There's this great woman out in the blogshpere somewhere named Brenda.
http://familyrevised.blogspot.com
She has noticed, as have all of us, that since we tend to put our best feet forward on our blogs sometimes people can get the wrong ideas about how things REALLY are at our house.
I think that I share enough about my failings and the failings of my children that most of you know that I am not Supermom. However, for any of you who still believed I was...This is my contribution to Keepin' It Real. (and no, I will not be posting pics. My computer just had a new hard drive put in and I haven't had time to download the pic program again.)
I used to keep an almost spotless house due to the fact that my husband preferred it that way and asked me to try to keep it that way. :) It was pretty easy when we lived in a 1644 sq foot house with a small yard and I only had 2 boys. :) Even the top of the fridge and deep freezer was dusted once a week. (sickening isn't it) We never wore our shoes in the house so keeping the floors clean wasn't a prob. The kids didn't take food out of the kitchen and I would IMMEDIATELY clean up any and all crumbs after someone had finished eating. :) The laundry was never piled up. Now, I did have clutter in places because I am prone to that but my house was so clean that you could eat off the floors. Really. I even completely wiped down the fridge once a month. (Inside and out)
Now, for those of you who do all this naturally I am going to say that I tend more toward clutter and slob. I can exist in a far more chaotic environment than my husband can. So, for me, this was NOT easy. :)
Then a few things happened to change all of this...
First, I had my third boy. Laundry suddenly exploded out of everywhere! Why is it that the 3rd child makes such a difference with the laundry situation?
Second, We moved to a 4600+ square foot house on 11.47 acres.
Thirdly, Gideon started walking and immediately became my most destructive child yet. heehee
As if all of those factors weren't enough, only 1 out of my 3 boys slept through the night when we moved here 2 years ago and my firstborn had only slept through the night a few times in his ENTIRE 4 years of life. So, factor in the lack of sleep thing and you have a recipe for STRESS!
Under all that stress I became frustrated and angry. I spent all day cleaning and had NOTHING to show for it. So, one day I explained to my husband that I was going to go CRAZY if I tried to keep it the way he really liked it. He understood. He told me to relax and just do what I could...
So, now the laundry does pile up, I cannot remember the last time I dusted the top of the fridge, in the inside of the fridge I have science experiments growing, there are often crumbs on the floor. The best part is that my kids like to wear mismatched socks. They call them rainbow socks. :) So, I don't even put thier socks in their drawers anymore. There is a big pile of socks on the floor in my bedroom and they just come in and grab a "pair". It solved the whole where did the matching sock go thing. :) I often go to Walmart and forget to have my kids comb their hair and usually it's sticking up/out. I often forget to brush their teeth. Sometimes I even forget mine. :O. Anyway, this is far too much info for y'all. Just know...I'm no SUPERMOM and no SUPERWIFE. Just Keepin' It Real Ladies (and gentlemen)!! God bless! -Angela :)
13 comments:
Well, heaven help me if I ever have a third child! You should see my laundry room now!
Seriously? You cleaned the top and inside of the fridge when you had 2 children?????
I'm still trying to grasp that one.
Glad you joined the "normal people". Tee hee!
Thanks for joining in today and fessing up! (Oh, and my first child was always SO clean and combed. Now...we get to the store and I look at them and say, "Oh." I understand.)
Believe me Brenda...I always was "normal". I was just trying to bless/honor my husband. He really cannot function in a messy house. It's like his brain shuts down. I still try to keep it under control but, sigh, it's tough. The older boys are a big help but as soon as we are done with one room we realize that Gid has ravaged two more while we were working on that one. :)
At my house, it's *me* that has a tough time functioning in a messy area....but since the girls came along and working full time, I let the housework slide to spend time with the kids. It's still very livable, and I'm never embarrassed if somebody just drops by the house, but it's not quite up to my standards. There is plenty of time to clean when the kids are all grown up and moved away :-(
You're the best Angela! Thanks for Keepin' It Real.
Seriously Angela, I was going to e-mail you and tell you that I like the way you clean house,Certain chores on Monday, another chore as dusting on Tuesday and so on so that you were not cleaningon week ends yet every chore was done during the week. Being from back East I washed on Monday's ironed on Tuesday's (obviously with dryers I skip that chore) Thursday clean upstairs, Friday clean downstairs, Saturday try to straighten out every where and shop for the week. Wed. & Thurs. were odd job days (clean out a fridge, wash off patio, bake etc., and after all that it seemed my house was still a mess all the time. Whew I'm tired just writing this. I just want to say every time I've seen your house it's always been neat as a pin and I like your schedule for keeping it that way.
Card Grandma
I forgot to mention between all the chores in comment 5 I took care of 7 children and a husband such as cooking 3 meals a day, 7 days a week changing diapers when they were little and all the other things that go along with raising kids.
Point being, I still like the way you schedule doing your housework.
Card Grandma
Mom, (card Grandma is my MIL)
Of COURSE the house was clean when you were here. lol
You're company and you're my husband's MOTHER for goodness sake. :):):)
I don't know how you managed to keep up back then. You had 4 more children than I do, you didn't have disposable diapers, AND you didn't have a dryer.
Makes my tired just thinking about it. :)
Yes, the schedule sure does help. Plus, the boys know what we need to do each day.
Thanks for the encouragement! Love ya!
The only time I ever think about cleaning the top of the fridge is when my husband's friend that's 6'7" comes over. It's right where he can see it. And it's not until he's standing in the kitchen that I think about it. I should just have him do it since I'm usually feeding him dinner anyway. Know any single women who are looking for a tall guy?
My house is never all clean. If you come over and the living room and kitchen are clean, beware of the other rooms. My MIL has been cleaning out her attic and brought over ton of stuff that I guess she thought we needed so it's all in my living room floor now. Right now I am pleased with myself if I keep up with all the laundry and dishes and we eat three times a day. Dusting is a non-issue for the time being.
Angela,
My mom taught me to attend to the top of the fridge, and I do (every now and then) but get this. My grandmas cleans UNDER her fridge. Like once or twice a week!!! It rolls out and I guess they have a long cord, but I know that I have NEVER cleaned under my fridge. : ) That is a whole other level of house cleaning!
Ash
UNDER huh? Wow. I have to admit that Michael has asked me from time to time to do that; but unless he had asked I would NEVER have given it a thought. Even my sparkling clean husband doesn't clean it more than once a year or two. :):)
I have a sock basket and never sort anyone's socks. They just dig through and find some. We don't mind mismatched one's either, well, except my 11 year old daughter. She would NEVER wear a mismatch.
Thanks for sharing,
Julie
Julie,
Welcome! I hope you come back. :)
I'm glad I'm not the only mismatched sock mom around. :)
We don't even have children in our home and I can't keep up with it. Should God ever bless us, I can't imagine what it will look like!
as for under the fridge..."they" say that you need to keep it dust free... something about the motor being down there and being more energy efficient and extending the life of the fridge. However, I saw major dust bunnies under mine a few weeks ago, so don't think I abide by my info. I still have not moved it to tackle the things living under there.
Have a great (rainy..yeah for rain!) weekend!
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