I.Love.My.Maid.

All I can say is WOW. Today was her first day. And wow. My apartment is shining. She came in and cleaned, scrubbed, wiped, swept, mopped, dusted, and then cleaned some more. Just when you think that the place couldn't look any better, she just went on cleaning.

She is great. And I'm quite certain that that is an understatement. You see, we stole her away from the hotel that we had stayed in. She was the nicest one of the employees that they had there. She far surpassed her peers in completing the everyday tasks of her job. And it came to be a huge disappointment to us when she had a day off. We missed her.

What took me quite by surprise was the way that both of my children quickly became attached to her. A stranger. Who didn't speak any English. They loved her. Each and every time that they would see her in the hallways, they would run to her screaming her name. And she too seemed genuinely fond of my children.

On her days off, the kids took turns air shooting the other maids who came in her place. It wasn't pretty. But she made an impression on us, and the kids talked about her when she wasn't around. That too was unlike them. So it made me think twice. Maybe we should try to hire her.

I guess it was our good fortune, that she wasn't all too happy with her current job. And that was our opening! We offered her a new opportunity. And she took us up on it. I am very happy to say that today was a great day. I hope that she is as happy here, as we are to have her.

Tomorrow I'm going to start looking for some furniture for her room. She doesn't live with us, but they do have rooms for maids in each of the homes here in this country. They are called "servicios" (services). I love that about the homes here. We have a room complete with bathroom and shower for the maid in the back part of our apartment. If you don't opt to have a maid, you could always use that room for storage.

While all the cleaning was going on today, I put together a water table. This was a gift from my mom for Eddie's 3rd birthday back in April. We packed it without ever opening it, and today was really the first chance I've had to put it together. The kids loved it! And played with it for 40 minutes straight! Thanks mom!