Why Bother!

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Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing 
is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.  
~Phyllis Diller

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I had to work on Saturday, so that meant a daddy and the girls day.  I didn't return home expecting dinner to be made or the dishes to be done.  However, I wasn't prepared for what I walked into in our living room.  He did preface my entrance with "I vacuumed and dusted the living room, but you'd never notice."

HOLY COW doesn't quite seem to cover the mess the girls had made.  It was as though every single toy had been touched, dropped, played with, moved, sat upon and then merely left where it fell.  The first thing I did was grab my cell phone to capture the mess.  I especially love how the drawer in the coffee table is pulled open without a thing inside, like someone ransacked our house looking for top secret information.  The belly up pillow pet might also be a personal favorite.

Never the less, my home doesn't always look like this.  Likely most often it does, that is, when no one is coming over.  I've given up.  Keeping up with the mess is time consuming and futile.  It stays clean for a matter of minutes and that's about it.  I can't imagine what this is like for people who have more children than I do!  How did my sister keep up with 4 kids?  

In reality, this has brought me to a deeper appreciation for clutter.  Life does continue to go on in spite of it.  I'll sling around a vacuum and dust cloth when life necessitates my doing so.  Otherwise, I'd rather spend the time enjoying my kids.  Even if that involves sore feet from stepping on thick puzzle pieces, pulled muscles from slipping on board books and three belly up pillow pets.

Comments

  1. Kerri FunkJanuary 14, 2011 at 1:25 PM

    I have often taken pictures of my house wondering where to start. I always say that my house is clean underneath (vacuumed, mopped, bathroom scrubbed)but hard to tell with all the toys everywhere. When my kids are grown and there is no more clutter with toys then I can keep the house clean but until then...enjoy the mess!!!!

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