Momma Knows...

You'd think after almost 32 years, I'd learn that I can't get anything past my mother. One summer years ago, my sister and I put our money together to pay the neighbor kid to come cut our grass so we wouldn't have to do it. Of course we asked Mom how she liked it and she bragged on us. Wouldn't you know it, a week later the damn neighbor kid stops by and asks my mom if she'd like him to cut her grass again!

One Christmas, my mom picked out this hideous Christmas tree because she felt sorry for it and put it in the living room. While she was at work, Molly and I drug the tree "way out" into the backyard and bought another one from the Christmas tree farm. How she didn't notice what we had done, I'm not sure but she didn't. A few months passed and Mom and I went "way out" into the backyard to look for our cat that had gone missing. Oops, I forgot the tree was still there!

So, here it is, 15 or so years later, and we're still trying to pull one over on my mom. She's been talking about how she wants her house cleaned really good. She's not a dirty person but she has ALOT of stuff in her tiny 3 bedroom 1 bath house. The flooring is the original linoleum that was put in the house back in 1988. There is dust everywhere. The baseboards haven't been cleaned in like forever. My step-dad works on cars on the side, so the bathroom can get sort of dark from the grease and grime. You get the picture. So, my sister knows of this lady who has just started her own cleaning business. We ask Mom if she'd like to have her house professionally cleaned and we offer to pay for it. She of course says, "no, I need to get rid of some stuff and clean the house first before anybody can come clean for me." So we passify her by saying, "ok then, we'll clean for you on Monday before the girl comes to see what she's up against." Molly and I both knew full well we WEREN'T going to clean on Monday. Our plan was to call the girl and ask her to come over and clean. She came over and she "cleaned." I told her explicitly what should be done and explained that some areas would need some potent cleaners sprayed first. My first mistake was that I didn't stick around to see what was done. Molly did. When I asked Molly how the girl did she said she did a good job. The bathtub looked 100% better. Unlike when I was a kid, I didn't call my mom to ask her if she liked the job "we" did cleaning her house AND she never called us to thank us. Today I went over to help her with some yard work and decided to see for myself what was done. It was evident the lady dusted some parts and she did clean the bathroom but besides that I'm not sure what else she did because everything else was still in need of some major cleaning. I was pissed. AT first, I was irritated with Molly for not checking the lady's work, then I had a flashback from the days when Molly and I still lived at home. My sister's version of clean involved throwing everything under the bed including her dirty underwear and dishes she was too lazy to put in the kitchen. So the more I thought about it, I was agitated with myself for not sticking around to make sure the lady did what we had agreed upon. When my sister showed up at my mom's I showed her the house and we decided we had to tell Mom the truth being as how she assumed we were the ones who "cleaned" her house. She just laughed. We all agreed that we weren't ready to hire another cleaning lady.

I think we've learned our lesson this time! I also realized just how close my sister and I are. We've have different views on things but all in all, I'm so thankful to call her my sister. We make a good team but we will NEVER be able to outwit our mom!