Nothing Like Giving Warning

There is nothing more frustrating to me than having a social worker call me at the last minute and want to come out to see my children. For the most part, my normal social worker from the private agency is wonderful and doesn't do this. However, sometimes we have to have county social workers come and do a face to face visit with the kids.

I am by no means a good housekeeper. I try my best to keep up with the laundry, dishes, and picking up the toys on a daily basis...usually; but the dusting and mopping, and toilet cleaning, and bathtub cleaning *shudder*.. well... it gets put on the back burner until it gets to the point where I can't stand it. And since I have such a large family, it takes a while for that to happen!

Now my children help a lot with the picking up. The older two gather the trash the younger ones feed the animals for us, and all of them have to pick up the laundry and toys around the house. It's also up to them to keep their rooms tidy. (Although I have to go in usually and redo it after they leave for school). So you'd think that with all this help we'd be able to keep the house nice looking right? Wrong!!!

It seems that while I'm busy cleaning one room, the children will be in another making an even bigger mess!! The only time my house is really nice looking is when they are all in bed or at school...and then only if I have enough energy to straighten up!

So anyways, back to my original topic. As you have read, I'm not a clean freak. So when I know that social workers are coming for a visit I do a mad dash cleaning spree to get the house sparkling and in good shape. It takes a while for this transformation to happen.

And when I get these last minute phone calls telling me they are coming first thing in the morning...well...I really start to panic! There is no way my house is going to look clean in that short amount of time! So how will I fix this? I'll hide what I can until the social worker leaves, and try my hardest to keep her in my kitchen (the cleanest room in my house!) I'll pray that she only stays a few minutes and that she remembers that I am the mother of six right now and house cleaning is at the bottom of my priority list.

Taking care of the children, playing with them, feeding them, and helping them with homework is far more important to me than cleaning up. Oh and we can't forget those two hour baths. Can't live without those.