My cleaning lady

I just turned 34. It's not a whole lot different than 33 - at least not that I've noticed yet. But it was a good birthday. When ask what I want I typically respond with something like - obedient kids, or a nice clean house or something like that. Which is true. Well this year when I mentioned a clean house the kids took notice. Due to their lack of interest in house cleaning and somewhat lazy natures they didn't actual clean the house. And they didn't start doing their chores or turn into the little kitchen fairies my Dad seems to believe in but they did give me a clean house. They hired the girl next door to do it. Our neighbor, McKenna, had recently started a little house cleaning business and brought around fliers. At three dollars an hour she was in their budget, so Anna, Taylor and Dallin each bought me an hour of house cleaning. I was thrilled.

McKenna was very professional and arrived with all her own supplies and ask me where she should begin. She started with the bathroom. She went in and shut the door and I didn't hear from her for almost an hour when she came out to ask me to help her open the toilet cleaner. Door closed again. About 15 minutes later she came out and ask me to help her because she knocked the shower curtain down. She finished cleaning the tub, took out the trash and asked me what was next. I went in to inspect. The first thing that hit me was how good it smelled, so fresh and clean. She must splurge and get something more than comet cleanser. It looked great too – spotless in fact. While it did take her about 10 times longer than it takes me – it was worth it. It looked great and I didn't have to do it.


Having a cleaning lady, makes me feel a bit elite. I never thought I would be rich, or snobby, enough to have a cleaning lady. (No offense to those who do, just a little jealous here.) I am just not really in that class- you know the one, where the wife is too busy with having her eyebrows waxed, lunch at the club, shopping at Ann Taylor, and picking up her Baby Gap dressed children at the Gymboree, to clean her own 7000 sq foot home. I am more the clearance rack at Walmart, bushy eyebrowed kind of mom who sends her kids out back to play while she eats the rest of their pbj for lunch. I am the “scrub my own toilet” kind of woman always have been, and thought I always would be. But now that I have a cleaning girl and have had a taste of the good life it will be hard to go back – but for only $3 an hour maybe I won't have to.

I am hoping she comes again soon. I am going to have her do the blinds next. Hopefully she is a bit faster on blinds than she is with bathrooms because I've also got some vents that need cleaned, some dusty furniture, a floor that could use a good mopping and the list goes on and on. I just wish she was a bit older - I am a little afraid that 9 is young enough child labor laws might come into play here and I would sure hate to lose my cleaning lady.