from beach day to bleach day

so yesterday,

with my landlord's financial fronting, all the way from the arctic,

i hired two guys from homedepot's sidewalk,

phillip and manual.

we laughed together in my car at how little we understood each other.

phillip was my age, i think, with kind eyes.

manuel was more detached.

at home,

i gave them N95 masks, rubber gloves and goggles.

phillip accepted, manuel declined.

i showed them my moldy cabinet...see ugly pic above

and phillip bravely got to work on the worst of it..

they scrubbed and scrubbed, manuel humming to the latino radio station i found for him.

it was looking pretty good a couple hours later and

i gave them great praise...

then showing them the moldy front closet which needed attacking.

they also tore down icky cheapo temporary wallboard in the laundry room

and nailed up some tarp for me.

of course

after they left, i ran a bleachy wash of all the rags and then discovered

a HUGE puddle of water in the laundry room.

i almost sobbed.

galvin appliance gave me an appt for the next day

and suggested i go back to home depot to try to find the guys.

i did. they weren't there of course.

so in desparation, i called chuck,

who like a wonderful wonderful steed-riding knight

came right over and showed me very simply how they'd neglected to put the

water hose back in its place.

thank you chuck!! you are the best.

the bad news is

that the girls and i scooped gallons of grey water with dustpans

and dumped it.

they wanted to dump it in my sink so it wouldn't kill nice little fishies

if they poured it down the gutter.

well,

they had no conscience for all the gunk that now left in my sink,

but that's ok we saved a few fishies.

good news is that the laundry room floor has now been bleached.

did you know that the cal dept of health says that

diluted bleach is more effective to use than full strength?

wow

the things you learn.

today is bleach day and i've slept in quite a bit.

louie has been sleeping in my room since all the commotion downstairs

might make him ill again.

(we had to take him to an aviary vet a couple weeks ago...he

had a respiratory infection! poor little yellow guy.)

and louie has been lending comfort with his little bell ringing

and his

*how are you*

sweet birdy voice.

and wonderful housemate and helpmate diana

has helped me keep going through all this.

my thought-mirror and my heart=guide all in one.

thank you, thank you.

and i've had boosts of energy from the steroid shot i got the other day.

my face hardly itches any more and i'm no longer embarrassed to be

seen in public.

it was drastic, but i was getting frantic.

now i will tear off my cocoa fingerprint stained nightie

(yeah, i had cocoa almonds for breakfast, wiping my fingers along the way)

and stand ready for the day.

thanks for listening.

feel free to leave comments below.

it's pretty easy...if you haven't done it before,

give it a try.

i sat on the front porch, studying my last summer course on the very charming subject of violence in schools

while my darling daughters screamed and giggled across the street

and very non-politely ignored most of my requests for help.