How Clean is Your House?

I love the BBC show How Clean is Your House? One of the hosts is a size 14 or so British woman with bleached blond hair and blue eye shadow. She is probably in her late 50s or early 60s. She always wears heels and skirts above her knees to show off her very nice legs, and she interacts with men like she is a sex goddess. The other host is a slightly nerdy looking woman who is thinner and younger but has her own sassy, albeit innocent, personality. It's a reality show where people who have DISGUSTING homes are "turned in" by family or friends and taught how to clean their house. I like the show for lots of reasons. I love the British directness that the hosts use to tell people that they are slobs. I also like the natural methods the hosts use to clean--vinegar, bicarbonate soda, etc. and their tips for keeping up with clutter and cleaning. I also like it because the homes are so absolutely filthy that I feel like a neat freak in comparison. And, unlike decorating shows, these people end up with their own tacky stuff all cleaned up. With some of the other shows, I feel like, "Well, of course it looks good!" because they had a designer and thousands of dollars in new paint, flooring, and furniture.

I am not a slob but I am not a neat freak either. (Speaking of neat freaks...Barbara, my neighbor across the hall, is vacuuming the hallway AGAIN. I heard her vacuuming on Wednesday when I worked from home, too.)

I HAVE been a slob at different points in my life--some friends will remember my bedroom before I moved in with John. (If you took the roof off my building and looked into my room, you would have thought it was a Salvation Army dumpster.) I am waiting for Sandra to come over--she's the lovely woman from the Dominican Republic who traded me three months of weekly house cleaning and laundry for the Buick. She comes on Fridays and I love it and hate it. I still feel like I should be doing it myself and not need the help. But, I love that I clean up and sort laundry before she comes so she can get to the cleaning. And, when she leaves, I have a clean house. And, I really like Sandra. I hope that she is in my life for a long time so I can watch her grow and become the woman she wants to be.