Year End House Updates

December 10, Allen and Winston appeared with our new 75” TV which has taken over the south wall of the living room, starting a domino effect. I agreed to have the 3 paintings be hung in our bedroom, but first I will paint the wall behind our bed. That will happen after Grant removes the existing screws and mollys, then patches the wall. Plus I have to measure the square footage to see if I have enough green paint left from the living room to avoid buying more. More importantly, it means we don’t have to make another color decision. For the nonce, the paintings are lying on the guest bed.

We also can reclaim the bookcase for the books stacked on the ottoman and Dad’s sea chest. That means Suelen, the Brazilian woman I’ve hired to clean twice monthly ($115/visit) will have less stuff to move, dust, move dust. 

She and her assistant Frabrina came December 20 and spent 5 hours deep cleaning the house ($250 and worth every penny). They scrubbed every surface, wiped the grime, mopped the floors, vacuumed the cobwebs, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. It is absolutely marvelous. Why didn’t I do this years ago?


The downside, but in the long run the upside, is that Suelen is fastidious. All of my piles of papers; my morgue of feathers, bones, and other natural ephemera; my found objects are carefully moved so the surface on which they are sitting can be carefully wiped.  Yes, I have a plate of all the little plastic toys I’ve found in the yard, now I’m collecting snail shells and their operculum that the limpkin leaves when it eats from our swale.

My goal is to have 1 more surface cleared each time Suelen comes. First up was my bureau. I emptied both shallow drawers in my closet and lined them with maroon “velvet” wrapped around foam-core. Note to self: next time choose light color so jewelry is easier to see in the dark drawers. I wonder if there are small motion sensitive lights I could install. 

Top drawer is my necklaces; bottom one is earrings and bracelets. Pins and real jewelry are in secret drawer in bureau. This was another domino situation because first  I had to pack up all the cheater glasses I can no longer use that were in a basket on the shelf. They go to the thrift store. The cords and stuff from the drawers go into the basket to be sorted TBD. Result: just my Grandmother Spaulding’s hand mirror, one little glass box with a tiny nautilus, and 2 of my shallow wooden trays on the bureau with Christmas jewelry are now on the bureau top. So pretty, so easier to clean. 

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