Fly on the Wall

Hey I am Moe the Fly. I have been stuck in this house for a few days now. There have been some interesting things going down here. One in particular, was a conversation that I witnessed last Thursday. I thought I would share it with you.

The lady of the house came in with the children. It appeared as if she had just been shopping, and with the help of the little lady was putting things away in the kitchen. She was on the phone talking with the husband. He was late getting home that day, but was about to return. She was in the kitchen when the man of the house entered through the garage door.

"Wow!!! Did you have a spurt of energy today? What made you want to clean so much? Are you in the nesting phase??? You better not be pregnant! I guess you just wanted to get ready for Karma's baby shower on Saturday."

The Mrs. just laughed. She knew the real answer. She didn't do it. She had two lovely ladies come and scrub away. She let it sink in to the husband a little bit more. The husband kept going on and on about how nice it was. The Mrs. just continue to chuckle to herself never directly answering the questions that the husband continued to ask.

He continued to be baffled at what came over his wife. She had sat down to feed the little man, and he questioned her again. She turned and looked at him sheepishly, and the real answer dawned on him. She began laughing, and then witnessed the torn expression.

First a great big grin spread across his face and out blurted "I like it!" Then his brow furrowed as logic set in...you see the husband suffers from post partum money depression...and this costs money. He really likes the idea, but is struggling with paying for it.

Overall he understood her plight. He knows it is hard to 'keep up', but I think he is willing to do this for her. I don't think I have seen the Mrs. this happy in a long time.

Permission or Forgiveness

There are many things that I feel inadequate about when it comes to me being a wife and mother. When I was young I always imagined being the 'perfect' wife. The one who always looked put together, who made home cooked meals every night, who kept her house sparkling clean.

Then I got married....then had 3 kids....and now I realize that I am far from that 'perfect' wife that I was sure that I was going to become. It is hard for me to admit that I can't do it all. There are days I am lucky to get a shower, nights where I have no idea what to cook, and my house is buried under piles of laundry, dishes, toys and dust.

It really was depressing to realize that no matter hard I tried...I just couldn't keep up. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful husband who goes to work everyday to earn enough money for me to stay home with my 3 little tornadoes. If I am home all day...then I should be able to do it??? For those of you who are able to do it...please help me out.

My sister has the same floorplan as me. She has a few ladies come every other week to her house. She suggested that I have Berta come and do mine too. Part of me didn't want to do it for a couple of reasons.

1. I didn't think Shawn would want to pay for something he thinks I should be able to do on my own.
2. If I did have her come...it would fully admit that I am a failure when it comes to this department

After much prodding by Nancy, and her friend Stacy...I finally agreed to have her come. The only problem is that I didn't tell Shawn. Yes I know, probably not the best idea, but I knew if I asked him, he would say no...and honestly I really needed it. So I decided was going to have to ask for Forgiveness rather than permission.

I have felt like I have been treading water (and it is not just from the move...I had this problem in our old house too). I felt like all I was ever was surface cleaning. Trying to keep up with everything was all I could do. It didn't seem to matter how much I tried to "manage my time better" it was never enough. I needed some help.

I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to come home from dropping Caden off from school today. 2 women worked on my house non-stop for 4 hours!!! That is 8 hours of cleaning that would have taken me even longer! Now I have to time get to some of the projects that I have been putting off, and spend more time with my kiddos because I don't have to scrub my floors. Some may think I am lazy, but this is just what I needed. Maybe this can help me get the self depracating tape that I have running in my head everyday. I sure hope Shawn feels the same way.

Wish me luck.

Tackle It Tuesday - Under TV Storage

When we bought our house it already had a built in Entertainment system. The whole bottom of it is cupboards, and since you can't see what is there unless they are open...it is a breeding ground for junk! So I decided to work on it for my tackle today. It is amazing the things that I hang on to. We had a ton of VHS tapes under there that we NEVER watch. In fact we don't even have a working VHS player. So those are off to donation along with some games that we never play, and other useless stuff. I am pretty proud of the results. What do you think?

BEFORE

AFTER

To visit other tackles...Head over to 5 Minutes For Mom!

I Confess...

Okay, okay...I admit it. I am not the best housekeeper in the world. I will be getting no awards or accolades. I am more likely to be featured in the next Clean Sweep of a person who is organizationally challenged. Shawn likes to think that I spend all of my time in front of the computer instead of cleaning. hee hee. That is not the case...I just have a 3 & 1 year old that make cleaning house a joy. Sometimes I wonder why I even try!

Anyway, I am now trying to get my house in order before we leave on our cruise. It has opened my eyes as to what I really need to clean. There are so many things that I want to do, but don't know if I will have the time. I just keep imagining that the people that will be watching Caden at our house will think we are so unorganized and yucky. So I have a new found determination to clean up my house! Occasionally I jump on the FlyLady bus, and today is one of those days.

Today is what she calls Weekly Home Blessing Hour. You are supposed to do the following things all in one hour...spending 15 minutes on each task. I don't know if I will get them all done in an hour, but hopefully I can get them all done by the end of the day. It really seems like I should be able to get them all done, but for some reason it takes me much longer than just an hour.

· Cull/Toss old magazines
· Change sheets
· Empty all trash
· Vacuum
· Mop/Sweep Kitchen and Bathroom Floors
· Clean mirrors and doors
· Dust

Then I am going to figure out what I want to do for Tackle it Tuesday tomorrow. Shawn thought my last weeks "tackle" was not really a tackle because it was just picking up the playroom. Yes, it wasn't as big as my first one, but it still took some work! He wants me to do our storage room...I want to too, but don't know if that will be the one tomorrow...stay tuned!

I am off to clean!