Stealth Cleaning

Because I could not wash my hair due to stopped up drain, I stayed home from church. I got busy.

In the bathroom between the commode and tub, Tommy keeps a 6  gallon orange bucket with a plunger in it. It was used last fall and I used it on the sink Friday. It is not sopping wet all the time.  The orange bucket is in the back yard now. The plunger is cleaner than the floor it sits on!

Almost every time I come into the living room, my nostrils are assaulted by the pungent smell of cigarette. The culprit--ashtray. I offered to wash it when I came here, but he screamed as though I was offering to castrate him with a rusty knife. So, he is gone.

I cannot get the layer of ash out. I used a paper towel on the soaked ashtray. Then, I used a canning jar flat to scrape it out. No go. Now, it is full of vinegar with Dawn in it. He will be home from church in 30 minutes, so I cannot let it soak all day.

Even though he said he has not smoked after I had been here for two weeks, it stays full of stuff. Today, it had toenails in it and hair. I could barely get the nails out as they were stuck to the bottom. I have a metal scratchy puff that I will use in a minute.

The other times I have been here during church, I was too ill to worry about the ashtray. This morning, laundry and hanging laundry have been on the agenda along with the stealth cleaning. He watched me dust once and said nothing. So, I can do that while he is here. However, I do not dare dust or clean his table holding his lamp and the ashtray and other junk and necessities. I believe it is very germy, too.

The shortcakes were delicious last night. Today, I have three more quarts to work up. We will have more strawberry shortcake tonight and I will freeze some and leave a portion for us to eat however we each please. I like to pour milk over the slightly sweetened strawberries. He will probably want to eat his in a bowl. I might make a smoothy with strawberries, banana, oj, plain yogurt...I cannot wait. I won't use sugar at all on those strawberries. And, I won't have to mash them first. That will be breakfast tomorrow.

Okay, at 12:10, I went in to try to clean the ashtray. After soaking in vinegar and Dawn, it is hard as a rock. I did use the metal puff to try to clean it. No luck. So, I rinsed it off, dried it and put the ashtray back in its place. Okay, just found out one hand smells like smoke. aaagh

It is 56F with a predicted 65F today. There is no wind, thankfully. I can see the tulip tree in full bloom across the street when I have the door open. There are not many flowers or blooming trees on this block. The next block is in full bloom with promises of more flowers if the flower pots are any indication.

Okay, a nap caught me. It is now about 9 pm and he has not missed the orange bucket. We had the remains of the taco salad. After we ate last night, I remembered I forgot to add rice. Oh well. Tonight, I added more taco seasoning and a couple of small slices of cheddar cheese on top.

I did not get the strawberries cleaned and in bowl to eat. The nap was more important...lol.

How did you spend this pretty Sunday? Or, was it pretty and warm where you are?