February Vacation... and a clean house

I hate school vacation week. I am the kind of person who needs a predictable schedule. I am the kind of person who doesn't do well with *whatever* I need a PLAN... and I don't have one this week. I am lost... However...

I know that the cleaning lady is coming tomorrow. Have I mentioned how much I love her? Of course I must rip my children out of bed before 8 and be out of the house before 9... All so that my SECRET will not be discovered, because my family doesn't know that we have a cleaning lady...

I used to poo poo my friend Diane when the kids were younger... "She is a stay at home mom with a CLEANING LADY?" I thought it completely absurd. Diane's reasoning was that she didn't drink coffee so no Starbucks and she didn 't shop or do her nails. She could totally justify the expense... "But isn't cleanning her job?" I wondered...

Ten years later I am now a complete convert - an emphatic NO!! Home or not... A mom's job may be to run the household and take care of the kids, but CLEANING is not HER job... It should be a shared responsibility and when it is not, measures need to be taken so that resentment and anger do not overcome.

Working the cleaners into the budget is just as important to me as any meal out or trip to the movies... There is nothing that makes me happier than coming home to the smell of a CLEAN. Not having to YELL at my kids for messy rooms or over flowing trash cans reduces my stress and not having to rinse out the sink from my husbands last shave is a dream... I have time on my "DAY OFF" to go grocery shopping and make a nice dinner. I can change sheets, clean out drawers, or maybe even READ A BOOK... Knowing my whole day is not consumed by scrubbing bathrooms or emptying the vacuum is HEAVEN. I am a better person.

So why do I keep the secret? Mainly because I don't want to fight. My husband has NO clue about how long it takes to actually CLEAN and how happy it makes me -- He sees MONEY spent on something "WE" could do ourselves... As far as the kids go - I don't want them to ASSUME that the MAID will just pick it up... I want them to think that I did it, because when they think it's me - they actually care enough to keep things tidy (for at least the first few days)....