Just call me "The Cleaning Lady"

Right up front here I'm going to admit that I paid someone to come clean my house about a month ago. Gast! What?! Good money...gone. YEP! And it felt great. The feeling lasted about a week until she was supposed to come again, but was out of town. Then the revelation hit and has been working for several weeks now...

I spent well over an hour Monday night picking up, doing dishes, clearing out the sink, doing laundry... all so someone else could clean my house on Tuesday. What?! An hour of prep work so someone else can spend 4 hours cleaning. No wonder I hate housework!

The following Monday I did the same prep work, it took less time, and I felt more ready this week. I wasn't sure if she was out of town or not, but I thought, "better safe than sorry". I had a miserable morning and was actually hoping that she wasn't there when I got home. She wasn't, and I took my frustrations out on the floors, bathrooms, and dust bunnies. WOW, did that feel great! Could cleaning actually be satisfying?! OK, I've had brief glimpses of that satisfactory feeling when I go from a clutter zone to spic-and-span for a party or vacation, but never on a regular weekday!

So I put it to the test...the next week I did the same thing. (I didn't have the money to pay anyone this week!) Tasha seems to be pretty satisfied with a morning of TV on Tuesday since it is not a regular occurrence. She also appreciates a warning that the floors are wet...and slippery! She took a major butt dive down the hall the day I neglected to isolate her to the living room! After the initial shock and bruise, she thought it was pretty funny and enjoyed reenacting it with great dramatics.

Then there was the problem...the reoccurring mess that I know I have asked people in this house to take care of time and time again (as "the mom"). That's when it occurred to me...you are NOT the mom right now, you are "The Cleaning Lady". The CL doesn't know the slobs that live here and she can either hide the stuff or clean around it. A revelation worth all my sanity...not just for the moment, but to last until the 2-legged beasts arrive home with all their clutter. I can yell at them when they get home, "pick up that stuff, the cleaning lady was just here and I like the way the house looks!" without taking a personal hit to my hard work. After all, it wasn't me, it was that other lady.

Now comes the miracle...the CL was not going to be able to come this week and I knew it. It was going to be a busy Tuesday and Monday was a holiday. After the parade on Monday morning, and a bit of lolly-gagging around town, I broke the news to my family. "I don't have time to clean tomorrow so we're all going to have to do it today. It takes me about 3 hours, so we all will give it our best effort for an hour and a half." I got blank stares until I dished out assignments and everyone went to work. Tasha did her typical picking up in her room so we could vacuum and eventually ended up watching TV, which is fine because she's not fighting with anyone (Kyra) or trying to clean the toilet with a toothbrush or something (eeww). Kyra vacuumed and picked up her room better than it's ever been cleaned. Bill got the tile floors, my least favorite job. I did the rest. It took an hour! Miracle! So we tackled the junk zone in front of the fireplace and can now see the throw rug there. Bill rewarded the kids with a trip to the water/ice-cream store while I finished up by clearing off the island. What a happy day, and everyone contributed.

So then the true miracle happened...Bill and Kyra both agreed, "that wasn't so bad, we could do that every week." Well, I'm not holding my breath and the CL plans on coming next week, but it's nice to know that it can work in a pinch. The 2 legged beasts can be quite helpful and we all took a little pride in a clean house. Now I need to have a party!

Politics are impossible

You know, I want to be involved in politics, and I want to be an active citizen. I get all the election materials in the mail and try to read some of it. We also get 3 copies of the stuff...one for me, one for Bill, and one for the tenants that lived in this house well over 10 years ago. I'm glad to know that they are actively voting!

So I'm reading the lastest information on the new "Permanent Early Voting List". OK, really I just skim over it and see the section with the election date information. This gives an alphabatized list on when elections will be held. I will list them, WORD FOR WORD below:

a) The second Tuesday in March.
b) The third Tuesday in May.
c) The ninth Tuesday before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
d) The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

I'm sorry...WHAT? Did you read "c"?! I reread it, and reread it. Then I tried the Spanish side:

c) El noveno martes antes del primer martes despues del primer lunes de noviembre.

Nope, it still doesn't make sense to me. The "ninth Tuesday"? Is anyone else confused here? I was pretty sure that we only had 4 Tuesdays in a month, maybe 5 on occasion. Is this a cruel joke to make me feel stupid? Is someone at the Elections Department having a little fun? Did they really get someone to translate that? Even if there really was a ninth Tuesday it certainly couldn't fall before the first Tuesday could it?

I feel like Charlie Brown here. (Possibly because "Snoopy come home" is playing in the background) "Can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?" Better yet...can anyone explain to me what letter c is supposed to mean?!

Reading 102: 2VGW

"When 2 vowels go walking, the first one does the talking". Well, not really, but it sort of makes sense for some vowel combinations. First of all, "does the talking" means that the vowel will say its name. So when you see EA in a word it says "E", like in eat, neat, meat, team, cream. The problem is that it is misleading to think that it is true for all vowel combinations. Here are the only ones that I teach:

EE and EA say "E" (meet, meat)

OE and OA say "O" (toe, boat)

A-E, AI and AY say "A" (make, paid, play) *note: you won't see AE together in English words, they are usually separated by a consonant...see the "E rule".

