Unexpected Benefits

The third day of the daily cleaning schedule has come to an end, and I'm still going strong! I don't remember if I told you, but I printed the schedule out and taped it to the inside of one of our kitchen cupboard doors, where I can take a look at it each morning.

On Tuesday, as I thought I might, I cleaned various things in the kitchen while I sent Hubby out for fast food. Not great for our waistlines or pocketbooks but it got the job done. I was thinking maybe next week, we (actually HUBBY) could just make salads and sandwiches earlier in the day and pull them out of the fridge for dinner--that way, I could still clean in the kitchen and not be in his way while he cooks. But here's the cool thing. One of the chores on Tuesday's list was "drawers." I think I'm at least a halfway decent housekeeper, but my drawers don't get a lot of attention*, and I'll often pull one open and think, "Gee, that drawer needs to be cleaned! Maybe I can get to it this weekend." And then drawer-cleaning time never seems to arrive. But on Tuesday night, since it was on the list, I thought it was a good time to start on the drawers. So I picked two drawers to start with, took everything out of them, wiped them down, tossed out the stuff I no longer wanted, and put the rest back. It probably took me about 15 or 20 minutes, and now I have two clean drawers! After a month or two, I think the whole kitchen will be in pretty good shape.

On Wednesday, one of the chores was "organize closets." I'd been putting off packing away the winter clothes and pulling out the summer clothes, thinking I'd do it some weekend when I had time--and, like the drawer cleaning, so far I haven't had time--or at least no spare time I wanted to waste playing around with seasonal clothing. But tonight? Tonight I took care of it. And it feels so good knowing it's done--besides now I have cooler clothes to wear.

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, I talked to Hubby on the phone. He said something like, "I noticed on your list of chores that today you're supposed to do laundry. I could do that if you want." I know--a lot of you would kill to have your husband offer to do a chore like laundry, but laundry actually IS and HAS BEEN Hubby's chore for a long time. The problem is that I'd decided recently I need to launder my own work clothes because I think somewhere along the line, he stuffs them into zippered snack bags and has an elephant sit on them for three days before hanging them on hangers. So I said, "No, no, that's alright honey. I already started a wash load this morning, so all I have to do is dry them and hang and fold them when I get home tonight. Thanks, though." But here's the really astonishing thing: He then said, "I saw you're also supposed to vacuum the house, so I did that for you already."

So, of course I thought,

When I got home tonight, I asked Hubby, "What was the name of your first pet?" Well, I don't know if it really confirms his identity 100 percent, but for what it's worth, he got the answer right.

Thursday's chores involve cleaning stuff in the bathroom. So, of course now I'm thinking,

I'll let you know how it works out.

[No, the guy in the photo bears absolutely no resemblance to Hubby, but it's MY imagination, so I can dream what I want, right?]

*Up there where I said "my drawers don't get a lot of attention"? No, I didn't mean THAT. I can't believe your mind went there!