I love to have someone else come and clean my house. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who feel they must clean their house before the cleaners come. I'm afraid that I drove both my son and my husband crazy last night with my demands. I mean, what would these cleaners think if they came and found out how dirty my house has gotten? Horrors! I must admit that I also can't go into a public bathroom and exit without cleaning up after the mess someone else left behind. I'm always afraid that the next person who enters the room will think the mess was mine. I don't know what they call this phobia of mine but I'm sure that it probably has a name. They name every other phobia. There must be a name for a phobia that you may be blamed for a mess that isn't yours so you feel compelled to clean it up. Let's not get ridiculous. If the mess is huge, I just quietly go out and inform the management thus clearly establishing that the mess wasn't my fault. This morning I shook my head sadly as I showed the cleaners into my son's room (actually it was clean because I drove him insane last night with my cleanliness mania) thus establishing that this mess wasn't my fault either. I am resisting the urge to inform these guys that I do not take showers and the mess in the master bedroom shower is not my fault.

Despite these problems (all mental) , I love the feeling I get when this or any of my houses are professionally cleaned. I don't do a bad job but I'm not a professional by any means. The other thing about having someone come in and clean my house is that I feel guilty just sitting there and watching someone do all the work. Tomorrow I'll clear and cleanout all the cupboards in the kitchen and in the bathroom to allay this guilt. Having someone come and clean my house motivates me to clean even more. It's a win, win situation. My house will be clean. Really clean. If these guys do a good job, I'll have them come every month until the house sells. It'll motivate me to keep the house clean in the meantime.

I apologize in a advance if I can't find the time to blog every day from now until the house is sold. Don't worry. I haven't really been kidnapped by aliens.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

What happens when a congressman running for reelection accidentally discharges a gun at a neighborhood reception? He loses. In 2002, Republican Congressman Bob Barr attended a rally hosted by Bruce Widener, a local lobbyist and gun collector. As Widener handed Barr an antique .38-caliber pistol from his collection, it suddenly went off, shattering a glass door. Barr, a board member of the National Rifle Associationm, was in a tight primary battle against another congressman, John Linder, and the incident helped Linder paint Barr as an extremist. "We were handling it safely," Widener explained. "Except that it was loaded."

*The above story was taken from Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader.