- I’ve been busy as a bee the past hour or so doing my absolute favorite thing: cleaning house. You may insert sarcasm here. It’s not like I want to do it. I feel like I have to! The house is kinda like how you’ve heard me describe the kitchen. One meal causes a mound of dishes that spills out of the tiny sink and litters every single space of counter. Well, the rest of the house is the same. It doesn’t take long with 4-5 people living here for small messes to multiple into an episode of Hoarders. Every single area of unoccupied space begins to vomit up piles of baby stuff: bassinet, blankets, burp clothes. They multiply. Toddler items underfoot: toys, tiny shoes, half eaten pieces of string cheese, and a collection of sippy cups. My discarded shirts that are covered in spit up and snot trail out of the overflowing laundry basket. Ben’s massive collection of shoes (all covered in flour) and competing collection of toboggans cover the sofa and open floor spaces beneath. It all begins to pile up together and close in on you as you walk by. You begin to fear for your safety and sanity. You could swear the pile of laundry grew arms, shook an angered fist, and growled at you as you threw another pair of undies on top. Did that talking Dora doll really just say “Brie, are you ever gonna wash your hair?”
- The impending storm brought me a wonderful, unexpected present: a night off for my husband. Then the baby decided to nap for 2 hours outside of the comfort of my arms! These grand surprises allowed me to clean up the above mentioned mayhem. Ben did the kitchen which helped me tremendously and gave him “man bragging rights” for completing housework. Chloe helped by continuing to bring toys into the living room as I picked them up and put them away. She didn’t want me to not feel challenged enough. I discovered that a swiffer sweeper is great for homes without kids only. It does not work well on picking up play do, chicken nuggets, fruit snacks, or small plastic beads. Now where did those come from?! I discovered I need a new vacuum. I discovered that Ben fusses just as much as I do when cleaning the kitchen. That made me feel better. I discovered the pile of clean clothes didn’t take near as long to fold as I thought. I discovered I forgot to pre-treat the stains from the recent mud puddle incident and fear the stain is now set in. Dang. I discovered that after we finished, Ben and I could joyfully laugh about how in a day, the mess would return.
- I’m about to make tacos and sufficiently mess up the kitchen. Haha. For what has turned out to be such a nice day; it didn’t start that way. I found myself feeling extremely stressed out this morning. My day started with simultaneous visits from the pest control man and the cable guy. The joys of maintaining a happy home continue with keeping bugs out and Internet and Dora in. Then I discovered that my step-daughters siblings had been diagnosed with RSV. She had just spent the weekend with us, so I immediately feared re-infection of the girls. I thought, no way I can handle any more sickness. Then I noticed the air vents were blowing out bone cold air while the heat was on. I wondered why my heat would decide to go out on such a cold day as this. Bailey wouldn’t stay down for a nap on her own. She of course woke right when I was getting a wet Chloe out of the tub. The mounds of growing mess were closing in on me and starting to threaten my sanity. I questioned how I could tackle such a mess. I felt myself being grumpy and short tempered. Thankfully, before I let it get the best of me and yell too much at Chloe, I prayed for God to help me. I said “help me!” That simple. I prayed for Him to settle my nerves and calm my fears. I recalled verses that speak against fear and proclaimed them out loud. I don’t think a full five minutes even went by before I realized that a weight had been lifted. No fear. No anxiety. No anger. Only joy remained. My day could truly start. And I must say, it’s been a great one. On a side note to those concerned: my house is staying warm, so not sure what the vent thing was about.
That is all 🙂