...Cleaning other peoples' houses in order to pay my bills,
but it seems to be taking place, since about a week ago.
It began when a roommate asked me to help her clear
and organize her clothes closet. Sounded simple enough.
I began by taking clumps of clothing out and laying them on
her bed. After about 1/4 of her closet was emptied, I would
hold up one piece of clothing at a time. "Do you want to
keep this?" I asked.
"Yes!" came the definitive answer. (That was easy, I thought.)
Then came the second piece of clothing. "Do you want to
keep this one?" "Yes!" (Again, an easy score!)
"How about this one?" "I'm not so sure about that one." She
answered. (Oh, oh, how long is this going to take?) After a
minute or so, she finally answered. "Yes, I guess that one can
stay too. "(Whew! At this rate, this closet is going to take longer
than I suspected.) And it did of course.
After two hours, I had two bags full of clothes going to Goodwill,
one large one going to me for a rag rug, and a small bag for the
garbage. Also, I had all Winter clothes sorted by color on one side
of her closet and all Spring, Summer and Fall clothes, also sorted
by color on the other side of her closet.
She thanked me and told me she was grateful not to have to do
that again for another 20 years. (I felt the same, but just smiled.)
The following day, I received a call for help from another friend.
She needed a "bit of help" straightening her apartment, because
the apartment management would be checking it in a few days
I figured it would take me a few hours to just straighten up. I
had a vision of a motel room after a small party. Was I ever
wrong!
She is a very intelligent, but extremely busy person, working 3
jobs and hopping back and forth to see her new puppy, that whines
most of the night, not allowing for much sleep. I already knew
this before entering her abode. I knocked on the door and when I
did not see the door opening, I got a bit concerned, as I knew she
knew I was coming to her rescue. I knocked again and after a
minute, I turned the knob and opened the door.
"What?!" I was stunned. What had happened to her apartment? I
had been to her place before and would never have suspected
what was in front of me. Clothes, toys, books, papers, food, and
what do little puppies leave as gifts? Yup! Puppy poo. And here
came the darling to greet me, but where was my friend? She shyly
came from the kitchen and tried acting like everything was actually
normal. "Oh, hi, I didn't hear you knock." "Yup! I met your puppy
too. " "Yes, isn't he cute?" As he lifted his leg on a nearby table.
"Yes, he sure is. Are you taking him out when he has to go?" "Well,
I do take him out once and a while, but he doesn't always go when
I take him out. He likes to go in here." (Yikes!)
"So, you asked me to come help you. What do you need me to do?"
She scratched her head and looked somewhat in a stuper. "Actually,
the whole apartment. I'll be glad to pay you too." (that's for sure!)
So I began, with Fluffy running after my shoes and getting underfoot.
"Be careful, don't step on Fluffy!" So it went for 8 hours, until I needed
a break. I came back the next day and the next. Her apartment looks
much better, but Fluffy is still lifting his leg and my friend is exhausted.
Of course, so am I.
So today, I had another appointment with another friend. To help clear
out her "office." Of course after 10 hours, she threw out her computer,
a computer screen, two large bags of paper, which we recycled, and
enough ripped down cardboard to recycle that could have built a card-
board "Trump Tower."
I also color coded all her clothes, while taking out and filling 4 boxes
with enough plastic hangers to start a "hanger store " on 5th Ave.
So, for some reason, my friends have found me and my cleaning
skills. Who's been talking to these people? Not me. So how did they
all find out about me within the same few days? Okay! Fess up!
So tomorrow, I am free to do whatever I want - seriously, that doesn't
happen very often, so I'm not counting on it. Have a fun July 4th.