New Week, New Joys

Wow another week has passed so quickly that is seems like just yesterday I was recounting all the joys of the week, and now here I am with the 15th week of the year completed, compiling a whole new weeks worth of joys. 

My sister and I worked at Mom's house for the brunt of the week, so most of the joys are related to getting tasks completed which is not necessarily joyous, unless you realize they are things that have to be done, like it or not, and worth celebrating when they are finished.

Friday: We had scheduled a final pick up for the remainder of random things left at Mom's house. For a while we had been putting anything we found on the main level of her house in the living room so everything would be together to easily put on the porch when the donation truck came. We were surprised at how many things were left to be donated.

While we were there we also got the refrigerator scrubbed out and the kitchen totally shiny sparkling clean.

Saturday: Our cleaning at Mom's took a different turn on Saturday. My dad was a music nut and had a special cabinet built in the den when they built their home. It housed all of his stereo equipment  and his huge collection of LP's and CD's. We went through each and every album to pick out those that we wanted to keep vs. those we would donate. For the LP's Dad had a specific organization system. They were color coded in genres (i.e.all Christmas music was tabbed with blue stickers) then each album was assigned a number and were kept in numerical order under their designated color.

We actually had fun talking about specific songs on specific albums and the memories we associated with them. I figure Dad might be rolling over in his grave though, because the albums we kept are in no particular order.

Sunday: We began our day watching our streaming church service, followed by our Webex Sunday School class.   Afterward, I met My Beloved Sister at Mom's so we could do some hardwood floor polishing, then clean the pollen off her porch so we could move all the donation items there to be picked up Monday morning. By the time we got everything out, the porch was more than half filled.

Meanwhile Son2 came by and finished dismantling Dad's workbench. Dad built the bench in "68 when they built the house. I am not sure what Son2 is going to do with all the wood, but he wanted it and we were happy for him to take it.

Monday: More tidying happened including  steam cleaning Mom's kitchen floor. My sister owns the Bissell Powerfresh steam mop. It is no doubt the most wonderful cleaning invention ever. I was so amazed at the job it did, that I as soon as I got home from Mom's house I ordered one for myself. 

Tuesday: We left the task we wanted to do the least for the absolute last. In the train room they had a small kitchenette. It has a combo sink, 2 burner gas stove top and small refrigerator with an even smaller freezer compartment. Neither of us had any idea the last time it had been cleaned, but when we opened it to clean it, it was just about a solid block of ice, so we went armed with dual hairdryers, bowls and pans to catch drips and a load of towels. Nearly 3 hours later it was thawed and we had icebergs  we tossed in the sink that could have sunk the Titanic.

Done!

Wednesday: We had decided that Wednesday would be a day  we did not go to Mom's house at all. I was enjoying my freedom when I got a phone call. Though we have not yet listed the house on Zillow and only have it as "coming soon" on the Marketplace site, we do have a FSBO sign in the front yard.  A guy noticed the sign and called me from Mom's driveway to find out the particulars . Since I only live 2 minutes away I ran down and showed him the house. So much for the totally free day!

Thursday:  When I showed the house Wednesday I paid pretty good attention to any remarks made about the house. After he left I called my sister to tell her what he said and we agreed to have the deck stained again. Structurally is it in great shape, but like any lady, it would look a little better with a fresh coat of lipstick. When I called Eduardo (my favorite painter) I asked him if he could do a rush job (for a little extra cash). I was thrilled when he said he could  get to it Friday afternoon!

So go find your joy, however big or small! They are always out there, even if it is something as mundane as taming an iced over basement fridge!