Cleaning House: The Spring Cleaning Cleaning Edition. Cleaning

I ventured to Creede for a couple of days this past Monday. It was my first time back since the end of December. And I have now given in to the fact that whenever I come home after time away, I have to clean. Like, HAVE TO. RJ does his best, but his best isn't MY best. Godblesshim he tries and he usually gets the kitchen and the bathroom in a decent state and starts some laundry. But he is a dusty man with a dusty profession, living in a dusty mountain town. So, he gets used to there being a certain level of dingy, dustiness everywhere. When I come home, there is a layer of said dusty dinginess everywhere--floor, tables, chairs, on the dog, on the cat. Thus begins, what I am just now realizing, is an obsessive ritual of coming home and immediately cleaning.

On this most recent trip home, I discovered that this process reconnects me with my living space. And my deep seated control freak. I like to touch things, to make them mine again. Perhaps it's like dogs or cats peeing to mark their territory, but it smells much better. Until this is done, I have a hard time relaxing. Now, I am not a neat freak--past roommates can attest to this. But there is a level of clean and organization that I prefer and thrive on. If I clutter things, it is MY clutter and I will take care of it. Eventually. But before I start, it is RJ's clutter. His bachelorhood back in full, glorious form.

This process of cleaning starts right after I kiss and hug him hello. He often says things like, "hey, come hang out with me," "Let's go eat," or, "you can do that later." And I can, but I'd really rather not. Until it's clean. CLEAN.

But this leads me to what I'm presently good for on the House-in-Progress--known from this point on as the HIP. Ha. See what I did there? Full circle, Bitches. My actual hip will just be known as my hip. Anyway.

The weather has been decent in Creede recently and with the extra hour of daylight, RJ has begun to work on the HIP for 2-3 hours after he's done at his Jobby job just outside of town. A day or so before I came home, he texted me this photo:

Room with a view.

AH! No wall! On the second floor! Woah! One of the salvageable details of this house was the roof. It is only a few years old and in great condition. The other walls...not so much...as we have seen from previous work on the first floor. In working upstairs recently, RJ discovered that the wall was in pretty bad shape, so he tore it out and put it back together. 

Other current progress: 

Wall that will separate the kitchen area (on the left) from the dining area (on the right).

This was halfway built back up on Monday and he has since built the rest up. Yay!

In the almost five years I have been in a relationship with a construction guy, I have seen how messy construction sites get. And I mean, MESSY. Like, Holyshitareyouserious messy. And this is pretty universal. Most smaller time contracting folks just don't have the employees or time to keep things clean all the time, so who gets to do this kind of work? Unskilled laborers like me. Oh these guys can do it, but why waste their skilled hands on picking up crap in the yard when I can do it with some enthusiasm and purpose. 

Here is a view from out the upstairs window of what I took on Tuesday morning: 

Total annihilation! 

I should have gotten another photo to show the actual size of the pile from the ground. This was the remnants of an entire wall of a house. And with the little construction skill I have--most of it consisting of theatrical strikes and changeovers--this is how I contribute. By cleaning this up. So I did. And I liked it. I can put my headphones on, get a workout and satisfy my need to clean. And I actually noticed a big difference from doing this months ago when I was still in hip recovery-mode. It didn't tire me out like it did last winter. It actually invigorated me. I could have kept going on the inside but there was no more room on the dump trailer. And hey, it WAS my day off for Pete's sake.

Additional progress you can't see here: RJ put insulation in the walls downstairs and built inner walls all around the downstairs. It's pretty much prepped for our electrical friend to come in and wire it for us, while RJ helps him. Woot! And while giving me a tour of the upstairs, which is to be the master bedroom, I started to actually VISUALIZE where things would be--really see it and not just in a vague, blurry picture in my mind. And it's going to be so cool and unique! We will have a bathroom attached with a claw foot tub! Storage space and a built in office area for me with built-in bookshelves. The power of home ownership and hell, home CREATION is a very real thing now. 

But truly, one of the greatest perks to building a house in Creede, CO is that the community is on your side. RJ and other small time builders like him truly help each other out. The man-hours that would cost someone $80-$120 an hour in a city don't exist here. They are traded for help on the other person's house. And these guys know where to scavenge to find cool wood to use, or appliances, insulation and most importantly, TIME. It is like we are able to briefly witness life without the capitalist umbrella controlling everything.

It is hard for me to not want to jump head first into using every idea I ever had on Pinterest for this house and as RJ has to constantly remind me...we're not there yet. Some things will have to wait simply because we can't afford it or it is an embellishment that will happen after we get moved in. Because that really is the goal right now--to make the house liveable and functional. And as I've said before, the journey is a long one. Especially on the income we have and the time available to work on it. But we'll get there. As Patience has said to me more than once, "Suck on it, Berrymin." And in response, I will joyfully clean. Until I get to paint gradated stairs. Someday...

Photo by Jonny Valiant via Real Simple