My Clean Little Secret

Ok, I’m going to come clean. I can’t do it all myself, so I hire help. Help with keeping my house clean, that is.

We stay on top of the day to day stuff pretty well. But, it’s hard to keep up the house looking like I want it to look. So, we found a lady that does a great job, and she is very reasonable. She comes in once a month and gives it a good once over. I mean, scrubbing floors, wiping the blades on the ceiling fans, the woodwork, etc.

I’m not one that will clean before the cleaning lady gets here. But, she does usually give us a few days notice before she comes in. There are a few things I like to do before she gets there. We each have a bad habit of throwing the mail in a pile, either on the island or on the end of the dining table. It’s the “I’ll read it later” pile. A phone call that the cleaning lady is coming makes it later and we read all the mail in our piles and pitch it or file it or pay it. Also, if there are any dishes in the sink, I want to do them. She won’t put anything in the dishwasher, so if there are any dishes in the sink, she will wash them by hand and try her best to put them away.

That’s where the fun comes in! For a few days after she’s been in, and if I didn’t do the dishes, we’ve been heard saying “have you seen my favorite coffee mug anywhere?” or “didn’t we used to have a bunch of cereal bowls?” or “where would you be if you were a saucepan?” She definitely brings fun into our house when she visits.

Even when there aren’t dishes to do, it seems like things are always moved. I’m not complaining, I’m tickled she’s coming over to clean once a month. And, it does give us an adventure on cleaning day. For example, I have a few candles scattered throughout the house. She may not like the way I have them arranged or she doesn’t think they are in the right room, so she moves them. It’s cool – it always looks better after she rearranges. Things like the mail if we didn’t take care of it before she gets here, will all be piled in one pile instead of a Ron pile and a Ree pile.

I got home last night and had to move furniture back to where it belongs. She moves everything to clean! Mom would be so proud! She gets the furniture close to where it was before, but it’s always off just a little. When I’m in my recliner, the TV should be pointed directly at me, not a little to the side. A little, but enough to bug me so I have to fix it.

She has stepped it up to a whole new level this time though! Now the real fun begins.

Ron likes creamer in his coffee. The brand of creamer we picked up at Sam’s Club last trip found us buying the creamer in containers that are bigger than the shelves in our cupboards. So for now, the creamer has to live on the counter by the coffee pot instead of in the cupboard where it belongs. Well, when she cleaned our kitchen yesterday, it seems she put the creamer “away”. Our only problem is, we don’t know were “away” is! Ron checked the likely spots; under the kitchen sink, in the pantry, on the refrigerator, under the island. No creamer.

Ron even thought maybe she dropped the container and it broke so she just threw it away. So, he looked in the garbage. No creamer.

I was going to hold lottery type “find the pickle on the Christmas tree” kind of event to see who could guess where the creamer was for a prize, but so far we haven’t found it. We’ll keep looking and I’ll let you know if and where it turns up.

Next time we move, she’s helping. I’m going to have her put everything away in the kitchen so that when she comes to clean she knows where everything belongs and we’ll only have to find stuff once instead of once a month!