Cleaning and Cleansing. Sorta sounds the same don't it ?
Giving rise to thoughts of shiny and fresh and clean smelling and newness.
After some much involved messy, grimy and get-down-and-dirty type of work that is.

Wel, that would be Dave and I after this weekend. These past few weeks, really. We've been cleaning.. and it's been a cleansing process, that's for sure !!

But the end result.. ahhh, like laundry sheets that have been washed then hung out to dry on a warm breezy day and then placed on the bed, and as you lie down in the evening with your head on the pillow your whole body just smiles back at you as you fall asleep with the smell of the outdoors-y freshness surrounding you.

No, I don't have a picture for that.

But that's where the cleansing part comes in. The cleaning (ultimately) gives rise to cleansing doesn't it ?

No matter what kind of products you choose.
AHA !

From tangible fresh smelling dirt cleaning anti-bacterial cleansers... (and how toxic is all that anyways ?)

Ever put your reading glasses on and read them tiny little warning blurbs ?? And why do they make that writing so small (and darn, where are my reading glasses when I need them anyways?)

This was our first time trying this Collinite Metal Polish:



We tried - we liked - especially given the quantity you get in a bottle vs the price !

Check it out ... BEFORE



And AFTER



And Dave used some pretty old fashioned elbow grease and lots of wax and Banyan was pretty shiney herself !!



Wow... don't need any glasses to see that shine !

Our new life has us busy spiffy-ing Banyan, getting her ship-shape to accept half (ok, a third ?? a quarter ??) of our most essential stuff.

Altho by the looks of it, she's already bulging at the seams with everything we've carried up and down those ladder rungs.

And Dave emphatically stated to me yesterday : NO MORE STUFF !



I think he's just as tired as I am of going up and down that darn ladder
Smile :)

As you can see from that ladder photo, we did get (part of) our Bimini and Dodger installed (not after some major huffing and puffing and cursing à la true Navy-Sailor fashion) in trying to figure out what end was what !!

Followed by a few good coats of 303 Fabric Guard expensive and stinky stuff, requiring three times what the saleslady recommended for us (or maybe we were just being overly anal about spraying it everywhere !! Including too much residue that landed on my newly polished metal requiring a new re-buffing of said metal !)

OK, maybe a few OCD's prevail !

As I was going through our cupboards and closets on Saturday, part of me was getting frustrated at all the stuff to have to pick through and sort and make a decision on.

Like, why on earth was I keeping this crap for ? And just what IS this gizmo-gadget? If I don't even know what IT is, why has IT been sitting in my overstuffed junk drawer for so long I didn't even know I had IT, to having forgotten what IT is used for. If I needed IT, would I know I had IT, or even where to look for IT ? Or, would I have just gone to the store, to buy a new IT? Hence why I have so many useless IT's in my junk-drawer ?!?

I looked at the pile of (more) garbage bags to bring to the curb and it made me angry. Consumerism has taken root of our very souls, resulting in our stockpiling the holes we dig in Mother Earth and pile with good stuff that has simply been replaced with bigger and better stuff! Hmmph.

Then I looked at the pile of stuff I am now able to give to my daughter for her future appt, and yeah, it made me happy to know she's got a great start for when the moment is right for her. Smile :)

When we left the house yesterday, we put our BBQ on the curb, posted an ad on Kijijii and said "FREE to good home, first come first served".
When we got home, it was gone. Smile :)

And then we showered all that chemically crap off of us, and laid our fresh-selves down on our freshly washed bed and breathed a sigh of pure Bliss and Happyness. Smile :)

And no, I don't have a picture for that !

And SMILE is where the cleansing comes in... physically and mentally getting rid of the old and making room for the new. A Clean Sweep. On All Fronts.