Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Thursday

Thursday afternoon I returned home at exactly 2:45. Kim was taking the “big kids” to the library for some sort of children’s science program that started at 3:00 and had asked me to come home early. I came in, she loaded the kids up in the mini-van and mentioned that Korah was still taking her nap. What am I to do but head for my “home office” to take care of some business.

After putting in a good 30 minutes of “hard work” I flushed! The water began to turn, it continued to turn, and then it began to raise. Closer and closer it came to the brim as I scrambled for the closet where we – usually – keep the plunger. No plunger! I tear through the house, running first to our bathroom. No plunger! Running to the other end of the house I scramble into the girls’ bathroom. No plunger.

Forgetting all other options I run into the main bathroom – where the poo water is now flowing over the brim of the toilet and I throw three towels around the base of the commode. Then, buckling my pants, I sprint out the front door and head toward the church. Juggling to find the right key I enter the church and head straight to the men’s restroom, steal the plunger, and sprint – now out of breath – back to the house.

As I enter the house and turn toward the bathroom – water still pouring out of the commode – two questions occur to me; (1) “Why didn’t I turn the the water off at the toilet?” and (2) “Why is Lucy (our dog) drinking the poo water?”. Without hesitation I yell, “Lucy” at which point she rolls over to slather her fur in the river of solid waste flowing through the bathroom.

One plunge and the flow was done.

Relieved but still overwhelmed, I turn and scoop up Lucy - still laying on the floor like a submissive puppy - and I head for the back door. I throw Lucy outside and made my way toward the garage to find the shop vac.

Side note: In the midst of the running through the house, doors slamming, and me yelling “where’s the plunger” and “Lucy”, Korah had woken from her nap.

Now in the garage, I grab the shop vac – determined to stop the river of poo before it reaches the hallway – and I head back inside. Just as I turn the corner I see the only thing worse than our dog drinking my watered-down poo, my three-year old daughter laying in it! She woke up, and came looking for “mommy” but instead was greeted by dad’s feces.

Scooping Korah up off the floor – dripping wet I might add – I grab four more towels and lay them at the baseboard around the room.

The next hour included; 
  1. a bath for Korah  
  2. vacuum the bathroom
  3. throw all bathroom “elements” outside
  4. wash hands
  5. call Kim and the kids and tell them to “take their time”
  6. bleach the bathroom floor, toilet, walls, etc.
  7. wash hands
  8. a bath for Lucy
  9. do laundry
  10. wash hands

Days later I’m still dealing with “repercussions” as we found out that the poo water had crept into the girls closet and the living room and drenching the carpet and bringing a very interesting smell with it.


Happy flushing folks!

     

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Seeing Messes

This weekend I will celebrate 12 wonderful years of marriage to my wife. Each year that passes I feel that we grow closer together as we share in the highs and lows of marriage, parenthood, and life. And, while I feel that we have a great marriage and a unity in our marriage, there is one thing that we greatly differ on. We do not see messes the same way! 

When I enter a room, I see the clutter - clothing, toys, and everything that is out of its place - in the room. Likewise, when I enter a room, I see the dirt - crumbs, dust, cobwebs  in the room. Now, when this clutter or dirt is someone else's home, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as if it were in my own home. When this clutter or dirt is in my home, I cannot relax until it is cleaned up. This has proven to be a problem in the past, as you can imagine. 

For years this was a point of contention between my wife and I in our home. I would enter the house after a day of work and immediately begin to pick up and to clean up the house - not just one room, but every room. Why? Because it bothered me and I knew that I would not be able to relax until it was completed. My wife would say, "just come and sit down and relax". But I can't, this mess has to be cleaned up. 

(Let me pause here and clarify that our home is not a mess. Our home hasn't really been a mess in the 12 years that we have shared a home together. So when I write that it is a "mess" understand what I mean is that there is a smudge on the window, a doll on the floor, toothpaste in the sink, or a  couple popcorn kernels on the floor.)

As I wrote before, for years this was a point of contention between my wife and I in our home. However, one day we both realized something about our spouse. She realized that I do not mind cleaning, I somewhat enjoy it (more than the cleaning itself, I enjoy the final - clean - result). She came to the understanding that I enjoy cleaning and that it not only helps me relax, it also helps me release the stress that I have acquired throughout the day. And what I realized about her is that she she does not see messes in the same way that I do. In fact, to my wife it's not a mess.

My eyes were opened to the fact that my wife's eyes see Inge differently.

So, when my eyes see the mess, what is she seeing? She is seeing the handprints of our 14-month-old on the picture window and remembering that she stood there this morning yelling "bye bye" as I pulled out of the driveway. She is seeing the doll that our 9-year old held as she braided it's hair this afternoon - this doll that now has the super-complicated braid that my daughter and her mom have been practicing for weeks. She is seeing the toothpaste with a hint of blood in it after our six-year old lost his first tooth and now speaks slower and with a unmistakable lisp. And she is seeing the popcorn kernels that remind her of how she got to sit, cuddle, and eat popcorn with our 4-year old during his first day of summer break as they watched Handy Manny this morning. 

Perhaps my wife and I do not see messes in the same way. But, I thank God for the way she sees the "messes" in our home. And I wouldn't want it any other way.