Lesson Number One

A few weeks ago I mentioned on my blog that if Mike can run a multi-million dollar ski area, he can learn to shake a can of Comet.

Apparently not.

Since I'm working and he's retired he has decided that he will take care of house-cleaning. I wanted to hire a housekeeper. He didn't want to spend the money. We haven't even moved in to our new house and already I'm worried.

I asked him to clean the bathrooms last week. I had to put it on his calendar. He has this large calendar that he writes everything he has to do on. If I need anything done, I have to put it on the calendar and he's already warned me not to go overboard with the daily requests.

Two days ago I asked him if he had cleaned the bathroom; I had requested it on Monday.

 He said "Yes."
I said, "Did you also clean the toilets?"
"Toilets? I have to clean the toilets?"
"Well they aren't going to clean themselves."
"I can't clean the toilets unless I have the right tools."

He went out and spent $100 on the right tools.
I could have hired a housekeeper for two weeks for $100 and she would have cleaned the entire house, not two toilets.

Last night I asked, "Did you clean the bathtub?"
"Kind of."
That meant he wiped down the side with his $5 special chamois.

So today we're having a lesson in bathroom cleaning. This is the same lesson I gave both my boys, the only difference is that they were both 14 at the time; Mike is 55.

I'm concerned that the time used to question Mike about his cleaning may not be worth it. However, instead of going ahead and doing it myself (which is my usual method of operation) I may go ahead and hire a secret housekeeper.

I doubt Mike would even notice if the house had been cleaned by the Secret Housekeeper. I mean, if he doesn't even notice the ring around the toilet bowl while he's standing over it, why would he notice if the rug had been vacuumed?

I can't wait to teach him about dust.