It takes a short weekend to mess up a house and a long Monday to bring it back to where it should be! It's not yet 12:30 and I have washed and dried and folded and washed and dried and folded. (But not put away!) I still have a full hamper and our bath mats need bathing. My dishwasher needed emptying as did my sink. And I had to bake cookies for the girls who are coming over for dinner tomorrow.
I love these girls. We all came together about 5 years ago to form a book club. People came and left. Stopped to have babies, left and came back. Stopped to try out other clubs and came back. Stopped to have careers and came back. We are still trying to get our footing back to where it once was, and we will get there. Our core group is now small, but it fits. We laugh and we talk (notsomuch about the books!) and we laugh. And we laugh some more. I have always looked forward to getting together with these girls and I still do. It's a personality match. So, it's not just that it's Monday but that my girls are coming over tomorrow. I have to have a tidy house. I wish we'd hang up our art work and drapes already, but at least I can clean. And maybe even polish some copper and silver along the way. Alexander's fine. He helped me bake (and eat!) the cookies this morning. And he played beautifully while I cleaned and tidied. And now he's watching Madeline's Christmas because he's obsessed with Christmas, and Birthdays too.
While the boys were all playing Mario Karts on the wii last night I took advantage of an empty upstairs and went to work. I polished all my wooden furniture. I really wonder when the last time our cleaning lady had done so. What came off on the paper toweling was repulsive. As what kept flying out of Rebecca's Flokati rug. And the rotten apple under Christopher's bed. And the sticky spots by Alexander's bed. I vacuumed over and over and over again. I grabbed the Swiffer and scrubbed Rebecca's floor, then Alexander's, then mine. (Christopher has wall to wall carpeting.) And then their bathroom. And then mine. I had to change the Swiffer pad a few times. It didn't take a couple of hours and yet I was much more thorough than our cleaning lady ever had been. I'll mop the kitchen in a few, as well as the downstairs bathroom off the kitchen. I think we'll not replace our housekeeper immediately. I had to clean up after her anyhow. I cleaned the downstairs daily anyhow. We'll save a fortune. I can put it towards decorating! But first I have to figure out how to fire her. I couldn't do it last week. I am such a wimp. I called her, told her not to come as the kids were all home sick. I am a liar. A big fat spineless liar. Would you fire her for me?
I'm going to get off my duff now and take out the garbage, the recycling (both cans and papers), clean up the mudroom, package up the cookies, make some lunch for Alexander, make a few necessary phone calls, take dinner (chili) out of the freezer, and spend the rest of the afternoon playing with Alexander. And when I come back home after picking the older two up from school I will pour myself a glass of wine and take a nice long, hot soak. Just so my Monday doesn't have to end on a bad note!
