The house is cleaner. Though far from perfect. I should really mop the kitchen floor. And do more dusting. Since I was worried about the entire house being clean I just did a cursory run through of every room. Patrice says she has never seen my house dirty – but that is because we clean when we’re expecting visitors. If no one ever came to visit, we’d be tangled up in enormous dust bunnies. Plus I never feel like my place is REALLY clean. Some things I can’t fix like the awful stains on the carpet that make me cringe or how the kitchen tile never looks clean because the former owner did such a horrible job with the grout. But my biggest concern is what should I be doing to clean house? Do you wash your walls? I have noticed dirty spots on my walls in some spaces and I think maybe I should be scrubbing down walls. Also I should probably scrub down all the fronts on my kitchen cabinets and go around the edges of the kitchen floor with a handheld scrub brush to get the parts that are unreachable with the mop. The baseboards could also use a really good cleaning in every room. The windows too. And the basement is an organized shambles. But this stuff never gets done because I’m just trying to make it look mostly clean for guests that I hope aren’t looking too closely.
Despite my crazed attempt at last minute cleaning, we had a lovely visit yesterday with Mark’s Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Phil and their daughter Lizz and her husband. They drove two hours from Jersey, stayed about two hours and then headed back. That is a lot of driving just to see little old us. Of course Noah is the draw. Marilyn and Phil (Mark’s Godparents) haven’t seen Noah since he was a month old and Lizz and Bill hadn’t yet met him at all. It was nice to catch up and Noah was pretty chatty and sweet. He makes us look good. We ordered pizza because I can’t fathom cooking dinner for six people with one days notice. I think that means I am a bad person – but so be it. At least my baby is cute.
The most harried part of the day however was the hour prior to our guests’ arrival. Noah was near nap-less all day so when he finally went down I wanted to allow him to catch enough rest to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the company. However I needed to dust in the bedroom he was sleeping in, clean him, change him, nurse him and run to the corner store to buy some snacks. He woke up a half hour prior to their arrival time. I gave him a toy to keep him entertained while I swiffered quickly and hunted any noticeable dust bunnies. Then we headed to the nursery for his preparation. I decided to take Patrice’s advice and forego the bath and just wash him from head to toe with wipes. I changed his diaper, suited him up, and bjorned him. I put a note on the door saying I would be right back in case they showed up early and I ran to the market for snacks – ginger ale, cheese, crackers, shortbread and pretzels. When I returned and the guests were nowhere in sight I nursed Noah and put the snacks out on decorative plates. And I was SO proud that all that took me exactly a half hour and we were all set on time. Of course I felt like I had been a maniacal rushing idiot for nothing when they showed up almost a half hour late and we ended up just sitting on the couch staring at the door and waiting. But at least we were ready and I had enough time to look almost calm when they got here.
Oh! Here is one for the stupid file. We have a Graco Pack n’ Play (play pen). Have had it since before his birth. We have used it as a changing table and even as a bassinet one or two times. However it wasn’t until Tuesday that I actually realized “Wow! I could sit Noah in that with some toys and I could actually clean up a bit WHILE he plays. Eureka!” You see now why I never accomplish anything.
2 comments:
ah, the wipes bath. gotta love it. I usually top it off with some baby lotion to make it seem even more realistic.
the cleaning. my mom was a cleaning freak. we never had a mop - floors were always washed on hands and knees. baseboards were always wiped down with diluted pine sol. windows and every single glass surface, including the glass on picture frames, were done with windex. walls were wiped down at least twice a year. it was awful. especially since I can seriously never remember my mom doing any of it - it was the way things were done, of course, as she always said, but I was doing it all. I know. me. can you imagine?
needless to say, I do not do that. nor will I. and nor should you. that's just insanity. no one cares.
I'm thinking of splurging and getting a thorough cleaning by a service like once a year. that's what I should have asked for for mother's day. oh well, my birthday is coming up.
I totally agree with Patrice on splurging for a cleaning service on occasion. When my oldest was a baby, my sister-in-law was in the cleaning business and we paid her every other month or so to come in and do some big cleaning. I mean it's hard enough to keep the toys picked up with a baby in the house, to say nothing of cleaning baseboards. I found that the work required to pick everything up so that real cleaning could occur made me feel like I was doing my part, and nothing feels better than sitting down while the baby naps in a truly clean house and reading a book totally guilt free.
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