My Mother's Son
The exterminator is coming today. NOT that I have roaches or pest problems of any kind, but the building as a matter of routine exterminates every apartment every few months whether you need it or not to prevent any "situations". So at 7:30 this morning, I got out the vacuum cleaner and began furiously vacuuming the apartment and tidying up the areas where I know he'll be spraying. Not only that, but I have wall to wall carpeting in this apartment and found myself making neat little vacuum patterns on the carpet which I was careful not to step on. Why? So the exterminator will be impressed with my vacuuming skills I guess. What's wrong with me? Never mind the fact that the types of apartments exterminators are used to seeing are those with pest problems and therefore probably not the tidiest of domiciles. I guess I didn't want to be mistaken for one of those.
Blame it on my mother (and on her mother for that matter.) I was told from the time I was a child that you should always leave your house in "dying order". I guess this means that if you drop dead and they go to clean out your house everyone will be impressed with what a good housekeeper you were and hopefully discuss it at your funeral. When we went on vacation a major housecleaning was always called for as well. Why? So that if someone breaks in the burglars shouldn't think we're a family of pigs. Also, it's nice to come home to a clean house.
Scott laughs at me when I extend this consideration to take-out delivery boys as well. I'll tidy up just what they can see from front door. Mind you, the rest of the apartment can be a complete disaster area, but the vista from the front door should be one of well ordered domesticity. I suppose I'd be the type to clean up for the cleaning lady, too, but then I've never had one so I don't know for sure. Can anyone out there relate?
Labels: Personal
posted by Michael @ 8:06 AM
5 Comments:
Yes - I can completely relate. I'd rather not have a cleaning lady (or man) because I'd be cleaning the whole house all week so it looks good before they came - why would I want to pay for that?
Your Mom taught you well.
I always pick up and clean before the maid gets here!
It goes without saying that you would never risk getting into an accident wearing anything less than respectable underwear. Thanks for the laugh. My refrigerator has been "out of order" for a week and a half now, I'm having a dinner party on Friday night, and I think I've hired dumb and dumber to repair it. They've been here 3 times now and I'm still without a fridge, so all laughs are gratefully received.
Well, I certainly remember the extensive house cleanings before vacation. I thought that was an effort to make our vacation even more enjoyable (with a crazy work schedule up to the last minute!) I, too, am still an absolute stickler about leaving the house in order. I don't worry about the burglars so much, but there's nothing worse than coming home to a mess. Talk about a let down... That said, I recently hired a cleaning woman which has CHANGED MY LIFE(!), and the first day she came, she got there early. Between her early arrival and the general mayhem in our home on any given morning, I wasn't able to get things cleaned up in advance. I spent the next half hour following her around picking up things and apologizing (in bad Spanish). She finally turned around, smiled at me and said "Gracias, pero go away. Out. Is okay. Bye Bye." I left and came home to a spotless abode. I'm officially over it now ;-).
oh yes - I remember the frantic clean up before vacation and am happy to say I still try and torture myself prior to every vacation with last minute tidying up. I am also a firm believer in cleaning prior to the cleaning lady cleaning - really more of a picking things up type of cleaning though. I did run around like a nut at 7 am this morning cleaning up prior to the cable man coming - why I rushed before the cable guy got here is another issue since we all know they operate in a different time zone than the rest of us
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