In the interest of making the work visible. . .
I’m on the verge of a sore throat and a head cold this evening, but at least the house is clean and in order and I can be sick in comfort. Sharon came to clean with me this morning; the carpet cleaners worked through the afternoon; the cable man was in and out; the neighbor boy was over to play. Home was a bustling little place today and all in all, while I may not be the world’s best housecleaner, I feel like an accomplished housekeeper, even if at the end of the day, I took a few swigs of antihistamine, conked out, and we ended up having to order a pizza for supper.
I also managed to clean out the fridge and spruce up one of the narrowest bathrooms in existence. For the past four years we’ve had an abysmally shabby downstairs bathroom—it’s the boy’s bathroom, but also the public one. The hexagonal floor tile is cracked and missing a few hexagons, the sink is just plain ugly, the shower needs tile, and bath faucet handles keep falling off; the paint on the toilet seat is disconcertingly chipped and the ceiling is peeling. Plans to remodel keep getting postponed. Feeling frustrated in the face of its ugliness, I have neglected it aesthetically, if not hygienically.
But today, on a complete whim, I felt that just because it’s ugly, doesn’t mean that I still can’t fix it up a bit; it’s the sane thing to do. So I went and bought a new pale green and lavender striped shower curtain— figuring that if it is, in fact, shabby, it might as well be shabby chic—also a plush ivory bath mat, and a decorative topiary. I rummaged through closets for old pictures to hang and put a framed print of The Garden of Earthly Delights above the toilet so that anyone standing there will have something to contemplate (Why does that little man have flowers coming out of his ass? Oh, because that other little man is sticking them in there. Of course!) and I cleared away lots of clutter.
It is now, by dint of much busy work--which included ironing the shower curtain and spritzing it with Linden linen spray--and an investment of about $40, a much pleasanter space; also a touch more feminine (remember, you didn't see the before picture). . .but no one here seemed to mind. Kipp was not too impatient with me while shopping for the new items, although he did inform me, “When I go to Target with Daddy and Johnny, we NEVER stay for so long.”
Hmmmm, no, but somehow you guys manage to spend twice as much.
10:36:20 PM 
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