So what about the other combinations? Think about it. I can't make the sounds here on the computer but I will give you examples.

AU and AW (taught, saw...the same as the short O sound like in not)

OO (has 2 different sounds...book and boot...did you feel your lips get rounder for the second one?)

OI and OY (boil, boy)

OU and OW (ouch, how) I teach this one first

OW (snow and grow...it sometimes says the name "O")

Spelling can be tricky. You will see W's and Y's at the ends of words (cow, boy), U's and I's in the beginning or middle of the word (out/pout, oil/soil). Is this always true? Of course not, we're talking about English here. (clown, town...those n's at the end are a tip off to use the ow)

DTS: Decompression Traction System

It's the miracle cure for my migraine! I went to the chiropractor and he popped, twisted, drilled and massaged my neck and head. Yada, yada. He's done it all before. Then he decided to try the DTS machine. What the heck, I'm game. Just get rid of the pain. So I'm in a reclined position with my head in traction and my forehead strapped down for about 20 minutes. Bill makes fun of the nice red spot on my forehead but I don't care. The migraine is gone!!! Really. And it hasn't come back. Ironically, my allergies got dramatically worse that evening and I've been full of sinus snot all day. The trade off is worth it though, I'll deal with a sinus headache any day.

Candy, giggles and Mother Nature

There are 3 levels of Halloween candy gatherers that I am aware of. There are kids that are too embarrassed to even say "Trick or treat" and barely make it to get candy from people they know. There are kids that catch on to the idea of free candy, make the round and then delve into the stash to either devour it, or check out what they got. Then there are the kids (and adults at this point) that realize there is a bunch of free candy out there and are going to get as much of it that is humanly possible. Nothing at this point seems to be shameful. You can raid a room while it is empty, grab a fist full from a bowl, visit the same candy-givers 2, 3, or even 4 times, or steal the best candy from a little kid. What is it about Halloween that makes pilfering and plundering justified...maybe the costumes?!

So, my kids are at level 2 of the candy gathering. They get the idea, love the treats, and love to eat them. Their parents take the blame for not monitoring their intake, but what the heck, it's Halloween. When Kyra was 3 we witnessed her first sugar high. She actually ran in circles around the living room for half an hour, then she flopped. She repeated the scenario the next year. Her parents are slow learners. (Why does it sound less like it's my fault when I talk in the third person?!) Last night, we all had the giggles. Well, everyone but Bill. He was grouchy. I guess he didn't get to pilfer enough good chocolate from the girls.

The best costume of the year...a first grader at Kyra's school came dressed as "Mother Nature". She had on a beautiful long dress that she had carefully and skillfully attached flowers and leaves to. She also had a halo of flowers on her head. (I can't seem to come up with the actual word for that right now) She was simple yet elegant, not gaudy and very graceful. Kudos for creativity and beauty!

The Wonder Pets

"There's an animal in trouble. There's an animal in trouble! There's a puppy that has to go pee-pee." I kid you not, that was today's episode of The Wonder Pets. Lenny, Tuck, and Ming-Ming too went to help let a puppy outside so it could go pee-pee...or tinkle...because everybody goes. Yes, this is the insight that my 3 year old gets from 3 talking preschool pets that escape from their cages daily to go help animals in trouble. Personally, I think the cartooning is a little disturbing as well. It is somewhere between realistic drawings with movable parts and a freak show of distorted animals. You will be happy to know that by the end of the show, not only did they get the puppy out in time, but they all had to go. We heard a nice gush of water as they all synchronized their pee, and then they all let out a sigh of relief. "AAAAH!"

Be very jealous...or don't

I'm sitting cross legged on my bed typing on a LAPTOP right now! Yeah for us. Finally, after 2 years of classes for Bill at UofP, he is entering the 21st century. He has always been the only one (at least, that's what he tells me) that doesn't have one. So, as our old computer became outdated, we decided to invest in something that we both could use. It's a Dell, I've made several typing slips adjusting to a new keyboard, and we can't really get our office program to load. Hmmm.

For my part, a laptop mostly makes me feel great. I pretend that I'm Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail". How cool would that be?! I would own my own book store, live in NY city, and have Tom Hanks emailing me crazy lines from "The Godfather". OK, it sucks that she looses her store by the end of the movie, but she does get the guy! In my post-movie fantasy version, she also writes the book that she dreamed of writing...ahh, I really could be her!

On the other hand, don't be jealous because I've been in bed most of the day with a migraine! It's probably the 2nd worst I've had in my life and I couldn't drive the kids to school today. That sort of makes you feel like a big fat failure as a mom, but I did have plenty of time to think since I couldn't open one eye, sleep, or stand up without feeling dizzy. Coke and chocolate didn't help this time. Pressure points alleviated the pain for the moment. Homeopathic remedies seemed to help a bit. Finally, when Bill could drive me to chiropractor, I found some permanent relief...at least, I hope...It's been an hour now and I feel pretty good. So I think I'll keep bloggin' and get everything off my mind.