I cleaned my house over the weekend.   It really needed it!    I have raised my tolerance level for floors, bathrooms, etc., but this weekend, I finally reached my limit.  And the fact that my son is coming in for Thanksgiving on Wednesday gave me the motivation I needed!

So, I spent part of Saturday and part of Sunday cleaning.   While I was engaged in all this activity, my thoughts strayed back to earlier years when I had young kids at home, a messy spouse, and parents who were only a half day’s drive away and liked to come visit for holidays and when they could get away for a long weekend.  The day before parents’ arrival was always chaotic and stressful for me.  As an overachieving only child, I always had to prove to them that I could “do” the house thing!  So the day before they came was cleaning time for me.  Everything had to be clean and sparkly and look like perfect people lived in my house.

Then the hard part–KEEPING it that way once kids came home, hubby was there, living happened!   My poor family had to put up with my obsession to keep it looking nice until my parents walked through the door!  If they were lucky, it was only half a day, at most.  Once Mom and Dad came inside and got a look at everything, then I could relax and everyone could get back to normal!
Now, I find myself doing the same darn thing when my kids come to visit!  What’s up with that???   Trying to set a good example, and hoping they follow it when I come to visit them?  So far, that part’s not working as well as I’d hoped!   But I will give credit to my son–he cleaned his whole apartment before I visited him a couple of months ago.  I was touched–and so proud!!  At least one of my children appreciates the virtues of a clean domicile!!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We all have a lot to be thankful for!

Sue