To Live and Die by the List

Whew, another day down. After a lovely breakfast with Neighbor Nel and Neighbor/real estate agent Peggy at Newbarry's Cafe, it was right into the thick of it. I was determined to pare this down:

Don't know if that will come out in a larger version, but that is our list--color-coded, even! Gray is for Mark, blue is for me, and red is for Neighbor Bill the Painter. (Black is TBD.) The trouble with this list is that it is not getting any shorter. Everday we check things off, and at the end of the day, I go to my trusty laptop, delete all the completed entries, and then add about 5 more entries for each deleted one. I am bound and determined to keep it all to one page, even if it requires 6 point type and no margins.

Note: Yes, I have many more entries than Mark, but his are "big" jobs, like climbing on big, tall ladders and scraping caulk into the cracks and seams of the soffetts. Mine entail cleaning the stove and fridge and ever more painting!

Tonight I get to go through all my CDs and magazines and figure out what to get rid of and what to keep (almost everything is in the former category). Our house is rapidly losing any personality, as we take down family photos, get rid of knick-knacks, etc., etc. It's kind of sad to see, but I know we'll be establishing our personality in another home soon enough.

Today's wouldn't-it-be-nice invention: a self-cleaning fridge. I would happily remove all my food from the fridge if then, after that, all I had to do was seal it up and push a button to have all the gunk and who-knows-what-all-else removed. Of course, it would also be nice if the self-cleaning part of our oven actually worked rather than making this horrific grinding noise when I turn it on.

(Yeah, poor me. Having to suffer through the horribleness of actually having to scrub something to get it clean.)

Speaking of cleaning, tomorrow is a big day: We actually have a cleaning lady coming in to get this place immaculate. We aren't quite ready for her, but we are certainly creating a big, big mess for her to work on. I'm even resisting the urge to clean the house so that the cleaning lady won't see how dirty it is.

Well, off to purge some more.