Dear Day After Cleaning the House Day,

It's a new day. I wanted to write today and tell you that....

I LOVE having a clean house. I love the sanitary smell of Lysol disinfectant and Orange Pledge. I love when there's not even one single dog hair on my furniture and rugs. I love squeaky clean bathtubs and shiny faucets. And I love the carpets with perfectly straight lines from my vacuum. After I clean, please don't come over and make carpet angels on my vacuum lines. That would just set me over the edge. Seriously. You know who you are.

The main floor of my home is covered in wide plank laminate flooring. It looks real enough that it takes a second glance to tell it's not wood. It's pretty nice, and I must say that I really like it. It saves me from my crazy vacuuming fetish (definition #2.) When it's clean, I really know it's clean. It's virtually indestructible which is an almost necessity with two hairy dogs and four messy kids. There is one thing, however, that drives me nuts about this floor - the never ending streaking. I don't mean running across the floor naked streaking (I'm sure that has happened on occasion by someone), I mean the long-smears-of-lines-especially-prominent-in-the-sunshine streaking. It happens no matter what kind of floor cleaning method I use. You're not "supposed" to mop a laminate floor nor swiffer wet jet - it shouldn't be made uncontrollably wet. I've tried it. Everything streaks....I've used all the internet methods of cleaning. I've used vinegar, window cleaner, alcohol (with a delicate mix of other nice chemicals), ....etc. IT.ALL.LEAVES.STREAKS. Streaks look dirty.

BUT GUESS WHAT? I have finally found the ONE cleaner that works miracles! Remember your best friend, Crystal? This one rocks my world and is MY new best friend. (There is also a formula for real wood floors.)Two great things about it: it leaves NO streaks, AND it's environmentally friendly. SA-WEET!


The day I love more than house cleaning day, is this day. The day after. When all life starts again. When my kids run inside with their melting snow and mud covered boots, when the dogs dribble water out of there slobbery mouths, when crumbs find there way miraculously out of the kitchen all over the living room floor, when little fingerprints slowly start to encroach on every space less than 3 feet high, when the mess starts all over. It's beautiful. It reminds me how life works. Things get messy, and God cleans us up only to let us get dirty again. It's his grace. And He teaches me, on this day, how to be graceful. He shows me how to relax and how to allow life to happen. I can take a break for a moment and remember how nice and clean things were yesterday. I can remember how everything was perfectly in it's place. But today is the day we live.

I like when things are clean, but I secretly enjoy watching and waiting for the next thing to come. It will come...spills, fingerprints, dog-hair, dirty laundry....kids will go off to school each morning, friends will stay and leave, dinners will be made, children will play, and I will forget how clean my house was on Sunday. I realize on this day that much more than dirt will be tracked in. Life and living are spread all over. It's what makes my house a home - clean or dirty.