#103: A Day with a Plan

I had my day planned. I would totally clean the kitchen -- inside the refrigerator, behind it, on top of it, clear clutter off of the counters, clean the oven, do a little caulking, priming and painting -- get it looking good. Then I was going to work a while in the back yard, trimming trees, cutting grass -- get it looking good.

Yes. I had my day planned. I should have known better.

I decided to wash the kitchen window curtains then sought out other things to wash at the same time. That lead me to the bathroom for the window curtains there, but I saw the shower curtains and took them down to clean. I carried everything to the laundry room and started a load soaking. So far, so good.

Back to the bathroom for the cleanser, saw the exposed tub, decided to clean it since I was there. I gave it a first go over until my back started to hurt. Went to the living room to sit and rest a bit. Saw dust on the TV, went to the kitchen for wet paper towels, started to wipe off the top of the refrigerator (I did have wet paper towels in hand after all).

To the laundry room to start the load that was soaking on regular washing. Saw how dirty the back porch floor was. Well, the broom was right there so I swept off the porch and carport. Thought as long as I was outside I may as well do some of the trimming. Then the back reminded me it hadn't had a rest, so back to the living room and the dusty TV once more. got more wet towels, cleaned off the TV, saw how dusty the floor was behind it, so pulled the console out and swept and mopped the floor there.

Went to sit down and spied the treadmill I keep in the living room (one advantage of being single is that I can do this) and figured since I had the mop I should clean beneath it. Rinsed out the mop, cleaned the floor, thought what the heck, I was already there so do a treadmill workout and get it over with.

Into the workout my back let me know it hadn't rested so stopped the treadmill and finally sat down. But as I did, I remembered the laundry, went out, put that first load in the dryer and started a second load. Went back inside and saw a box in the dining room I had been been sorting through and took it to a back room.
Well, again, I was THERE, so I started rearranging things in that room until I needed the broom and dustpan so into the kitchen again where I saw the refrigerator and realized I hadn't eaten lunch. And, shouldn't I be hungry because of all the work I'd been doing?

Fixed a sandwich and watched some mindless show on the now clean television (I did have to sit and rest my back). Fell asleep in the chair and woke up after 1:00, got some laundry going in the dryer and started another load, took the dogs outside, went inside and saw how much more kitchen cleaning there was to do.

But I was tired. I'd been cleaning the house since early morning. Sat down to check email and then to read SparkPeople posts and blogs and realized I truly did not seem to have accomplished very much. But where to start next? Ah, the kitchen! But I'm still hungry, I think, and don't want to overeat so I should stay away from the kitchen for a while longer.

How about changing bedsheets as long as I'm doing laundry? That done, the back was really sore so stretched out on clean sheets to rest a while, fell asleep and now see it is nearly 2:30.

So, I vow, after this message on how to properly clean a kitchen (tongue in cheek) I will begin anew on the refrigerator and hope I'm not tempted too much.

In the end I'm confident it will all work out.

After all, I've got a plan.