We're living the fantasy. After months, nay, years of watching YouTube cleaning videos as research as much as escapism, my daughter and I applied our theoretical knowledge in a real world situation. The same folks who I brought food to a week and a half ago, after a medical emergency, have been under monumental stress, even before the latest catastrophe. They had been working too hard and getting sick too often to stay on top of a house that was already massively over-cluttered. Not only big tasks had been shoved off, but also important daily and weekly maintenance, like laundry and dishes. Trash was starting to pile up, and in addition to everything else weighing on them, it was bringing depression and probably shame. They needed someone to come in and do some of the urgent cleaning, to get them started in the right direction. I don't know about y'all, but I know for myself that when things get too far behind like that, the executive dysfunction sets in, and you can't even see the first place to start. I've been frozen in the face of this sort of thing before. But for once, I knew I could potentially be the key that unlocks everything for my dear friends.
I told my daughter and her friend who helped us that my entire plan for the day was to hyperfocus on the kitchen. They could work on everything else, like taking out trash and recycling and vacuuming and all that. I stood at the sink for most of the eight plus hours I was there, hand-washing dishes. Just about every dish in the place was dirty, and they kept bringing me more from all over the house while I worked. They looked at me like I was nuts for not using the dishwasher for anything other than a drying rack, but I promised them that this was a much better method for me. There was too much dried on food and junk to assume the machine could handle it, and besides, I don't like listening to dishwashers at work. While I did that, I had oven cleaner inside and out of the range, covered in plastic so it didn't dry out. I let that go a good two hours, so that when I wiped off the stove top, the goo just melted away. I had a metal scraper and a steel scour daddy sponge, but honestly, the chemical did enough that I barely needed them for that application. I had the right concoctions to clean the microwave and counters too. Most of what I used was cheap, home-mixed cleaners, like dish soap and water in a spray bottle, or diluted bleach, or my new favorite, isopropyl alcohol, a little water, and a few drops of dish soap. Of course, Aurikatariina fans that we are, we used Power Paste too.
I did my best to put away all the dishes I washed, but the kitchen is small, and we had to get really creative. They just inherited a whole bunch of household goods from the husband's father, who is prepping to move out of the country, so it was even more difficult to find spaces to put everything away. I sort of wished I had a before picture to compare to, but as I told the wife, it was really their business, and I wasn't going to blast it all over the internet. It felt good to see it put to rights before I left though. I worked hard, for a very long time, and I have a huge sense of accomplishment. I just hope that they can quickly get past the anxiety that comes from letting people outside your household come in like a tornado and go through all your demons. The wife especially was struggling with that, and having needed professional cleaners a few times in my life beyond move-out sessions, I recognized the agony and tried to commiserate. I promised her we were not judging, just helping out of love.
By the time we were done, every part of me hurt. I brought a baclofen and a tramadol with me, and took both by early evening. Now I'm home, with my feet up, wondering whether I should take a Flexeril before or after an Epsom salt bath. This is assuming I am capable of getting out of this chair.
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