MY NEW BEST FRIEND

Yes, it is true. My new best friend is this here mop.


Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you.


Growing up in the Mason house, when it came to the floors, there was only one way in which to clean them that was acceptable. And that was the getting-down-on-your-hands-and-knees-and- scrubbing way. My lovely Mom was adamant about this, saying that this was the only way to properly clean the floors, making sure that all the spilt juice, ketchup splotches, and other random spills actually got off of the floor.



I complained about this manner of cleaning the floors everytime it was my turn to clean them. I would say things such as "why do we have to use a rag, and scrub every square inch of the floor?" "This hurts my knees!" "Why can't we use a mop like other 'normal' people?" "This sucks!"


Then my complaining subsided, when I realized it was all in vain.


The years went by with me scrubbing the floors on my hands in knees, and doing my other weekly chores around the house nary a single complaint. Which was much to my Mom's delight.


Then came the day that I was all grown up and moved on out of the family abode, and into my boyfriend's (who would soon be my husband) apartment. And wouldn't you know it - I washed the floors the same way I was made to wash them at my Mom's. I did the whole get-down-on-your-hands-and-knees-and-scrub method without even thinking twice. Wow. I guess old habits die hard.


I kept this method of cleaning the floors up through the time we stayed at the aparment in Woodbury, through the time we lived at the Beach House, and throughout the past 7 years that we have lived in our home here in Stillwater.


Well, this all changed when we decided to get pregnant with our 4th baby. I told Mr. Shelton that it was high time we hired a cleaning service to come and help me with the house as I just could not keep up with it all anymore. Someone to clean bathrooms from top to bottom, and scrub the kitchen floors. That was it. I could handle the dusting, vacuuming and other things, it was just the deep cleaning stuff I could not find time for.


So we hired someone who came every other week and scrubbed all those places I loathed and did not have time to scrub, and cleaned all of my floors. It was not done perfectly, but I was content. Content with the simple fact that I was not having to do it, and that was pretty much all that mattered at that point.


But then something happened. She approached me one day after cleaning and asked me to purchase her a mop. Yep, a mop. Internal dialogue:


What? A mop? I am paying you to come over here and clean my floors and you assume you can clean them with a mop? Why? Because it is easier? Because you don't want to hurt your hands and knees? Mops don't work. They do not clean the floors properly. They do not get all of the dirt and grime and spills off of the floor like the getting-down-on-your-hands-and-knees-and- scrubbing method does. She must just be lazy. Geeze, it is just my luck to hire a lazy cleaning lady who does not do things properly. What cleaning lady does not know that mop's are not the most efficient way of getting the floors sparkling clean? Did her Mom teach her nothing?

What I actually said to her? "Sure, I can get you a mop."


And I did, the very next week I purchased her a mop and she used that mop to clean my floors every other week for 2 years. Then I let her go. Not cause she was using a mop, but because we need to trim up the monthly budget, and unfortunately the first thing to go was my much needed help around the house.


So for the last 6 months I have been back at it, cleaning the floors the old get-down-on-your-hands-and-knees-and-scrub method.


This morning as I was on my way to drop Ava off at school, I was thinking about how I needed to wash the floors today. How it could not possibly wait another day as I have been putting it off for over a week now. How I hated the thought of even thinking about doing it, much less actually going through with it. Then I had a thought. I still had that mop in the closet that my cleaning lady had used months prior. It was just sitting there collecting dust in the corner, feeling lonely and unused. So I decided the heck with it. I was going to use. Even though it does not get the floors as sparkly clean as I would like. Even though it does not always clean up every little spill perfectly. What matters is that it is easy, and does not take a ton of time like my tried and true method does. What matters is that it works well enough. And at this stage of my life, having four kids age 6 and under and a husband who I sometimes consider one of the kids as well, well enough will just have to do.