3 things I learned from my mom about house-cleaning

"Mom! I'm married and you're the first person I want to tell!"

My mom is better than yours. No really. She's better than most everyone. And it's her birthday today, which means she gets a shout-out. She doesn't get shout-outs often enough. No mom probably does. And my mom, most of all, deserves one. Most people who meet her know how warm and and genuine she is. What people might not know is that she's done a great job teaching me about house cleaning. Believe it.

1. It's amazing what can be done with a sprint clean. Mess begets mess begets mess, you know how it goes. Sometimes the best thing you can do to get back on track is just down the spoonful of sugar and blitz your way to mostly clean. Sometimes you get on a roll and everything ends up shining, sometimes you just prevent the mess from getting worse.

2. Mops don't work. Kitchen floors require hands and knees scrubbing. Simple as that. I remember seeing my mom on her knees with a bucket and soapy washcloth in the kitchen like Cinderella, thinking that Swiffer needed to make a stop at our house. Turns out Swiffer is garbage, as are cloth mops, self-wringing mops, flat ones, bulky ones, the ones that look like dreadlocks. You're just shoving around the dirty water, and not that well usually. The only way to get really clean is good old fashioned elbow grease, on your knees, with a bucket and soapy washcloth. Like Cinderella.

3. There are more important things than cleaning. I know my mom thinks she's failed her children because we're all, all five of us, slobs at heart. Well I am at least. But here's the thing I learned from my mom - and this is not me justifying the pile of clean clothing I have accruing in my closet: There are more important things than cleaning. Like spending quality time with people, making them food or talking to them about whatever inane thing they love. Remembering people's birthdays and just stopping by with flowers or a card. Like thoughtfully preparing for a Sunday School lesson even though the class is 10 years old and you could wing it if you wanted. My mom does these things. Regularly. And more that I don't even see. This is what you call having your priorities straight. That doesn't mean don't clean and watch Netflix instead (my all too frequent MO), it means go love the people around you and if you run out of time to dust the Toby Mugs, so be it. You were in the right place, doing good, and dusting can wait.

Isn't she the cutest?