Saturday, February 09, 2008

We are at McDonalds, so it must be Friday....

Real men wear tutu's. Two of them.


So, today is Friday.



Fridays are one of the very few "scheduled" days at my house. In my dream world I would do laundry on a specific day, and grocery shop on other specific days, but I tend to be more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of mom. Fridays are the exception. That is because the cleaning ladies come on Friday. My kids call them the "ladies". I call them the "magical fairies that come to make the whole world a better place and keep my toilets clean".



I like my title better.



The ladies show up at 8:30 sharp. I am their first stop. Usually I try and have the dishes done and all the rooms picked up. We usually get this done. This leaves them to do the deep cleaning. They have a rotating system, one week they deep clean the kitchen (fridge, oven, baseboards, etc), the next week it is bathrooms, the next it is bedrooms and furniture (seriously, does anyone ever vacuum their furniture? Or under it? My ladies do!!!), etc. It is worth every single penny. What I love the best about it is that it starts the clock over each week. I am pretty good about keeping it up in between visits, but there are times when it all goes to pot and I still get to start the weekend with a tidy house.



I use an agency for the service, but get the same ladies each time. They don't speak any English (they do say "Hi Jacob") and I speak no Spanish, but they are the highlight of my week. They always look at all my kids and my growing belly and I think they feel kind of sorry for me. How do I know? Well, the times that I don't get everything picked up they actually put the toys in the proper bins instead of just putting it on the first available surface (which they should TOTALLY do, as I am in charge of picking up, not them). They are great.



The only problem with having the ladies come over so early is that my kids like to "help". The kind of help that isn't much help at all. We try to leave, but finding places to go at 8:00 am isn't as easy as you would think. The answer was, of course, McDonalds. Where else can you eat a delicious sausage sandwich, drink Diet Coke and let your kids exhaust themselves? There is one not too far from me that has a great playground. Lots of tubes and slides for the big kids and a toddler area for Nori. Lots of tables where I can keep an eye on the kids and write out my to do lists and meal plans (or read US Weekly, whatever). Lauren doesn't start school until 10:30 (I know, gag). So we get to have a good long play date, a "healthy" breakfast and leave our ladies in peace.



So go ahead and add this to my list of mother of the year. Yes, my children eat at McDonalds once a week. Even the baby. I could make excuses but I won't. I know that my children eat a balance of healthy and junk. That is the life I choose. Bravo to all you parents that only feed their children organic, healthy things. I love that, in theory. In reality, I buy Trader Joe's cheesy poufs (and they disappear SO fast in my house), chocolate, McDonalds and more than twice this week dinner has consisted of Shrek Chicken Noodle Soup and peaches. Ok, more than three times. I don't spend much time on mom guilt. I am doing the best I can. It seems to be good enough. There is always room for improvement (like yesterday when I was "yelling mom"). But, I choose to give myself a break.



I was worried that I would miss my ladies with this move. I asked them if they worked in the town we are moving to (just about 15 miles north). They told me that they would come work for me on the weekend, not through the agency, because they like us. It turns out that more than half of the money I am paying doesn't go to them. I can pay the same amount of money for a bigger place, still have a weekend slot and THEY make more money. Everyone wins. Rosa has three kids in Mexico and Ana has two kids here (amazing how much I can learn when neither of us speaks the same language...). I think that is a fair deal...I might be trying to justify poaching them a TINY bit, but they are doing it on their time off, so it isn't that big of a deal.



Happy Monday!! I know that most of you guys are still buried in snow. We are holding steady at 70 degrees. It is a good day.



Goals today: Keep Jacob out of the makeup. Have ONE conversation w/ my 7 year old where she doesn't cry, feed Norah at least one bottle of baby food and one piece of cheese, take a nap.



Again, lower the bar and you can get it ALL done... ;-)

20 comments:

Christie said...

Bek,
I love that you go McDonalds on Friday. Thats where Ethan choses to for Friday lunch too. Good for you to keep your cleaning ladies. As the saying goes a luxury once tasted becomes a necessity. Bye the way we wll be up there mid May so calendar us into your busy schedule.

Bek said...

Yay!! I would LOVE to see you. We will have a new baby AND a new house. I can't wait to get my hands on your sweet girl... ;-)

Anonymous said...

Just after my second son came home, I was losing my mind with preemie anxiety and sleep deprivation, and the house was completely trashed. My mom, trying to encourage me, said, "If you've got peanut butter and bread in the kitchen and toilet paper on the roll, you're doing okay." And I had to say, "Mom, I don't even think there is toilet paper on the roll." She very quickly said, "Well, then lower the bar! Has everyone eaten something today? Yes? Then you're doing okay!"

