Saturday, November 10, 2007
Ahh, The Smell Of Clean
Nine years ago, not long after our fourth child was born, we hired a wonderful lady named Christina to clean our house twice a week. At first I was a little unsure about letting a complete stranger in to my house to clean. Do I really want someone to know what utter slobs we actually are?
The answer to that is, yes, yes I do. Is their anything better than having every room of your house clean? At the same time? Walking from room to room and just enjoying the sweet clean smell of....well, clean?
Christina quickly became my favorite person in the whole world. I looked forward to her visits with the excitement of a child going to Disneyland for the first time. Quite frankly, I loved her.
About a year ago I noticed our expenses were beginning to exceed our income. We needed to cut some things out. It was decided we would divide the chores amongst our family and say a sad goodbye to Christina. I have cried many a tear over this in the past year.
Now, anyone with kids who has a cleaning lady come twice a month knows you still have to clean. ALL THE TIME. I have three boys. The downstairs bathroom has to be cleaned EVERY DAY. I still had to vacuum and sweep and clean the kitchen. It was just really nice to have that one day where everything was clean. In the entire house. At the same time (did I mention she washed and changed the sheets on all the beds?).
On Wednesday of this week I found out I would be hosting a birthday party for my mom tomorrow. Now, I was happy to do this and really wanted to. However, we had a jam packed week of activities and I knew that between planning the menu, shopping for food and just plain old life I would have very little time for cleaning.
I was feeling stressed.
So, on Thursday I called Christina. Could she possibly fit me in? No, she didn't have any openings. She was all booked up. I was so sad, but it was nice to talk with her and we got all caught up on each others lives.
Shortly after we hung up she called me back. She will come on Saturday. She wants to see the kids.
So, today while I was running to Target and baseball games and pizza parties, Christina was cleaning my house.
When I got home tonight at 6:00 my house was clean. It smelled like pine. My heart was all aflutter.
I told the kids to pick a spot and stand in it for the next 24 hours. No one better make a mess. I want at least one full day to enjoy it.
I'm considering this new diet for my family where you only eat every other day. With all the money I save I could have my sweet Christina back. Just think of all the weight I would lose. It's a win win situation.
What do you think?
The answer to that is, yes, yes I do. Is their anything better than having every room of your house clean? At the same time? Walking from room to room and just enjoying the sweet clean smell of....well, clean?
Christina quickly became my favorite person in the whole world. I looked forward to her visits with the excitement of a child going to Disneyland for the first time. Quite frankly, I loved her.
About a year ago I noticed our expenses were beginning to exceed our income. We needed to cut some things out. It was decided we would divide the chores amongst our family and say a sad goodbye to Christina. I have cried many a tear over this in the past year.
Now, anyone with kids who has a cleaning lady come twice a month knows you still have to clean. ALL THE TIME. I have three boys. The downstairs bathroom has to be cleaned EVERY DAY. I still had to vacuum and sweep and clean the kitchen. It was just really nice to have that one day where everything was clean. In the entire house. At the same time (did I mention she washed and changed the sheets on all the beds?).
On Wednesday of this week I found out I would be hosting a birthday party for my mom tomorrow. Now, I was happy to do this and really wanted to. However, we had a jam packed week of activities and I knew that between planning the menu, shopping for food and just plain old life I would have very little time for cleaning.
I was feeling stressed.
So, on Thursday I called Christina. Could she possibly fit me in? No, she didn't have any openings. She was all booked up. I was so sad, but it was nice to talk with her and we got all caught up on each others lives.
Shortly after we hung up she called me back. She will come on Saturday. She wants to see the kids.
So, today while I was running to Target and baseball games and pizza parties, Christina was cleaning my house.
When I got home tonight at 6:00 my house was clean. It smelled like pine. My heart was all aflutter.
I told the kids to pick a spot and stand in it for the next 24 hours. No one better make a mess. I want at least one full day to enjoy it.
I'm considering this new diet for my family where you only eat every other day. With all the money I save I could have my sweet Christina back. Just think of all the weight I would lose. It's a win win situation.
What do you think?
Labels: Mom Stuff
11 Comments:
Oh, maybe that I what I should blog for! When we get all caught up from everything in our life breaking one after another or all at the same time, I could use my paypal or my babysitting money for a maid!
Naw, she wouldnt' be able to clean for all the mess my kids make in 1 hour, much less the time between cleaning visits. They'd hate working for us. And my husband would make me clean before she came anyway.
Oh man, this blog was so funny. I know exactly how you feel. It is actually almost midnight right now and my whole house is messy. I was getting ready for yardsale this week, going through everything, so the house went to pot. Well, tomorrow my parents are coming over for lunch. So I will be up till probably 3am cleaning and getting ready for it. Then I go to church in the morning. Lord help me! Oh, and I understand the bathroom and boys. I have to clean mine everyday too! They make serious messes in there! LOL.
Oh, I would love to have a Christina...in fact, maybe I'll start to budget better just to have one!
Oh! I know this. We had someone once a week, Then once every other week, and not it's just me. And it shows. Massively. THanks for coming by my place. Your blog is wonderful, (and gorgeous!). I have looking around.
Awwww...I used to have a cleaning lady come once a week...but since we have moved to a larger home and my girls have gotten older, we do it all...but, it is never done all in one day. I miss that.
This was a funny post! Thanks for visiting me!!!! I'd love to hear more about your adoption! We have really great friends in our church who adopted 2 little ones from ethiopia last year. They now have 6 kiddos! Abe and Gracie are so cute!
I would love a cleaning person to come if they were like Christina.
Sounds like a great plan! And, wouldn't it be nice for everyone to stand in the same place for 24 hours so you could bask in the clean of it all!
Good idea!
I have always thought it would be nice to have a cleaning lady. My husband has actually suggested it sometimes. You would think that I would jump on it because sometimes cleaning is such a chore (haha) Hopefully you can work something out in your budget in the future, and get her back.
Why didn't I think of that? And eating every other day, the kitchen would only get messy half the time!
I enjoy your blog! I don't think I've taken time to comment before, but I always leave with a smile on my face.
AND have them bathe in their clothes. That way you knock out laundry too! :)
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