Ramblings About Dirt

[Kati Compton]

I've recently moved, and this has reminded me of something:

I don't like other people's dirt.

My new house has plenty of it. At first, I was frustrated. How could people live so dirtily?

But then.... I went back to check on the condo I moved out of, after all our stuff was out.

Boy is it dirty! I swear it wasn't that dirty when I was living there... Random wall dirt behind the TV, scuffs on walls... Clearly my own dirt doesn't bother me *nearly* as much as other peoples'.

I'd say the #1 problem in the new house is what I call the "gummi bear" problem. I found multiple gummi bears in the kitchen under the fridge, the oven, and one blue one stuck to the outside of a lower cabinet. The family that used to live here had 4 kids, so I suppose a surplus of gummi bears is to be expected.... but I don't remember sticking gummi bears to things when I was a kid. Or drawing in crayon on all the walls. Grrr.

One of the stranger areas of dirt when I moved into the condo we just left was that there was something fuschia in the freezer. Powdery and fuschia. Not sure what it could have been. No idea. And guess what? There's random fuschia stuff here too. Marks on the hallway tile that won't come off, nail polish in the master bathroom, marker on one of the kid's doors, and a weird fuschia speck in the shower. Am I missing out on some important part of life that involves fuschia?

Oh, and one of the kids that used to live here is named Tyler. It was spelled out in wooden letters glued to the wall in one of the bedrooms. Grrr again. Part of the wallboard came off with the letters. At least there's that cool new spackle that starts off FUSCHIA and turns white when it dries...

[maximus]

In my opinion, fuschia is still ok. If it is yellowish-brown, then you have to start worrying :mrgreen:

[Anthony Caruana]

Aargh... when my wife and I moved into our first house our families cleaned the house up so that when we got home from the honeymoon it would be perfect.

It was very nice. But a couple of days later my wife decided to give the oven a really thorough "once over". It was a floor oven with a drawer at the bottom.

We pulled the drawer out and my wife found what looked to have been possibly a family sized apple pie right at the back under the oven. We can only guess that the previous occupants were cooking so many pies one day that they didn't miss one.

In any case it was black and totally putrid.

As for dealing with your own "filth" better than that of others, I hate cleaning sink drains, especially when i know that the gunk in them is not mine.

[Mike Temporale]

I'd say the #1 problem in the new house is what I call the "gummi bear" problem. I found multiple gummi bears in the kitchen under the fridge, the oven, and one blue one stuck to the outside of a lower cabinet. The family that used to live here had 4 kids, so I suppose a surplus of gummi bears is to be expected.... but I don't remember sticking gummi bears to things when I was a kid.


Ah, the lick-and-stick feature of the Gummi Bear. Those things can hang on better than some super glues. :lol:

As for your Fushia problems, the only thing I can think of would be fruit punch drink boxes.


Wer'e currently trying to sell our house, and in the process of cleaning up for the listing we noticed a lot of green scuff marks on the ground floor. The marks where always about waist height or lower, and they were just a huge pain to remove. And After we removed them they magically seemed to reappear days later. It took us about a week to figure it out. My daughter loves to play with the swifer. However the handle is just too long for her, and she keeps smacking the wall with it. We've since shorted the handle on the swifer, so now it's much easier for her to use, but kills our back. :|

It's funny how we tend to overlook our own scuffs and dirt, but can notice someone elses really quickly. :)

[Kati Compton]

Wer'e currently trying to sell our house, and in the process of cleaning up for the listing we noticed a lot of green scuff marks on the ground floor. The marks where always about waist height or lower, and they were just a huge pain to remove. And After we removed them they magically seemed to reappear days later. It took us about a week to figure it out. My daughter loves to play with the swifer. However the handle is just too long for her, and she keeps smacking the wall with it. We've since shorted the handle on the swifer, so now it's much easier for her to use, but kills our back. :|

Sounds like you need 2 Swifers... One for her, one for you. ;)

[rhmorrison]

In my opinion, fuschia is still ok. If it is yellowish-brown, then you have to start worrying :mrgreen:
Actually I think it would depend on what the kids have been drinking...

[JustinGTP]

Ive never had that experience before with houses, maybe when I leave home and I have to buy second hand then Ill know.

-Justin.