Currently viewing the tag: "cleaning a breeze"

Around the House

by Valerie Nusbaum

I have a new appliance/gizmo that’s guaranteed to make cleaning a breeze, giving me all sorts of free time. It’s called a Clorox Scrubtastic, and Randy gave it to me for my birthday. Now, ladies, before you get all incensed about my husband giving me a cleaning tool for my birthday, know that I asked for it. In his defense, he was only doing what I requested. He also gave me a beautiful piece of jewelry, so it’s all good. 

Anyway, this gadget came in a big box and has several attachments. It has to be assembled, and, when fully extended, is about three-and-a-half-feet long. It has a charger and several brushes, depending upon the job to be done. I forgot to mention that the day Randy ordered it, there was a “buy one, get one free” deal, so I have two of them. That’s not a bad idea in our house, as I tend to break things.

I was a little wary about trying it out on my own since the thing is so big and kind of heavy, but what the heck? I’ve never run away from a challenge, so I decided to use it on my bathtub. Normally, I scour the tub with a cleaning pad, and I do a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. Well, I applied some bathroom cleaner to the tub, made the brush a little wet and turned on the Scrubber. Did I mention that it has a very powerful motor?  It was all I could do to hold onto it as it scooted around my slick bathtub. I finally got a good grip on it and held on for dear life, but I do believe that my own elbow grease does a better job on the tub since I had a hard time holding the brush at the proper angle. Maybe with practice, I’ll get the hang of it. I have to say, though, that the Scrubber did a fantastic job on my bathroom floor.

When the time came to scrub Randy’s shower stall, I gave him the honor of using the scrubbing tool and I stood outside the bathroom to observe, and to hopefully have a good laugh. I wasn’t disappointed.  Randy applied the spray cleaner to the stall walls and floor and turned on the motor. It was hard to hear all the bad words coming out of his mouth because the motor is pretty loud. Just as well. We both started cracking up and neither of us could decide if the Scrubber worked as well or better than our previous cleaning methods. Maybe we’ll stick to using it on the tile floors and find some other uses as well.

We’ve also been redecorating our living room. Ten years ago, we thought it would be a great idea to paint two of the living room walls a deep forest green since the décor in there was rustic. At that same time, I bought some lined drapes for all the windows (there are five and one of them is a big bay) in a red, gold, and green plaid fabric. We moved the green area rug from the dining room into the living room, and we were happy with the look. Well, I was happy for about a year. At that point, I was tired of the drapes and sick of the walls. Life got in the way of my decorating plans, and I lived with that color scheme for another nine years.

Finally, in September of this year, I could take it no more. We looked at paint samples and decided to go with a greige (grey/beige) color on the walls. Randy really liked a floral-patterned drapery fabric, so I agreed to his choice and I matched the drapes with a new area rug as closely as I could. We did all the taping, painting, and touch-up in one weekend, and I’m happy with the transformation. The room is a little more elegant now and not so rustic or North-woodsy.

The kitchen still isn’t finished. Two of the bathrooms could use new floors and fixtures, and the basement needs a total makeover, especially since Randy has an office down there now. Do you ever look around at your home and feel overwhelmed with all the jobs to be done? I sure do.

We’ve been cleaning out and trying to downsize, because after twenty-five years here, we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff. Randy and I had our first Colorfest weekend yard sale, and we did manage to get rid of a lot of things that other people said they could use. I even sold my Karma Chameleon plaid drapes. (Get it?  They’re red, gold, and green.) I was happy to see some old friends at our yard sale, too. Kathy Myrick and her daughter, Amy, stopped by, and I got to chat with Sharon Baker. Sharon’s dad, Jimmy Danner, I’m told, is a Banner reader!

That’s what we’ve been up to. Owning a home is a never-ending series of projects and jobs. It’s exhausting, hard work, and a lot of expense. Things break or wear out (I know just how those appliances feel), and I’m always itching to change something.

When it gets to be too much, Randy looks at me and says, “Pack a bag. We’re getting out of here.” I think he’s trying to save himself.