In Focus

I have been miserable the past week, suffering from allergies. I swear they get worse every year. This spring I bought an air purifier for my room. It helps, but I still wake up because of my allergies and with extremely irritated eyes.

I decided to deep clean my house this weekend...hoping that would help. I started upstairs with my domain. Dusting, vacuuming and mopping the floors. It helped a little bit.

On Saturday, I tore apart the kitchen. I moved the fridge and stove and cleaned those areas, scrubbed the cupboards, cleaned out the pantry, scrubbed all surfaces, vacuumed and super mopped the floor. The living room was the same. With mom’s help, the houseplants went outside and any object that wasn’t a hassle to move was moved and that area cleaned. I mopped numerous times and steam cleaned the large area rug, after moving it and cleaning underneath it also.

This house probably hasn’t been this clean since we moved in. My allergies were irritated all day with all the dust being stirred up around the house.

When Sunday came around I started a project I really didn’t want to. Ever since we moved in the staircase has been carpeted. It’s a pain to clean with the animal hair and it was wearing and tearing. So, I ripped it off. I figured crappy hardwood stairs would be much easier to clean than carpet. Oh boy...

The carpet came out very easily. But there were so many staples in the stairs. Different kinds in different places, and remnants of previous carpets, as well as the ancient remains of glue. It was a terrifying sight. I get why it all was covered in carpet.

I started removing the staples and that was a fight in itself! They are about two inches long and I had to go purchase some tools to get the job done. We broke the needle nose pliers and my hand was already screaming at me in pain. The tools helped, but I was running out of steam. Out of 13 stairs, I think I’ve got three de-stapled to the best of my ability. There are a ton of staples on each step.

I moved on to cleaning and removing the glue. I bought a product to dissolve the glue and it worked pretty well. The cleaner made the stairs a bit slippery, so that was fun. I got them scrubbed up the best I could and they don’t look that bad considering the years of wear and tear. The rest of the staple removing project will take me some time.

I did not want to start a new project, but it’s already too late. I blame my allergies. Pray for my hand...I just hope that it gets better real soon...I have more staples to remove!