Cleaning Challenge #1

I know many people who are meticulous and keep such an immaculate home. I, however, am not one of them. Honestly, I struggle just to keep the house liveable. It's usually not until the dishes are piling up onto the counters that my brain triggers my body that "Hey, now might be a good time to do the dishes." And the bad part is, we have a dishwasher. Maybe I'm just lazy. I don't know.

However, I'm not a person that can live in filth either. I can't stand when my house isn't clean, and it makes me really anxious to see it when it's bad. Especially now that we have Buggy, I can't stand a dirty house, and want to keep it as clean as possible. She doesn't deserve to grow up in an unkempt home.

The last few weeks have been pretty difficult around here. As most of you have read, I was knocked on my ass by the swine flu. Luckily, Buggy stayed piggy-free, and the hubster didn't get it. Bonus! The house, however, took a turn for the worst. I haven't been able to do much lately. The swine flu leaves you with a killer cough that takes your breath away. So the cleaning has been severely lacking.

Today, I'd had enough. I got Buggy down for her nap (she's still down, yay!) and was sitting in my chair watching Designed to Sell (HGTV, holla!) when I started hearing my kitchen call me. It was a sad, pathetic, mournful cry. So, I got up. And walked in there. And heard the "ree ree ree" music from Psycho.

It. Was. Bad.

Worse than bad. It was hazmat suit terrible. Dishes were piled up out of the sink onto the counters. Trash was on the island. The kitchen table was being used as a nursing tank dryer (you can't dry these puppies, they shrink!) and there was just junk EVERYWHERE.

So, I decided to challenge myself. I figure if making a game out of cleaning helps kids get it done, why can't I do it myself? I looked at the clock, gave myself 45 minutes, turned on some music, and tackled the kitchen.

I finished in 40. The counters are clear again, and have been sanitized and wiped down. The dishes have been unloaded, and reloaded and the washer is happily churning away washing my neglected dishes. The table is clear and the nursing tanks are in my room (not put away, but hey, it's a step!) And it smells good, because lemon scented wipes smell delicious!

I'm not exhausted. I'm happy. The kitchen sang a glorious anthem to me as I switched off the light (gotta save that money!) All is well.

I'm thinking tomorrow, I'll challenge myself to the den!