More Tales From Someone Who Doesn't Have a Cleaning Service

I am not the best housekeeper. I try, but I'm not. Aside from lacking motivation, the odds are stacked against me: I have three messy kids, two sheddy and dead-thing eating dogs and a husband. This is not a winning combination for cleanliness.

In fact just recently, during a play date, as the mom and I wandered around the house trying to locate her son's shoes, we came across not one, not two but three pairs (one of which belonged to the hub — gee, where do the messy genes come from?) lying around the house.

So you can see why cleaning is an uphill battle.

But, as I said, I'm trying. I got a Shark Steam Pocket Mop, which has been a lifechanger. Mopping is soooo much easier and faster. More importantly, sometimes my mom takes pity on me and comes over and cleans the bathrooms and any dishes left around. It's very sweet of her — even if I have to rewash the dishes. My mom is not the best dishwasher.

So this lengthy preamble is the set-up to this story:

Months ago, two neighborhood girls came over to play. Both dutifully take off their shoes the minute they enter the house, which is not a practice I encourage. In fact, I hate being barefoot in my own house. So anyway, 6-year-old walks up to me and says, "When I take my shoes off in your house, I feel like there's dirt between my toes."

To which I think I replied, "So pretend you're at the beach."

The girls are back, and my floor is wicked clean, not eat-off-it clean but certainly respectable. In fact, my whole house is pretty darn respectable, the result of a recent, unplanned day off from work. I am just dying — DYING — to ask Miss Thang, "Doesn't my floor feel CLEAN?!?" But I don't because part of me suspects that I might not like the answer.