Nesting?

This is the helpful notice I received from Pregnancy Weekly today: “Have you started to experience the nesting syndrome yet? Many women report the urge to clean, organize, and decorate their home right before they go into labor. Just be careful to not overexert yourself or climb on high ladders from which you could fall. How has the nesting phenomenon affected you?” (At the end they also ask if I have a last will & testament yet. Yea, thanks – let’s just remind me that people DO die in childbirth!)

Anyhoo, regarding nesting. I don’t think that is happening to me yet. UNLESS you count me hiring people to clean for me. I want this place to be really clean when the baby gets here. I just don’t want to do it. On Wednesday I had a cleaning service come in and clean my home. If you can call what they did cleaning. Today I have the carpet cleaners coming to clean our carpets. I figure it has been 4 ½ years since this carpet was put in. It is time to get all the embedded cat hair and cat barf out of the carpet! Actually, it is our old neighbor. They used to live next to us and they run a carpet cleaning business, so I called them up to do ours. I’m glad I looked them up because they are the only neighbors we ever actually made friends with. (And their 3 kids are getting old enough to babysit!)

But nesting? Well, I think maybe the letter I sent to the cleaning people may have been hormonally affected. It is kind of loopy. They are coming back on the 10th, and if they still suck I am firing them! I mean, Wednesday was the FIRST time they had been here. It was supposed to be a good cleaning, as they charge more than a normal cleaning that time. You would think they would be trying to impress me and make me want them to come back! But no….(here it is:)

"Hi Jessica,
It's me, Tonya xxx again. (By the way, my name is spelled Tonya, not Tawnya.) Guess what I have spent the last hour doing? Cleaning house. The more I looked around the more I noticed and realized that I had to do something before my husband gets home tonight. If I had left it the way it was and then told him I spent $xxx for someone to basically come vacuum he would kill me! I'm not too happy myself about the whole deal!

The reasons why we decided to hire a house cleaning service is because a) I am pregnant and it hurts my back to clean now and b) we will soon have a newborn who will apparently be sucking all our time and energy. But, one of the conditions of the cleaning is that it at least has to be done to the standard I would clean, preferably better, to make it worthwhile.

I am hoping that isn't my usual cleaning crew. Can I get different people next time? People who look as happy and energetic about cleaning as the people on your brochure? Or even cranky, mean looking people as long as they actually clean.

What exactly have I done today? Well, I re-vacuumed the foyer and front room and upstairs bathroom. I dusted everything in the living room, den, bedroom, and other den. I finished cleaning the toilet (spots on lid and still brown stuff in bowl.) I polished the chrome fixtures in the bathroom, along with the chrome toothbrush holders, etc. and I dusted the lint stuff off the sinks and vanity. I have not yet cleaned the leftover gunk off the stovetop or vacuumed the utility room, but I will get that done before my husband gets home tonight. I should re-mop the living room floor, but just don't have the energy. There is still dust in the corners of the wood furniture and some tough dirt on the baseboards that I am not going to worry about - but that I would expect to be taken care of during a "spring cleaning" like today was supposed to be.

Your letter states that you "hope you will not notice a dramatic change in the appearance of your home from visit to visit." I hope that in the future this is because you do maintain a "high-level of cleanliness", not because you just leave all the dust and whatnot in place.

On a final note, Tom xxx signed the receipt with a little note that says, "Thank you for allowing us to clean your humble home." This may be your practice, but I think it is one thing for me to call my home "humble", but quite another for you to call it that. Even if it is, does it need to be pointed out?

I really don't want to be one of those awful, complaining customers, but it is hard enough for me to justify in my mind having a cleaning service when I will be at home. It is very important for me to feel like I am getting my money's worth out of the service.
Thank you for listening and here's hoping the visit on March 8th doesn't lead to me cleaning after you leave again!

Sincerely,

Tonya xxx xxxx"

Then this is the response she sent:

"I am sorry for the problem we have caused you. To change your team though we would need to change your next cleaning day (and reg schedule) to Fridays. Commencing March 10th. Is this possible? This team is one of my more senior teams. Thank you for your patience."

I’ll keep you posted – but I already have others lined up just in case I have to say, “You’re Fired!!”