Biff is off on business tonight. Kids went to bed. I'm catching up on some e-mail, e-bay and even a little tacky television. Reality T.V. show? Yup. I'm watching a "Clean House" episode on T.J.'s Xbox! Good motivator! After seeing a show like this, I have no problem blowing through the house and decluttering some more. It's never enough. Never. There's always more on it's way in the door!
Always. Even now, tossing, tossing, tossing. The kids think I have a hefty bag attached to my hand!
It was so much easier when we used to sing the Barney song...clean up, clean up....da da dada da da. It was such a happy little song for all of us. I admit that back then I thought that I could be nominated as mother of the year! Just to show our kids how "fun" it was to pick up toys. I think that faded over the years....not just mother of the year but the enthusiastic picker uppers....and they're teens now!
Just the other day, Grace and I were chatting and she said, "You'd think we'd be so good at organizing after going to Montessori!" and "hmmmm?" That's when I blurted out,"Maybe if I had gone to Montessori too things would have been different!"
That night, the kids had some friends over before the football game. We had pizza. We had some juice drinks. We had lots of laughter. We had 2 dogs. We had 2 kitties. We had one fish quiet in his room. We had Biff and I and our kids and their friends together in the kitchen.....eating pizza, telling stories, laughing and joking. We were sorry to have to leave for the game....it was a joy to be with such fresh faced, cute, funny, smart, hysterical, sarcastic, sweet, friends of our 2 teens. Our house isn't perfect all of the time....maybe none of the time.
It's clean. It's just hard for me to promise soap opera perfection. It's o.k., we can always blame it on the dogs. "We have 2 goldens!" we say to worn people. Those with homes of perfection don't usually have dogs that are the ever loving, large shedding pooches.
We're a little suspicious of those really big neat freaks.....don't they have anywhere to go? Don't they have friends? Why do they have so much time on their hands. Just kidding. Really, I'm in awe of them.
Our house isn't perfect, it's lovely...just not the shiny. sparkling variety! But with a giant jar of Crayola crayons on the kitchen table and plenty of paper, no one really cared!
The house might have a few paw prints on a rainy day...but it's our home. We love having fun with friends here. I think that's what matters. Fill the house with friends and no one cares about our antiques or sterling silver dinnerware. Our friends are happy with our fine china or paper plates....that's why we're friends!
Organization and decluttering is our challenge. Who knows why. A friend once told me that it's because I'm an artist and artsy, not perfect. True. I'm forever grateful to that friend!
We still have some kids' art in the kitchen. We still tack up happy notes on the fridge. I have a framed mother's day list that Grace made one mother's day morning....
"SPasiel list
1. get tray,
put on
2. make breckfast tray.
3. make coffie, put it on tray too
4. put a vase No watter!
and put fake flower
5. bring it to mom
MOM do not forget! mom MOMmommommommom mom mom mom"
I have it near the kitchen sink....just so I remember this sweetness when she "forgets" to take the dishes out of the dishwasher. We're a very long way from our Barney days! And Montessori.
We still have a junk drawer and by God, T.J. found something he needed in it tonight....Praise the Lord in the heavens above! Even T.J. had to laugh.
It's home. By the way, I turned off that show....those people were too messy! I feel so good, I may not have to clean! Oh wait, the dishwasher is finishing up now....I just might have to empty it before bed....maybe I'll give Grace the day off....after reading her sweet thoughtful note, I feel the love....even if, at 15, she's not too sure about that love......
Oh well, we love our family....and that makes it a great home. I'm grateful. Thanks for making me wake up and smell the flowers....even if it was a "vase with no watter!" with "put fake flower".....that's home.
