Spring Cleaning for the Soul : Love Lessons for Life

Joy Krause shares poignant and inspirational stories and simple truths learned from many years in the housecleaning business. PUBCOMMENT: Joy's stories about people she met during her years as a cleaning lady are a mixture of humor, sadness and bittersweet reflections on human nature. Theystrike a chord within all of us. Many people relate to the struggles, joys and tears.

AUTHCOMMENT: When I first became a cleaning lady, I thought it was the worst job on earth. However as time went on, I learned that happiness and abundance can be found right where we are at that moment.

INTRODUCTION: During my 20-year career, I've cleaned for priests, war heroes, taxidermists, rich people who went broke and broke people who became rich. I've cleaned funeral homes, lighthouses, haunted houses and everything in between and under a roof. I've been a psychologist, spy, scapegoat and confidante. Because dirt never goes away for long, my business grew until it became one of the largest of its kind in the Northeast.

Chapter 1 - Finding Diamonds in the Dust Chapter 2 - Cleaning Up Dirty Messes Chapter 3 - When Dreams Turn to Dust Vacuum Chapter 4 - Understanding the Labels Chapter 5 - Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Off and Start All Over Again Chapter 6 - Serving Leftovers Creatively Chapter 7 - Picking Pine Needles Out of the Carpet Chapter 8 - Dishing Out Love Chapter 9 - The Older the Broom, the Softer the Straw Chapter 10 - Sweeping a Street Corner Names "For Hire" Chapter ll - Unclutterizing Clutter Chapter 12 - Garlic The Universal Solvent Chapter 13 - Life in a Vacuum Sucks Chapter 14 - Dissolving Sticky Situations Chapter 15 - Welcoming Mustard Stains Chapter 16 - Polishing Metal, Medals and Mettal Chapter 17 - Sweeping Skeletons Out of the Closet Chapter 18 - Restoring Faded Slippers

My life had become an endless stream of errands and responsibilities, with little or no time for me. I complained a lot until I cleaned a little ranch house in the suburbs. That's when I learned to do more hugging and less tugging with my children.