'Tis the Reason

I'm guessing you assume that I am talking about the 'reason for the season'. No... not today, but perhaps soon. I am talking about the reason my house is a mess.

It came to me like an epiphany. This is how the morning started:

I woke up with a bunch of motivation to 'get going'. Yea! Mornings are not my thing... so it took me a minute (okay an hour or so...) but by 8:00am I was up and running.

That is when I realized why the house is a disaster. Here is my quest to do laundry and the dishes. Two very basic, everyday chores that must be completed....or so you would hope.

I am dressed, ah.... now to grab the laundry basket in my room to take to the washer..."mom! Can I color on the computer?" No.... I pick up the basket and walk to the stairs.

(Screams from the girl's room) I run to check on them. Everyone is alive. I head back to take the dirty laundry downstairs. I actually get all the way to the laundry room when another child comes running in to say that the baby spit up all over. "I'll get it in a minute...." I casually say. But when they tell me it is up her noise, I decide to run to rescue the babe.

While I am upstairs I realize the babe has also exploded her morning diaper. So I change her. Oops! The diaper pail is overflowing. I go to put the baby in the living room to play and grab a trash bag.

I go into the kitchen to get a trash bag and realize I still haven't packed Alex his school lunch. I yell for him to bring me his lunchbox and unpack it.

I take the trash bag back to the baby's room and start to put it in the pail. The phone rings. It is my husband. He needs the number to (church/a friend/ the bank...). I put the trash bag down and head for the phone book. "Can I call you back?" I ask. The baby is being "moved" by her older sister and this is looking scary.

I scold the older sister for trying to move the baby and my son announces that his backpack is "missing."

Well... you get the point I hope. So, here I wake up with all this motivation and so far in the last hour these are my accomplishments:

Laundry is IN the laundry room, but not started.

I realized I have a lunch to make.

The baby is changed and rescued (twice).

The diaper pail has been emptied, but there is no new bag replaced. Good luck to the next diaper changer.

I am now on a hunt for a backpack - since school starts in 30 minutes.


So... an hour later my house still looks like crud, and some may argue it is even worse off.... At least I realized WHY it looks like this. I never get to finish a single blazing task!!


....Oh my goodness.... I still need to call my hubby back!!

All I want for Christmas.....

Okay, here's the thing: I do like to have a clean house.
I dream about having one. I imagine what a clutter-free, simply organized and tidy house would look like.

I imagine it, because I do not have it.

I have a pile of books (from my son's room) stacked 18 inches high in the livingroom. Why?? Good question. Ask the three little munchkins who put them there late last night for apparently no reason.

I cannot find my fingernail clippers. Generally they are in the bathroom. That is the logical place. But nooo.... that's not where they are now that I have a nail broken down to the base and really need to trim it before it snags every soft piece of material in the house.

In the past I have found muffin tins in the master bathroom. What?? I mean, c'mon kids....!

We have strewn coats, and paper, and socks, and toys in basically every room of the house. (UGH!)

That is just part of having four kids 6 and under I guess. I remember when we just had one little baby in our townhome. The ENTIRE home was model home clean for three weeks at a time. Now I can only manage to get one room clean at a time - EVER.

Ahh.... I say to myself.... the baby nursery is PERFECT. Clean, tidy, organized.
OOP! But wait, don't leave that room!!

The livingroom is clean and beautiful. The doorbell rings. What? You have to use the bathroom? Oh no!! The bathroom is disgusting! Don't go in there.... there is a gas station down the street. Think you can hold it???

The kitchen sees perfect cleanliness less often due the fact it is generally used more than O'Hare airport during the course of a normal day. Forget the days we actually cook. Like yesterday when we decided it would be "fun" to have the three older kids decorate Christmas cookies. Don't get me wrong. A ton of "fun" and memories. But the kitchen looks like something exploded.

Frankly, I'm tired. I'm tired of the pointlessness. I can't STOP cleaning...(obviously) but it would be nice to see a reward for your work. It would be so stinking AWESOME to clean a room and be able to SHOW someone. Before I can sneeze the room is usually torn to bits again. At least that is how it feels.

We have our kids clean their own rooms.... they help with other tasks.... but apparently our 'balance' is still 'off'. Oh well!

For now our master bedroom is less of a peaceful, romantic retreat than it is an obstacle course from bedside to bathroom. (Certainly makes a 2am pee more intersting.)

Does anyone relate? Did I only end up making you feel superior since your own home is so clean?? Do you look down on me now? :) If you can relate- then good. We are not alone. Let's stick together! Moms of messy houses - unite!

I have an idea. I'm gonna post this blog, and maybe, just maybe, see if I can find out what color laminate our kitchen counters are.....