Clean Queen

Do you have a person in your life that just astounds you with their ability to keep their house clean?  Now hear me... I don't just mean their house... I mean  their HOUSE. Garage, yard, bathrooms, kitchen NEVER has stacks of papers, office.. ENTIRE house... CLEAN all the time!

Well, lucky me, for me it's my mother-in-law! Now, before you start thinking that this is a bash-my-mother-in-law-post just think again because it's NOT! This is a HOW DOES SHE DO THAT post! Ok? Just clearing that up! Some of you lurkers might know my mother-in-law. And I LOVE her. She actually amazes me!

The reason that I am even thinking about this is because just today I worked out, came home, washed my car, swept my garage, cleaned all of the car wash stuff up, swept my laundry room (and felt like I needed a nap!)....  thought I had things looking pretty good and then walked into the kitchen. TA DA! Papers everywhere, dishes in the sink, clean dishes in the dishwasher that need to be unloaded... IT IS NEVER EVER ENDING! And just Saturday I worked on my den and kitchen area and have been working to declutter for a few weeks now. WEEKS!!

Anyway, I wish I had pictures of her house because her garage is clean... and it's ALWAYS clean. Her house is so organized and it's ALWAYS organized and you never see ANYTHING out of place. I mean you can go over on a Tuesday morning, Saturday night, or a Thursday afternoon and it always looks the same!! Sometimes the paper is lying on her counter but that is IT! I mean bills are filed, no dishes anywhere, it always looks dusted and clean, and I am just totally amazed. Does she just never sit down?? I'm not sure.

One thing that she has said is that she makes being neat and clean part of her life style. Like she dries her shower door and walls when she finishes drying off so she hardly ever has to clean her shower because there is no mildew or soap scum build up. And when she does clean bathrooms she takes a LONG time cleaning every single spot so that the clean lasts. She doesn't just hit the high spots.. she cleans EVERYTHING!

She also pays bills as soon as they come in and she files the information right then. They never lay on the counters. She does not keep junk mail lying around. If it's not important to her right then she throws it away.

She also has funny places that she stores things (like her foyer has a pretty marble topped dresser sitting in it and it's really pretty, but the drawer is full of crayons and coloring books that Caroline uses when she goes to Grammy's) but she has a place for everything and she uses her storage space well. Her office area has lots of built in shelves and if you open the cabinets on the bottom that's where she keeps toys for Caroline. There are no toy boxes or baskets to make it look cluttered. DANG!!!

Anyway, I just wondered if any of you had someone in your life that just amazes you with their ability to make their world clean and beautiful??? Or is it just me??

Oh... and the other thing is that her husband is not a pack rat (or at least she doesn't let him be) and she doesn't have a seven year old. NOT slamming my family... just saying that those are the facts around here. Oh, and she doesn't spend time blogging and reading other people's blogs. You think THAT might be part of my problem???