I woke up yesterday morning, fed the kids, went back upstairs to get dressed, and put my new Crest White Strips on (it’s the poor man’s face lift!). And even though the package says that you can exercise, work, or chat on the phone while the strips are on - that is just a lie. All you can do is walk around trying not to drool on the rug, and trying not to move your mouth at all so your strips stay in place. It is this precise time that my hubby proudly announces he is “going to take over cleaning the bathrooms.”

The very first reaction (if the White Strips allowed me to have a reaction) was of pure joy and jubilation. I don’t have clean the bathrooms anymore?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Christmas came early!!!!!!!!

A ½ second later, I had another reaction - and it went a little something like this. “HA HA HA!” I think this task has been underestimated by my sweet husband. He once offered to clean our master bath TUB (not the whole bathroom), and I am not kidding when I say it took him 2 hours. When he was all done, he came downstairs huffing and puffing and incredibly proud of himself. I went upstairs to take a shower, and found all the cleaning products and bathtub contents strewn about the room. And he talked about cleaning the tub all day, all week, and when I tell you that he is still (months later) talking about how much work it was to clean the tub that one fateful day, I am not joking. And he must have pointed out to me 20 times how nice and clean the tub looked. Was he waiting for an award ceremony?

I get it - cleaning the bathrooms is a big (and thankless, unless you’re my hubby!) job - and there is a reason I don’t get to them as often as I should. And while I am very grateful for him wanting to help out more, I am afraid that I will have to remind him when they need to be cleaned and at some point it will just be easier for me to clean them myself than hinting at how they need to be done.

Now, never mind the fact that by offering to clean the bathrooms, he is basically implying that I am doing a sub-par job. I get this. But after 9 years of marriage and three children who demand every once of my time, energy, and patience, I am not the least bit upset by this. I’m sure some moms would feel threatened and embarrassed that their husbands feel this way. Not me. I do the very best I can - and I sleep well at night knowing this. If you think you can do it better, well, knock yourself out! I am grateful for any help I can get.

So, how long do you think his taking over the bathrooms will last? Hmmm…I guess time will tell. But the problem with bathrooms is that time’s up already! (We do have a 4-year-old son - nuff said).

But it sure was good while it lastedJ