Fall Cleaning has Begun!

Last week I posted this on facebook for all my family to see:

I also sent Bruce and all my kids emails, detailing what I expected from Fall Cleaning:

• Two (possibly three) fun-filled weekends of deep-cleaning the entire house, the garage, and the yard.
• Enjoyable activities like washing squished mosquitoes off of the ceiling, and cleaning under and behind the refrigerator. 
• Start time: We'd begin with a homemade family breakfast (No Cheerios) on Saturday, September 14 at 8:30 a.m., with the house cleaning to begin immediately afterward.

I then created a Fall Cleaning event on facebook, and invited Bruce and my kids to join. Of course I did tell them that "maybe" and "not going" were not viable options to this event.

Then, just to be extra sure they were prepared for this, I told everyone about it in person.

I made very comprehensive lists of things to be done in each room, the garage, and the yard—both regular cleaning and deep-cleaning—so that we'd all be clear on the expectations.

Very comprehensive lists...a full page for each room.
Am I just asking for trouble?

And then I sat around biting my nails for two days, wondering how well this would actually go over.

When I got up at 7:00 on Saturday morning to start breakfast the house was silent: everyone was still in bed. They were still in bed at 8:00, too. And when I had to go wake them up at 8:30 (when breakfast actually was cooked!) I had great fears of rebellion—or at least sullenness.

Lindsey and Jessica are taking care of their dishes while Ryan finishes up his breakfast. The fun is about to begin...

It turned out to be ...if not actually fun, then at least it was pleasant. But maybe even fun, really. We listened to music, and chatted with each other as we all worked in the same room together, each person taking an item on the list and then signing off when it was done.

Ryan and Jessica take everything off of the shelves and dust them, while Rachel washes all the chairs. Then they turned all the chair over and tightened up the legs and backs.

Jessica washes walls.

While Ryan, Rachel and Jessica worked in the dining room, I cleaned out the fridge. I have been known to wipe off dirty shelves, and rearrange stuff in the fridge, but this time I did the same as the kids did with the shelves: took everything out, washed the entire fridge, and then put everything back. Lindsey, in the meantime, washed dishes, counters, and cabinetry. She was also the photographer, so there are no pics of her. :-(

By Saturday afternoon we had most of the kitchen finished (we still have to get dead bugs out of the light fixture), and all of the dining area finished, and all of the great room except for washing the windows. Not bad for one day's work! (The only bad part is that we were all too tired to make the fabulous treats...)

Here are some before and after pics of the kitchen.

BEFORE: a sink full of dishes; counters covered in...everything

AFTER: Nice!

Clean fridge, clean counters, clean cabinets...
it's even clean under and behind the fridge.
I did find something interesting—in kind of a nasty way:
a mummified lime. Apparently a lime fell behind the fridge where it was just warm enough for it to completely dehydrate. It wasn't rotten or moldy, just hard and hollow. And very dusty.
A lime mummy.

looking from the dining room into the kitchen

And look at those beautiful chairs and those clean shelves!

These photos almost do it justice; it looks better in person, and it feels fantastic. Because my amazing kids worked steadily and cheerfully all day!

But perhaps the biggest difference to be seen is in the oven. My double-ovens are pretty close to the same age as me. They do have a self-cleaning option, but I have no idea how it works. And I had no oven cleaner. So I googled "how to clean your oven..." and "without chemicals" popped right up in the search line. That sounded good. It turns out a paste made of just baking soda and water was supposed to do the trick. And it did! (instructions here)

I forgot the before until I had one oven entirely cleaned, so the "before" is actually the top oven and the "after" is the bottom oven.

I had a similar experience with the dishwasher, this time cleaning the stainless steel with white vinegar, and polishing it with cooking oil. Yay! (instructions here)

This morning I did tell everyone that they didn't really have to wait for the weekends to work on this stuff; they could finish up a job here and there throughout the intervening weeks. But if it waits until next Saturday...well, at least we know it can be a pleasant thing to work together. The goal is to have everything done before the first weekend in October. I think it will happen...

'Cause my family is AWESOME!