Clean, sparkling, scented...love

From the moment my eyes opened at 5:00 this morning, to splashing tomato bisque on my shirt at lunch, until I left work at 6:15 tonight... I was having a rough day. It was the equivalent of having my brain whacked repeatedly with a Nerf bat during an all-day-event I will kindly and diplomatically generalize quite simply as "InDesign software training."

When I finally got back to my desk tonight after a day in the training room, I was greeted by the day's waiting work, 3 bills to pay and a gentle email from my mother reminding me that I hadn't sent out the blank "thank you" cards I'd been carrying in my purse since the last week in April. After dragging my tired, brain-beaten mess-of-a-self out to the car, the drive home through hideous L.A. traffic expounded my need to fight off: 1) the urge to cry, and 2) the strong desire to veer off at the nearest exit and find a dark bar. I only screamed at 1 car, told another who tried to side-swipe me to go f**k himself and proudly refrained from using the clown horn embedded in my badass of a Toyota. It was one of those days where upon finally pulling into your parking spot you wearily shove it into park, lean your head back and close your eyes for one final deep, slow breath. Turning the car off, you convince yourself that the day is done. You survived. Tomorrow can't be nearly as nightmarish in the most cliched of ways. Surely.

Slow steps to the front door are followed by sluggish struggles with the deadbolt. Limply pushing my way through I surprise Teen, who has used her key to get in and borrow my computer while hers is in the shop. But lucky for me - and unlucky for her - Teen is not the kind of girl who can borrow a computer when it is surrounded by the unkempt mess of someone who can no longer be bothered to care. (Or so it would seem to Teen, who is THE CLEANEST and TIDIEST person I've ever met.) In a move so very Monica from "Friends", she even brought over her own cleaning supplies.

When I wearily schlepped my way into my own home this evening, I found it cleaner than it had been in months. She had loads of laundry going and throw rugs were already hanging to dry. It was absolutely amazing and smelled even better... in that lovely scented candle + cleaning products kind of way.

The bed I'd left in tatters early that morning now had crisp lines worthy of a home catalog. Floors shone, toilets sparkled and every little pile of "stuff" I'd left out had been condensed and re-categorized according to Teen's strict standards. I can now actually see my desk.

On a day when my world found too many annoying little ways to kick me in the shins and pull my hair, Teen decided to shower me with love. Undeserved, unrequested, unexpected, clean and pure L-O-V-E. I mean, she scrubbed my toilet and shower, for crying out loud. Without me knowing! She's friggen amazing; a better looking version of Mr. Clean... with hair.

One is an expert at being clean and organized...the other is too tired to give more than the hint of a damn anymore. *Sigh*

It was the sisterly equivalent of grabbing my day by the proverbial horns and showing it who's boss. And Shelley better start answering my phone calls if she's going to have a snowball's hope in hell of living up to little sister's new standard! I'm thinking extravagant care packages and endless calls from the 3 munchkins...(Hi Shell! xoxo)