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I Need A Cinderella

 I like to describe our house as very "lived in."  It sounds better than "dirty."  It is dirty.  And messy.  I clean all day long, but you'd never know.  My friend recently told me she hires a house cleaner.  It sounds dreamy, but it wouldn't work for us.  The cleaner would never be able to leave.  She'd never be done.  It's fine.  It's a phase.  Probably.  

We were supposed to have guests for dinner the other week.  I know - it's a bold move inviting people over while we are in this stage of life.  Nonetheless, we did.  I was trying to get ahead of the mess while the kids were in bed and cleaned my floors the night before the dinner party.  The day of the dinner, everybody was sick so we had to postpone.  

I decided I wasn't going to let a clean floor go to waste.  I was going to enjoy it for at least a weekend.  The challenge, I told myself, was simply to sweep things up after every meal.  In my head, this seemed reasonable.  The reality is, my kids eat something like fifteen meals a day.  They also, apparently, eat with their mouths wide open, allowing crumbs to cascade to the floor during each meal.  Additionally, the crumb trails and piles suggest they are moving throughout the entire square footage of the house during this process.  How else do you explain yogurt under the table?  Raisins and cracker dust behind the couch?  Apple bits and pieces in the bathroom?  Cookie crumbs on the bedroom floor?  I thought we had some vague rule about eating at the table...  

The kids think cleaning is my favorite because it's what they most often see me doing.  It's not my favorite.  IT'S NOT MY FAVORITE.  Tripping over stray shoes and baby dolls on my way to the bathroom is also not my favorite.  We have implemented an all hands on deck 10min clean-up before Ross gets home from work. The goal is just that we don't look like victims of a break-in when he walks through the door.  It definitely helps.  

With the once a day toy clean-up on the books, now we are looking for ways to more efficiently clean the dust, dirt, and cobwebs.  The boys tried to invent a new method of mopping the floor by dragging each other while sitting on wet rags, but they mostly just wound up with wet butts.  We bagged that...for now.  If anyone has any creative or innovative ideas to add to the toolbox, please leave your advice and comments.  I'll take them all.  Or if you have a passion for cleaning windows, I may be able to make your dreams come true.  Call me.  

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