Good Evening

There's no blog about dinner tonight because Tom and C are babysitting Tom's nephews so his brother and girlfriend can go out for her birthday. It was supposed to be baked BBQ pork chops with Parmesan gratin potatoes and beans, but I'm just going to move that to tomorrow night and cook through the weekend to make all of the meals.

So, since I'm alone tonight, I figured it was a good time to clean and wash clothes. Well, actually Tom suggested it and I figured I really have nothing better to do on a random Thursday night.

I hate cleaning. I think its boring, tedious and annoying. However, I'm pretty OCD about things being organized and clean, so I do it anyway. I just don't like doing it. What I hate the most is cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming. Honestly, if we had the extra money, I would hire someone to come in and do just those things weekly. I'm sure its not that expensive and we could actually afford it, but I'd feel really dumb hiring a cleaning person to do just that.

Anyway, since I hate cleaning and it seemed like it took me forever to get the other apartment clean, I decided that tonight I would clean here and time me to see how long it takes. I did decide that I wouldn't vacuum because I started at close to 8 PM and no one wants to be that annoying neighbor who vacuums all late at night.

I started at 7:15 by unloading the dishwasher and throwing a load of clothes in the washing machine. By 7:39, I had wiped down all of the cabinets and counters in the kitchen, swept and mopped the floor, cleaned off the bar and the stove, cleaned the dining room table, and dusted and polished the end tables and tv in the living room. Not too bad.

As mean as it sounds, I really love that our desk is in the bedroom now. At the other apartment it was in the living room so Tom and C would constantly be in there on their computers. I hated asking them to move to clean and the room was generally more messy because everyone was in it ALL.OF.THE.TIME. Now, we hardly ever use the living room. Honestly, I'm not sure of the last time I've sat on the couch. I think it was the first week here when we didn't have cable in the bedroom yet and I wanted to watch my Ghost Hunters show.

From 7:39 to 8:28 I put the load of clothes into the dryer, threw another one in the washing machine, changed the sheets and made the bed (much to the dismay of the cat who simply could not believe that I threw her blanket...yes, my cat has her own blanket...onto the floor), dusted and polished the tables, desk, dressers and tv, put away the first load of clothes from the dryer, added the next load, filed paid bills, hole punched and added 19 more recipes to my already overflowing recipe binder, put some wedding related stuff into my wedding binder and cleaned out the cat's litter box.

It only took me 11 minutes to clean the bathroom. I'm pretty shocked actually. Thats the part that feels like it takes forever. I guess its just because I went from having a super tiny bathroom where you could barely fit in it to having one where I have no idea what to do with the amount of space I have.

So, apparently it takes me exactly an hour to clean the apartment if I don't vacuum. I'm guessing that would take 30 minutes or less. I guess an hour and a half to clean the entire apartment isn't too bad.

What do you think? How long does it take you to clean? And what do you hate cleaning the most?

And in other news, you would not believe what Tom and C found in the apartment on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday there was a hornet. A HORNET!  I've managed almost 25 years of life to avoid all things that sting and now there is a hornet in my apartment? GAH! C killed it and then found that there was a nest on our balcony. :shudder: So, he knocked that down. Then on Wednesday they found a mud wasp. WTF? Why is my apartment full of things that sting? I'm not okay with this! I can handle the lady bugs, even when they dive bomb me while I'm making dinner, but insects that sting are just not welcome here! I still need to call the leasing office about it, but luckily there hasn't been anything else. That hasn't stopped me from staring at the balcony above us when I'm out on ours or tiptoeing around the dining room because thats where they found the hornet.

I still can not adjust to the tv here. I miss OnDemand and having a guide for the tv in the bedroom. I like knowing if I'm going to watch a repeat or not. I really hope that the Comcast here moves into the 21st century and adds HD and OnDemand sometime soon. Like next week.