Housekeeping (or not)...

I read a funny quote by Phyllis Diller, she said, “Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk while it’s still snowing!” Oh, how true is this?

I wish I were a more organized person. I often feel like I am a disheveled mess! I’m not talking OCD here, just a general sense of having a place for everything and trying to put things back where they belong. I often daydream about a place where things are put away, wiped off, dusted, scrubbed, folded, vacuumed, mopped, swept, and tidy… And, (now here’s the cincher) it actually stays that way long enough to sit down and enjoy it for more than ten minutes.

Unfortunately here in the real world, that is only feasible if I am constantly “picking up”. There is never a “sit down and enjoy it” time because in order to maintain that lovely atmosphere of divine organization, the only time I’d stop “keeping” the house I’d be asleep! To tell the truth, I don’t actually mind cleaning. I take great satisfaction in a sparkling bathroom, a pristine kitchen, an uncluttered living room, or a well kept bedroom. It’s the maintenance that does me in.

I often feel like I have a choice to make, between having a clean house and spending time with my family. If we do fun stuff either here or elsewhere, the house goes to pot! If however, I stay and focus my day on cleaning and organizing, I’m spending the majority of my day shooing them away! Maybe I should wake up an hour earlier? Or spend that hour in the evening after the little ones are down for the count, dusting and scrubbing and tidying? But then pray tell, when do I find (make) time to write? Or read? Or exercise? Or spend time with my husband? Or watch Parenthood for goodness sake??!! (Love that show BTW!)

Alas, I guess I am just destined to live in clutter and chaos for the next some-teen years! (Yes, in case you are wondering, I do hear all of those tiny violins playing just for me!) It’s either that, or get rich and hire a maid! Hmmm… now there’s a thought…

-Love