house at least once a year. Then I either steam clean the carpet or wash the floor depending on the room. Finally windows are done. Of course I’ve taken all the “linens” out and washed them as well – curtains/bedding/ etc.
My grandmother did this 2x a year. In the spring and in the fall and she worked out of the house full time! I get once around done and that’s it. Probably because I’m lazy compared to her!
I’m beginning to think I might be nuts to do this but then I do like the way it looks when I’m done and the sense of accomplishment when the entire house looks nice!
Like college_query, I have never washed walls either. The only thing , RM,i may think you might want to be careful about is judging your daughter in law by your own cleaning standards. I think everybody has their own comfort level with dust and grime. My house is lived in but I know how to get it in shape when company’s coming!
Yes! I think that what she is doing is fine! Just wondering if I’m the oddity. My MIL never did said thing either. I think maybe one of my neighbors does but that’s it. I’m just wondering if I’m strange. I will go over to their house tomorrow afternoon to help “clean”. I’m going to take my cues from her. I’m going to ask her what she wants me to do and do what she asks. It’s HER HOUSE not mine. She will do as she sees fit. I’m just helping out.
I do wonder though if over the years I have “wasted time” doing this. It’s not a simple thing and I’m usually lucky once I start if I can manage to get 1 or 2 rooms cleaned a week to this depth. Maybe it’s not something I need to do although I do like the overall outcome.
I have to wipe down the hairspray/hair product gunk on the bathroom walls. For some reason that really bothers me. In the girls’ old bathroom it was even on the the door. They must be wild sprayers!
RM, it would be a delight to live in a house that clean. But alas, you may be an “oddity”. I say that because my mother-whose house sparkles with clean- doesn’t even do that. (However, when Dad was alive they repainted on a regular basis ). Don’t think of it as a waste of time. If you are willing to clean that deeply, that is fabulous!
LOL NM I don’t use hairspray and neither does my D. With both of us having long hair our hair just “falls at will” so to speak.
Current plan is for us to paint all the upstairs this year so I’m thinking that I won’t waste time cleaning those rooms. We will be painting/ replacing carpets/ new furniture/ etc. so I’m thinking that for the most part other than one room that we did a couple of years ago that just needs some neatening and a good cleaning my upstairs will be easy this year. I’ve been online and have picked colors. Now need to actually go to the store and pick up the paint chips (those little papers that have the paint colors on them), bring them home and verify that what I see on the monitor is really what I want. Then it’s up to H to paint. He is very picky about the way he paints so that is up to him. I will say that most of these rooms haven’t seen paint in 20 years. One plus side of washing walls is that even with 20 years they still look okay. Time for a spruce up though.
Just to chime in here – I’m not a clean-freak, but our house is usually pretty clean. I can’t stand clutter; don’t like seeing a lot of stuff out on counters, tables, etc. That said, although I like the result of cleaning, I’ve gotten to really dislike the actual work. I especially hate scrubbing the showers. Mineral deposits build up really quickly and it’s a never ending battle. I’m actually regretting the lovely sea glass tiles in the master shower at the beach because of said deposits. ANYWAY, I don’t wash walls – I clean off smudges, etc and keep on top of dust and cob webs.
I remember growing up my mother had my brothers and me “spring clean” our rooms, which involved taking everything off the built-in shelves and washing them down. Of course this also had the added benefit of forcing us to sort through stuff and get rid of clutter. We also had to go through our closets and weed out clothes that didn’t fit/we didn’t wear.
Re: painting the walls – H’s sister is someone who is constantly repainting walls, just for the change. H & I repaint only when needed – like the paint is starting to chip/fall off the walls! RM – many paints now come in little sample jars so you can paint a section of wall with the color to see how it looks. That gives a better idea of how the entire room will look, vs just holding up the paint chip, IMO.