Crisis Cleaning

David went out with his Elders Quorum Presidency for visits on Tuesday night. As he was leaving the house at 7:00 pm he turned back and said, "I am going to bring them all back here for our Presidency Meeting, probably in about an hour. Oh, and it would be great if you could have the kids in bed, and make some brownies or something too." He then said goodbye and left.

It was a simple request. Put the kids to bed a bit early and put some brownies {from the box, shhh!} in the oven. No big deal. Right? WRONG!

I turned to face my house. It was a DISASTER! Absolute tornado worthy, holy cow, call CPS disaster. Due to my busy schedule the last few days, I had not focused much attention on it since before the weekend. And around here, weekends are the fastest way to reek havoc on our home.

So I quickly, and rather forcefully, gathered all the kids and put them to work. I barked out the orders: You do dirty clothes! You clear the table! You pick up toys! You gather and take the garbage out!

I focused my energy on the kitchen, unloading, reloading the dishwasher, washing a few bigger dishes by hand, and wiping down the counters. Then I swept the floors. The house got clean pretty quickly. The kids did alright with helping, which is sometimes not the case.

It was 7:40pm (10 minutes later then I wanted to have them in bed by). I then started barking more orders: Go put on your PJ'S! Brush your teeth! Go to the bathroom! Come for a quick family prayer! GO TO BED!!!

AHHH! It was 7:50pm. I was expecting David and a hoard of other men to come to my house in about 10 minutes! I still had to vacuum, wipe the table (which had cemented oatmeal on it from breakfast, petrified jelly from lunch, and dried tomato sauce from dinner), AND make the brownies.

I ran the vacuum quickly and put it away... CHECK.
I wiped the table off (which took way longer then it should have)... CHECK.
I mixed up the brownies and popped them in the oven... CHECK!

It was 8:08pm, and gratefully, the guys were still not here yet. So I did a few things more to try and help the house look a bit more pleasant. I folded the throw on the chair so it looked better. I watered the plants (they were VERY thirsty). I even lit a nice scented candle. AHH!! The house looked great, and was beginning to smell great too between the brownies and candle.

It was then 8:25pm. Still not here. I wandered around looking now for things to do. Took the brownies out of the oven and set them on the counter to cool. I sat down and thought about what I could do before they got here. The house was clean, the kids were in bed and all asleep (although it took Aubrey a few more minutes then the rest, which is usually the case), and the only thing left for me to do was take a shower. I figured that the men could figure out how to get in the house, serve themselves brownies, and hold a presidency meeting without help from me. So I went back to our room and took a quick shower. I came out after my shower around 9:00 pm. No one was here yet!

15 minutes later David moosies in. He says, "Oh, we just did a quick informal meeting. No one is coming." And wanders off to change out of his Sunday clothes.

I stood there, baffled! I just busted my butt cleaning this house, making you brownies, and that is all you have to say!!!!! I was NOT happy.

I felt like he set me up!! 'Tell her that people are coming and then she will finally clean up this mess and make me brownies to boot!' I approached him, told him what I thought about it all, rather angrily, and waited for his reply. He assured me that he really was planning for a meeting here. He thanked me up and down for cleaning the house, putting the kids to bed, making brownies, etc.

I walked away, still feeling rather upset about the whole ordeal. Then the thought hit me... WHY do I do this to myself? Maybe that is the only way the house would have gotten clean! The pressure of last minute guests is something I ABSOLUTELY HATE! I get all stressed and mean, and upset... but the house gets clean.

Then I remembered what my house looked like just 2 hours before that. Remember the tornado, disaster, CPS mess? Yeah. It was bad. I then remembered the things I have learned about keeping your house always about 10 minutes away from 'company ready'. I remember someone telling me to always have your house looking nice enough that if your visiting teachers, or the bishop, or your mom-in-law dropped by, you wouldn't want to crawl in a hole and die.

I felt terrible. Felt like I had failed, yet again. I realized then that I usually don't clean just to have a nice home for my family. I clean so it looks good for the people coming over. Why do I care so much about what other people think?? I don't want them thinking that that crazy Valerie with all those crazy kids, can't even keep her house clean! I worry way to much about what other people think. IN FACT, the entire time I was cleaning I was imagining the men all walking into my house telling me how wonderful it looked, complementing me on my delicious {from the box, shhh!} brownies, then rushing home to tell their wives what a wonderful housekeeper I am!!!! HOW PATHETIC. Mostly because men usually don't care to notice, or talk to their wives about stuff like that anyway.

I am proud to say that I have kept my house {relatively} clean since then. But it is not for ANYONE else but me, and my wonderful husband, and my five absolutely great children. So if you happen to 'pop on over to the Petersons', and my house is not Better Homes and Gardens worthy, know that I am okay with my home the way it is. It is lived in. It shows signs of life and love and kids. And that is how I want it.