Daisypath Anniversary tickers

April 07, 2008

It's a Beautiful Morning...

Just not at our house. The digital camera is in BB's car or I'd post some pictures of the wonderful GRAY, SNOWY day we woke to.

I can't really complain though. It is only snowing off and on (on as of right now), and it's not sticking to the roads. Due to the warm snap we had late last week, the ground, while still frozen, is warm enough that the snow sits on top of the grass (which is getting greener every day!) and melts right away from sidewalks and streets. My deck is covered with about 1/8 inch of this snow, which is really wet. I'm thankful that its not sticking for that reason alone! My tree branches will not break under the weight, and I don't have to worry about family members shoveling snow and hurting their backs or inducing heart attacks.

The sky is absolutely leaden, telling me that my favorite weather gal might just be wrong about the "sun peeking through" at times today. We have yet to see it...

As a result of this gray and yucky morning, I made "sunshine in a bowl" (my fancy name for scrambled egg with cheese) for Captain Chaos' breakfast, have bathed and dressed both children and the Captain is happily playing with his toys and "watching" "My Friends Tigger & Pooh" on the Disney channel. Seriously, does anyone else have issues with a GIRL being their friend? Why couldn't Christopher Robin be on the show and be a Super Sleuth? And when did the Heffalumps become friends with the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood? Last time I read The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the Heffalumps and Woozle were NOT friendly, and in fact, everyone that lives in the Hundred Acre Wood were VERY SCARED of them...now Lumpy, a young Heffalump, is friends with them? Perhaps I should watch The Tigger Movie, and the other one about the Heffalump adventure or whatever its called...we have them both...

Back to the children. I do NOT recall Captain Chaos being opposed to nudity or bathing except in the first few weeks of his life. By the age of 3 months, he was mad when I took him OUT of the tub/seat and started drying and dressing him...not Tiny Princess. Seriously, the girl flat out SCREAMS when she's either naked or in the tub. It is not cold in her room, nor is the water one extreme or the other temperature wise. I have tried all manner of ways to bathe the girl, and how exactly does one dress a screaming 3 month old without first removing the onesie, to replace it? If you have tips on ways to change a shirt without leaving her torso exposed for a short time, PLEASE leave me a comment!!!! I can do the other articles of clothing with little time of nakedness in between dirty coming off and clean going on, but seriously...without cutting off her shirts, I'm clueless! SIGH...

After calming the girl down, and giving her a 2nd breakfast, and getting her back to sleep (I love this stage where they sleep most of the time...I can stare at her without seeming like a freak), I decided to clean my kitchen. Now you might think all I do is clean. Trust me, that is FAR from the truth. Besides, anytime BB is home, the house goes to pot because the man seriously does not pick up after himself. At all. Ever...no matter what I may have said in the past...he has NO CLUE about the debris trail he leaves behind. I can track him anywhere, anytime...and give you his full schedule, including what he ate, drank, and what time he went to the bathroom. I can even tell you when it is not a "short" break. He was home all weekend, and we were outside much of the day Saturday and yesterday, so we are both guilty of tracking dry grass and dirt in and out of the various entrances, but I think I at least tried to brush most of it off, and wipe my shoes on the mat...I don't know if he even knows we have doormats. As a result, this morning has been spent putting his dirty clothes in the hamper, his Kleenex in the trash can, his glasses and dishes in the dishwasher, and his used napkins in the trash also. I then moved to the putting away of his magazines. The man receives 6 subscriptions. All of which arrive on the same weekend. All of which must be saved, so he can either cut out and file the articles which have projects and tips that he will use, OR so he can scan them and burn them to a DVD at a later date for future reference. As a result, we now have ALL of his backissues, all of his current issues, and several that he has inherited from my father stacked, stored and generally laying around my house, cluttering up the surfaces and storage space that we could be using for things that might actually be important, like our past income tax paperwork, and all the other files of things that he thinks we need to keep. I can understand the need to keep income tax related items, and the bills. To a point. HOWEVER...when even a licensed TAX ACCOUNTANT that now works FOR THE IRS says don't keep anything that is not directly related to your tax filing for more than the calendar year in which it was created, with the exception of items relating to your home, or bank accounts. HOWEVER, we have EVERY receipt and statement from the time BB left home after high school graduation...that is 14 YEARS of bank statements, utility bills, credit card bills, insurance statements, paperwork from the shops for every oil change, for every car/motorcycle he has ever owned. Now, I ask you, WHO CARES if you can prove you had insurance on a car you haven't owned for 8 YEARS?!??!?!?!?!

I digress...see what his cluttering does to me?!?!? UGH!

