Maid to Order

Last night BF begged me to help him clean his house for the impending Rents' arrival. I looked at the scattered mess of dirty dishes, papers, mail, clothes, shoes, DVDs, CDs, VCR tapes, magazines, tools and various "parts" to things and felt the immediate need to head for the hills. My eyes met those big brown puppy dog eyes and I resisted the urge to roll them and sigh.

"But, I don't know where any of your stuff goes. Or what I could and couldn't throw out."

"I'll tell you. Please Adult, I really need your help. And I helped you."

Ok, now let me clarify his statement of "I helped you." When I bought my house everyone I knew was asking me to have a party, so I did, but I needed help with certain BF-related things, like hanging a bathroom mirror, and shelves and a little plumbing. This is what he "helped" me do. When I declared the night before the party at 8pm that I would be pulling an all nighter to clean, he disappeared at 10pm, I was up til midnight and still didn't finish. Since he has bought his home, which I went with him to see almost all 70+ homes, I rounded up the people to help him move and moved him, I helped him pick out paint, a mattress, a bedroom set, and am currently on the lookout for a new dining-room set. I also actually painted with said paint, which I got him a discount on. I helped him do the initial cleaning, which we never finished because the painting needed to be done. (Totally backwards from my female point of view.) He also lived with me through all this. And, he continues to borrow my mower, weed wacker and leaf blower instead of buying the one that he saw that "...was a really great deal." I guess, what I'm getting at is, my debt has been paid. Ok, yes, as a GF I shouldn't be keeping track, but really, the give and take is becoming more take than give here people. However, knowing the hurt feelings and fight that would ensue if I did indeed head for the hills, I stayed, and cleaned. You have no idea how hard it was to do this. I mean really, people who clean for a living, how DO you know where to put stuff??? I know at one point I was throwing "clean" clothes down the basement stairs into the laundry, but they had been on the floor for so long, they certainly qualified as being dirty again. All the papers and mail, where was that to be placed?? The confusion was only made worse by the swirling tornado of dust that was created from disturbing the "order" of things.
Somehow, I managed to finish, sweaty and dirty, but you can now actually SEE the floor, instead of just trusting that it is there as you take a precarious step.