Long live the clean house.

Today was "maid day." A bi-weekly occurrence. Because I love a clean house, I love maid day. Because we aren't the most tidy of people, I HATE the day before maid day. Ugh! People always make fun of those that clean before the maid comes but you have to. Our house is cleaned by two lovely ladies. They do an excellent job but they aren't going to deal with clutter and, face it, I don't went them to see the fact that, because of numerous mad searches for black or blue socks in the morning, my sock draw hung open for most for the week with socks streaming out of it. Or the underwear I left hanging to dry in the shower. Stuff like that: Toys have to be picked up. Kids'rooms organized. Bed's made.

Whenever I start tidying Kamryn ask me if "my friends" are coming. When she was really small we told her the cleaning ladies were my friends - oh how they are my friends! - and that stuck. It's a little embarrassing that I can't get her to tidy up without her jumping to that conclusion every time. I can say though that at any time my house is normally within 20 minutes (of mad frenzied running around) of being perfectly suitable for company (as long as they don't enter my bedroom or open the dishwasher ;)). To clean for the maids though that takes about two hours. Its the weeks worth of laundry that Daniel loves to do but never puts away or folds that is always the killer. Then there is just clutter. It breeds like rabbits. Everywhere you turn there is more clutter and children's artwork threatening to bury me whole. So 20 minutes for company; two hours for the maids. The maids are allowed in my bedroom and can open the dishwasher if they want thus the difference. :)

Right now though - bring on the company! It sparkles. It gleams. It smells like cleaner (which is actually kind of icky but I have the fan on to hopefully remedy that). I'm too tired to move though and I don't want to dirty it. The kids are having leftovers for dinner. They are watching a movie now. If no one moves we could keep the house clean and reap a return on my investment for another 20 minutes or so.