Cleaning

Well lets see, I have been a little tired of cleaning lately and have thought of numerous posts to write about on the subject and then yesterday as the kids were getting into the car Sam climbs in and exclaims to Leah, "You have got to check out the garage.... it is so clean" "Mom did you do it?" and before I could respond he followed with "cleaning is kinda your thing"

Thus no more diddle dallying about writing this post.

Cleaning is not my thing. In fact I could easily go for weeks without any desire to clean. The reason that cleaning is my thing is because if I do not do it than nobody does. Although cleaning is not my thing having a dirty house is even less of my thing.

So last weekend I spent Saturday on my tester round. I do these periodically, they are me without telling anyone testing my family to see where they stand without my involvement. So I tested them to see if I spent an entire day without washing a dish or doing laundry or cleaning up if any of them would. The way I see it is in regards to the kids I am working my way out of a job and one aspect of their life is to take care of themselves and their surrounding. Well last Saturday it hit me that I am never going to be out of a cleaning job cause Ian can be worse than the kids at times. Sunday came around and after church and lunch Ian took his spot on the couch for a relaxing afternoon of more tv watching. "Ian can you please not spend the whole day on your butt today" And than he came back with an answer that has sent us both seeing red when the kids do it, "What do you want me to do?" I just walked away... I walked away from the piles of laundry, the mound of dishes, the dust bunnies that border our hallway, the toys all over the living room. Moments later Ian got up and started working on the garage. I was so happy to see after a hour that he had cleaned half the garage very well. So I went back up to him sitting on the couch, relaxing and watching tv to let him know that I appreciated him cleaning the garage. And you know what... I really was grateful. I know like most stay-at-home moms cleaning is one of the most relentless, thankless aspects of our job but I like taking care of the family and even though cleaning is not my thing for the most part I do not mind doing it. BUT I do expect my family to help therefore the following guidelines are to help you all know what to do on my next tester day.

Ian- piling all the dirty dishes up in the sink does not count for doing the dishes

Leah- only picking up what you have stepped on does not count for picking up

Sam- stuffing everything that was in the middle of the room under a bed or couch does not count as cleaning

Emma- finding a toy and playing with it while I clean does not count as helping