The project of the day

Yesterday I decided to clean the house. Harry saw me wandering off with a tub of hotwater and a dishrag and asked me what I was up to. I said I was going to clean the downstairs, hoping with that sort of girl hope that he would take that as a hint and decide to clean the upstairs. He didn't but after about 20 minutes, when he realised I was actually serious about cleaning the house, he asked if he could help.

I said no, just because I felt like cleaning the house didn't mean he had to suffer too. Wow, was that a mature moment from me eh? No, calculated risk taking was what that was. He said, he couldn't sit around while I cleaned the house, especially the floors which we do by hand with a rag. He offered to vacume, I said that would be nice. He did that, but got a little side tracked, needed a coffee to start him off and chased the dog around for a while with the hoover. Then he said he wanted to wash the floor, because it was too much for me to do alone. That is also terribly thoughtful of him I said. I knew my luck wouldnt hold out so long, Im now in the danger zone

He started with his bucket of hot water, but noticed as he was going along that the thermometer has not been hung on the wall so he did that, spraying old concrete and white paint on the section of the floor that had been cleaned, he decided then too to fix the light in the front entry, and then to repair some other things, too numerous to mention. Leaving a trail of handworker chaos behind him. I knew this was going to happen. He forgot his bucket and his hot water and was off fixing, hanging and adjusting everything, tools everywhere, and questions about where I had put this or that other thing that he absolutely needed.

He ordered me to stop cleaning the floor because he said he was going to do it, but I know how these sort of things turn out, so I said no no,, its fine, I will clean the floor till I meet a clean spot that you have made then together we can do it OK,,, so if you want to clean the floor you need to hurry or I will have it all done.

That changed the project focus and within a few minutes there was soapy warm water everywhere, threats to burn all my pine cones in the fire becuase they make too much mess,, and eventually a meeting of rags in the kitchen.

The house clean, we both relaxed. We have very different styles and ideas about house cleaning but somehow it got done. Well sort of because we still had to put away all the tools and things, but we can do that later.