Somebody Call Me A Waahmbulance!

Heads up: If given the right circumstances I can be a real "Debbie Downer"(wah-wahhh). And this past week was totally the perfect storm. Wed. when the movers came, at first I was so happy to just have a place to put our things and I was tearing through the unpacking which was so different from when we moved to VA. Though our townhouse was a fine size there was just so little storage space! I remember trying to unpack just standing in the kitchen doing slow circles around and around trying to figure out what to do first, it was terribly overwhelming. But there is plenty of storage space in this house so you simply unpack a box right into where it belongs and call it good. So that part was great and I felt really proud of all the work I had done on Wed. Thursday morning I woke up and I don't know if it was the scent of dog pee wafting around my nose or the chaotic state of things left half unpacked or what but lets just say, I had "packed my angry eyes" and I put them on before I rolled out of bed.

I just couldn't make myself work or unpack anything else because I was determined that if something wasn't done with the stinky/filthy house, I was leaving. And then I was even more frustrated because I knew there was no way to really leave...and I hate being forced. The kitchen turned into a sore spot because it was filthy. The cleaning women had surface cleaned it some but there was so much more to do elsewhere in the house that it was still pretty bad. I couldn't unpack the kitchen because it was dirty and needed to be cleaned, but I couldn't clean it because I needed to unpack to find the cleaning supplies. In the mood I was in it seemed a hopeless conundrum so I politely backed out of the house, into the car and- wait for it- found the nearest TARGET. It took the edge off a little, I actually needed to go so I wasn't being completely useless but no matter how you cut it it was not as productive a day as it needed to be. While I am out blowing off steam Nathan was of course at home working the phone to get some of the issues figured out...love that guy.


Friday morning I brake out the rubber gloves and get to work in the kitchen. All of the cupboards have food splattered and stuck on them and - against all logic- in them. There was old lining in all of the cupboards which I stripped out and the bane of my existence Friday was the detail work on the front of every cupboard door. There was no other way to get it clean besides scrubbing with a toothbrush. The picture of the water (which looked much darker in real life, the picture makes it look pretty weak sauce) was after I had cleaned only 2 cupboards that were supposedly already clean...blech.

The tiled floor in the kitchen was really grossing me out too. The grout was now black though it should be tan, and there is so much texture to each tile and the texture was all filled in with black grime...With as limited as our time was we decided to call back the cleaning ladies who at first thought Nathan wanted them to come back because they hadn't done a good enough job- she was all- You not happy? I am so sorry, there was just SO much to do!- But Nathan quickly explained that they had done a great job and we wanted to pay them to come back just to scrub the kitchen floor and baseboard. It took 2 ladies over two hours to clean that floor. I was SO grateful for them! Finally I was feeling like I could move into the kitchen.

And for the grand finale, what you've all been waiting for...The latest chapter in the "Dog Pee Chronicles". So, I am with all of you who suggested new carpet. Believe me, I long for it. But we are renting and so the choice isn't really ours. But we have been speaking directly with the owners whose dog is at the epicenter of our suffering and this guy has been very apologetic and desiring to make it right. He called around and found a company that specializes in 'pet problems'. He said the guy had some machine that detected where the urine was...I was skeptical, you know, the whole Debbie Downer thing.


But low and behold this guy shows up with this thing he pokes all over in your carpet which beeps when it detects moisture or salt (what is left when urine dries) and then he takes this gynormous syringe and needle and literally injects the cleaner into the padding under the carpet. It contains live enzymes that feed off of the remnants until they are gone. It was fascinating to watch the guy work and blessedly it started to work very quickly.


It turns out we were right, the dog had marked the inner frame of every doorway- especially bathroom doors, and so some of the particle board there has actually swelled out. eew. I have to say that I love animals and especially dogs but I really think there is NO excuse for this. But the Dog Pee Doctor obviously sees it all day long everyday and he didn't seem to think this was the worst he had seen by any means. He left us some of the cleaner too which I was grateful for.

Anyway whether or not you can believe it things are finally looking up around here. I actually love the house, though it is a shame it hasn't been kept as well as it should have been. But it sits up in these hills and where we are seems so private. Our children are loving the backyard and playroom and haven't had the tv on once or even asked about it. And California is of course gorgeous. I know I am going to love it here. And although I have painted quite an unsavory picture of our new home- things are being taken care of and turned around. It would really be a super nice place to visit. Hint Hint.