Payday: Two Weeks in a Cleaning Corporation

*This post is not sponsored by Miele vacuum company, but it should be. To the three people that read these blogs, I highly recommend!

This summer has been very eventful, to say the least. It started with a bang. Recruited by my mom in her cleaning corporation for two weeks, I traded paint brushes for vacuum cleaners. I took a before and after pic of my arm muscles for proof, and I can most assuredly say, there is a slight dip.

During this time, accompanied by my dear ole friend Mr. Red Miele (the vacuum cleaner), I swept the vast expanse of hardwood floors, comparable in reach to the entire United States. I realized, without a shadow of a doubt that fluffy vacuuming rugs (and carpet) are a solid no for me. This came after pushing the black vacuum (a bulkier companion) across the deceptively delightful but dangerously furry rug with all possible might that I nearly fainted. The terrifying kitten, who had previously given me a partial heart attack by startling me playing hide and seek in the crispy clean sheets, watched in horror as the black vacuum slowly covered ground across the treacherous landscape. Day after day passed, unloading the car, placing my shoes at the door of a disastrous house whispering to them with a tear, “I’ll be back for you.” Two hours later, I’d return to those same shoes, exhausted yet enlightened, and reload the car. Snack break. House two: An infiltration of maddening small trash cans in dire need of fancy trash bags (not those awful brown ones that come with groceries, but classy, glossy, white ones). To my utter frustration, I could never knot the end of this flashy bag to make it look more presentable on the unwisely shaped can because the bag is too small, the can is obnoxiously shaped, and my fingers are monstrously big, but my mother insists. Trash bag knots were the bane of my two-week hiatus. Moreover concerning other things: toilet paper must be folded in the shape of a triangle. Impostor green plants must be dusted.

You get to do a lot of thinking and observing while racing around with your pal Mr. Red Miele. At some points, I would arrive at tall marketing posters in the glamorous med spa claiming that I obviously needed an eyelid lift. Other times I was delighted to gorgeous shoe closets! I was most often interested in the businesses. The piano school (from my childhood), the med spa, and the chiropractor office. Those were most engaging because while vacuuming, I saw the basic bones of the business. This led to daydreaming about a future piano school. What decor looked good, what didn’t. What maintenance needed to be done, what made the space inviting. What paint colors worked, what marketing materials were used. Type of lighting, chairs, policies, organization methods, etc.

Some things I often thought about while cleaning was that

  • One: I cannot clean houses.

  • Two: I love playing the piano and teaching.

  • Three: Make the piano teaching a reality.

A two-week hiatus with my mom might have been the impetus needed for making headway on distant dreams. Also for learning that I shall never have a pet, unless it is a turtle. Or a fish, even better. Maybe I will have an aquarium. As long there is. No. Shedding.

One other thing, don’t buy a Peloton. Go clean your house, it’s cheaper.

Proverbs 16:3

“Commit your works to the Lord,
And your thoughts will be established.”

To God be the glory,

Alyson

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