Great Day

Today was the second day I hired a babysitter to watch Gavin so I could clean the house. Two weeks ago I hired a sitter so I could clean mine and Ryan's room, although when Ryan got home he noticed my side of the room was spotless and his side was still disheveled. Eh, his stuff was mostly clothes. I added stuff to his dresser - stuff that was clearly his that somehow made its way to my dresser.

On today's to do list was the upstairs so I vacuumed the copious amounts of cat fur downstairs and hauled a boat load of toys down so the sitter and Gavin would have something to do. The upstairs is SO clean! The only thing I didn't dust were the light fixtures in the living room and that was because I realized I neglected them after I dusted the ceiling, crown molding, walls, door frames, mantle, window seats, outlets and baseboards and couldn't risk taking the fixtures apart and spreading dust on the newly clean surfaces. Yeah, I did it all. I even took the area rug outside to air out. I swept, vacuumed and mopped. Why sweep and vacuum? Because sweeping never picks up all of the little specks of dirt and dust. That and because I'm probably a little neurotic.

It feels so great to know that every surface has been cleaned. The kitchen is clean. The living room is clean and the dining room is now a disaster. Everything that needs some attention (lots of paperwork and stuff that needs to be boxed, given away, thrown away, etc.) is now on the dining room table.

That was part one of the great day.

Part two was nap time. Gavin fussed for maybe five minutes before crashing... for THREE hours! Holy cow! I put my pajamas on and hopped into bed and chatted with Ryan while he took a rest after working outside on staining the new cedar siding. Then I solved some puzzles, took a mini snooze and did some more puzzles.

Gavin woke up and Ryan arrived home bearing food from Chipotle. I ate dinner, fed Gavin, played with the dog, picked blackberries and got a call from a friend whom I haven't seen in over 2 months who invited me over.

Here is something newsworthy: I left the house after 8 pm to go visit this friend. I arrived at her house bearing ice cream and blackberries and she provided some yummy fresh baked brownies. She cuts her brownies pretty generously, too. Mmm mmm good.

We chatted for 3 hours and played Phase 10, which I had fun playing but still lost.

I came home, straightened up the living room and kitchen because it is scary how quickly the house moves back to disarray (its natural state) and now here I am telling you all about my super duper day. I never said it was exciting.

On my way home this evening I was thinking about how today was so great and it occurred to me that my definition of what makes a day great has changed since I became a mom but the longer I thought about the more I realized it hasn't.

Even as a kid I remember the times when my older brother would wake me and my younger brother up before my mom and we would clean the house for her as a surprise. Sometimes I wonder how clean the house really was after we were done with it. When I was older and was made to clean my room - which I hated to do but always appreciated it afterwards - I would call my mom and dad up to my room to take in the wonder of its new found clean state. I didn't want to leave; I would lay on my nicely made bed and listen to the radio or read a book or just look around at my sparkly clean room.

The fact that there is such a great difference in how I feel about the dirty room versus the clean room should shed some light on just how messy it gets before I tackle cleaning it. Of course I have the nesting monster to thank right now for my pressing desire for a clean house. It has to be clean before the baby gets here because I know it won't happen afterwards. If anything its going to spiral down, down, down to messy oblivion when #2 arrives.

Its also times like this when I get the cleaning but that I wish I had it all the time. My mom used to say to me that she didn't "get me" because she was so clean yet she had to constantly remind me to pick up after myself. My room was always a disaster and I never took care of my toys. My dad was a tidy person, too. My brothers both are super clean. That leaves me. If I didn't look just like my mom I would wonder if I was adopte because I'm the black sheep of the family when it comes to tidiness. Although, I will say that for being unkempt I am still clean - before cooking I make sure I was the countertops with a clean soapy sponge, I will dust around stuff and vacuum several times a week - everyday if I can manage.

I have high hopes we can maintain this clean. High, high hopes.