Cinderella

I clean houses. That's my job. I came into my occupation in a round-a-bout way, but looking back, it's not really surprising. I've always been a house cleaner.

As a kid, I followed my Mom around desperately attempting to get some positive attention. Since she had 4 kids and an elusive husband, she was overwhelmed and housebound. "Oh-my-God-I-just-cleaned-that-now-it's-a-big-mess-Go-outside-and-play-NOW!!!"

I took to cleaning in hopes that she would be grateful and like me. It didn't really work, but at least I got some negative attention. Meanwhile I scrubbed the mildewy back shower to keep the mushrooms from growing back there, and mowed the lawn and did the dishes and vacuumed and swept, little Cindy-Cinderella.

As I cleaned, I dreamed about how I would grow up and escape the Bible Belt and be an artist/pianist/journalist/actress. As time went by, I was constantly reminded that naturally I wasn't good enough to do any of those things, but I was a really fast typist and could scribble shorthand like a demon. Thanks to all the writing and piano-playing and drawing, not to mention the cleaning and scrubbing, I had really strong hands! So it was decided that I should be a secretary. The problem was that business classes bored me to death. Accounting was the only class I ever got a D in, because who cares if it's a penny off! I'll throw in the damn dime, just close the books!! I'm still flunking accounting to this day---just ask Bank of America and the many creditors who are looking for me (just don't tell them where I am.)

But I made "them" proud and aspired to my secretarial duties. Guess who I ended up working for? Good Housekeeping! Once on a visit to New York I went to the laboratory where they test products to see if they live up to their advertising claims and qualify for the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval." It was pretty cool. Truthfully though, I wanted to write the magazine, not answer phones. Besides, I was somewhat belligerent as a personal assistant, to the dismay of my boss. And although at that time in my life I could pull off the girly thing with the cute dress and polished nails, I always had to complete the outfit with a pair of shamrock green combat boots.

Well, it all fell apart anyway. Due to the wild drinking and carousing in my personal time, my office "housekeeping" was no longer getting a seal of approval from the Big Cheese as I stumbled into work at noon. OOPS!

Obviously, it was time to Clean Up my act! So...kicking and screaming all the way...I was finally able to stay Clean & Sober. That's when I got into cleaning houses.

As you can see, my life is all about "clean." And you know what they say about cleanliness...

it's next to "Godliness."

And as I work, I have plenty of time to live in my little fantasy world.