I just LOVE cleaning toilets!

Okay, I don't actually love to clean toilets. I mean, I don't really mind it. After all, I'm responsible for wiping 2/3 of the asses in the house anyway so I'm not disturbed by cleaning the seats where said asses have been. I did have to wonder though why on earth I was cleaning toilets yesterday evening at 9:30 at night.

Yep, I know. It was a Friday night. And we cleaned house. Lame, yes. Productive, also yes. Satisfying, absolutely. What is it that is so satisfying about sitting on the couch after the house has been cleaned and looking around at your finished work? Is it just me? Maybe, but that's okay. I love it. I love that feeling of knowing that I have a finished result to show for my hard work. In my world of uncertainties in child rearing and, well, all of the other uncertainties of the world these days, I really have something to *show* for my effort when I've cleaned the house.

There are times I wonder WHY I still clean my own house. Many people we know have housekeepers and last night, after cleaning the floorboards of my 10,000 square foot home (okay, it's not really 10,000 square feet but it freakin' feels that way when you are dusting floorboards), I wondered why we don't just have someone come clean our house too so we can do other things on a Friday night. Like watch more episodes of Barney.

We had a housekeeper for a little while after Olivia was born. Prior to The Boss Lady's arrival I used to clean my house pretty religiously about once a week. I mean, taking everything off of the counter tops and mopping kind of cleaning. After Oli arrived, I was too busy trying to remember to eat much less worry about the state of my toilet bowls.

It was nice having someone come by every 2 weeks and make everything so nice and shiny. I'd come home that evening having forgotten that day was house cleaning day and I'd walk in the door to find those beautiful lines in my carpet indicative of a vacuum's recent presence. Nevermind that it only took about 24 hours for that clean look to disintegrate. I LOVED that one day.

Last year when we moved into our new digs, we talked about having someone come out and decided against it. Part of it was that Oli was getting to an age where she was a *little* more manageable and part of it was that I realized we were spending over $2,000 a year for something I was perfectly capable of doing myself. I started to wonder if that money wouldn't do our family more good in the form of a family vacation. And I wondered if us cleaning the house wouldn't do our family more good too.

I didn't grow up with a housekeeper or a pool guy or a yard guy or any kind of anybody who cleaned up your mess for you. We did it all ourselves. We had chores and were responsible for keeping things looking nice. Every afternoon, after school, my sisters and I were responsible for different tasks around the house. We didn't have a lot of money but my family taught my sisters and me that taking care of your things wasn't about money. It was about pride in your life. I don't mean a materialistic sort of pride. I just mean a sense of responsibility and ownership to take care of the things you've been blessed with.

Mike didn't grow up with a housekeeper either and when we first shared a home together, I initiated House Cleaning Night reminiscent of his childhood. In his family, each Wednesday evening was their house cleaning night and each kid would have certain chores and then Mike's dad would take the boys out to Burger King or something for a treat. I'm pretty sure my MIL stayed home fixing all of the streaks they left on the mirrors. I'm kidding. Kind of. Mike does tell me that, often, his dad, his brother, and he used to sit in the dark in one room "dusting" until my MIL just told them to go on for their night out. I can't imagine how great of a job 2 small boys and a man did but the point is that they did it.

Weekends weren't just for going to birthday parties and the zoo either. Weekends were for getting even more chores done, like car washing and yard work and home repairs. Until pretty recently, I've felt a lot of pressure to keep our weekends free for only FUN stuff. I was determined that my weekends wouldn't be spent doing chores or running errands. Then I realized something: that's just life. And as a kid I don't remember ever feeling deprived or abused for having to take care of our home.

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with a friend who recently had a parent-teacher conference because she was concerned about her 5 year old's "trying" moments. Let me preface this by saying that I know this 5 year old very well and she's a GREAT kid but she was just having some moments like all little girls do. Anyway, so my friend met with her daughter's teacher and the teacher gave her some tough love. She pointed out that we get the kind of kids that we parent. If we are constantly catering to them and constantly trying to spend all of our time with them doing FUN stuff, then we get a kid who expects everything in life to be FUN. And that is just not reality.

Reality is taking care of your home, your car, your responsibilities in life. Reality is having to run errands and pay bills and mow the yard. Yes, we want to have a lot of fun with Oli but I also want her to learn how to take care of things. I want her to know that you can't just see mold growing in the shower and expect that someone will come every 2 weeks to clean it up.

This afternoon, we spent time cleaning up the yard a little and I was a little anxious about it because there are so many other things I'd rather be doing on a Saturday. BUT, we had spent the morning at a local St. Patrick's Day Parade and we had things that needed to be done around the house--a little fun, a little work. While Mike and I were digging up weeds and raking leaves, Oli just joined right in. She grabbed a pair of gardening gloves and her princess gardening tools and off she went. She was scattering the leaves more than she was helping to gather them, but I don't care. Because the point is she was HELPING. And she wasn't complaining and she wasn't miserable and I'm pretty sure she'll grow up knowing we love her and want to spend time with her even if some of that time was spent doing yard work.

Let me just give major props to my sweet husband too. I know a lot of men who don't participate in housework. Now that just doesn't fly with me because I had a lot of great examples of men who pulled their weight in household duties. And Mike had an incredible example in his dad too. When I suggested a Friday Night House Cleaning Party to Mike, he didn't even flinch. He just said, "Cool, what do you want me to do?"

You know, one the hardest things for me when we do things like cleaning as a family is to keep my big mouth shut about how Mike or Oli isn't doing something right. And by "right" I mean "my way." For instance, as I watched them Windex the windows last night, I saw Mike wiping down the glass, missing every corner, and Oli bracing herself on the glass with one had while wiping with the other. That's the thing about working together as a family though, sometimes you (me) have you keep your trap shut and just be thankful you have a family that can work together. And I am. I am so thankful to have a husband who helps me carry the load and a daughter who actually likes to clean windows. I'm so thankful for the example my MIL and FIL set for Mike. I'm thankful for the example of my parents and grandparents who taught me the joy in taking care of the things that we've worked for and that God has given us.

There will be a day, I'm sure, when I am not physically able to do all of these things. For now though, I'm perfectly capable and I'm going to keep doing it for as long as I can.

I'm not encouraging all of your to fire your housekeepers or to even feel bad for having one. There are a lot of good people who clean house for a living and they need to keep their jobs too, after all. We all have things that are important to us and cleaning my house and doing our own yard work are some of those things for us. Maybe that's silly but today when I saw my sweet girl digging in the dirt and pointing out roley poleys, I felt really happy that we were all working together. And really, is there anything sexier than a man with a roll of paper towels and a Windex bottle in his hand? A man who works hard and helps with chores around the house? Yeah, even if he missed the corners of the mirrors, Mike gets major points in my book.

If all of this time spent cleaning house and doing yard work means our family gets to work together to accomplish taking care of our things, I'll keep cleaning the toilets. Maybe even with a smile on my face.