House never cleaner, hubby never happier

Today, my daughter said to me, "I love when we are trying to sell a house, because it is always so clean!" And, my husband fairly squealed with delight when he saw that I had removed all the appliances from the counters in the kitchen and toiletries from the counters in the bathroom. (This reaction is, of course, an exaggeration, but not all of you know my husband personally, so I thought I should clarify. He does not, under any circumstances, "squeal with delight.")  Technically, we have not put our house up for sale yet. We are simply trying to get some pictures taken that look like we don't really live here. Which is super hard. Because, we do, in fact live, here. And, work here. And, school here. We are here all the time, except when we are running kids around to various activities. Southern Living, it's not, folks. I do truly wish I could produce this level of joy in my family members all the time. (The ones that care, I mean. Because there are those, it seems, that actually prefer the mess. Or, at least, they work extra hard to ensure that the messiness is a constant.) But, as there are still only 24 hours in a day, and as I can only do so much, I guess we can simply be thankful that we move as often as we do, so that there are a fair number of days that the house is truly clean and clutter-free.