Cleaning up the Man-Cave

I knew when I moved into Chris' house that it was dirty. He had lived here for 4 years with two other guys -- the same two guys in fact, so nothing of a large size had really been moved around. I was ok with a little dirt because I like to clean, but I had no idea what I was up against.

One of the back bedrooms had cob webs in all of the corners and all over the closet doors. The floor in the laundry closet was black. When we cleaned it off we discovered clothing items, a couple of which Chris couldn't identify as having belonged to himself or his former roommates. If you're not following let me spell it out: they belonged to the former owner! One of the toilets seems to have a permanent mold ring in it -- I've scrubbed with bleach, people!

After having made much progress in 6 months of living here, I've discovered a new challenge: The Windows. Chris painted the house when he first moved in. Anyway, they put a sealant on the house before they painted -- good! But they didn't cover the windows before they did that -- bad! Very, very bad! It created a thick film all over the windows...that only comes off with laquer thinner.

I knew I need to get that off, but I had no idea about the plants. Yep, plants! We are a veritable green house. There was so much dirt in one of our window sills that we plants growing in it -- see exhibit A below...

Yes, you are looking at plants that are growing in the window sill inside of the screen which means they're technically inside of the house. Gack! So I decided to tackle all of the window dirt this past week.

After hours of perching precariously on the ladder, smelling laquer thinner (not sniffing!) and scrubbing the windows...I feel as if I've only made minimal progress. The sealant only comes off of the windows in layers, kind of like trying to clean up an oil spill. It's annoying to say the least. And you can't get too close to the edges of the windows because the thinner will take off the paint. On top of all of that there seems to be a permanent moldy-scum quality to the panes. Here's a picture from another angle...

Gross is right! I don't know how they all (Chris and his roommates) didn't notice all of this. It's as if to them, as long as the one foot square space in front of them was clean -- so that they could eat...food -- it was all good!

When I took a break from cleaning the outside of our windows and finally cleaned the inside of our sliding glass door, this was the result...I showed Christopher when he got home...

Me: I cleaned the windows today dear.

Chris: Thanks!

Me: This is what came off of the inside of one of our sliding glass doors.

Chris: Oh...

Me: It's pretty dirty don't you think?

Chris: I don't recall ever having cleaned that door before.

Me: That explains A LOT...

Isn't he just so honest though? My husband is fabulous...and fabulously dirty!!! But I'll take him -- the good, the bad and the dirty -- he's worth it!