How Clean is Clean?

This morning I was dust busting under my kids chairs, thought about all the time I spend cleaning and wondered if it was all in vain. Now my house is not "momma" clean (you know the kind of cleaning you do before you mom comes to visit) but it is pretty clean. I vacuum at least twice a week, wash the floors at least once a week, dusting is another issue that only happens when I am having a party or if I am really just having a clean freak kind of day. Usually I dust around objects but if people are coming over I will move them just in case someone picks something up they don't notice the ring of shame.
Anyway, I was thinking about how I am the one who does most of the cleaning & how my husband chooses to spend his time playing with the kids instead of cleaning which makes him the "fun" parent. So I was thinking about this and about how he has the right idea which got me to thinking about my Mom and her cleaning ways. She was a crazy cleaner, still is. In fact she was here a few months ago & decided to wash the walls for me. I can honestly tell you I have washed the walls in my house but it was definitely not within this past year. When she comes to visit one of her favorite things to do outside of playing with the boys is to clean. It "relaxes" her. One of her favorites is to clean the floors. On one visit I went out to the grocery store & came home to find her on her hands & knees using Soft Scrub on my vinyl floors trying to get the scuff marks out. She is nuts!
One time when I was 15 or so we lived in a house that had wood floors. Wood floors were a BIG deal to my Mom & she cared for them constantly. She liked them to Shine! Coincidentally, she worked at a department store where the floors squeaked which gave her an idea - she asked one of the maintenance guys for some of the floor wax so she could try it out at home. Of course she didn't have the big buffing machine they had but she was convinced she could do a great job with her trusty mop. So she went home, planned her Saturday around the waxing of the floor & truth be told, they looked awesome! Nice & shiny - she was so proud. But she noticed the floor looked much better than the stairs (also wood) so she decided to wax them as well. Again, same industrial strength wax & her trusty mop. The too were gorgeous. A few hours later the doorbell rang, Mom went to get it & "weeeee - Thud" there went Millie sliding on her bum all the way down her pretty stairs!!!! It would have been even funnier if she didn't break her leg but still it was pretty hysterical.
My house may be clean but you can bet I won't be slipping down the hallway anytime soon unless the boys are pushing.

Happy Cleaning Everyone!