Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Cinderella

Ohhhhh hear me whine! Can you hear it?

I come from a long line of women for whome cleanliness was the sole source of your Godliness. My dear great aunt, ON HER DEATHBED, had her daughter pull out the washer and drier so my aunt could ensure there would be NO lint behind it upon her passing. What was shocking was that there already was not a single stray fluff ball behind it. My great aunt had been cleaning back there weekly for years. The first sign that my grandmother was failing was the water spots in her sink. It just was simply unheard of.

I tried fruitlessly for a few years when my boys were small. Then I gave up. My mother had two daughters to clean up after, my grandmother as well. I figured that had to be easier than cleaning up after four boys. I mean I TRY, its just I try to keep it in balance between being home with my house or home with my kids.

With the addition of Miss Curious? My house pretty much has assumed the permanent look of a food fight in Toys R Us.

Yesterday I scrubbed the inside of the lint catcher in my drier. I dusted the inside of the chest of drawers in my bedroom. I have removed pictures from their frames so I can windex the glass. Today looms ahead of me as another 18 hour day of trying to keep babies occuppied so I can clean like a possessed woman.

My mother in law arrives for her bi-annual visit on Wednesday.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

you know.. if you leave some spots dirty.. you mother-in-law may just pick up a cloth and clean for you.. how nice would that be!

Tammy

Unknown said...

Ohhhhh you see the WHOLE POINT is to leave the house a "little" bit dirty so I can pull off the whole "we ALWAYS live this clean" see that speck of dirt over there on the cupboard?"

Julia said...

Jen...just relax for a change...It was VERY hard for me to "adjust" to the mess of kids too...but now I can sometimes look at all the finger prints and smears on my many and large windows and think to myself "Julia, one day you will miss having those finger prints smeared all over your windows.". LOL! It's a much nicer feeling than the stress I initially put myself through.

OAM3 said...

I can totally relate to the food fight description... thanks for that!

In my case my MIL would make LOTS of judgements if she saw what my house usually looks like. My parents? I can simply say "didn't have time to clean" and it's end of story and they WILL pick up a rag and get started with me.

But dh is supposed to direct the cleaning for MIL and I am supposed to direct the cleaning for my folks. Still, if MIL doesn't like the state? Who is blamed? the wife.

Sigh. Some days I just give up.

-k.