Another Saturday happened today where we didn't have the usual cleaning crew. Saturday is our change over day where all the customers who were here have to leave and all the new customers arrive. We have from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. to clean all the cabins in preparation of the new arrivals. The optimum cleaning crew is 4 people. Yesterday I received a call reminding me that 2 of the girls would not be coming. I was also told the previous week that another girl would not be here. So I thought I would be down to two cleaning ladies. But the 2 girls/sisters who couldn't make it were having their mother work in their place. This worked out very well, in fact, she brought their older sister and we had four cleaning ladies then. They started out well and worked really hard all day until around 4:30 p.m. when they finished the last cabin. For first timers, the two ladies did amazingly well and I could find nothing wrong with the cabins when they were finished.
To clean our cabins every Saturday, everything has to be wiped down with a strong cleaner, beds need to be made, bathroom cleaned from top to bottom, windows wiped, furniture dusted, floors swept and washed, rugs vacuumed. We put clean linens, wash cloths, towels, hot pads, throw rugs, and table cloths in and take out the old. My job is usually to make up the bags of clean stuff for the cabins, take out the dirty stuff and turn off the refrigerators. That way the refrigerators can thaw out for them to clean. When they are finished, they turn them back on with fresh water in the ice cube trays ready to go. We want our customers to walk into their cabin and not be able to find anything wrong with it. That's our goal. It doesn't always work out that way, but we try.
Today John had to repair a shower faucet but that was all for his repairs. It was dripping right from the hot water knob. He went in, tightened this and that, and it was fixed. I wouldn't have known the first thing about it. Last week he had to replace an outlet in a bedroom. Electrical work is scary but he knew what he was doing and fixed the bad outlet.
Our niece and nephew were picked up by their parents today so they are no longer here. I will miss them. Tommy helped us with work every Saturday for 3 weeks and we gave him some money for helping us so much. We really appreciated his help. Our niece is too young yet to help too much, but she did wash some windows today. They both did a great job.
In our lagoon today there were 2 snapping turtles fighting or mating very roughly. One was on top of the other and it looked like the one on top was trying to bite the other's head off. The one on the bottom was bleeding and fighting. They were both very big and scary looking. Because of all the splashing around they were doing, we had a difficult time keeping the dogs and kids away. They were very curious and kept going down to the piers to take a look.
Today the last of the customers pulled in after 8:00 p.m. As I was relaxing in the living room, I saw red blinking lights on a bicycle, bright blue lights blinking on gym shoes and flashlights beaming all over. It looked like we were being invaded by some huge lightning bugs. This week there are a lot of smaller children who love running around in the woods. They don't get to do that at home, and within minutes of their arrival, they were running down the wooded trails. I always get a little nervous about little children running around, but they were fine and having the time of their lives. I get nervous that one of them will fall and hurt themselves with no adult around, but there's always older children or adults within shouting distance.
The dynamics of each week come out the first day. Last week the kids were all gathered in groups and talking, this week they're all running around screaming. Last week the families had all been here for many years, this week there are three new families so the children are just starting to get to know each other. Children are more friendly from the start where adults tend to stay to themselves for awhile.
Monday night pot lucks are a good opportunity for adults to warm up to talk to each other. I'm sure this week will be no exception.
Today we found some leftovers in the refrigerators. We tell our customers that if you don't want to take your food home, but it is still good, just leave it in the refrigerator. Either we or our cleaning crew will use it. We got veggies, condiments, ice cream, beer, and eggs today. Sometimes we get a lot more and our refrigerators are bulging at the seams. Then I have to be creative with the food for pot luck if we don't eat it right away. I like the challenge of making something with items I am randomly given. I love to cook. Today's lunch for the cleaning ladies was simple food though because we were so busy. I made a pizza in our little pizza oven, a fresh salad and warmed up the spaghetti I made the day before. When we are busy on Saturday, its usually pizza or leftovers.
So now we are usually tired on any Saturday night, but since our niece and nephew were here last week, we are especially tired. This week will be fun but more relaxing too. That will be nice.
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