Spring cleaning - Day two

Yesterday was nice and cool, today the heat is back on. Woke up with a mild migraine, but it dissipated without meds. Ziva keeps mostly outside, but comes in to tease her brood for a minute or two, then walks off and off and meows and carries on until I kick her out. I suppose that’s her idea of weaning the kittens.

Today’s mission: the kitchen! I’ve already vacuumed the spare bedroom and fed the bird – who doesn’t seem to like peaches. We took off the splint yesterday, but he still doesn’t seem able to use the leg at all. I was hoping we could let him go, but it didn’t seem advisable.

Back to the kitchen: The dishes don’t take much time, but the floor? That’s another matter. Especially with the kittens watching my every move, and not just watching but investigating what I’m doing. The water involved in washing the floor is no deterrent. Only the hissing of the steam cleaner keeps them well away. Yes, you read that right: I have to steam clean those floors! Why? Am I so filthy in my habits? Not exactly, but in every flat before I had a built-in stove-top. So that any fat spatter from frying would end up on the kitchen counter tops where they are quite easy to wipe off. Here, however, the stovetop is my own, and it stands alone. So when I fry anything, the fat spatters on the floor. Although I do most of my cooking – and frying – on the induction cooker, on the counter between kitchen and lounge. So THAT doesn’t come off with simple hot water, and that needs steam!

Earl is a really strange cat. He is fascinated by liquids, yet without any desire to get wet. When I go to the toilet he comes running, when I flush he jumps up to see water swirling. When I wash my hands he watches with fascination. While I’m washing the floors, he is just close enough to see my every move without getting a drop on him. When I’m cleaning the handles – I spray them with a special cleaner – he watches every drop as it drips – as if it’s the greatest Alfred Hitchcock movie ever! Like I say, he’s weird!

The Mip Mips are all asleep on the chest behind me, so I take advantage and vacuum the main bedroom. 

And find that missing pack of cigarettes I’m sure Lizzy knocked off. Lizzy is fascinated with lit cigarettes – she can sit and watch it’s every move, not letting it out of her sight. She won’t even blink when she’s focused on one!

As soon as I switch off the vacuum, Ziva saunters in – she came in through the fanlight. I guess if I don’t do her bidding, she finds a way to get her will. Not that I could even hear her outside, over the vacuum!

Now I’ve locked the whole lot into the bedroom so that I can get some fresh air into the lounge. I’ve also started clearing out my dead & infected pot plants. I have lost too many plants to that awful silkworm. My Alströmeira is dying, as is the Fuchsia, the Oregano is dead … the list goes on and on. The only plant still alive despite long-term infection is my Rosemary. I’m seriously upset over this, so I’m cleaning up now. Save what I can, but I want that infection OUT.

Tomorrow’s mission: the lounge. Part One. Oh, and I still want to clean the fridge, though that’s not a big job, since I clean that regularly.

Cooked myself dinner – fried bratwurst & beans, cooked Fusilli – while I’m waiting for it to cool down so I can add the mayo I scoop the litter boxes. Would you believe that while I’m scooping the one in the bathroom, Lady Jane dashes past me happily trailing toilet paper? Again! I manage to grab & tear it, so she didn’t get too much – but after I’ve just cleaned every last scrap off the floor everywhere? Yeah, I’m ecstatic! Better keep the toilet paper out of reach for a while longer … out of Lady Jane’s reach. That sucks!

Rose came up just to let me know she won’t be visiting the Mip Mips today – she was out all day, and is going to her daughter now. As she leaves and I open the door to get in, Earl dashes out! So I have to catch and lock up all the Mip Mips before I can go after Earl! Fortunately Rose caught him and hands him back to me. At least I won’t have to go running down stairs, etc – who needs to pay for gym when you’ve got kittens keeping you running around shouting ‘No!’ all day long?

Well, now all I want to do is bath, read then sleep. It’s a bit early, so I’ll just read for a while.