cleaning my !@# off

owww. tired. I rinsed off the outside of both cars this evening. I finally tackled my in-dash radio/cassette player. I had traded cars with my brother some years back for several months. Part of his routine includes taking the young nieces to school and our elderly parents shopping. Apparently our nieces were allowed to snack in the car. I also know that my brother and father drink coffee, often in the car. When I got the car back, it was so filthy I immediately got to work on cleaning the car. I threw all the rugs into a big "tank" with Tide detergent water. One of the rugs had a huge coffee spill spot on it (fortunately, it came out). I wiped the inside non-porous parts with a solution of Mr. Clean. However, for some reason, I didn't get to the radio panel. The cigarette lighter socket had some sort of residue, as did the radio panel above it.

Some time back I discovered that I could easily remove the plastic panel with the cigarette lighter socket. So this evening I did that and took it inside to clean at the sink. Afterwards I went back out to attempt the radio panel. But just wiping it was insufficient; it would be better to remove the radio panel to get the stuff out of the crevices. At this point the screws for the radio were exposed, so I dismounted the radio so that could get at the plastic tabs that retained the faceplate. The faceplate came off ok. But it was more than just the faceplate, it had circuit board too. So I took that inside. It was torturous to remove the circuit board but I finally managed. So now I have the plastic bezel and loose buttons and was able to take those to the sink. After cleaning I shook them dry and also blow dried them with a hair dryer.

By this time it's dark outside. I have a flashlight in the glove compartment so I made use of it. The faceplate went back in ok. The radio went back in ok, except I couldn't find one of the four screws. After some unsuccessful searching, I asked St. Anthony for help and found the missing screw shortly thereafter. The cigarette lighter panel went back in ok. I'll wait until the next day to check the radio, giving it overnight to dry off anywhere that might not have dried off.

Then I came in and cleaned off one of the room air filtering machines. The filter needed replacing and the pre-filter needed cleaning. The machine itself required that the dust be wiped off. Then I took my shower. I was tired.

After the shower I sat for a while, comtemplating dinner. Then Gumby mentioned that the cleaner cartridge in the toilet probably needed replacing--the water was running clear instead of blue. Well, that's easy enough, replacing the cartridge. Except that when I went to replace the cartridge, the old one in there was still very blue. Maybe there's a kink in the feed tube. So I moved it, flushed then monitored the water. It ran blue then clear. Then I did the stupid thing. I untwisted the cartridge to have a look. Dark blue water sprayed everywhere, mostly on me.

So now I have to clean up the mess. Did I say I was tired? I had to rinse the rug, wipe the floor, wipe the walls and wipe the toilet. Then I turned to cleaning myself. "No way in hell," I said, "am I going to take another shower." I worked on my t-shirt and I think I got the blue out. I washed my face and that went well. Then I washed my arms then my feet and lower legs ... in the sink. If any got on my hair, I didn't know it and can't see it and I'm just now thinking about it as I type. If it's there, it's staying for now.

Yes, I did have some dinner. It was rubbery from having been microwaved, but I ate it.

It's crazy stuff such as this that takes up my time and results in my absence from blogworld.