Ohio:

It took all my back muscles and brainpower for two days of doing a little at a time, but after I wipe the kitchen table down, add a leaf, and put a tablecloth back on, it will once again look and FUNCTION like MY KITCHEN.

. Adding the leaf will increase the space for under-table storage using the plastic bins my son and DIL insisted on buying and leaving, which will relieve the kitchen cabinets' and counters' tendency to get too crowded. It will also eliminate open floor space at the foot of the table, where I tend to dump things better set onto a chair (or atop the sideboard) for unpacking.

. I used mortite and soup cans in my favorite GF flavors, sticking them down onto a pretty wooden lazy susan the Horde had stained, and weighed the cans down with 1/2" steel ball bearings that I had brought, to replace the countertop carousel they stole. It had been a gift with strings attached, and never held enough cooking utensils anyway! (If I like it, Hardi can screw it together and varnish the labels.)

. All misc Horde detritus I have not known how to categorize is now in boxes set aside in the kitchen, to go thru while cleaner Brittney works on the kitchen, Wednesday. (Some of it's our stuff they'd flung around.)

. I sorted a plastic basket they'd mixed my 3 decks of cards into, finding much to my surprise that only one deck was missing a card. (There's a Joker to use.)

. The pots and pans I use most are washed and put away. The cast iron needs a good scrape and re-seasoning, which Hardi can do in his outdoor kitchen in July! (Burnt grease to boil off.)

. All empty cardboard boxes and other miscellany I don't want in the house are sitting in the plastic recycle bin on a rope, to be towed out to the garage Wednesday along with 3 paper bags of recycling. (That bin stays in the garage for towing in heavy groceries.)

. A spot has been found for the dish garden my friend Judy has been tending for 3 months, and she may return it tomorrow.

. A plan to move the sideboard over a few inches without unloading its heavy tools is in place for Wednesday.

. Once Brittney does the Wednesday cleaning, which will include the inside of the PA-dusty china cabinet, I can start unpacking the kitchen boxes I brought and, hopefully, find my rice cooker.

. The mop I hate, which a previous housemate left, has been disinfected for Goodwill donation; a new Swifter mop is waiting, in my trunk. (Did you know that washable rags can be used with those, instead of rayon Swiffer pads?)

. The kitchen wastebasket that goes under the sink for nasty chicken styrofoam trays and their salmonella meat diapers has been sanitized and set to dry, pending its LONG-delayed return to that essential spot, where it belongs!

. Some small appliances the Horde had crammed into the deep recesses of lower cabinets have been relocated to a much better spot in a cabinet with shelves they fit on perfectly, up above my pots and pans bins.

My back and legs are fried, with just enough kitchen tweaks I can easily finish before Wednesday.

~S~