The steam cleaners suggested by a good friend of ours were due to arrive any moment. I had called the main guy earlier, worked out the details and we geared up to meet up that afternoon at 3PM. Probably the only downslide to the intended job was this: they wouldn't move furniture.
Wouldn't move furniture? What did it imply?? Does that mean I will have to move apartments or worse hoard all my stuff on the street until they finished cleaning my apartment? What an insane statement?? Practically left with no choice, I agreed. Resigning to my fate, I started moving stuff around the house in ernest, of course with a few arghhhh and ooooo vocal subtleties to go alongwith!
The bathroom became the sole store-room for most stuff. Big boxes, a small stool, lights, school stuff, loose papers, this and that..... Laptops and camera were probably the only few which found an otherwise respectable place on the office table. Everything else was marked to be shoved into the only floored area of the apartment, the loos.
This being meticulously planned out, the preparations for the great carpet cleaning began and I worked like a queen bee, relentlessly. Finally they arrived, and started with the office room. I took a close look and was delighted to find my carpet's shade lightening. I made sure nothing was in the way of their water tubes lest I spark 'its' anger. As he finished with one room, his eyes fell on the other bedroom. GULP GULP!!! I had set high hopes for this room: move the bed to one side all by myself! Now the time had come to show my mettle, and my muscles. I started inching the heavy wooden plank from side to side and managed to push it all the way to one side. I looked at him eagerly, but a stone face greeted me regrettably with not even the faintest intention of moving even his pinkie. He smiled at me. OK, my face brightened-- the offer for help should be on its way... I longed to hear his offer to rescue! Obscurity at its peak, finally his nod of approval came as a welcome break. I let the bed frame go, sending it crashing to the carpet while I remained rooted to the spot. The steamer was still sans reaction. Another display of the same caliber was performed soon and I strangely comprehended the real essence of what "not moving stuff " actually meant!
Allaying the fear of having to move really heavy stuff, I moved on in life-- understandably to the living room. This room in comparison had far lighter furniture compared to our sleeping habitat. As I started moving around in circles envisaging where to move what, the main 'steamer' offered to help me. Thank U, Thank U, my soul almost screamed.... mentally I uumpaa-d uumpaa-d him like one of the tribals, short of kissing his feet. I gave him a wide smile, making sure he knew how much I appreciated his gesture while my rather 'cold shoulder' directly pointed at the stone-faced steamer. We shifted the dining table, quickly followed by the sofa and the loveseat. A little help with the big bed would have been a welcome blessing but yeah... he helped ultimately right? What more could I ask for??
Probably his heart melted thinking the hardships the female clan goes through & decided to pitch in. Well-- that my friend is really sweet of you, but I still lifted the heaviest piece of furniture myself... alone!
Talk about Woman Power--literally and figuratively!
Wouldn't move furniture? What did it imply?? Does that mean I will have to move apartments or worse hoard all my stuff on the street until they finished cleaning my apartment? What an insane statement?? Practically left with no choice, I agreed. Resigning to my fate, I started moving stuff around the house in ernest, of course with a few arghhhh and ooooo vocal subtleties to go alongwith!
The bathroom became the sole store-room for most stuff. Big boxes, a small stool, lights, school stuff, loose papers, this and that..... Laptops and camera were probably the only few which found an otherwise respectable place on the office table. Everything else was marked to be shoved into the only floored area of the apartment, the loos.
This being meticulously planned out, the preparations for the great carpet cleaning began and I worked like a queen bee, relentlessly. Finally they arrived, and started with the office room. I took a close look and was delighted to find my carpet's shade lightening. I made sure nothing was in the way of their water tubes lest I spark 'its' anger. As he finished with one room, his eyes fell on the other bedroom. GULP GULP!!! I had set high hopes for this room: move the bed to one side all by myself! Now the time had come to show my mettle, and my muscles. I started inching the heavy wooden plank from side to side and managed to push it all the way to one side. I looked at him eagerly, but a stone face greeted me regrettably with not even the faintest intention of moving even his pinkie. He smiled at me. OK, my face brightened-- the offer for help should be on its way... I longed to hear his offer to rescue! Obscurity at its peak, finally his nod of approval came as a welcome break. I let the bed frame go, sending it crashing to the carpet while I remained rooted to the spot. The steamer was still sans reaction. Another display of the same caliber was performed soon and I strangely comprehended the real essence of what "not moving stuff " actually meant!
