Cleeeeeeeeean!

Back in November, I was rehearsing for a play and furiously working to get a huge project done at work in time for my Christmas vacation. I was really busy and really stressed, and my house suffered. It was a total mess!

As I was driving to work one morning, I thought, "I wish I had a wife to clean my house for me!" Well, what I really wanted was to BE the wife and get to stay home and take care of my house and family while the husband took care of bringing home the bacon. I don't care if it's an old-fashioned idea -- it's the dream.

Well, wouldn't you know it? When I got to work, I found an e-mail in my inbox from Groupon, and the deal of the day was 3 hours of house cleaning for $45. I didn't need to be asked twice -- I immediately signed up! It was the answer to my quasi-prayers!

Of course, I didn't use it right away.

To be specific, I finally used it this morning. *embarrassed face*

Did I mention the Groupon expired tomorrow? Yeah, way to cut it close, but I'm glad I finally used it!

I took today off work to relax after the vacation, have the cleaning people come by. I even went to a movie this afternoon! Yay! My internal clock canNOT figure out what day it is, but my mental health wasn't ready to go back to work quite yet ;-)

The three ladies came 45 minutes earlier than scheduled, and I wasn't ready. I wasn't even dressed for the day. It's a big cliche to clean the house before the cleaning ladies come, but in the description for the deal there was a note that 3 hours includes the time it might take to move stuff off the counter before they could actually clean anything. I didn't want them to have to deal with piles of stuff. I just wanted them to deep-clean as much as they could. I also wanted to move a bunch of boxes into closets so they could vacuum more of the floor. Oh, well.

I let the ladies in, and they told me to sit on the couch and relax, so I did. I spent the time writing in my journal and pretending I wasn't embarrassed to still be in my p.j's. They were fast! They only stayed about 40 minutes (or two man hours, since there were three women there), but they seemed to get everything. Seriously, the shower hasn't been that clean since before I moved in -- I'm thrilled! My house looks so good!

I want to keep it this way at LEAST until after a little get-together I'm hosting on Friday. It'll be the first time most of those friends see my place and I am very proud of my little home. I like that it will be well-represented.

Honestly, except for the shower and the oven, I feel I could have cleaned as well as the professional service, but knowing that I didn't have to clean this time sure feels good!

I may try it again sometime.

Three cheers for a clean home! Having a clean and tidy space really does make all the difference in the world.