
Today I balanced my checkbook and spent all afternoon with my daughter cleaning up our bedroom, which involved her throwing out or putting into a charity box a lot of odds and ends which had been cluttering up our space. I changed the beds and washed the sheets and blankets. For the first time in ages, I would not be ashamed to show someone my bedroom.
It was probably the most successful cleaning session my daughter and I ever had, because I got over my habit of dividing the mess between "my stuff" and "her stuff" and expecting her to deal with all her stuff on her own. There's just too much, and she doesn't have the organizational skills or emotional resilence to cope with it. Today, it was just "our room" and we tackled it all together. It went so much better, and I'm just glad I managed to get a clue no later than I did.
Last night, I did dishes, then set to work on the rest of the kitchen. I cleaned the stovetop, then tried to get some of the grease off the top side of hood. The totally useless hood. To make the light work, I would have to run an extension cord from the stove past the sink to the electrical outlet. Not something I want to do. The "vent" isn't connected to any actual ductwork to take vapors anywhere. The fan doesn't work. The structure did nothing but add an ugly metallic mustard splotch to my kitchen and gather grease.
So I took it down. With my daughter's help, I undid the four screws holding it up (I had mentioned that the previous owners of this house put the basement together in a slipshod manner, yes?) and took it out to the trash. Now the cupboard above the stove won't stay shut because the stress on the wood has changed, so I'm holding the doors shut with a rubber band, but I don't get up there very often anyway. (One of the next projects is to go through those catch-all cupboards in my kitchen and throw out a lot more stuff.)
So now my kitchen, living room and bedroom aren't perfect, but they are presentable. I feel better. My daughter feels better. I've been eating well today and drinking far more water than I usually do at home. The daughter has now gone upstairs to hang out with her dad, so I'm going finish up LJ'ing and then start watching Battlestar Galactica 2.0 -- not something I feel comfortable watching with her.
All in all, a good way to end 2005.