The Bedrooms and Bathroom Upstairs

After we came home from Grandparents' Day at Clinton Prairie, Gary went to Delphi to fill up the gas cans for the mowers, then he went to Hilary and Blaine's house.  Hilary was subbing, and Blaine had to leave for work at 3:30 so Gary was staying with Owen until Hilary, Landon, and Tessa returned home.

That gave me some uninterrupted time to clean the bedrooms and bathroom upstairs.

Now since we have moved to the new house, it has never been really dirty.  Sweeping and dusting happen nearly every week.  Little clutter has happened.  I tend to take care of everything because people drop by often and I want to be ready.

But.....we have lived here for over a year now, and some things have accumulated.   The cedar chest is a perfect spot to stack clothes that I am just too tired to put away.  Or Christmas gifts that have been purchased but not wrapped yet.  Or books that haven't been read. 

Neither of the guest rooms was really dirty or cluttery.  The kids have spent the night there several times recently plus Clay and Karen stay over when we have parties in the Party Barn.  Greta was here also one weekend.

But there are cobwebs.  There are dust bunnies that grow.  There is always some spiffing up that is needed.  Those two rooms were easy peasy to clean up, and I decided to plug in the essential oils diffuser in one room and put an air freshener in the other.

Next I tackled the bathroom.  Once again, spot cleaning had been going on for a few months.  But I really cleaned everything, including wiping off the light bulbs (who knew that light bulbs would be so dusty!).  The only thing I couldn't tackle was the shower because Gary uses The Works shower cleaner on it to remove the rust and he has more elbow grease than I do.  I also tossed the rugs into the washer so they will be fresh as well.

Finally the master bedroom.  This one took the most time. I didn't realize just how much had been stacked on the cedar chest and on the shoe rack next to it.  Plus there were bags of things that had been carried upstairs and just set down.  Why?  Not sure, but laziness comes to mind.  Plus there is the feeling of  "out of sight, out of mind" and if it is upstairs, not too many people will see it.

The most interesting task, though, was one I had put off for over a year.  There was a box in Gary's closet that contained items from the top of my dresser in the old house.  What had been placed on my dresser for the past year were two jewelry boxes, both of which contained old jewelry that I never wore.  I am not a big jewelry person anyway, but there are some things I do like to wear.  All of those were in the box in Gary's closet, including my newest jewelry box, the one that contained earrings and necklaces and pins that I actually would wear.

Cleaning off the top of the dresser found me tossing lots of items and sorting others into piles for other places.  Some cards, a picture frame, pictures from the last cruise (which was over a year ago), school pictures of Landon and Tessa, several cards and a few recipes.  Gary's belt.    Now, though, the top is nicely organized, well, kind of, since there are many small boxes that contain various earrings and necklaces and a few bracelets.  I also found my great-grandmother's lavalier that my grandmother, my mother, my aunt, Greta, Sherry, and I. plus Megan and Hilary each wore on our wedding days.  I have the box marked LAVALIER and put it in my pajama drawer.  It will be there for Tessa and Lynnlee and for the brides of Landon, Cooper, and Owen.

I also found the Bible that my great-grandmother gave to my mother.  I put it on my dresser also.  I am not sure why, except that it means something to have something from my great-grandmother.

The new vacuum that Gary gave me for Christmas last year got a good work out today. 

On the schedule for tomorrow?  Going to Logansport to pick up a pumpkin roll, then a stop at Rural King and a couple other spots, then home to clean the family room and laundry room.  Cross those off the list tomorrow!

All that will be left will be the living room (Sunday) , main floor bathroom (Monday), and sprucing up the kitchen/dining room (Monday).  

But for now---basking in the cleanliness of the upstairs rooms.  Smells, looks, and feels good!