Between June 1-June 14, I was home in Alameda. I had office work that I needed to handle personally. I wanted to meet with some clients (safely of course), and I had a house to clean.
It’s going to be a rough transition from living in Mexico for 6 months to moving home. I suspect Bonnie won’t be in the highest of spirits, so I took it upon myself to clean the house like I’ve never cleaned it before.
We have used a housekeeper in the past to help clean the floors and clean the kitchen and bathrooms. She does a mediocre job and shoves things places we only find later. It’s not really her fault, our only request was that she sweep and mop the floors. It takes her a couple hours to do this. What I did these two weeks wasn’t cleaning so much as it was purging.
We have lived in this house since late 2006. So for the past 14 years we have accumulated stuff and not thrown it away. We’ve also accumulated people, four to be exact. These new people in our house accumulate things as well, at an exponential rate. The items these new people bring into our home are quickly forgotten and if you stare your intention of donating these things or throwing them always, these people become enraged or deeply sad. This time it’s different though.
This time, I’m all alone, just a man with determination, a truck, and zero attachment to about 97% of the things in our house. Every nook and cranny in our house was cleaned out, organized and purged. I took 7 loads to the dumps. The cashier and I know each other pretty well now. I did keep a lot of items, don’t just think I indiscriminately tossed every thing out in the home.
The following is a list of places I cleaned out. Front table, mail, top of the front room cabinet, the coffee table book shelf, the middle room toys, the top of the piano, top of the children’s book cases. I threw every food item away in the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. I purged the children’s room. Did 15 loads of laundry and folded and put them away. Organized the kids laundry and closet.
Our room was the toughest rooms. The bookshelf was collecting dust for a decade, our clothes were reorganized, our closet was cleaned out and organized. I cleaned off the dresser, and threw away the tv on top of our armoire. I dusted constantly, and vacuumed for a couple hours.
I also cleaned up the backyard a little and fixed our half shed because it was falling apart. I’ll post a before and after for that. I’m not posting before and after a of the inside of our home because it isn’t fair every see it before Bonnie does.
It’s not a great before and after but notice the light wood in the photo of the right at the bottom. I also reinforced the railing on our out door stairway. All the while I was also working at the office and cleaning that out a bit.
My father in law and uncle in law are all the while cleaning out their moms bed room. It’s the main bedroom. I would love to have that closet space, the closet in our room is very small and hangers don’t do too well in it. Hopefully we can one day move into that room one day so all of our clothes can be in the same place.
Our older kids are starting to get to the age where they will want to not be rooming with all of their siblings. Luckily there are three bed rooms. But I’m not breathing down my father and uncle in laws necks. They can take all the time they want to clean that room out.
As a finale, I also cleaned out our basement. Our basement has two sections, the first room, this room has a slab of concrete as a floor, the second room further into the basement is sectioned off by a screen door. This section has a dirt floor. I didn’t do much with the second room, but the first room is cleaned out.
I am now sitting in the SFO airport waiting to board a red eye to Houston, and then a flight to the city we are living in. I am exhausted, and after listing all of those things I did, you’re probably feeling exhausted as well. The reality is, my wife is probably ten times more tired, because for the past two weeks, she has been alone with four children ages 10, 8, 7, and 5. I guarantee she is far more tired than I can ever be, and I can’t wait to get back to them. I’ll update this blog post with my journey back to them. I should be back home in Mexico by around noon pacific time on June 14. Until then, be safe, and pray for our family. We have thirty days left of this six months abroad, and the kids are getting more excited every day, while my wife is getting sadder because this adventure is almost over.
*****************************************Flight into Houston went smooth. A baby screamed almost the entire three and a half hour flight. It didn’t bother me once. Poor parents though. Now I have to wait 4 hours before the next flight.
Flight into the city we are living in was quick. I slept for at least an hour in the airport waiting for the plane to board. As a true American, I ate two Cinnabon’s mid flight. I feel like I ate a few cups of concrete. 😀
I got through customs lightning quick and was greeted with a beautiful sight.**
Our Family Adventure 