Letting it all hang out - Part 1

It's no secret that I hate to clean. I learned at a very young age, as I dusted our furniture, washed the woodwork, vacuumed the carpets, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed under the kitchen table, mopped the kitchen floors, did the dishes, and cleaned my bedroom (not to mention the yard work involving raking up worm and bug-filled leaves) that a future of cleaning was not for me. I could do a good job, but it just took me SO long.

As we got busy with our first child and accumulated more and more stuff we were very fortunate to have 2 stable jobs and we hired a cleaning service. Along the way, we built an addition - putting the cleaning service on hold until the addition was done and our rooms were back in order. Unfortunately, we were unable to resume the cleaning service - as I will explain in the video below.

But guess what? As a side effect of being a failure of a housewife and being forced back into the workforce - we were able to hire those magical cleaning fairies again. For three days this past weekend we cleaned to PREPARE for the deep clean we purchased this past Monday. Even during the old days of the cleaning service we didn't have them clean every room because we just couldn't get the whole house up to snuff for cleaning access. Well, no more.

We (I) worked relentlessly (me mostly, since I am generally the cause of many messes). But, it paid off. After days of blasting cleaning music - including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, The soundtrack from Cats, and Counting Crows we were ready. And coming home Monday night was even better than the waking up on my best Christmas morning ever. Except for the fact that my entire body was stiff and sore. Santa never worked me over THAT hard. Heh!

And without further ado, Part 1 of my clean house tour. Taped for prosperity to prove that at one point in time, for 15 minutes, my house WAS clean. I must apologize that some parts are a little darker than I expected. I also apologize for appearing as a frightful mess with my boobs popping out of my bra and my hair in disarray. Oh and for getting so close to the camera in the very beginning. I only wish that my grandfather was still here to see my house this clean.

I hope you weren't too afraid that my second chin was going to reach through the camera and attack you. If you're still hanging in there, though, stop back in tomorrow night for Part 2. I won't be here; I'll be at Bloggy Bootcamp in Baltimore, but I promise I'll have it all ready to go.

Oh, and if you doubt me at all that my house really WAS that bad before the big clean this week, here is a video containing the typical "before" mess. I should probably keep this one for myself, but I've already let my boobs hang out - why not shed a little more light on my Bouf mess. My son's absolute sheer cuteness does make up for the mess, though. Of course, that's just my opinion.