Summer is coming to an end....

Today is a very exciting day in the Canard household. The cleaning lady is returning from her extended summer vacation. She has been visiting her mother since the beginning of July. I am quite jealous of the extended French vacation. Everyone we know has been gone all summer. Most people have gone to visit family, staying a couple weeks and then either returning sans kids or vacationing on their own. Did I mention, sans kids? As the Big Duck technically works for the U.S. we do not enjoy the same benefit. Did I mention, jealous?

Not only does Madame P come once a week to vacuum and scrub, she watches the littlest duckling, giving me one afternoon a week to myself. Granted, I usually do my big grocery trip of the week, but it is blissful to be alone. And, that is saying something as I go to Carrefour, the French equivalent of the Wal-Mart Super Store only with more people crowding every conceivable space. In Madame P's absence, I did manage to vacuum several times a week and even cleaned a few toilets, but let's face it, unless the kids knocked over the dogs water, the floors were just not getting cleaned. Having four ducklings at home and under foot every day, all day for the past 7 weeks is not conducive to accomplishing anything at the house. I consider it a miracle that the laundry got done, although come to think of it, they did wear swimsuits a lot cutting down on laundry volume.

So, although I will remember this summer, our first here in France, with fondness, what I am really looking forward to having is a clean house and more then 30 seconds to myself. Did I mention, Blissful?