Sing Sweet Nighting Gale

The first movie I can remember seeing in the movie theater was Cinderella. I must have been 5. I remember our whole family went, we got popcorn and candy and the whole thing. I was completely entranced by the whole movie, big picture thing that I stared at the screen. Consequently I didn't get any candy or popcorn. I digress. It became a favorite of mine. While at Disney World 2 years ago I even did the whole wait in line to get my picture taken with Cinderella. A nice enough girl who was probably some wanna-be actress getting her equity card from the Mouse. The girl playing Sleeping Beauty however looked dumber than a box of hair!!I interject here that Rob's nieces just got back from Disneyworld and sent out a bunch of pictures. Low and behold miss thing as Sleeping Beauty is still there. (All performers are hurting for work) A favorite scene of mine from Cinderella is when the step sisters are singing, one is playing the flute, and its not going very well. The other is tone deaf, while the flute playing sister is making a mess of things. Cinderella is down stairs singing, and scrubbing. She gets carried away in song only to find that the stupid cat has made muddy paw prints all over her nice clean floor.

I have recently moved into a new apartment. December 1st to be exact. I have two roommates who shall remain nameless. And they are young. I mean fresh out of college, never lived on their own, probably had mom doing everything for them and took their laundry home on the weekends young. Most apartments you move into are "cleaned." I use that word loosely. Probably "cleaned" the way I used to "clean" my room as a kid. I'm sure what ever maid service the landlord uses doesn't do things like wash the walls. So me and the nursery twins get this new apartment. 4 bedrooms, 1 bath. Nice sized kitchen and living room. I didn't move my stuff in until Dec 15th. Yesterday was Jan 5th. The bathroom had not been cleaned since Merry Maids or Rosario was hired to "clean" this apartment so the new tenants could move in. Neither had the kitchen been "cleaned." Who lives in a place for a month and doesn't think to wipe down the toilet or tub? I mean who knows what filth was in there before you. And you can see if a tub is clean or not. We also had this wonderful problem with the drain being clogged. You usually ended up in a couple inches of water by the time your shower was over. I'd say my feet are probably infected with who knows what but as my brother says, "Steven has the most disgusting feet on the face of this planet. It is a truth!" So I call the super, who speaks the official language of New York City, Broken English, to come up and unclog the drain. I had had it!! After about half an hour of snaking and drilling he pulled out some girls weave. GROSS. It was the size of a healthy rodent. For all I know it could have been a dead rodent! I got to work. 45 minutes I scrubbed that tub, toilet, and bathroom floor. I collected enough dirt to start a farm. Maybe I'll plant canola. No one here seems to know what that is. I washed the walls, the bathroom door, everything. I'd have tackled the growth on the ceiling but we have 10 foot ones here. Ceilings, not growths. Then on to the kitchen. Same thing. Scrubbed down everything. Mopped, polished, you name it. About this time one of my roommates walked by. Apparently he had been home the whole time. Not a word. Not a "hey, are you cleaning" or even "is there anything I can do to help?" Nothing!!! Had he said, "hey Steve, why don't you let me finish that" I'd have replied with, " no it's fine" which is code for "the reason I'm doing this is because it took you too long to do anything and if you think I trust you to finish you are sadly mistaken." I also add here that before Christmas I left the boys with a task, to take out the recycling. We have a 4th bedroom by the door to the apartment. Its empty right now. Well, except for the 10 bags of recycling that were supposed to be taken out before Christmas!!! There is even a note on our mail table saying, "Steve, I will take out the recycling." So, Steve is going to put his foot down. Hard. It might land on some one's face. I am going to hang a job chart in the kitchen. It may be a little childish, but when in Rome.... They can live in whatever war zone they want to in their own rooms. I don't care. But come hell or high water we will be able to eat off that kitchen floor. And I will continue to make comments such as, "why is every light on in the house?" I guess I really have become my parents. This morning I woke up and my knee was hurting. Guess there is a change in the weather.

Dear Diary, I'm going to Staples later to buy some colored push pins for that job chart.