Adventures in Finding a House Cleaner

Since I work from home some weeks 7 days, leaving a little time for me time or for keeping things tidy.  It seems to never get done, well not to a great level.  Everyone assumes since you work from home you should have more time to do things.  It seems that the theory never works since you are always close to your computer it seems easy to always hop on to get just one thing done (that always turns into several things).  So when my boss suggested that I get a house cleaner I thought you know she is really on to something.

Well finding said person is the hard part.  Oh how I would love to find the pictured person above, cape and all but no such luck so far.

First Gal - Very nice, BUT she would hop from rooms like a bunny and only doing part of a job then hop back!  Doing so she would do what Rick called surface cleaning, nothing was moved and just the front of things would be cleaned.

Then came the list of working interviews -

• Guy that through all the laundry on the bed and didn't mop the floors.
• Girl that came a few times but was always late, would text me 20 or 30 min after scheduled arrival time that she would be late.  Worked over a 1/2 hr that I ended up paying for then the next week left a 1/2 hr early but took all the money for the full 2 hours.  Last straw was emailed 30 min after suppose to be here that she needed to change days.  Very nice but not reliable and TALKED too much (did I mention I work from home).
• Girl that didn't even show up
• Girl that showed up 4 HOURS late (mind you that was after pushing the time back before that).  THEN proceeded to be so slow and work 3 hours instead of 2 and wanting to be paid for that.  DIDN'T even get the front room or dinning room done (MIND you my house is only 1100 sq feet NOT large at all).  Oh yeah and did I mention she took one of my GOOD towels as a cleaning towel and it now has bleach marks.  YUP she hid it under some clothes in the dirty clothes hamper.
• Girl that showed up 10 minutes late (that was after the email she sent about how she liked I put in ad being on time ... LOL).  Brought her daughter not knowing the working interview meant you would actually have to work!  Very nice did a pretty good job but was rushed (could tell had plans and did not plan on working). Daughter was nice but started to clean to and did like a child would clean.  She also didn't fold laundry, mop the floors and left the dirty towels in my kitchen sink!  Oh yeah didn't load or unload the dishes either.
• Girl that didn't even show up, mind you after texting for a day or so to make sure she had the info and day that worked for her.

Several that replied to the ad but then when I replied back to set up a time never would reply (YUP about 30 of those).  One who replied she would show only if I paid her cash and a few other odd questions that made me creeped out and didn't reply to her.

So wish me luck I have 3 more scheduled for "Working" Interviews ... lol I'm sure the right one will come along and help me out so I don't loose my mind.  But in the meantime it sure does make for comical talks with my co-worker.

Oh and the best part was the snarky email I received from a person who thinks they are the Craigslist Police :).  

Just Fyi...No one wants to clean another persons filth for a measly $10 an hour. That's an insult.

For Mr. Snarky: Last time I checked Minimum was is $9.19!  People work fast food, pick up garbage and other things making just minimum wage.  So offering $10 hour for vacuuming, dusting and folding laundry REALLY sounds like a nice gig to me.  You can take your snarky email to yourself.

And I leave you with a smile! LOL have a GREAT day!

How many balls can I juggle in the air?

I guess not many since I think they tumbled down around me today! I took the morning off since I'm serving refreshments at the Grandparents Day at Cole's School! So of course I have this idea that today will be a relaxed morning I can't sleep in a little and maybe even watch a TV show I've had DVR'd but haven't had a moment to watch since you know I'm the maid. So this is the morning that Caden decides he needs to be up at 6:30am, which hey is a 1/2 hour more then usual right? So after some whining from Rick that we're breaking into his sleep time ... a heavy sigh and maybe just a little whack from me we go into the front room. Where I'm blurry eyed trying to watch something my mind couldn't even wrap itself around. Around an hour later, at least that is what the clock told me it was I woke Roy up for breakfast. I get this brilliant idea to heat up ego's for him, well that would be ok if we had syrup but since I used the last of it this weekend it made for jelly on ego's sound yummy right? Then after some prodding I get him to get in the car to take him to school. I drop him off 1st look at Caden who of course is now asleep and then 2nd look at the clock. OH crap I need to get back home to get Cole up and take him to school, no time to go the 5 blocks to grandma's house to drop Caden off. So I rush back home, barely get him dressed and pass him one of those bagel wraps (thanks Anng for the idea) well I love them come to find out Cole does not. Well glad they have snacks in class today. I drop Cole off only 2 minutes late, hey that was good time since I got home with less then 20 minutes to get him dressed and there. I get back home with 40 minutes to get dressed and actually brush my hair and put make-up. REALLY who was I kidding that today would be a cake walk, it totally sucks! After 10 minutes and I'm ironing shirt #2 since #1 had a huge stain on the front (who knows why I had it hanging up) I do a little math in my head and know there is no way I'm making it to drop Caden off and back to be at the school. I nudge Rick oh so nicely and ask him to take Caden, which he was so happy to do ... no really I didn't get any flack!

I made it in record time and I must say so myself looked rather put together, I even found my light blue trench coat to put me together (ok it's 1 size to small and I couldn't button it, but hey it completed the look). I was on Coffee and Punch duty another mother and I rocked it and got everything ready. I even got a quick bathroom break and saw Cole standing up there singing! He was so freaking CUTE!! He was doing all the hand gestures and everything! Talk about proud mom! I had to hurry back to the kitchen because soon the lunch room was no longer quiet, we got pounced on I mean if we had 6 hands apiece we might have been able to keep up with 200+ people descending on us like killer bees. Ok so it really wasn't that bad but it was crazy for a steady hour. When the pack cleared back we cleaned and even broke down chairs and tables. We even got a lecture from the lunch lady how you need to pile the cookies not make them look pretty, hey lady where here helping be nice.

Here are a few pictures from Grandparents Day, Monnie was picture taker and didn't figure out the zoom button. She was so great she stayed and had cookies with Cole. And then she took Cole for the day, he was on cloud 9. They had an amazing day, I only could wish I could go the rest of my day wasn't so great ... read below.

Cole in his new hoodie (like Roys) and new lime shirt

There is my monnie. Later I found out he was making hand gestures for mom's high hair and then for gesturing around his mouth to show her red lips. It was too funny, late the kid asked her if she had a birds nest on her head. Mom is known for her wild style and red lips that just fit her perfect!

Doing the song with all the hand gestures.Cookies and Juice with Monnie

Taking a nap after a long day with Monnie.

I made it to work close to 11am, not bad for a days work. Oh wait I still have to do my job too? So I got busy getting everything ready and out the door. Today was just one of those days. One thing I also pondered was how we get mixed signals in our personal life and work life. You know you ask about something and are told don't worry and then all of a sudden you get it back with feedback. I'm not sure where these mixed signals came from, why don't we just help everyone out and just be this is what we want, instead of hitting someone in the gut with something different later on. No need to go any further on this it's just something I've been thinking about that and was to just improve and not over think why did that just happen. Ok I'll go back to not over analysing things!

I couldn't to get home and just collapse on the couch and let my thoughts not over take me! I got an amazing gift tonight, my house cleaner started tonight. It was just the pick me up I needed. While I got dinner ready, she started on the bathroom put a load in the dryer and even started another load for me. Did I mention that she even cleaned the lint trap? I mean thank you Lord I so needed this! She completely cleaned the bathroom top to bottom and even fixed the robe fixture that has been loose for let me think 2 YEARS, yup she's a keeper. She ended in the kitchen wiping down the counters, sweeping and then mopped the floors. I was able to get everyone to bed and even folded the laundry. Yes it was just what I needed for this crazy day, or should I say crazy month!