Dirt, grime, and a discovery

So over the last few weeks E and I have come to a conclusion about our home's previous owner......she NEVER cleaned.....and I mean never.

We started to suspect this the first day we owned the house, but decided that maybe she (like me) just didn't clean as often as she probably should have. See, before painting we decided to wipe down all the walls to prep them for painting, but as we started mopping it became very clear that these walls would need more than a light sweep with the mop....they needed a good scrubbing. So, 6 buckets of Mr. Clean infused water later, and we had at least removed the grime from the ceiling, walls, and floors. It still wasn't perfect, but it would do for painting purposes.

So then we paint and move in and slowly start to see all the other bits of ick that are all over the house. The fans had a nice thick layer of dust and grime, the shelves in the kitchen were covered in dirt (no seriously dirt, like from the yard, in the kitchen cabinets) and bug droppings, the floors and base boards have a layer of filth (yes still, we're gonna have to scrub those suckers), the bathroom was just nasty...no other way to put it...nasty, the vents all have dust on them..... I'll leave it there. I think you get the idea.

So okay, I've been avoiding cleaning the kitchen cabinets, mostly cause it didn't look like it would be fun (it wasn't), but I decided Sunday to just suck it up and get it done. I throw on some of those loverly yellow rubber gloves, grab a bottle of Fantastic spray and a roll of paper towels, put on my best "I love to clean" face, and get to work. It took a few hours to get through it all, partly cause it was that bad, partly cause I had to take breaks from the ick, and partly cause I ordered a pizza at one point (hey, a girl has to eat right?).

Once I finished the cabinets I decide that I should just go ahead and clean the hall closet while I'm at it. So I go in there, and start the gloves, paper towel, Fantastic, game face process again. Now, the previous owner left some pillar candles in this closet, you know the type that Catholics use for prayer, and I had just left them in the corner of the closet where we had discovered them on the first day. I figured they were just candles, so whatever..... Yeah, not just candles. I pick them up one at a time to clean under them, and imagine my horror when I pick up the second one to find it filled, FILLED, with cockroaches.

The candles are now in the trash, my hall closet is half cleaned and I am researching pest control companies.