I’m feeling a bit better today, one million supplements later and a trip to the naturopath that scored me a prescription for antibiotics — ear infection. I didn’t even know grownups could get ear infections, nor did I expect to be put on antibiotics by my uber-natural naturopath but I suppose I need them so there you go.
My post today at Parenting is about my sickness and woes and how the kids are dealing with it. They’re actually dealing quite well. I applaud their bouce-backishness. I’m bouncing back too, thanks to a little help from someone I’ll hereafter refer to as The Pregnant Cleaning Lady. I call her this only because she is pregnant and a cleaning lady.
Stephanie told me that a friend of hers was having a rough time and really needed work cleaning houses. I’ve never hired anyone to clean my house but I wanted to help her out and I guess I’ve been wanting to help her out subconsciously for weeks now because between the road trip and the plagues, it’s been far too long since my house has come in contact with a cleanly hand.
Enter pregnant cleaning lady. It was a strange sort of feeling to hire a woman in her late second trimester to clean my house. I knew she needed the work and I knew I needed help but it was very strange and guilt-inducing to have someone in that state scrubbin’ away at the mess I’d built up because I had a case of the sniffles (and an earache people, let’s not forget the ear ache… and the fever… and the sore throat… and the chapped lips… and the adult acne.) But even with all my infirmities, it still felt wrong to have a pregnant person cleaning my house. If she’s pregnant, she probably has all those infirmities and many many more and they’re all normal because, you know, she’s pregnant.
So I showed her where my supplies were and gave her strict instructions not to bend much or pick up anything too heavy or do anything that made her the least bit uncomfortable. Then I headed to Costco with the kids. When I came home, it was like a fairy godmother of joy had vomited pixie dust all over my house. The entire main floor was spotless. In 2.5 hours she had cleaned my kitchen and dining room from top to bottom, including buffing things that are supposed to be shiny but never are, scrubbed the bathroom, dusted, vacuumed, washed windows and straightened up everything.
Now as I blog in my immaculate house, what earlier today felt so wrong is starting to feel so very very right and addictive. If only I had the money to do this every week. My word, it would be fantastic.
Lots of fun is happening at Seattle Mom Blogs this weekend. We currently have a book giveaway and a great set of organizing bags for kids’ toys. In the next few days we’ll be giving away gDiapers, Method products, luxurious pregnancy-friendly Belli facial care items and more. Keep checking it.
Also, my lovely friend and neighbor the homeopath has made her blogging debut in honor of Earth Day. If you have a moment, please go give her some comment love.
If it’s any consolation, I just this week cleaned up laundry detergent that spilled on my laundry room floor – it spilled 2-3 months ago. I had a thing about pregnant cleaning women (ME) not doing anything that made her (ME) uncomfortable either. 🙂
Isn’t it amazing when your whole house is clean at once? I’m over here just swooning at the thought…
She wasn’t just cleaning, she was nesting…I should invite some pregnant ladies to nest at my house! 🙂
We’ve done that a time our two. Our rationale is that we could spend that time at work instead, and still break even, plus we can support local people who are trying to make a living. Honestly, both of us prefer our jobs to deep cleaning. We did, however, hire a couple of Mexican guys who were in a bind, and that made us feel uncomfortably bourgeois. They have since moved on to full-time work elsewhere. Now we don’t have anybody, and I do miss coming home to a sparkling house every other Thursday afternoon.
It sounds wonderful! There is a pregnant lady living at my house and she doesn’t do a dang thing except complain and boss people around. She thinks that just because she’s nine months along that everyone else is going to wait on her. I practically had to force her to clean the slimy cucumber out of my fridge yesterday. I can’t wait till she’s gone and we can get some real help around here!
As an expatriate in Nigeria, our company provides househelp. I could have my “stewardess” full time, but I elected to have some privacy and have her work just half-time, because there’s only so much cleaning to do around here. But she’s in her last month of pregnancy and I feel very guilty sitting around while she’s doing my dishes and scrubbing my bathroom and mopping my floor. But it is a wonderful luxury to have a maid every day — all you have to do is move to Nigeria to enjoy this benefit, and you have the added bonus of the opportunity to pick up a lot of other nasty germs along with the common flu bugs.
I am glad it was a good experience.
And I have had an ear infection as a grown up and it stinks. It gives me a whole lot more compassion for my kids when they get them.
“I call her this only because she is pregnant and a cleaning lady.”
I <3 you. This made me spit my wine.
You and my mother. Both with the ear aches and the other terrible stuff – I hope it gets better soon!
And oh yes, what I would give to have someone come shine my not-so-shiny things (even a pregnant woman)!
So, does she travel? 😉
Wow. I don’t think my whole house was clean all at once even when it was just finished being built LOL!
Jia
http://www.modernmollymormon.blogspot.com
If your fairy godmother flies, you can totally send her to my place next!
Once we signed up for every-other-week service, we’ve never looked back.
I’ll shop at aldi, wear hand-me-downs, and do without new shoes to keep this service.
I’ll do just about anything to keep my cleaning ladies. 🙂