compulsive cleaning

i really wanted to mention was the book that i've found to help me in all matters concerning the home. it's called "home comforts: the art and science of keeping house" by cheryl mendelson. it is the most comprehensive cleaning and maintenance manual for your home. i've actually read a good part of it, but it can also be used as more of a reference manual. 05.25.2009

i picked it up again. i tried to read it through when i bought it. something that is next to impossible. but i picked it up again because my apartment is in need of a full clean up. one roommate is still in europe and the other went home to texas for an indefinite amount of time. so i'm home alone for another week or so, and i thought that this was as good of a time to do an overhaul as any. no one to fuck it up in the near future.

so i'm reading a book about housekeeping. last night it occurred to me that the woman who wrote it must continuously clean her house. example: she recommends cleaning your refrigerator every week. hahaha yeah right. oh and to take your trash out every night. that might happen when there's a trash chute in your apartment building or if you trash can is right outside your kitchen door. but when i can barely get my roommates to take out the trash every few weeks and it's 9 degrees outside in the winter, that's a no-go.

but the ideas are solid. she lists how to clean and treat individual types of cooking ware. aluminum, steel, copper, whatever. she's knows how to use it and it's individual traits. it's amazing the stuff you can learn in this book.

and now onto the real point of this posting... i'm desperately trying to get into the mood to clean. i eked out some light dusting earlier this week, but have yet to fully commit to a complete overhaul. then i decided to do a normal cleaning just to get the ball rolling. and made a list of simpler tasks (not clean apartment) of things like dust, do dishes, and the like. and so far i've done the dishes, cleaned the bathroom, and dusted the living room. next on the list sweep and mop the floors, clean the stove-top, and wipe down the rest of the horizontal surfaces. then after that, i will move onto the more spring cleaning tasks. washing down the refrigerator, washing down walls and doors, maybe even cleaning the inside of the medicine cabinet.

the men's club & the boy's club

around the corner from my old apt was a strange attraction. during the summer there is always a group of older italian men hanging out front. something that is not uncommon in the little italy section of chicago. the unusual part was the building they sit in front of. the first floor of this building is decked out like a men's club. leather sofas, video games, big screen tvs, and vending machines.the full works. even more astonishing is the back room. it's set-up is a full-on tiki bar! this is where the "boys" hang out, the younger generation. obviously, i call them the men's club and the boy's club.
so i've always wondered it it was some kind of official thing. then the other day when i was walking past, i noticed the application of notices. apparently it's the r.i.a.c. who knew?