Cleaning days.

I HATE CLEANING!!!  It is a necessary evil, and I do it reluctantly and without joy.  I’m not talking about the daily spiff-ups you have to do to keep from looking like a hoarder.  I’m talking about the mopping the closet floor, washing down baseboards, dusting ceiling fans, cleaning windows, etc. etc. etc.  And I love a clean house, I do, I do. There was a time when would pay people to come in and clean my house.  Nothing was more relaxing than coming home on cleaning day to a shiny, clean house.  Ahh.  But with thinner paychecks and fatter bills the cleaning help had to go by the wayside. Drat.

I remember when I first got married and lived in a tiny apartment I could clean the whole place on a Saturday morning and still have time to spend the rest of the weekend as I liked.  Now I’m good to do it once and whenever and it might take a few days to get the whole house done.  In all honesty I only worry about the downstairs and leave the upstairs to the teenage boys who live there to keep it clean and tidy.   I have every confidence they do.  I hear the vacuum at least once a week and on occasion the oldest can be seen carrying a mop up the stairs.  I don’t know for sure how clean it actually is because I don’t go up there.  What I don’t see can’t hurt me. Right?

The one thing that does get me on a cleaning spree is an event at my house; birthday parties, holiday get- togethers, potential buyers.  This year I am hosting my whole and entire family at my house for Easter.  I offered because I want to do it, but secretly I needed an incentive to get this place in shape.  What was I thinking?

“Keep focused,” I keep telling myself.  “Think of how good it will feel when it is all done,” is another sale pitch my brain keeps telling me.  But here I sit instead, counting the hours I have left till Sunday when the crowd pours in.  An hour for the bedroom, and hour for the laundry room, an hour for the windows… yeah, I wish.

Oh, well, off I go to find more dirt to wash away. It truly will feel wonderful when it is all done. Especially since the next birthday party isn’t until September (insert winky face here).