NOBODY NOTICES

So much of what we do in life--preparation, maintenance, clean up--isn't realized or appreciated as long as it is done and everything rolls along as it should.  Nobody notices, but you get a warm feeling.

When we remodeled and expanded our kitchen, the vinyl flooring we could afford was labeled "no wax."  But with all the coming and going from a busy family and all their friends the floor soon was exhibiting traffic lanes and plenty of scuff marks.   So I bought some floor finish from our local grocery store and put down a couple of protective coats.  After a year or so of this kind of treatment the floor sort of had a shine but was turning some shade of grayish yellow.  Time to strip off the “finish” and start over.  I’ve tried several different methods to remove the gunk and nothing works like ammonia and elbow grease.

So the other day when the guys announced they were heading to Montana to bring home some trout I decided it was once again time to deal with the yucky colored kitchen floor.  While the guys enjoyed a day on the lake in the sun I was up to my knees in floor slime, working up a sweat with that scrub brush.

Eeewww.  It looks like I put it off a little too long.

I scrubbed for hours.  The kitchen is big enough to accommodate a crew of teenagers making pizza from scratch, or a whole family and grandkids working on Thanksgiving, so there were a few yards to cover. 

I had the kitchen done and two coats of new finish down and dried before the guys came back with their fish.  They saw me on my knees scouring the floor in the dining room and were kind enough to keep their fish mess in the kitchen.  Not a word about how great the floor looked.  I think they wanted me to come in and gaze in awe at their big fish.  But, if you’ve seen big trout once you’ve seen them all and these fish looked pretty much like all the fish they’ve been bringing home for years.  (Yes, and maybe the floor looked the same as every spotless floor they’ve seen for years.)

I had the dining room cleaned and coated shortly after that and advised them to stay out if they valued their hide.

Then while the dining room dried I fixed dinner and life went on. 

I smiled that evening when I walked across the floor in my bare feet. 


To all of you who pay bills, clean toilets, clear tables, take out the trash, 
enforce laws and all of those other unappreciated jobs...THANK YOU.