We are moving and if there is one thing that I am definately not good at, it is cleaning!  Four of my wonderful friends came with me yesterday to clean the house we are moving into.  Three of them are sisters and one is a sister-in-law.  They all grew up in mennonite families and these girls know how to clean!   They actually enjoy doing it!
     Two of them each immediately took a bathroom (now that's love!), one took on the kitchen, and another started cleaning windows while I vacuumed every corner and crevice in all the rooms to remove cobwebs and dust.  We then scrubbed the walls, vacuumed the carpets, and mopped all the wood and linoleum floors.  The hot water was not working but we still cleaned away with cold water.
     Each of the boys cleaned their rooms with some of their friends.  In each room I placed a clipboard with a cleaning checklist so that I would not have to continuously have the boys coming to me asking "What do I do next?".  Next to each task I included what they were supposed to use to clean it.  For example:
     - Wash all baseboards using "lysol cleaner" water and a rag
     - Clean all windows using windex and paper towels
This saved LOTS of time, helped them to work independently, and prevented us from doubling our efforts.  It also allowed us moms to concentrate on our tasks without numerous interruptions.
     Four of the teen boys tackled the basement.  This was a task that I hadn't really thought through.  So, I had my friends come down and help me figure out what should be done first.  We sent them to work with the shop vac getting all the cobwebs along the ceiling and in the corners.  Then they swept the concrete floor.  After that we had them scrub all the walls with a cleaning solution and finish up by mopping the floor with bleach water.  Not one of them complained once.  I was so thankful to them!
     We got the entire house cleaned and even though we were exhausted we had a lot of fun together.  Any task is made easier when you have friends alongside you.  Now the real work begins - KEEPING it clean!