I had to fire my cleaning woman a couple of weeks ago. I was being taken advantage of, so I decided that I would tackle the cleaning myself. How hard could it be?

I gathered my cleaning equipment and got to work.

My vacuum cleaner caught on fire the very next day.

Is that irony? Karma? I don't know. I'm too tired from figuring out how to clean the damn house.

But I'm not going to be deterred by the possibility of being killed by heavy machinery. No. Instead, I did what any modern person would do and turned to the internet for help.

(In other words, I wasted a couple of hours on YouTube.)

That's how I discovered Anthea Turner.

<em>Nestled deep in the Surrey countryside is a house like no other. Its mistress is the  supremely ordered and ruthlessly efficient Anthea Turner: The Perfect Housewife.</em>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z8SCvcRDlk&amp;feature=related

I can't stop laughing at Anthea all while wishing I was her. This video is proof that anything can be made better when narrated by someone with a British accent.

(Don't tell anyone, but I've taken to enthusiastically narrating my progress as I go around dusting. It really makes a crappy job more fun.)

(You should try it and stop laughing at me. It works.)

You've got to give credit to the Brits. Their version of Martha Stewart has her tongue firmly in cheek - take a look at how she folds a T-shirt.

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Oh, silly Anthea: That looks like a lot more work than just folding. But that may be because I can't get it to work and I'm just jealous.