Dreaming of Flooring?!!!

I dream of hardwood or tile floors.  This may not be a big deal and most of you are probably thinking isn’t everyone, but no I literally will be having a dream tonight about the ease of moping a hard wood or tile floor.  Yes, I will dream of cleaning tonight, largely due to my day today.  Let me start by saying, I run a daycare in my home, plus I have three large dogs.  While the carpet is great for starting crawlers, potential toddler falls, and warm feet it constantly gets dirty.  So, why is this news, because the other day, my eldest fur baby decided it was a wonderful idea to see what was under the thin layer of rock along the fake grass in the back by digging a giant hole.

He doesn’t normally dig holes, in fact I don’t think he has ever done that before while I’ve known him, but today it was a good idea so my fluffiest dog turned partially red/brown from the clay-mud we have here in AZ.  Then, when I opened the door ran inside, decided to run from me tracking the mud all over the carpet.  This is where the light bulb goes off in your head and the word Fabulous popped into mine. 

I got him outside with the other dogs and turned to survey the mess.  Yep, red clay/mud paw prints everywhere with the kiddo’s running through it with their little shoes leaving tracks and giggling because it’s funny to them.  First step, coral the kiddos!  All kids were given some paper and crayons and sat down to draw what they saw (oddly looked very similar to what I saw).  Next step, take their shoes off and wipe off the mud.  Now, I took out the shout professional cleaner and started on my hands and knees with a brush, some paper towels and the spray and had at it.  The kids eventually got bored with the coloring so playpens got set up outside, pool gate closed with dogs on one side kids on the other, hose and shampoo brought out, and broom in hand we went out back.  I swept the clay off the fake grass back into the whole the dog had created.  The kids were kind enough to just watch this and not get into it themselves. Diapers, bottles and the babies were set.  I grabbed the hose and grabbed the half red pup and scrubbed away.  He was not amused by this and sulked the entire time making sure to shake off on me a few times.  The kids laughed at the process since they weren’t getting wet and if you have a fluffy dog that gets really wet he suddenly looks very small.  Since I was getting a mess, and much to the other dogs’ dismay, it became baths for all pups!  The kids had a blast telling me where I missed a spot on each dog and the dogs pretty much sulked the entire time. 

Now that the dogs are clean raw hides were given and the kids were set down for lunch.  Guess what I got to do, that’s right more diapers, bottles, and back to scrubbing the floor.  Then, settling kids for naps and I’m back for more scrubbing.  Diapers, bottles, emptying the dishwasher, sterilizing and re-filling bottles and more scrubbing. Finally finished scrubbing around the time the kids woke from nap! 

Then, yesterday we took all the kids daycare included to the Wildlife Zoo whose trails are dirt and the kids, stroller, and adults all ended up covered in dirt and dust which is now on that freshly scrubbed floor, which then had to be re-vacuumed and in stops re-scrubbed. So now I am exhausted and will probably be dreaming of a hard floor surface for months!  On a positive note, my carpet now looks darn good for having a daycare and 3 large dogs run about on it all day.