I had to fire my maid.

Unfortunately, I recently had to fire my maid.  She's really a terrible house cleaner. She hates laundry, and it's constantly piling up, never to be folded and put away. She never vacuums, and since we have two little boys who love to play in sand, this is a problem. And she hasn't shown up in weeks. I mean REALLY! She gets here after I leave, leaves before I get back, I never see her. In fact, come to think of it, I haven't actually seen her for months... or is it years??

I have never been a 'have-to-have-the-house-spotless' kind of girl. My room was always messy growing up. I was definitely not the neat freak of all of my college roommates. And I consider myself very lucky to have found a partner in life who is equally as disorganized as me. :)

There's nothing like a clean house that smells like lemons. I'll give you that. A clean set of sheets is nothing short of heaven to slide into. A scrubbed-down kitchen makes me want to cook elaborate and tasty meals. And let's be honest - a clean bathroom? That's just a good idea at all times!

As I have gotten older, I have perfected the super quick house clean. Used to be that Nathan could call me and tell me he was on his way home (a 45 minute drive) and I would mega-clean the whole (tiny) house and he would be so impressed that I had been so productive all day! *insert day-off filled with Taco Bell, Facebooking, and reality TV.

Since having children, Nathan and I do make an attempt to pick up the house every night, even if it is only for 10 minutes. I still do my super clean, or employ strategies such as the  "10 minutes of cleanup, then 30 minutes of resting."   In the end, it doesn't really matter. If I was on my deathbed tomorrow I would not regret not keeping my house cleaner. My ability to overlook goldfish crackers on the floor and a huge pile of clean laundry behind the recliner is uncanny. Most days I'm thankful for the little socks that don't ever seem to have a mate, the toys that I step on in the middle of the night, and the cat barf that has accumulated in the corner (totally kidding on that last one!).  If the biggest thing in my life I have to complain about is a messy house then I'll take it.

We have a very happy, mostly healthy family and we have everything we need. (But don't get me wrong: I wouldn't say no to a maid if one appeared!)

PS - here is proof that at one time, those little socks DID have mates... where did they all GO!???