Spring cleaning

As our summer approaches, I'm in the mood to get things clean and tidy – ready for the summer months ahead. Up until this week, I've been concentrating on my Spanish studies and getting involved with our community. I've been keeping up with daily household chores, but Kevin's been doing most of the hard manual labour. I don't know if I simply needed some time off from working since I felt so burnt out from my job in Canada. Two months have gone by since we arrived here and this week I sense a change in my energy. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and carry some of the load. Yesterday, I started cleaning the guesthouse and today I was motivated to keep going. I continued unpacking the dishes, separating what I considered to be less than optimal items (some I had no idea what they were, others were just nasty old things) from the good stuff. I organized a box to give to Clara. And the rest, I threw away. I sorted the pots and pans, too. I vacuumed all the cobwebs in the corners, up near the ceiling where it appears no one has bothered to clean in quite some time. I emptied the wardrobes of all the useless bits of junk that was stored in there, like rusty old nails, pieces of wood, an incomplete deck of cards, a pair of prescription glasses, a oil lantern (not so useless, but dirty and needs cleaning, which I will do). I love getting rid of crap. I call it purging. I do believe it's my favourite sport :) I'm still not done, but I must say this little guesthouse is looking a lot more inviting. I need to go and buy some paint to freshen up the walls and kitchen cabinets and this weekend we're going to buy some light fixtures to replace the homemade tin can and beer cap creation that are precariously hanging. It's a sorry sight, believe me. Then I will wash all the linens and make sure we have nice, new sheets and duvet covers. It's all coming together.