Tired.

So, supposedly yesterday the new house was cleaned by a "professional". I went over there expecting to just start painting... but no....

I spent the day sweeping the cobwebs off the ceiling and walls, washing the walls and baseboards, the insides of the closets, and the windows. Also had to remove wallpaper border around the top of the walls. This was where being addicted to home improvement programs paid off. I remembered that on one of the shows, they remove wallpaper by sponging it with a water/fabric softner mix and it scraped right off. That one turns out to be TRUE!

My brother Matt stopped by and pitched right in. He manned the mop on the walls while I continued removing wallpaper. Tomorrow, I SHALL PAINT! The master bedroom is currently a very light mauve. I'm painting it a light, golden yellow. My son's future room is a grayish white, soon to be a sage-y green (he wanted red but I said no!). The rest of the house will get done as I have time to do it but I wanted the bedrooms to be ready and done for our first night. Sleeping with the paint fumes does not make for a happy morning....

We took a break and sat in the livingroom (that and the diningroom are in pretty good shape), and he looked around with a funny look on his face. He said that those two rooms were decorated in a style that made him think glacier. Not that I would call it decorated at this point - most of the "decorating" was gone - but I could see what he meant. The paint is white and high-gloss. The carpet is off white, the couch and loveseat are a dusky blue, and the shears hanging in the windows are mostly white. It does look cold. That might not be a bad thing in a Florida summer, though!

Niece and nephews (courtesy another brother) will descend on us Saturday. At 16, 14, and 12 they can be some help. 16-year old nephew can lug boxes or cut grass. 14 year-old niece can scrub cabinets and install shelf paper (something her aunt is hopeless at), and 12 year-old nephew can entertain 7 year-old son by getting whipped on video games. Guess I'll have to bring a TV and the other necessary machines to make that happen.

We're also pulling the carpet out of the family room. It's been there through a few generations of dogs - all of whom apparently peed on it because in spite of a professional cleaning, it still smells awful and the stain is there to stay. There's hardwood underneath, but I wonder what kind of shape it will be in. Might need a serious sanding, bleaching and refinishing.

The kitchen looks pretty good, but if you open drawers and cabinets there are dead bodies....

I'm not hiring this cleaner...