After I picked up his trail, and started laundry, I changed the beds, dusted the bedrooms and scrubbed the bathrooms (ok, not scrubbed, but cleaned the sinks, tub/shower, and toilets. I only have to do floors upstairs. I then realized that had only taken me about 20 minutes. FOR REAL...20 minutes to clean 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms! I moved downstairs, dusted everything, including PICKING UP the nicknacks and dusting them, as well as under them, picked up the toys that Captain had trailed around that I had missed at bedtime last night, and realized that I had only used up another 25 minutes. I drank a large glass of water, read the newspaper, promptly recycled it, and decided to scrub my kitchen. I still wonder how it is that I can wash the stove and counters after every meal, dry and wet Swiffer the entire floor at least once a day (around the table after every meal) and it can still get SO DIRTY!

I cleaned off the counter, and loaded up my kitchen table, scrubbed the counter tops with hot soapy water, rinsed and DRIED them. Washed the inside and outside of the small appliances (coffee maker, can opener, microwave, toaster oven) as well as the outside of the dishwasher, stove, and fridge. I even cleaned out the fridge, washed all the bins and shelves, dumped questionable leftovers, and rearranged the stuff! I washed the fronts of my cabinets, I even climbed up on the stepladder and took down the decorative items I have on top of my upper cabinets, washed, dried and put them back! I put everything back in it's place, scrubbed my kitchen table, including the apron and legs, not just the top. I washed the chairs and oiled them. Then, I began the floors. Now normally, I use my Swiffer and get all the food crumbs and pet hair every morning. I then follow with a wet Swiffer to get up all the sticky spots from spills and Captain Chaos' meals. That is done at least once a day...depending on what I'm cooking, sometimes after each meal. Today, I did that, and then I broke out the big guns...I got out the "real" mop, not a sponge mop, those are disgusting bacterial breeding grounds and I will never have in my house again. No, I have a big, flat mop with a triangle head, that gets covered with a variety of covers, depending on what I'm doing. I used them all today...the "general" washing cover that I use with a special hardwood floor cleaner, followed by a microfiber "sanitizing" cover that gets used with a special sanitizing spray (its basically vinegar & water), followed by the "polishing" cover...this one gets used with a special oil/wax stuff that actually polishes the floor without having to be on my hands and knees. I was so inspired by my clean kitchen that I moved into the front entry way and repeated the process...every thing is shiny clean, dust free, smells divine (clean, not scented like cleaners or air fresheners) and all I have left to do is vacuum the carpets.

I have now been online, taking a break for about 45 minutes, which means that I started cleaning my house at 8am, and was DONE before 11am. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN MY LIFE. Even when I was younger and living at home, and had to take my turn cleaning the shared bathroom, or cleaning up after the dog in the yard, as well as clean my room, I was at it all day...somehow, someway I think I finally get what my mother tried so hard to instill in me all those years of my life. IF YOU PUT THINGS AWAY WHEN YOU ARE DONE, CLEANING THE HOUSE TAKES MUCH LESS TIME. How simple is that? I mean, for real...all I have to do is put the empty milk bottle in the box on the porch for the milkman to pick up WHEN WE DRINK THE LAST GLASS? Put the paper in the recycling bin when I'm done with it? Wipe up the counter right away? Put my dirty clothes in the appropriate spot when I take them off (I actually get undressed in the closet now, and put them right into the hamper and grab my jammies off the hook by the door)? Make sure the clean laundry gets folded as soon as I can after it comes out of the dryer (admittedly, somedays that is several hours later due to needy children), and then put away?

How is it that I heard that EVERY DAY of my life for the first...ummmm...25 years, and it JUST NOW SANK IN after almost 6 years of marriage, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and 2 children?

I am NOT impaired in anyway by a long shot...I am not stupid. I guess I'm just lazy after all.

It follows my similar revelation about fitness. If I sit around all day and eat food of whatever type, I will gain weight and feel yucky about myself, and get sick more frequently. HOWEVER, if I DO SOMETHING each day, I will NOT gain weight, I might actually lose some, and I will feel good about myself, and will be healthier in general.

OK...this is a really long post for a Monday, so I'll shut up...for awhile, but I'll be back...so watch out, I may make you feel guilty about something that's hanging over your head yet!

As I'm looking out the mostly clean (still haven't washed them yet) window in BB's office the snow has changed to those big, fat, fluffy flakes that you only see on TV or in movies (thank you instant potato flakes!) and it is coming down quite heavily again. I think we'll have chili for dinner tonight, with some homemade cornbread...or else tortilla soup...I'll go throw some chicken in the crock pot to make something yummy...its supposed to be like this until Thursday night...

Toodles!

3 comments:

FarmWife said...

Yikes, girl! I really need to learn that lesson. My house is in shambles & with the weather being so wonderful, I have no intention of doing anything about it. I'd rather go out & play.

(Sorry about the snow...yuck.)

What I really want to do is nap.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations girl!! You're doing great!!

Kork said...

I hope you had a nap Farmie...and don't worry, someday, before you're old and gray, you'll get it...right now you've got bigger fish to fry!

I've always wanted to say that...