Maid-less in KL

The maid had to leave suddenly because her mum was very ill. We got her a plane ticket on Wed evening but she was too late. Her mum died on Wed morning.

I haven't been happy with the maid. She talks back to me, and since she's not my maid, she doesn't listen to what I say. I feel bad that this had to happen to her though.

Anyway, we're maid-less for the next 2 months. And it so happened that the first day we had no maid was my busiest day of the week and it was one of those days when you just didn't get enough sleep. I think I barely had 4 hours of sleep.

So the first day went like this:

Morning: Woke up, washed clothes, cleaned rabbit's cage, fed him, watered the plants, put the dry dishes back, washed dishes in the sink, hung clothes, made sure that Sam got Sean to bathe and brush his teeth, fed Sean breakfast, rushed to playgroup at 9:30am.

We were a bit late but that's ok. Returned and borrowed books, did a craft with Sean, cleaned up playgroup with the other mums at the end. We skipped story telling and rushed home. Heated up food for lunch. Got Sean to eat lunch (Feeding Sean is one of the most tasking tasks!), got him to bathe again because it was such a hot day.

Afternoon: Sam sent him to school that day while I took down the laundry and ironed. Then at 1.30pm, rushed out to teach 3 students. Came back at 6pm, had dinner that Sam cooked, washed dishes, ironed more clothes. After that, I was too tuckered out and had enough for the day. There's always tomorrow, right?

I was feeling rather kindly towards the maid. I thought: Oh, she must be so grumpy because she was worried about her mum, blah, blah, blah. Until......

I actually did the housework while still having to work (part time) and send Sean to school and playgroup, do grocery shopping, etc.

She really doesn't do her work very well.

After I mopped the floor, the floor felt so much cleaner than it has ever before. We resorted to walking with slippers at home because we couldn't stand the dust. We thought that the new place is extra dusty because of the proximity of the road to the living room, but I realized that it's just because she doesn't mop the floor.

She doesn't vacuum that well either because when Sam vacuumed the carpet, they were very dusty.

I wash, dry and ironed the clothes within the day, while clothes would take days to come back when she does it.

We wash the dishes right after we use and regularly put the dry ones into the cupboard, while with a maid around, the dirty dishes seem to pile on the table or the sink.

I do realize though that all these housework that the maid used to do is taking time away from Sean. Sean has had to entertain himself more and more. And sometimes the result is disastrous, like him spilling a bottle of sand-like basil seeds all over the carpet and making a huge mess of his toy area, smearing playdough all over the table or playing with bottles of paint when I'm not looking.

But he's been behaving well otherwise. And I think this experience with no maid is a great time for him to learn to do things for himself.

As for myself, I'm hoping the housework will give me a good work out. After not exercising for 4 years has made my body rather soft, and my belly big. People keep thinking I'm pregnant when I'm not! So hopefully I get to lose some belly fat during the next 2 months. =D