Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Day 396: Spic & Span!

20 December, 2010

You shouldn't underestimate the quality of this beauty when I say that today was made beautiful by how my house got thoroughly cleaned up. It is seriously a big deal and a highly satisfactory one at that. But more importantly it was a highly fun experience because it involved two very amusing characters - the hubby and my mom.

Here's a bit of background. I do get a maid to help clean the house on a weekly basis. While she does a good job of washing and mopping etc., due to her fear of throwing away something of importance, she leaves everything in its original places of being, even though in a more tidy manner. What that means is that letters, bills, coins, books, mint, pens, random scraps of paper etc. will all be cumulating in different corners of the house, in a very neat manner. May I also take the opportunity to point out that much of this hoarding is contributed by the hubby who is yet to master the skill of "putting things in their rightful places".

The house also had some other technical issues like a broken lamp or fused bulb, which needed to be repaired and which had been left ignored for months by the hubby, in spite of my continuous pleadings (I couldn't reach them, otherwise would have fixed them myself of course).

But today, all of a sudden the hubby was cleaning up in a frenzy. He was throwing away hoarded and absolutely useless stuff, fixing lamps, changing sheets and finally putting things in their right places, as if his life depended on it. The reason? His parents are arriving tomorrow. It brings a whole new different guy out of him. A resourceful, responsible, hardworking one who is of course, very welcomed by his wife and interestingly, also his mom-in-law.

Every 5 minutes, she would go in the most sing-song manner, "Uh oh... Shivanoooooo.... I wish your parents would visit every monthhhhhhh. Then the house would be so cleannnnnn!" And then every now and then, I would catch her glance admiringly at her son-in-law who has just turned into the superman of cleaning.

Do note that the process wasn't as smooth as one would have expected. For e.g. there was this utter confusion on where to put a pack of namecards the hubby had collected.

He: Where will I put these?!
Me: Throw them away?
He: Of course not!!! They are very important.
Me: Erm... did you even know where they were till today? They were tucked away beneath that pile of bills and you haven't looked at them for 6 months at least!
He: They are very important!
Me: OK fine. You can put them in that plastic box over there.
He: There is water in it.
Me: Huh. There is no water in it.
He: Yeah. There is no water in it.
Me: OK then.

2 minutes later:

He: Where do I keep these namecards?!!!
Me: Erm. Didn't we just agree that you would use that plastic box?
He: Yeah. But that doesn't look like their rightful place.
Me: *Dirty look*
He: OK. Fine. I will put them in the plastic box. (and then proceeded to do so in the most melancholy manner as if a great injustice has been committed).

Yet another instance:

Me: Why is a used pair of socks on the bed?
He: I might need them.

5 minutes later.
Me: Why are they still here?
He: I might need them.

15 minutes later:
Me: Dude, they are STILL here!
He: OK. Fine. (and then regally proceeds to tuck them under a used t-shirt which was also lying on the bed). Happy?
Me: *Silence*

With several more such instances, we were done finally. The house is now spic & span and am so happy!

604 more to go.


2 comments: