In need of detox:
{There is this much food on the floor underneath my one year-old's high chair after every meal.
Thank God I have a dog.}
Sometimes I look around and just wonder how in the world it happens? How does a house get so destroyed in just 3 short days? And the scariest part is, today's only
{Clean me mommy! Clean me!}
I sometimes wonder, "how do people do it?" I only have two kids and it's madness here! Last night my husband & I were hanging out in the kitchen attempting to make a yummy Valentine's Day meal, just enjoying each other's company for a few short minutes, when the dog came in, soaked and covered in PINK stuff. And she smelled like strawberries!!
We followed her wet trail down the hall to our bedroom to find Christian (3 1/2) & Justin (1). Justin was also covered in strawberry-flavored pink stuff literally from head to toe.
Kids' toothpaste. Awesome.
It was really hard not to laugh- especially when after a quick glance around my bedroom I could see that my room was okay (only half-kidding)... And especially when it was one of the nicest-smelling messes our house has ever seen. So I sort of laughed and hid my head and this time Dave got to be the stern parent. All was well.
Christian has started reminding me of a little boy from Lord of the Flies. His hair goes wild at night and when he wakes up in the morning he rips all of his clothes off for his bath... but way earlier than need be. We just need a fire.
{Christian... }
But anyway... my question... how in the world do people do it?? I imagine nice calm breakfasts like in Lady & the Tramp where the family sits and eats and then everyone goes on their merry way. Each dish is put into the dishwasher and the beds are made. We rush around like crazy people in the morning and trash our house. Why??
Case in point: my husband just walked downstairs to where I am now writing, saying "I cleaned and I picked up, and I cleaned and I picked up, and I cleaned and I picked up..." (I got all excited here) "...and it's still trashed." oh. And then he walked down the hallway and I heard, "ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!" and I will not tell you what he found because I still have maybe half an ounce of self-respect left but let's just say the dog's in trouble.
The strangest part about all of this is... I'm coming to terms with the mess, which is a little scary. I know we fix it every week and I know it comes back every week. It's inevitable and I've found it interesting to observe that Thursdays really seem to be the culmination of the mess. (And a little freaked out to realize that today is only Tuesday and it looks a lot like a Thursday around here.)
So anyway... every so often I bring up this topic on the blog, because every so often I need to make changes. Sometimes I just want to sit down and give up on fighting the inevitable mess. (Ummm... and sometimes I do.) BUT, it's at times like this when we need to FIGHT THE FIGHT. (Yes, I'm pep-talking myself here.) I have to remind myself that if we don't keep cleaning, the goverment would have to come dig us out of our house. No really though... if we don't keep trying, life wouldn't be as great. It's hard to enjoy the people you love when the mess is eating them. We have to periodically come up with new solutions to force ourselves (and our family) to keep the house neater... to change our natural tendencies into ones that don't require detox Thursdays. I'm too tired to come up with any enlightening solutions right now, but my question is- how do you do it all?
ps- This post here from last year is a bit more helpful (as are the comments) if you're looking for some solutions to this problem! ;)