Clean Up, Phase 1

Well, I am happy to say that the clean up and restoration of my Down Town Niagara Falls Apartment is underway. The kitchen has been gutted, completely, no more floor, walls, ceiling, appliances or cupboards... The rest of the apartment is still intact, but completely empty. I believe they are waiting for a professional restoration crew to come in and spray and clean the rest of the walls and sub floors before they repaint, and install the new flooring and fixtures. I'm pretty exciting.



I was at Walmart with my friend Amie tonight, going up and down the isles, looking at all the things I need to replace was pretty daunting. Its the small things that I lost that kills me. The broom and mop, I need to go buy those bastards again. Cleaning supplies, well that's no problem, I make my own organic cleaning supplies, so as long as I have water, vinegar, tea tree oil and soap I am fine... Bathmats, toilet paper and picture frames... It all just seems like a big pain in the ass, but I will get things put back to normal slowly.




The picture here is of my living room, or whats left of it. People often ask me why I want to go back to "that" apartment after the fire damage.... The answer is, well.... Its my home, and I love it. I love the character of the house. It is one of the original farm houses on Victoria Av in the falls, and even still has the old house numbers on the front door from when the road was dirt and stone.



On the "home" front, or temporary home front here, everything is cleaning up well. My white suede coffee table came up clean using a combination of Water, Soap, Vinegar and Bleach. I soaked it, scrubbed it and let it dry in the hot sun. My clothes have all cleaned up, there is no smell at all. I used a combination of Oxy Clean, Dishwasher Soap, Dish Soap, Borax, Laundry Soap, Colour Safe Bleach, and Vinegar. That's my new cleaning potion, and it works wonders, after 7 loads in the washing machine, and a few overnight soaks... All my dishes and glassware have cleaned up, although I will be putting them threw the dishwasher again... lol I have yet to wash my linens yet, but I'm sure they will be fine... My Kitchen aid mixer tho, my 300$ Kitchen aid mixer is another story... It runs, it runs just fine, but the mixer attachment is fused to the unit, I can't take it off to clean it, or switch to the other mixing attachments, but I did find a parts store online so I can buy them, replace them, and I will be as good as new ;)



Other than that, life has been pretty normal. I can't wait to get outta my dads, back to my home, and slowly have life return to normal.



Until next time ;)

Bret