Friday
8:00 am - Get to work and immediately start wowing my coworkers and boss with my dedication and effort.
9:00 am-ish (coulda been 8:45 am or 9:30) Phone call from Cara asking me what I was doing after work. I answer her with a question, "Why?" She says no reason. We hem and haw back and forth and I tell her I need to go clean church bathrooms after work. She sighs, "Oh well." I ask why again. She said she wanted to do some shopping for a swimsuit. I tell her I would love to go with her but the bathrooms...She offers to help me get them done and then we can shop after.
12:14 pm - I leave work and go out to the parking lot. It is a stunningly beautiful day and I have a bit of regret that I will be inside for the next couple hours.
12:15 pm - Cara arrives in her van, perfectly on time, as she always is. We move the cleaning supplies and some food for the food pantry from my car to her van. We leave.
12:18 pm - I inquire why Cara isn't going to go out to Starkey by going down to where the light is. She is heading out an exit that will not allow her to turn left on Starkey, which is the way we need to turn in order to go south toward Park Blvd. She gives me some mumbling about how she knew this and had planned on going a different way to Park Blvd but she will go via Starkey since I am making a big deal out of it.
12:30 pm-ish - We arrive at the church and park in the back. The church is locked and the only way to get in is to ring the buzzer for the preschool. We unload the supplies, ring the buzzer, and are let in. Cara seems eager to get started. She asks where the bathrooms are and, then, spying the small bathrooms in the hallway, says, "Here are some bathrooms!" I tell her we don't need to clean those. They are the preschool's and the preschool people clean those. I direct her through some double doors into the sanctuary. The place is dark except for a bit of sunlight coming in from the main entrance and from between the vertical blinds. We head across the sanctuary to the other side and through some more double doors. We drop off the bags of food by the food pantry door and wind our way back to the girls bathroom. Cara immediately strips off her shirt. Woo-hoo! Ain't no better place to strip down than the church. Then she puts on another shirt. This must be her bathroom-cleaning shirt. The women's bathroom is first. I start on the toilets. When Darcy was helping me that one time, I did the dirty parts, like trash, toilets, and the floor. Darcy did the sinks, mirrors and countertops. I figure Cara will do the same things that Darcy did.
12:35 pm - Cara asks about the rubber chickens, about the pants and the purple cloth lying on the shelf. I tell her they have been here since I started doing the bathrooms.She wonders why I don't put them in a lost and found. I tell her I don't know where the lost and found is and someone might keep them in this bathroom for a reason. I wonder why we are talking about this. I just want to get this done, so we can go have lunch. I am scrubbing toilets and wiping down walls, when I notice Cara is gone.
12:50pm - Cara has wandered off and found the men's bathroom which is down the hallway by the food pantry. I go and ask what she is doing. She replies "Cleaning the mens room". Well, okay, duh. I ask her if she has the broom. I can't find it. She says no. I find it a few seconds later leaning by the girls bathroom door. Well, okay, duh. I am slightly annoyed that Cara has moved on to a new bathroom. I have my method of doing these bathrooms. I like to finish one at a time. I decide to let it go. I have help in cleaning today, so why not just let her start on the next area on her own?
1:00 pm - I finish the first girls bathroom and go to check on Cara. She has finished the mens room. We haul the supplies and the trash to the next bathrooms, which are in the main entrance to the church. I plan on doing the men's bathroom, but Cara goes there first. Okay. We are both cleaning at the same time.
1:30 pm - I go in to see how far along Cara is. She is singing along to her iPhone. I look over to see if she is doing a better job than me. She is a better housekeeper than I am, after all. She sees me looking and asks "Checking up on my work eh?" I tell her no. This is not quite true. I am checking her work but not for the reason she thinks I am. I do, however, want to make sure that everything I normally clean gets done. Although this is a volunteer job, it does have my name on it.
1:45 pm - We are finished. We have 4 bags of trash to take out, plus the cleaning supplies. We head back through the sanctuary toward her van. Enjoying the acoustics, Cara lets out a song while walking up the main aisle.
2:20 pm - Arrive at Applebees for lunch. We are hungry. We contemplate drinks. Cara orders a happy hour 2-for-1 special and I pretty much drink all of the second one. I have french dip sliders, which are just OK. Cara can't decide and so goes with her regular order, the oriental chicken salad.
3:30 pm-ish - We arrive at Bealls in the Seminole Mall. I am now in critical nap-need. My body is used to a nap on Friday around 2-3 pm. However Cara needs my help in picking out a swimsuit. I must carry on! See how selfless I am? I am only thinking of how I can help Cara....oh wait, is that the shoe department? I just want to wander through and look, I tell her. I love the shoes at Bealls. Cara tells me she is heading to the swimsuits and I can catch up with her as soon as I am done. I can't afford shoes, I tell her. I will only be a minute, I say, as she walks away. I am just looking. Yeah, just looking.
3:40 pm - I find the greatest shoes ever! I try them on. So comfortable. They are actually borderline ugly but still cute at the same time, sort of like Sarah Jessica Parker. Which color is best? Black? Navy Nubuck? Or Gunmetallic? Restraint Kelly, I tell myself. Just walk away, walk away, even though they are on sale, you know.
3:45 pm - I find Cara in the fitting room trying on suits. I spend the next hour or so, fetching her various swimsuits, changing sizes depending on brands, getting colors I think will look good on her. That's too short, that's too tight, that's too saggy in the boobs, that's too low cut. She is working up a sweat trying on suit after suit. I am running things back and forth like a woman half my age. No one at the Bealls appears to be working. The rolling rack where you are supposed to hang up clothes you don't want is completely full. You cannot squeeze another hanger on there. I start stacking clothes on top on the rack, as do the other women trying on clothes. Then we have to start using chairs to stack clothes. Where are those associates? Cara and I are, of course, quite amusing to everyone else in the fitting room. We are born entertainers.
4:40 pm - Cara announces she is done. She is tired, she is panting, she is sweaty. No more trying on suits she states. Trying on clothes will indeed wear you out. She gets dressed. On the way out, Cara finds a few more styles and, grudgingly, heads back in to try them on. Once in the fitting room she realizes it's time to go pick up the kids. She hurriedly dresses and I hurry back over to shoes. I have worked like a mule, or like a Hollywood personal assistant, and I tell myself I deserve these shoes. Despite being tight on funds this week, I pick out the pair in a color called Gunmetallic. Cara joins me in the shoe dept. Cindy will pick up the kids, she says, so there is no hurry anymore. I buy the shoes and we leave. Cara never buys a suit after all that!
5:15 pm - Cara drops me off at my work so I can get my car. I did end up getting to have a sweet little nap on the couch when I got home!
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