Cleaning Lady And The Butter Dish

Image courtesy of http://intodesigninc.wordpress.com/tag/cleaning/

(If I looked like this is an apron, I would burn all the clothes I own and wear this to the grocery store)

We have touched on this before, but here we go again....I like to stay busy. Okay, that is putting it mildly, I am addicted to being busy and I find myself itching to accomplish something even on vacation. When people tout the joys of meditation or a mid-afternoon siesta, all I can think is "How long is that going to take? I have shit to do". Call it OCD or Type A personality or being an oldest child, whatever it is, I have it. When I quit my day job last October to focus on writing and doing payroll for our small business, I was giddy. No more clocking in, cleaning up, uniforms or set schedules. (That's funny considering what I have taken on this week.) While it has been great, it has also made me crazy. I have plenty to do, but most of it involves sitting at a desk.....lots of sitting at a desk. I have gained 10 pounds and realized something about myself, I need to move. Being busy isn't enough, my body needs to be moving and I ache for the socialization that comes from working with other people. People I am not having sex with. It's cool that my husband and I can transition from a work/home relationship, but there is only so much grab ass and fantasy football updates a girl can handle at the office. I was in need of a new job.

This all leads up to what I chose to take on this week.....I have decided to work for a cleaning company two days a week. It was fairly easy to get hired, the owner is this really cool chick who I grew up torturing from the time she was an infant....sisters are the best. My first week was exhausting and it reminded me of why I hate being the newbie at a job. I want to be good from day one, I don't take criticism well and I detest standing by watching someone else work in the name of training. I imagine it was sweet payback for my sister who was able to critique my cleaning style and teach me the right way to do things. I liked it better when I was in charge. Now she's the boss and it's clear why her company has done so well, she is really fucking good at what she does. Hiring a cleaning crew to take over your house can be daunting and you can never be sure about what kind of work you are going to get. People touching your personal shit and having to pay for a clean that doesn't live up to your expectations. When you hire my sister, you never have to worry about any of that. It's top to bottom perfection in every single home she takes on. There is an expectation of quality and integrity that is in short supply at most companies I have worked for. She reminded me on my first day that even a penny on the floor gets put on the closest available, clean surface....never in your apron. She wants every surface touched, cleaned and shined to perfection. At one home, she showed me something I had missed while cleaning the kitchen, a butter dish. I told her that I had moved it, wiped the top and placed it in the correct place.
"That's okay, but we want to wow our clients."
She proceeded to take a piece of paper towel, open the butter dish and wipe around the butter so you could never tell it was used. I thought I had issues. Truth be told, I have a whole new respect for my sister and the people who work for her. I came home after my first day ready to pass out on the dining room floor. I am overwhelmed, excited and I now have a something else to add to my current job line up, cleaning lady. This ain't no desk job, that's for sure.

It's Friday And So What!

Happy Mother's Day!!! I am guessing most of you will be able to relate to today's post. We seem to have an illness as women these days, it could be labeled Super Mom or Super Fucking Exhausted Mom. If that sounds familiar, join me this weekend in finding a couple hours to do nothing, except maybe breathe, read, watch your favorite show or see a movie you actually want to sit through. You deserve it!!!

I do too many things. I am not bragging, I am admitting a weakness, like they do in AA. My name is Mandy and I can't relax. Last weekend, my husband asked me what 'normal' people do on Sundays and I spouted off a list of chores I felt would suit him well, to which he nodded and told me he was going golfing. I didn't remember listing that as one of the options. While he doesn't seem to have a problem chilling out for awhile, I haven't perfected that part of my life. Even on the weekends, I rarely sit through a movie at home without throwing in load of laundry or running the dishwasher. TGIF? It may as well be TGIM, it's all the same to me.

We have all heard the old adage about how many hats you wear. It symbolizes the different roles you fill in your life, from mother to PTA president to employee. I have a closet full of hats. I attended a women's retreat last year where we made a list of our roles and described how they made us feel. It took me awhile to get my list accumulated but when I did it was pretty telling. There wasn't one hat I wore that was for me. My hats included responsibilities at home, at work, at my kid's school, and in relationship to others. There wasn't one that said writer, reader, traveler, comedian, or photographer. I am so busy wearing my "for you" hats that I had bypassed the "for me" section. While most of them made me feel accomplished, there weren't any that filled the part of my soul that I freely drained for everyone else. I learned a lot about being a martyr that weekend and realized that I needed to make some changes.

Most days consisted of wearing my Work At Our Business hat immediately followed up by throwing on my Mommy hat so the house wouldn't burn down. I jumped in my car sporting my Other Job I Hate hat, all the time wondering if there was an end to the madness. On the weekends, I could be found doubling up with the Cook hat and then  racing around my house doing chores in my Housekeeper cap. I guzzled a glass of wine, got spotted by my kids and immediately felt the need to shop for an Alcoholic hat. By the end of the day I have worn all the hats I'm "supposed" to and completely bypassed the others. It's all been lovely, but I need to scream.

I made a few changes. They included being honest with my husband about my desire to quit a job I hated and my intention to be a writer. For real. I still wear a lot of hats, but I have since purchased ones that say Writer, Napper, Bath Taker and Hiker.  As a 30-something woman living in this century, I can choose thousands of hats, but now I get to learn how to wear one at a time and give up wearing the ones that drain me.  Now, if I could just figure out this whole 'relaxing on the weekend' thing.