Cleaning and Creating

This morning I have 3 ladies in my tiny little doll house cleaning. I am so far behind, that there was no other way to get it back to livable! And with company coming over the holidays, I want it to be just that. No one expects great feats of housekeeping from me. I used to be good at it. I don't know what happened. I know that it had something to do with having cancer. So many things just overwhelmed me then, and I never got back on track with them. I'm trying...

So while they are cleaning in another room, I am sitting at my computer (to temporarily stay out of their way), reading scrappers' blogs. I'm talking about professional scrappers - Kathy Zileski, Donna Downy, etc. etc. Such beautiful pieces of work! They are visually stunning, and to read them is a pure joy. I found one I particularly enjoyed! Her name is Renee Pearson. I'm ashamed to say, I don't think I've heard of her before. But her blog rocks! I knew I had found a kindred spirit when I saw the title for her most recent entry: There is Magic in the Air! Ahh...Magic! The stuff of life.

Of course these lovely works make we feel woefully inadequate! The look is so clean. Not knowing enough about HTML to make mine look the way I want it too, I am at the mercy of others' designs. So don't be surprised if I'm wearing yet another new skin soon.

And then their photography, writing style, general creativity...If I don't kind in mind that these ladies are professionals, real artists, I am at risk of hanging up my adhesive! Oh, I doubt I would ever do that! But it does make me want to excel! Which I guess is a good thing.

They're cleaning in here now, which makes me very uncomfortable. Not to mention the flying dust is making me sneeze! So, until later...

So...4 hours and $206 later...Am I a perfectionist? The house is clean...dusted..but not to my standards. I'm walking around with a sponge and will be getting out the sweeper and the furniture polish soon! Is it good enough that things are dusted (or thought they're not polished) and the cobwebs are gone? The bathroom does look good. But it's a tiny bathroom, it's width is that of the bathtub and it's length isn't too much more! And getting the kitchen to look good will probably take major paint and new cupboards. But still...It's jus not what I expected.

So no more Molly Maids for me! I can put that $95/month back into next year's budget. I need to find someone who just needs a job and actually likes to clean and polish and make things smell good.