Monday Night at my New Home

Last night was fairly quiet ... unless you count moving more of my stuff to Varen's place, making dinner at home (yippee) and finishing Season 2 of Dexter (brilliant).

On my arrival at home (Varen's ... weird), Varen had just finished arranging the 2 new Atlanta chairs (they've arrived, they've arrived!) in the wide open space that'll one day be our lounge & dining room.

We skipped gym due to the dismal weather and sheer lack of enthusiasm and instead headed over to Loulou's so that I could pick up more of my stuff. We now have my outdoor cast iron pond installed with fish and the pump from what was previously my indoor fish bowl (with no fish, it can hardly be called a fish bowl any longer).

And then we (I?)made dinner ... hake topped with peppadew & feta from Woolies, I can recommend it :) And settled in for the last installment of Dexter S2 on our new comfy chairs :) No more sitting on the floor or eating dinner in bed for us!

Which brings me to my latest point of observation ... Varen's Maid. Now last year he couldn't stand this woman however, when he moved into his new place he offered her a twice a week position from January. Which in theory is okay, but I have maid issues, okay?

I am very specific and a bit of a control freak (like you hadn't noticed?) and like things done a certain way ... and have no desire to end up in a war with the maid about where things go. You know the story, everyone does. You put something where you want it (since it's your house / living space). The Move-It-To-Prove-I've-Cleaned Maid arrives and moves it elsewhere (not entirely sure what their logic is around this but I digress). You get home and move it back to your chosen spot (same one as last time ... this is not about confusing her, it's about how you want things arranged). She arrives a week later and moves it back to her elsewhere spot. Aaargh. I have no patience for this.

Another thing I cannot bear (and yes, I've experienced) is the over-enthusiastic maid. I put my dirty clothes in the washing basket. Hell, for the most part I do the washing myself (machine, obviously) and just leave it for her to iron. So why does the Over-Enthusiastic Maid come into my cupboard and take random items to wash. This is especially infuriating when you head for the cupboard with a specific outfit in mind, only to find that it's hanging wet on the line ... Aaargh.

Varen's maid doesn't seem too bad except for her compulsive unpacking of things that are neatly packed in boxes (like wine, for example) and for packing away everything on counters (like my toothbrush, for example).

And, all of you sitting overseas thinking that I should just be grateful for a maid, I am certainly not the only with these and other complaints.

So I've instituted the Schedule-System that I originally developed while living with Bean. It's a detailed list of instructions for each day. Unfortunately I'm not convinced Varen's maid can read English ... or understand it too well even. She is Zimbabwean. If I'd had my own house, I would've seriously looked into those Cleaning Services that work to your specifics. But now it's too late and I'm now slowly training this very eager (and admittedly she's a hard worker) maid of Varen's. I'm holding onto my patience and will learn every little thing that needs to be explained and re-explained after each of her days as I check how much she understood of what I tried to explain.

It's not that I don't respect her, I just need a way to communicate what I want done (versus what she thinks needs doing) in a way that is effective for her. Perhaps, I need to update the Schedule with pictures instead of words ... ?

Sigh.