I had the best morning. It was amazing. I’m riding high from the fun I had.

What did I do? I cleaned my house.

Why was that fun? Because my kids weren’t here.

I hired my niece to watch the kids a few hours a week this summer. It was her first day today. I knew it would be great, but I had no idea how fabulous it would be. After she got her we packed up the stroller and swim gear. They walked to the wading pool. I came inside, loaded up a new playlist and got to work cleaning.

The playlist was created by my best friend from high school. We caught up earlier this year when he was back in our hometown visiting from Australia (where he is a professor at Australia National University). He has always been someone who brings me joy. He is funny and kind and full of great information. He excels at pointing me towards new music. It started with mixed tapes, moved to mixed CDs, and very recently moved to a playlist on Spotify. The playlist is filled with enjoyable songs that made cleaning more enjoyable. It also made me feel hip – my usual cleaning music is Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kenny Rogers.

I’m not a person who enjoys cleaning, but without kids underfoot it becomes cathartic. I have never been so pleased with a clean kitchen floor.

I am sad to report that the floor is no longer spotless. Living with two toddlers and a large dog makes it impossible to keep a floor white for long.

I was so energized from two kid free morning hours I was inspired to create a fun lunch. I hadn’t made English muffin pizzas since college, but we had all of the ingredients in the house. I was reaching in the cheese drawer for some Havarti and discovered a ball of fresh mozzarella I forgot that we had. What resulted is the fanciest English muffin pizzas I’ve ever made.

In addition to getting a lot done and having some kid free time, I’m thrilled that my kids will have lots of time with their cousin.

I’m probably not going to clean every time she watches them. I’m excited to see all that I can get done with that time. What would you do if you were give two hours without responsibilities?