Talking to the Vacuum Cleaner

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, aka OCD.  Yeah, I've been accused from time to time of having leanings towards that way.  But I really don't.  Really, you can ask Marti.  On second thought, don't ask Marti, just take my word for it.

It has been an interesting experience living in a house while keeping it showroom ready in case a realtor should call wanting to bring a client to see it.  I've come up with a routine of tasks I must complete before Marti and I leave the house each morning.

It starts with our leaping out of bed each morning, well maybe it's more like crawling.  Showers and then Marti dresses, grabs some breakfast and heads to work.  Since I'm not working anymore, I remain behind to get the house "Ship-Shape".

After I complete my morning personal tasks, I start with the bed, making it up.  It takes me a while, getting the comforter and the pillows to look just right.  A little to the left, no, more to the right, wait, that makes it wrinkle.  Pull it tight, get the wrinkle out, Nuts!  Now it's uneven.  Too much hanging off to one side and so on. 

About twenty minutes later, I step back to admire my handywork.  The bed looks perfect, so perfect a blind man would be glad to see it.

Then onward, going through the bathroom, wiping down the shower, the sinks, occasionally wiping a spot off the mirror, then downstairs to the kitchen.  Empty the dishwasher, reload with the breakfast dishes.  Wipe down the sink, the stove, and the counter until it shines.

Today's major task is to replace the dryer.  Yep, with a lousy sense of timing, it gave up the ghost.  Just as we're ready to estate sale our stuff as soon as the house sells, I'm having to replace things. 

 How did I find out the dryer died, you ask?  Well, after I got up and before I made the bed I came downstairs and unloaded the dryer, taking a laundry basket full of clothes back to our bedroom.  They felt a little cool, not unusual because I had put them through last night after dinner and the clothes had all night to cool off.  Grabbing a clean pair of skivvies and pulling them up, I felt that not only were they cool, they were wet!  I let out a yelp, in an octave higher than my normal voice.  I yanked them off and had to root around to find another pair in the dresser that were not wet.

Off to Lowe's, arrived to a resounding cheer from the employees who missed me because I hadn't been there in so long.  I picked out the cheapest dryer I could find.  Loaded it up in my pickup and took it home.  Of course none of my neighbors were around to give me a helping hand.  So I muscled the old dryer out and the new one in to place to prove both my manhood and that my higher sounding voice was only a temporary condition.

The dryer looks good, works good and I only have to repaint door trim in two places.  Fortunately, I still have plenty of paint and paint brushes to touch up the trim (go figure).  Good thing because my wallet is quite a bit lighter now, there is no such thing as a "cheap" appliance.

The last thing I do before I leave is to vacuum all the carpets to remove footprints and give the house that fresh look.

  Plus it gives us an idea of how interested potential buyers are by following the footprints.  If they are not too interested, the footprints stop at the door to certain rooms, if they are more interested, the footprints go all around the rooms, stop at the closets, or extend into the walk in closets.

That is a way we find to encourage ourselves that some people really are interested.

After the ding the new dryer put on my wallet, I'm hoping that we'll sell the house before anything else breaks.  I'm finding myself talking to the vacuum cleaner, it's now making noises, sounding like a cross tween a jet airplane and a coffee grinder.  I'm urging it on to keep on working, keep doing its job, please, just a little bit longer.  Good thing I'm home alone or people really would start to talk.

After all these preparations, it's really nice to get away in the Journey each weekend.  I don't make the bed, I leave dishes in the sink and I don't mind tracking in a little dirt, just because I can. :c)

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