Cleaning...to make no difference.

Cleaning a room and making no discernible difference?
I can do it. So far.


This morning Yujiro took Okaasan off for another dentist trip, so I could safely clean in her room knowing she wouldn't suddenly reappear.


The trick to cleaning is: Clean it all and throw away some trash, but in the end it must look as though nothing is changed!


It's a strange thing to be setting aside piles of stuff.... vacuuming the carpet underneath...and then gently putting the stuff all back in place....arranging old shopping receipts just so, the empty plastic bags, advertising flyers etc I could get a job as a set dresser in Hollywood maybe.


In the past Okaasan has got very angry about me going into her room and taking stuff, so I am super-careful that I clean and throw out the really bad trash (rotting food and dirty underwear), but leave a good layer of stuff so she doesn't notice... much.


And yes - she is definitely making a collection of screwed up newspaper or flyers, I found several bags of them today. People make balls of paper to stuff shoes or bags to keep their shape in storage and maybe that's what she is doing. But I am going to ask some of my older students about this, I have a feeling it is something else...some wartime custom...did people stuff balls of newspaper under their clothes for warmth maybe? Why is she rolling up so many balls of paper?


The underwear situation has spread into the living room recently. She always used to put it in one of two laundry boxes in her Japanese-style room. But now I'm finding urine soaked pants in little piles in her living room....if they migrate to the kitchen we may have to build a safety wall.