My Confession

When our income tax refund comes in, I usually take a bit of it and buy something for the house. Curtains, a chair, cookware; there's always something that we could use that seems like a reasonable splurge.

This year, things have been so hectic and crazy that I decided rather than buying stuff to put in the house, I'd work in the opposite direction.

I paid someone to clean my house.

There, I confessed.  

She promised me that it would be an out-of-body experience.  It did feel - and smell - wonderful when I walked in the door.  My initial reaction was that it was worth every penny.  And it's certainly an incentive to keep things tidy - and to clean the rest of the house (I could only afford to have her clean the bottom floor).

My kids tell me that they've worked up an arrangment to trade some babysitting time for cleaning with a friend of the family.  I'm thinking that might be a good deal.

We'll need it asap.  David came home and promptly began to work on his grasslands ecosystem project, so there are giraffes, lions, pieces of felt and construction paper trimmings all over the dining room table....and the floor....

Life goes on...