Allaying the fear of having to move really heavy stuff, I moved on in life-- understandably to the living room. This room in comparison had far lighter furniture compared to our sleeping habitat. As I started moving around in circles envisaging where to move what, the main 'steamer' offered to help me. Thank U, Thank U, my soul almost screamed.... mentally I uumpaa-d uumpaa-d him like one of the tribals, short of kissing his feet. I gave him a wide smile, making sure he knew how much I appreciated his gesture while my rather 'cold shoulder' directly pointed at the stone-faced steamer. We shifted the dining table, quickly followed by the sofa and the loveseat. A little help with the big bed would have been a welcome blessing but yeah... he helped ultimately right? What more could I ask for??
Probably his heart melted thinking the hardships the female clan goes through & decided to pitch in. Well-- that my friend is really sweet of you, but I still lifted the heaviest piece of furniture myself... alone!
Talk about Woman Power--literally and figuratively!
10 comments:
What was Da Man(u) doing ?
I have resorted to doing the steam cleaning myself through one of Safeway's rentable steam-cleaner. Its just $20.00 (last time I only paid $15 due to a discount). Since most of the real work (moving) is done by us, renting a steam-cleaner from safeway works out pretty well.
You are one strong lady! I'll wear a hat and take it off for you next time for moving that formidable bed!
In our house, the cleaning and moving is done by Suresh though I do help him a lot by not interrupting and moving to a different room .....Now, that is Woman Power..he he:-)
Mindframes: The whole steam cleaning was designed to help Da-Man(u) to have some respite from his wheezing. So I mildly ordered him to stay out of the steam cleaners path!!
Actually, I do recall Brainwaves renting this but of late he has been using steam cleaners. And, he seems to think them better. So went with his suggestion and dissapointed I wasn't! (-:
Saumya: Honestly, it wasn't that bad but yeah my limbs, joints and all movable parts in the body froze for the next few days .. hahah!
Survivor: Well, that's one good tactic. Maybe silence and non-interference is a good "Gandhian" way to adopt.
Manu, possibly you can immunize yourself against house allergens alone so I can get to do what Survivor does ehn!?
pEsaama olympics weight lifting la apdiyE participate paNNidu. diamond medal E kidaikkum :)
Adhu seri!!! Naan eppo barbells-a thooki, eppo medal-a vaangi??
*deep anguished sigh*
In my defense:
1. I was forcibly evicted from my residence by 9am that day with very clear, strongly worded instructions to not show my rump until evening.
2. I would have put a fight to (1), had I known she was going to be alone. The dawg man (sriks) was supposed to come and assist the lady but on hearing the amount of furniture that needed to be shifted he found work that was imminent and important to be taken care of.
In Sriks's defense, poor fella called me and worked around his meeting schedule to help me move stuff. But, alas! the cold-look steamer was on wheels (kanganam kattindu alaiyardhu as one would term it) that day and wanted to get the job over with *blink blink*
So called him and asked him to do an abbbouut turrrn! As it is, meeting attendence is an occassional occurance for Sriks!
Pala palaa.. Ulagam engum sutruven!
Balathukku Horlicks Paruguven!
Did you ?
Haven't heard that in a long while now. Brought back memories of school days, good ol' DD, black/white TV's and what nots?
En balathin ragasiyam: Complan/1% milk and not Horlicks (-: Of course, this is apart from using Manu as my punching bag to develop my biceps and triceps ... hehehe!
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