Oh joyous and great day! A day to be relished in slow motion, part by part as the day unfolds. And now, as I sit in my already ruined house, I can smile and relax knowing that under the items already strewn on the bathroom sink and across the bedroom floor, the house is clean.
The day does not begin with this luxuriant feeling, however. Picking up for the cleaner begins after the morning coffee, with gentle reminders to children that the cleaner is coming, we need to prepare. These soon turn to repeated commands and then frenzied threats as the time comes closer, and the children are still reading and eating...and making more mess! I used to resent the cleaner for this preparation, but now I am grateful for having to fully tidy the house at least once every two weeks to let them do their work. Who knows what sort of health issues we would have otherwise.
I live by a quote I once heard when it comes to housework: "My house is testament to time better spent." Better spent playing with the kids, being involved in community, spending time with family and friends. And, of course, working and the thousand other things that happen in our lives on a daily basis. Better indeed. And it is only recently that we have engaged a regular cleaner, mainly because proper cleaning just wasn't being done on our watch. Now Tuesdays are my favourite day - one Tuesday I am grateful the house is still OK and I do not have to do the manic tidying, and the next because the the cleaner is coming.
On those glorious Tuesdays, once all is tidied, I head out so the cleaners can do their thing. The entire time they are at my home, I am so grateful to be doing something else. It's a double win for me - clean house, and feeling like I've garnered a little extra time in my week that I shouldn't really have. And when I come home in time to turn around for school pick up, I have about a half hour of enjoying the house spotlessly clean and quiet, knowing that once the kids are home I have to let it go and allow them to live in it as they should, without being snarled at for touching toys or dropping food on the clean floor. It never ceases to amaze me that it is ALWAYS on cleaning day that my youngest will spill a cup of milk across the floor. No other day, just cleaning day.
But such is life. I have next cleaning day to look forward to now, and all the days in between to enjoy time with those in the house who do their darnedest to destroy it. Time better spent.
