Hooray for Housekeepers

I've not had much experience with housekeepers.  Of course, I've had a lot more experience than I ever thought I'd have with housekeepers, but overall it's still not much experience.  Not counting the the housekeeper that worked for me three or four times and then quit, I've only had two (all of you back in the States can now stop rolling your eyes).

I'm starting to realize, however, that one housekeeper is not the same as another.  Everyone has things they like to do (take the children to the pool), things they don't mind doing (folding laundry), and would really rather not do (clean out the refrigerator... ever).  Housekeepers are the same way.  Some do amazing jobs at cleaning bathrooms, some will scrub your stove until every single speck of burnt-on food is gone, and some are just plain fast at everything.

We've now had Naila for about four months, and I've discovered her Secret Houskeeper Superpower.  Yesterday I asked her to clean out the refrigerator since it was a mess again, and despite the fact that I hate cleaning out the refrigerator (I never cleaned out ours in Virginia the whole four months I was there), I also despise having a dirty refrigerator.  Just in case you were wondering, before I paid somebody else to do it, Brandon usually broke down and cleaned it for me in our pre-diplomatic days.

One of the reasons I dislike cleaning out the refrigerator is because there are usually strange bits of leftover food and vegetables that I meant to use but didn't and tupperwares of who-knows-what hiding in the back corners and vegetable bins.  Half of those things stink and the other half are maybe just salvageable enough that morally I ought to use them for something but I don't have the creativity or energy think of exactly what so instead I just throw them back into their corners to hide until next time when they really are rotty enough to just throw away.  My grandmother is credited with telling my grandfather, when he suggested they just throw away that food that everyone knows won't get eaten, that she'd rather let it go bad in the refrigerator and then throw it away.

When I got up from my nap, I could smell what seemed like mushrooms cooking.  Usually Naila only cooks one day a week, and she had cooked the day before.  However, I'm not one to question food being cooked in the house that I'm not involved in, so I just surfed the internet upstairs while the children cleaned up the toy room and figured I'd find out in time what Naila was up to.

The children eventually finished up the room, so we came downstairs to take a walk.  On our way past the kitchen, Naila waved me over.  She had found some cabbage (which I know I had ignored for longer than I'm going to tell you) and mushrooms in the refrigerator that were going bad, so she had made quiche filling.  Did I want her to make some quiche for dinner?

And that, my dear friends, is why I love Naila.  Not only does she clean out my refrigerator, but she takes the questionable food and makes delicious dinner with it.  And then cleans up after herself.  All while I get to take a nap, waste time on the internet, and take my children for a bike ride.  It's official.  I'm not moving back to the US for at least another two decades.