Thorough Cleaning Day

They call it "a spring clean." I contacted a maid service, called Merry Maids, to come get the house ready for the wedding guests. And remove the residue of any dangerous chemicals before the granddaughter uses the bathroom and tub. The lady that came by for a 'consult' said to spray clorox on the grout, and mold two days before they come. And take all the pictures off the frig. We have this huge black behemouth of a frig, and I had completely covered it in magnetic picture frames of our family. There is even a picture of my mom with a great smile. Now the frig is ready for a good scrub. Bob noticed the pictures gone from the frig, and asked. And I confessed that cleaners were coming. I did not get the window service, as that is another 150 bucks. It was tempting because they do inside and outside the windows, remove the screens and do the tracks. Oh, well.

I swept the drive this morning. Blew it off, first with the shop vac, as this time of year, small brown leave fall off the trees, and we are tracking them inside. And my feet must be tender, but I like walking barefoot to the washer and dryer in the garage.

It is sad in a way, that I felt the need to hire heavy-duty cleaners. I am so out of shape. And cleaning up after the plumber was just too much. This will free Bob up to clean up the yard Saturday, if he so desires. He will probably need to mow the back, but the front is dried and brown. I need to pick up leaves in the side yard. And sweep, and check the yard for fire ants.

And I think Bob said something about spraying out the AC. It is something he does once a year to clean the little fins so that the AC works more efficiently. It is a tough job.

This will be the final weekend before the wedding. I'll be talking to the caterer this morning at 10am. Estimating 140 guests. We may get stuck with ten extra meals, but I'd rather have too many than not enough. And I want enough to feed our workers---

Okay, I am not sweating anymore, so time to shower and change. Then I will be blogging about having a cleaning crew of two come in. I hope to watch and see if I can learn anything. I am embarrasses that the kitchen floor is so torn up in one corner, and the house needs painting here in the main room we live in---kitchen and family space. But, maybe before Ben's wedding, when he turns thirty (like Uncle Jay did) we will have painted this room, and fixed the floor, and gotten the carpet cleaned. It is SO tempting to get the carpet steam cleaned. But, if they came Monday, would it be dry and good for Thursday when James comes home ?? And can we afford it?

I had a wonderful time yesterday with my future daughter-in-law! We "did" lunch. I love to "do" lunch like regular ladies. My friend, Mary, and I try to "do" lunch at least every other week. And Mary and I then visit our yarn and craft stores, too. Amber and I hit every Men's Warehouse we could find in order to get enough ties for the guys. Amber called her Dad and he was willing to wear pink for her special day, so we found some beautiful shiny, silk champaign pink ties. We visited and chatted away as we visited the NE mall Men's Warehouse, the south Arlington one, and the Hulen one south of Fort Worth. Wow. It was fun. They were on SALE, too! What a hoot. The salesman at south Arlington recognized me from Monday when I was there with Ben-Ben. I warned Amber to run if he started pulling more stuff out.

Wow---it was first time to shop with just Amber. And she is so fun! And she loves my son, James. And she knows she is getting Mr. Random and Mr. Movies. She is going to be so good for James. I hope she fattens him up. He has lost weight cooking for himself. Today, she drives up with her nieces to attend a Hail and Farewell--and take a load of stuff to James' apartment. I am sure she will get him organized. I forgot to pull out the diploma and talk about getting matching frames. Maybe if she is not tired of Hobby Lobby after the wedding sometime, we can do it then. Matching frames of their diplomas might look really good on their living room walls.

Andy has decided to ship one of the cars, and so Bob will be helping to drive the one...once they get to St. Louis. I wonder if Lauren is having second thoughts about riding with Andy. I hope we are not coming between them by "helping". Abby so loves having her parents together. But, it is not my business. This is Bob and Andy's deal. If Lauren would rather ride with, and make it a mini-vacation-geology trip as a family, I hope she speaks up. Bob would probably be mad if I even ask her.

It is the forty year anniversary since the Moon Landing. I am so used to seeing these pictures they are showing on NASA with choirs singing behind them as on the movie, THE DISH. The best movie, ever. Time to watch it again.


More later....