Housework is a Pain

My sister Marcy came over again to help me clean house this weekend. Actually, what we're doing is taking a concentrated approach to certain areas that have been too long neglected. This past weekend I asked her to sort out and rearrange a corner display cupboard (something that was built into the dining room with the rest of the house), a place where I'd always placed pretty things I didn't use often but never really arranged so that the items inside were pleasing to view. Marcy, of course, did it magnificently. She washed all of the items, polished silver, and rearranged it all so that it looks beautiful.

I cleaned out the bottom of the china hutch Ed built, rearranged all of the items in the buffet he built, and redistributed items from an older buffet (it's sitting in the entry way of the house at the moment) to those items Ed built that are now in the kitchen/dining area. I also finished up work on the guest room closet. And that doesn't count having cleaned up all of the dishes (and got the dishwasher running again) and sweeping the floors prior to Marcy's arrival.

All of the Christmas gifts (I start shopping early) are stacked in one closet and are waiting to be wrapped. We separated out some boxes of Ed's stuff that are now moved downstairs to where his big desk is. I still need to straighten up the items remaining in the guest room so that it actually looks like a guest room instead of another storage facility.

It's exhausting work, the constant twisting, turning, moving, lifting up, bringing down, refolding, reshuffling, rethinking. Last weekend was all about throwing things away (we did a little this weekend, too, but not as much as last weekend). This weekend was about polishing and rearranging.

And there's still a lot to do. We haven't even gotten to the downstairs yet.

Good heavens, I ache still.

I did laundry yesterday in addition to taking a walk with my friend Richard at Zorinsky Lake (90 minutes). I also worked on some knitting, but it was more of pulling things apart than of putting them together.

Even if it doesn't all get done, I'm glad for what's being done. The knitting is a welcome respite from doing the housework. And Marcy is a great help in all of it. She is funny and resourceful and full of energy. I can appreciate that.