Housework days two & two point five

I am finding tracking the housecleaning a bit tricky because one of the skills we’ve acquired (striven to acquire, actually) is just to do tiny bits of things as we go along, so wipe down the front hall tiles where the shoes track in with the damp cloth we’re holding from wiping down the highchair… just before it gets tossed in the wash that’s about to go in the machine. I mean how do you count that; it takes literally 45 seconds? And the floor doesn’t totally count as “clean” – I mean it’s just those 8 tiles – and yet it means mopping it the next day takes a lot less time ’cause the dirt hasn’t built up.

I have more thoughts on class and cleaning and homes and things but I will save them for the end of the week’s experiment.

Yesterday was pretty simple:

Bathroom wipe-down – 5 min
Laundry – maybe 20 min total
Tidying – 15 min
Kitchen clean-up – 20 min
Cat box (Carl!) – 20 min

And cooking: 25 min

… mostly because we were out for the lion’s share of the day. It was gorgeous out so I walked a ways, got on the bus to RT and went up to STC (the mall). Then got off the bus early on the way back and walked some more. At the mall I met up (by coincidence, not planning) with one of the mums from our group, got some waxing done, shopped a bit for baking ingredients, and breastfed twice. Errands (waxing and ingredients) that used to take an hour took 5! But it was fun. Noah went /crazy/ at the parakeets at the pet store so that took a good 20 minutes… twice, since we passed them on the way to the BF lounge. And I treated myself to lunch (salad with chicken breast). So no cleanup there.

I felt for the first time like Scarborough might be my town, as I met up with people I knew accidentally. Scary!

The bus ride was not good. I’m a huge supporter of public transit: I think it’s important for so many reasons – to get people to their jobs, to give people independence, to address environmental concerns, etc. etc. Also, I grew up in Toronto and used to take the bus + streetcar home on my own starting in grade one, and having that freedom my whole life – to go more or less anywhere I wanted to go for (now) $2.-whatever it is (but as a kid it was 10 cents) has made me a more exploratory sort of person, I think.

But yesterday I had the stroller on the bus and it got crowded. I don’t like travelling with the stroller when it’s crowded because I feel bad, although I think that really society can handle (and should handle) the inconvenience of slow elderly people, bulky toddler and mum people, and all those kinds of things – it’s just part of living interdependently. But emotionally I have that urban dweller’s sense of taking up too much space and I don’t like it.

So one woman was standing on one side of the stroller and a man pushed past her and past the stroller. And she just flipped out and asked him if he was going to say “excuse me” and it just escalated and escalated until they were threatening each other physically – with my stroller, and Noah, in the middle. I put my arm over the stroller and then basically got in the middle, and I could feel my body just getting pumped with adrenaline, more than I have experienced in most cases I felt threatened myself. I was seeing things ultra-clearly and my hearing was focused – you know the kind of thing that feels a bit like time slowing down (well my heart was racing too). Then the guy backed down, and the woman hauled off – and hit my stoller. The way people punch a wall when they’re upset.

The stroller with my baby in it.

I had a really hard time not doing something I would regret. What I did do (this must have been training from when I worked at the NGO kicking in, or else someone more sensible than I in the system, because what I was thinking was “DIE you bitch”) was made eye contact with the err, woman, and I said very. slowly. “You must be having a very bad day” (implication: to hit a fucking stroller. She said “yeah” and I said “I’m sorry to hear that.” And then she took a half step back out of my babyspace.

Thank god.

The whole thing made me shake after (adrenaline too I think) and I admit, that my middle class environment destroying thought was: thank god I’m getting the car Monday at the latest.

Of course the whole rest of the transit experience was fine, and people were really nice. Our transit system is not fully wheelchair accessible, but a lot of it is – it’s all elevators, etc., all the way to the mall – and now that I don’t have to worry so much about the cold while waiting for a bus, it’s really nice to use. Except for the loonies.

Today it’s 1 pm and I’ve already done loads of housework and had visitors (the two were related somewhat since I didn’t get much done yesterday) and now I’m finishing off this article as Noah naps, and then we’re out for a walk again as once again it’s gorgeous. Hopefully tonight Mags’ll have some time to finish the story we’re possibly taking to the Anne Bishop workshop next weekend. Still haven’t decided, and registration’s first come first serve which is driving me a little nuts… I hate that, the assumption that you’re at the con so what do you care, when we’re not at the con all weekend and could use helpful things like, oh, schedules. Rant over.

I really miss Idaho ppl when they are away. That’s not a whine, just a statement.

So the housework so far today, and likely the bulk of it other than kitchen, laundry, and maybe some garden cleanup:

Bathroom actual cleaning – 15 min
Vaccuum upstairs, incl. upholstery – 25 min
Mop tiled floor – 20 min (it wasn’t a scrub! just a mop)
Tidying/dusting – 20 min
Laundry – 15 min so far
Kitchen extra clean – 10 min (drying rack away, etc.)
Clean mirrors: 10 min
Garbage out: 10 min

(the sling really helps with the vaccuuming/mopping; I can have Noah in and sing and dance while we’re doing that, or least most of it…. it looks odd, I’m sure, and I do miss things here and there. But just in case anyone was wondering. Some days that doesn’t work at all ’cause he’s just not in the mood. :))

Cooking (lunch prep, Carl): 15 min