Oh happy day, mostly

[wayfaringwordhack]

We hired a cleaning lady, and she started today.  My house is mostly clean now, and I had very little to do with it! It is only "mostly" clean because for the past four months, at least, I have been doing the bare minimum to keep the place livable. Z, as I shall refer to her from now on, really had her work cut out for her.  She didn't get around to scrubbing down the kitchen and bathroom, but she'll come back on Saturday.

I don't know what she makes of me and all the odd homemade cleaners I sprang on her, seeing as how we can't understand each other. No, I haven't gotten motivated to learn Arabic. Fie for shame upon me. I had a doozy of a time trying to explain what to use where, so I'm going to try to have everything labeled in Arabic for Saturday. Don't let me down, Google Translator!

I had grand plans of relaxing but sadly, yet again, Sprout and I are coming down with some kind of crud. Sprout's started yesterday with stopped up sinuses and sick-toddler behavior. Mine started today with a mighty sore throat. Unless the odd headache I had yesterday presaged this ick.  Anyhow, I did get to take a nap* and wake up to a house that was looking better by the minute, but I still feel like something that has been dragged down the road a fair piece.  We'll see what it morphs into.  I don't remember catching so much crud when I was pregnant with Sprout, but then I was living in a tiny French village, not in the midst of a noisy, polluted metropolis. C'est la vie. And I'm hoping all these germ assaults are translating into a formidable immune system for Junebug.


___________
* a sorely needed nap, for I had been awake since 4:45 a.m., unable to fall back asleep.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You sound so tired :-(

I wish you could have someone, a good friend, come and help out and look after you. All the same, I'm glad you've got someone who can take the burden of cleaning away a bit.

((Take care of yourself))

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it is tiring being tired all the time. :P

I've met some really nice people since being here, a couple of whom have volunteered to help out if I need anything, but silly me, I'm too....um, something...to take them up on it. It isn't timidity, stubbornness, or pride; I don't know...

[judo100.livejournal.com]

Enjoy the clean house! (No idea who to say that in Arabic.)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

hehe. Can't say I blame you for not knowing that particular bit of Arabic. There are lots more commonly used phrases which I should know but don't. :P

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Hooray for clean houses being someone else's problem! And hope you get better soon...

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Housecleaning is so tedious. I'm glad to pass the work to someone else. :P

I chugged down vast amounts of karkade (hibiscus tea) and thyme infusions with honey yesty. I also gargled salt water and cleaned my sinuses a couple of times with the neti pot. I don't know if all of that helped, but I'm feeling better today. Hopefully it is not the calm before the assault begins...

[frigg.livejournal.com]

I think you should share! Cleaning lady, that is, not sickness.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

All things considered, I think it would be easier to pass along this ick than the cleaning lady. ;)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I came back here to refresh my memory about how and when you got the cleaning lady (in the light of your most recent entry). How old is she? I get the feeling she's upper middle aged? And how did you find her, etc.? Do you think you'll try again with someone else? (I feel as if you could use the help--so long as it was someone who wasn't so intimidating/hard to read.)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I would put her at mid-50's. She used to (still does?) work for our landlady. That is why we kept trying. Not to please the landlady but because it made Z a known factor who came with an assurance of honesty. Sadly we have heard a lot of stories from friends who have dealt with dishonest help.

We do plan to try again and already have our feelers out. I have someone asking around the congregation for us, and J has learned of a Malagasy lady whose French employers are leaving soon. I can handle French. :P The "problem" with her is that she can't start until after Feb 20. That's really close to Junebug's arrival and I would like more time with someone new before then. We'll see.

And it is now 9 a.m.; will Z show up or won't she? She's never been later than 10:30, so we'll know for sure in about an hour and a half...