A little McDs will be okay. And good for you for keeping the magic cleaning fairies!

Mak said...

First- I'm jealous of "the ladies". Actually, Dave is more jealous since, as the mostly-stay-at-home-parent, he ends up doing whatever cleaning gets done at our house...

Second- Even at our house (us, of the "we brought broccoli to a pizza birthday party" fame) Lily probably has "Old McDonalds" at least once a week.

BTW- to those who don't know me- I'm not that crazy about healthy food- our (first) daughter was only 15 months and we'd never tried to give her pizza, so we weren't sure she would eat it, so we brought something we knew she'd eat...

Nellie said...

Bek--
I just want to say that your blog is my all time favorite -- your posts make me smile and even laugh out loud. I wish we were at 70 degrees -- the high today was 25. I'm NOT happy!

dresselfamily.blogspot.com said...

kins,
i swear, i take my hat off to you!! I woul LOVE a cleaning lady, and i would not feel guilty one single bit!!! I am so not into the perfect 'lds' mom, who bakes, and kids never yell, or i never yell, who are up showered and have been to the gym by 6am!! lol

i can't wait to hear what you name your little girl.. woohoo

Bek said...

Action Jackson... it is so good to hear from you (old mission buddy). I love watching your sweet kids. Glad Ethan is doing better. I keep HOPING this girl will have red hair, but no chance......

Carina said...

Now that I've lost my voice, yelling at my kids is really hard.

I never realized how many times a day I actually needed to yell.

~j. said...

I've had magic ladies come to my home just a handful of times and I have NEVER regretted it (the money spent for it) -- in fact, I DREAM about them coming over...I'm trying to figure out a way to make it happen on a regular basis. Good for you!!

More Caffiene, Please said...

We also have a weekly McDonalds day. It's Thursday after I pick CJ up from school. AND, it's the McDonalds that the garbage men stop at for lunch, too so it's double the fun for our family. We also have our Target day where hot dogs and popcorn are lunch. But their happy, right!?!

sue-donym said...

McD's Only once a week?


I love my cleaning ladies almost as much as ...

I can't think of anything right now. They come to my house tommorow!

Lindsey from The R House said...

this picture is hysterical. i laughed out loud. what a darling little man.

Anonymous said...

Poach eem! Poach em! It's good- if they are willing, they get more money, and you get women you trust- don't waste an ounce of guilt on it. I know where you live, and that agency isn't hurting!

Are those Playstore tutu's on Jacob, by any chance? Awesome picture, by the way.

Sometimes I let the kids have a bag of Cheetos for dinner. Sometimes I give them a box of Triscuits and call it lunch. Meh, do what you can- are they bleeding? Are they whole? Are they not starving? Good deal!

Bek said...

Tracy, those tutus are from ebay and I paid about 7 bucks for them. They are SO full they are actually hard to store. I got them for the girls, but Cubby is obsessed with them and usually is wearing BOTH at all times. He looks so funny/cute.

He is my rough and tumble boy..but he loves "makeups" and dressing up. It is a fun combo...

C. Jane Kendrick said...

I really hope baby comes on a Friday after you've been to McDonalds. What a story to tell.

Leisha Mareth said...

Do you know that my blood pressure actually went down about 30 points just READING your blog?

Thanks for that!

I'm seriously considering hiring Merry Maids to deep clean my house...it sounds heavenly.

I'm glad you are living a balanced life, in the end, the lack of stress on you helps EVERYONE!

Bek said...

Leisha,

DO IT. That is all I have to say. It is worth cutting back on gas, meat and all those other things... it makes me so happy.

CJane, a REALLY good story would be if I HAD the baby at the McDonalds playland. Or if YOU did (since you don't eat there and all....).

Carina said...

p.s. Last week, to lower the bar, I let El Guille eat leftover birthday cake for breakfast.

Unknown said...

Bek, I just love you. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only blogging mom who goes to McDonald's and lets the kids eat cold cereal for dinner on some days and graham crackers and milk on others. I think most of them just aren't admitting it.

I really need me some magical fairies.

Sara said...

Bek, I just discovered your blog (I'm over at Tales from the Crib) and love it.

You'll never hear a disagreement from me about McD's. After all, you HAVE to get your house clean right? You've got to do what you've got to do!