Yes, instead of sitting down in the oh-so-practical office at my normal blogging spot, I carried my handy dandy laptop away from its comfy spot on the kitchen counter and together we found a comfier spot with a better view.
It's been a long time since I could sit peacefully in this room...for reasons explained in my last ranting post. Projects here, projects there, pieces of our life everywhere! And especially in the front room. You would think this would be the untouched room because our everyday lives hold very little for this room. It's mostly reserved for visitors, morning family scripture reading and prayer, sitting and waiting for visitors...waiting for scripture reading...and it is my favorite spot to just sit. Just sit and reflect, sit and be.
But, anyway, because it is not a space we use for a whole lot, I also end up dumping a whole lot here since it's out of the way! Unfortunate, but true. So, my spot to sit and be has been, for the past couple of months, unused for such things. Who wants to look at a solar oven yet unused, remnants of curtain packaging, random packings of diaper bags of outings past, and a sofa table still in front of the fire place even though it was only put there to make room for the Christmas tree (which, thank heavens, was actually put away in a timely manner this year)? So, I've avoided this room somewhat.
But today...I reclaimed it. Among other areas of the house. My mind is a much more peaceful one tonight than it was last night when I was contemplating moving just to not have so much space to clean and stay on top of.
I have those moments.
I'll have them again.
But anyway, today, my little ones went over to my mom's for some Grandma Trudie Time. It's definitely a favorite time.
And, while they chased her cat, made pictures with stickers, and strung beaded necklaces, I cleaned. And what a great cleaning day it was.
I text JC when I was back from dropping the children off to begin their adventures and told him I was giving him a play by play of my doings today. I thought I would stay super motivated if I knew he was aware of what I was getting done and how fast. It was my strange little way of competing with...nobody...
So, as a follow-up to my commitment yesterday to be more on top of house-ly things, I give you...
My Day.
(As reported to my other half.)
10:11am Me: Laundry load number one (kids' clothes) going. Starting on first load of dishes. Go!
10:34am Me: First load of dishes going. On to entry way.
10:55am Me: Entry way and stairs cleaned and swept, Clara's "Two Step" danced to, first section of entry way soaking for scrubbing, second load of laundry (our clothes) going. Sweating. On to front room!
(In explanation of the dancing, my dad recently introduced me to pandora radio and I carried this same handy dandy laptop around the house with me today as it played songs in an effort to create an ideal playlist for a day such as today.)
10:59am JC: You are zooming!
(JC runs around like a chicken with his head cut off at work. He does check his phone every once in a while though...and, as you can see, it's worth the wait. A quote from Rat Race.)
11:39am Me: Front room cleaned (yes, even the solar oven put away and water storage moved outside), dusted, vacuumed, long table moved back to the place it belongs, second section of entryway soaking to scrub, first section scrubbed. Sweating a lot. On to the mujaiv room!
11:40am Me: Um...that was supposed to say music room. Also, I listened to a Taylor Swift song and laughed about that patient of yours who says she's hot because she's "underdeveloped."
11:41am JC: You are awesome!
12:04pm Me: Music room cleaned, dusted and vacuumed. Second section of entry way scrubbed, third soaking, laundry and dishes still going. Feeling faint. Lunch break.
12:31pm JC: By the way, there is a cookie on the top shelf if you want it.
12:33pm Me: You are my favorite.
12:50pm Me: Lunch break over. Took more time than I should have and ate in front of "Jon and Kate Plus Eight." Cried a lot and now my cheeks are raw. It was so sad. Now I'm going to go clean some more. And maybe cry some more.
1:40pm Me: Next load of laundry going, open area in basement and ball pit and hallway cleaned and vacuumed, basement stairs and other stairs all scrubbed. Became annoyed with pandora's selection for me. Going to tweak my playlist then on to the kitchen. Pray for me. Haha
1:49pm JC: Meka-leka-hi-meka-hiny-ho
1:50pm Me: I concur.
