Actually, Raven's on my to-do list for the back half of this month: he's a hair farm, and I'm *done* trying to keep this dog clipped myself. He's up for his shots, so as soon as he's got them all up-to-date, he's going to the store for a professional cut, I don't care how much I have to pay for it. I'm sick of pulling burrs and dreadlocks out of this dog's fur.
2. Clean the windows. I DO actually "do windows", and usually I do it this time of year. I didn't last year, though...or the year before. Whoops. They're a bit manky. Someone gave me a really nifty car washing brush tool once that hooks up with the end of a garden hose - you can put soap or liquid wax into it if you want to, and the handle extends to like six feet. Really nifty tool. Do I wash my car, like, ever? Nope. But it's awesome on windows!
*ba-dump-CSH!*
And I DO run the long-handled duster around the ceiling and doorways more than once a year, but MAN that crap builds up, with all the hairy animals that bring dust and other junk in from the backyard all day long.
4. Deal with built-up piles of clutter. Also something I actually do more than once a year - otherwise I'd live in a dumpster. But I did just recently tidy up and re-organize the laundry room that I spent all that time and effort to sort-of re-model two years ago. (Yeesh, has it been that long?)
I'm also in the middle of cleaning up and re-organizing the garage, and dealing with half-finished projects out there. The next step (a new wall o' shelves) is going to be a doozy, though. Stay tuned.
| not my actual house, thank goodness |
5. Wipe up built-up fingerprints on wall switches, hallway corners, and around doorknobs.
Yeah, it's probably time to do that, actually. Just because most of my walls are painted gray doesn't mean that manky crap doesn't show. Bleh.
Also on my Spring Cleaning list:
- take down all the draperies in the house and run them all through the washer. I do this about twice a year, actually, for my allergies. I don't use curtains I can't put into the washing machine for exactly this reason.
- fireplace cleanup - already done, actually.
- Bleach and re-seal the grout in the tiled areas of the house. I used to do this every Spring, but I haven't in about three years. It needs it, though.
And some maintenance items that need to be dealt with soon, or else:
- the deadbolt on the nifty new storm door I installed a few weeks ago is suddenly not working, for some reason. I needed to take the cylinder out and take it to the hardware store to have it re-keyed anyway; I'll have them look at it while I'm there.
- Another door issue: the "temporary" gate I put up over a hallway door to keep the dogs out of "Catland" (where the food, water, and litterboxes live) has now been in place for nearly FOUR YEARS. And it's falling apart, of course, because it was never meant to last this long or put up with the abuse it's gotten over the years. It's time to get off my ass and put the real solution that I've always meant to get around to, into place.
- Two years ago, I scrubbed, patched, and re-painted all of the baseboard trim in the entire house...except for the dining room. Sigh.
- Oh, and the guest bathroom, too, and the paint on the trim in there is yellowed and chipped. It needs to be re-done, especially since I re-painted the room not long ago, which just made the old trim look even worse than it did.
And the garden...oh, don't even get me started.
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