Also I don't want them to see bad habits of the Wangs.

Oh, the guilt..there is one day every month when I feel very very guilty.  We have our house professionally cleaned every month.  On the one hand, Ching and I feel that our time is more valuable spent with our girls than scrubbing the toilet.  But on the other hand, why can't I make time to do this?  My mom cleaned the entire house when I was growing up.

To assuage the guilt, I do pick up a lot of stuff prior to them showing up.  Ching doesn't understand this cleaning prior to someone else cleaning.  But if we are paying for an hourly service, I want them to clean not pick up Laurel's My Little Pony collection.

Also I don't want them to see bad habits of the Wangs.  Typically, during the week, the girls will get dressed (in the morning) or get into their pj's in the family room.  Over the course of the week there is this little pile of dirty clothes that grows in the corner..undies, shirts with marker stains and Rachel's clothes with some sort of applesauce crust.  Why I let the mound grow during the week, I have no idea.  If I do pick up these clothes, I don't even bring them to the laundry room in the basement--I just open the door and toss them down the stairs.  I also have a terrible habit of soda consumption..so I always have a few empty cans of Dr. Pepper sitting on my nightstand or random places. Don't want them to see that either.  Toys are every where and it just points a finger at our overindulgence so those are picked up too.  And I won't even start on the random crunchy snack that has been crushed in the carpet. (I cannot wait for the day when I can stop buying Cheerios)

If they start putting away things, I don't want them to see how disorganized I am.  The fact that I have my aluminum foil/wraps jammed into the same drawer as random pieces of gum and our take out menus is something that I just don't want to share.  There are times when I feel that they are disgusted by us so they "hide" things.  My sneakers are put into Ching's closet or Laurel's martial arts uniform is put in the drawer underneath her bed rather than in the closet.  It's a clever ploy..hide my shit and then have me tear my house apart the next morning trying to find said shit.

I absolutely cannot be there when they are there too.  I feel like a lazy asshole who can't clean her own house.  Also, the last time I was at the house when they were cleaning, there was kind of a language barrier and of course I adopted the loud and slow version of translation.  (Jesus, Jude...)

Every month, I convince myself that if I just organized a plan to clean a little here and there after the girls go to bed, I would be free of the guilt and $180 richer. Or perhaps Ching could...