I've hired someone to clean my house.

I had a regular cleaning lady for a while... before Maddy was born! My mom sent hers over on a flukey one-off several years ago; all I remember is that the woman was arguing with me about whether my bathroom floor was real wood or laminate. It's true! She flat-out declared that it was real and didn't believe me when I told her that it wasn't! Listen, lady, I helped to cut, peel and stick it down... it ain't real!!

Anyway, other than when my mother was a newly divorced, returning to college, mother of five, she always had a cleaning lady. I remember complaining about having to "clean" before the cleaning lady came... when I was actually just getting my own shit taken care of/put away so the cleaning lady could actually clean! In those "dire" times, Mom had a built-in workforce -- however unwilling -- ranging in age from 6 to 12; she would leave notes every single day with a list of jobs/chores for each of us. We did not dare ignore it, either. My mother was an EXCELLENT housekeeper, with or without the help, and she trained us all very well.

I hate housework!
You make the beds, you do the dishes
and six months later
you have to start all over again.
--Joan Rivers

Things are just slightly beyond me right now... have been for a while now. We downsized within our own home a few years ago, kids have been drifting in and out, my sister died, my mom died, grandkids have appeared and are growing in size as well as number, and I LIKE TO DO/MAKE THINGS. There's stuff associated with all of that. SO MUCH STUFF. And it's piled up in various ways.

Housework is work directly opposed to the possibility
of human self-actualization.
--Ann Oakley

I've nibbled away at it, of course, bits here and there... I've Kon-Mari'd this and Death Cleaned that... and by the time the "stuff" is dealt with (provided I haven't been interrupted by any of 1000 different things), I'm exhausted... it never feels like there's follow-through or finish.

I feel overwhelmed and I'm tired of it.

So, here's my plan. Starting tomorrow, and continuing on the weekend, I am concentrating on simply putting away or removing the crap that's in the way.

That's my job -- cleaning before the cleaning lady comes (a week from tomorrow)!