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2:42pm JC:How's the kitchen treating you?
2:43pm Me: Brutally.
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4:00pm Me: Kitchen cleaned, swept, second load of dishes going, one section of kitchen floor scrubbed, second section soaking, love/hate relationship with the size of our kitchen reiterated, third load of laundry (sheets and blankets) drying, kids home, sitting down and visiting and playing with them. Breathing.
(To explain my love/hate relationship with my kitchen, I'll have you know that I love my kitchen. But i will also have you know that, using six large sized bath towels, it takes about ten sections to do my floor. I arrange the towels, let them soak, scrub the floor as I pull them up a while later, rearrange them on the next section of floor, and continue. Ten times. This is when I hate my kitchen.)
5:11pm Me: Third section of kitchen floor scrubbed, fourth soaking, kids fed and full of energy, kitchen re-cleaned after making dinner, baseboards and walls in kitchen entry and around table washed, barbecue sauce that's been there for two months gone...washing it off our beige walls and white trim made me realize that painting the wall behind the table red would be not only pleasing to the eye but functional for hiding such things. Let's put it in the books for next year. :)
5:55pm Me: Ben bathed, bathroom mirror washed (with Bethany's help), counters and sinks washed (with Bethany's help), toilet scrubbed (nobody wanted to help with that), James in bath. I hope your evening is going well.
6:04pm JC: All sounds great. What's for dinner?
6:05pm Me: ....what do you...think...is for dinner?
6:12pm JC: I thought the kids were having peanut butter and jelly and we were having Pei Wei.
6:19pm Me: You got it right! That was amazing. :) Well, except that the kids had leftover focacia bread dipped in spaghetti sauce with ham and pineapple on the side and a pickle for dessert. Other than that small descrepency you hit it right on the nose!
(If you can't tell, this portion of the conversation was our way of me letting him know that I had not gotten an actual dinner made and him acknowledging and understanding that.)
6:25 Me: Bethany's in the bath, the clean boys are playing happily and cracking up about something (so cute!), the bathroom garbage is emptied and washed out and the floor is swept. And Bethany is attempting to push boundaries and have her bathtime cut short.
A few minutes later, JC surprised me by calling to let me know he was on his way home! Earlier than usual, halleluia!
So, anyway, that was my Wednesday this week. I thought I would document what I got done...even if the bedrooms were still messy, the laundry is neither folded or put away but piled up in baskets in the laundry room, the playroom wasn't touched, the upstairs bathrooms are still waiting for a good scrub down and only about 3/4 of the kitchen floor got done.
(sigh)
But I don't mind so much. I worked my tail off all day like I said I would.
And that gives me hope that, by the time we are leaving our doors open to let in the cool autumn breeze, it will be blowing through a much more peaceful, orderly house than it has in autumns past.
There truly is a time and a season for everything. (If only I had a dime for every time someone has said that to me in recent years!)
3 comments:
Your house looked great when I was there yesterday! I could tell you worked your guts out! I really enjoyed reading this, and I think I will start reporting to you and Jimmy more often of what I am doing...it might make me get more done. :)
This made me laugh a lot. I loved the play by play. I had thoughts like... "I like to text all day too to keep my sanity," and "I don't like scrubbing floors at all because they are never clean," and "You feed your kids pickles for dessert?"
haha.
Word: Entriess. The secret door a man uses when arriving for a secret date with the french maid. Nothing adulterous of course...just secret.
i'm sitting here...at noon...reading this...and all i've done today is fed children, changed a diaper, and "helped" branson clean up the playroom.. and you have made me SO motivated!! and then tired. like, do i really want that kind of day? i had 1/2 of that day a week or so ago and i was POOPED! but the house looked way better. maybe i should exercise more. but thanks for the motivation and i hope some of the elbow grease has stuck and it isn't all undone by now.
oh, and i meant to tell you that you looked skinny in that pic when you went out for breakfast. that may have been before you gained a little back, but you're looking good!!
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