To Do List

Here’s one of the many reasons why I am stressed almost literally out of my mind:

It goes to three pages on legal sized paper.

And while some of the things on the list have since fallen way way down on the priority list (I don’t think I’ll be building that cat tree anytime soon), I’ve also added at least two additional pages of surprise projects. Like, replaster the stairs, sand the stinking *crackle paint* off the master bedroom walls, replace the garbage disposal, and fight a neverending battle of stink with the fridge.

Did I mention the stink battle with the fridge? For some reason I think I might have let this little gem escape me. At the final walkthrough the former owners decided to convey the fridge with the house. We were all kinds of jazzed about it because that saved us a whole lot of upfront money. They promised they’d have a maid clean it out when they cleaned the rest of the house, but they somehow managed to forget about that and left the fridge full of cast off food. They were a recently immigrated Asian family, so much of this cast off food was seafood, including tiny little fish that were scattered all over the bottom of the freezer and left to rot while the power was off for about a week.

I spent an entire day cleaning out the fridge and freezer, and we’ve since gone through 15 boxes of baking soda. I wish I was exaggerating. The funk is mighty and powerful. We’ve even had to throw out bottled water because it took on a distinctly fishy taste.

People keep telling me that a house is a lifelong project, that it doesn’t all have to happen today, that I can take all the time I need to make this house over.

Yes, A normal person would make these changes over years. But I think I’ve pretty thoroughly confirmed that I am not a normal person.