Coming Clean

Am I the only one who does this?

My husband and I are going to a fancy schmancy dinner tonight so we've hired a babysitter. So for the past day and a half, I have been cleaning my house like I'm expecting a visit from the queen.

My husband just can't understand it. "Why do we need to go crazy cleaning the house for the babysitter's sake?" he asks.

But I know some of my friends understand. We met up with the husband of one of my friends at a party a few years back. "Where's Katie?" I asked him.

"Oh, she's still at home mopping the floors for the babysitter, even though the babysitter got there an hour ago," he explained. And then he and my husband spent the next half hour bonding over what crazy nuts they married.

It may seem a little ridiculous to put so much effort into scrubbing toilets, mopping floors, and using a toothbrush on the baseboards just because a babysitter is coming over, but I do it for one simple reason.

Back when I was a teenage babysitter, I used to tell everyone in my family about how messy my client's homes were. And if my fifteen-year-old self was peaking in master bathrooms and laundry rooms, then you can bet some of the babysitters we hire are doing the same thing.

Which reminds me...I better get back to cleaning. I have some stuff I need to hide in the back of my closet!