You can't have everything and e.coli, too

Where would you put it?

That’s my motto as I clean house this week. I’m trying to consolidate to a manageable level of shit lying around the house. Nothing is sacred; I’m being ruthless. Books, clothes, tupperware, and most especially the piles and piles of magazines- all boxed up and ready for donation. And how many car catalogs does one man need? Sheesh. The yarn catalogs, well those are totally useful. But there are only so many ways to show the same tool over and over, right?

I got these totally geeky battery operated scrubby thing to go along with my steamer, since I have a preternatural aversion to e. coli and h. pilori. Did you know that NOT making you bed kills off the dust mite carcasses and fecal material? And you need to spray your mop/broom/vacuum cleaner sucker upper with alcohol so the e.coli doesn't multiply exponentially? All that cleaning is just moving multiplying bacterial colonies around so they can just multiply. I am starting to think that using the wipes at the market for my cart isn;t such a bad idea. (Grocery carts are germier than toilets.) And forget about wearing your outside shoes into the house. And as for putting your handbag on the floor---sheesh, do you know what kind of germs ther ARE at a prison?

Except the yarn. That goes without saying. No such thing as too much yarn. And- BONUS!- the more stuff I get rid of, the more room I’ve got for yarn! I bought a new coffee table that has two basket drawers in it (yard sale find). Two flat baskets filled with yarn fit right under it.

Lisi moved down the hall (which makes my house sound so vast and Victorian..."dowwwwwn the hallllllll"). She put all of her boxed junk in her old bedroom (which was right next to mine, so I could check on her when she was little). So now, I have a new junk room, except the junk is all tidy, instead of just being tossed in the door.

She is planning on moving closer to work, maybe in July. She started her new job with the county jail today....she was hoping to be posted in the juvenile jail (and I had SUCh reservations over that), so when she called to tell me she had been posted at the boot camp, I was totally "yip yip your-aye!" since IMO, 4 weeks of training isn't enough. Juveniles are only slightly less ooky that the adult offenders I work with---and only because they haven't worked the system yet. But (and again IMO, which is somewhat jaded), inmates are INMATES. You can't trust 'em. They are naughty, violent, volatile and just plain ooky.

So she is posted at the boot camp, which is like an adult SNY yard---it is a priviledge to be placed there so they are usually easy to handle. Even when you are learning to be a teacher, it takes a while to get that teacher/mom/in charge voice. You know the one..."You! There! Stop that/Put that back/knock it off" and the miscreant does. It is sort of like making Tank sit down. He will for me and I don't even have to get all alpha dog with him. He will for Lisi is he feels like it.

She has to get to the point where the inmates AND Tank does what she says because she said it.

Totally possible to learn. I did. Most everyone I know learned. She'll learn, too.