Books, empty yogurt tube wrappers, crayons, hair accessories
of all kinds, fire trucks and bouncy balls.
Among the dust and crumbs that accumulate on my floors and
under my couches, these are some of the many hidden treasures that I often
find- forgotten, misplaced or simply stashed away in hiding spots all over my house.
The fact that my 2 and 4 year old can occasionally make my house look like a
frat house is just the honest truth.
Most of my Mom-friends will agree with me when I say that uninterrupted
cleaning is THE BEST kind of cleaning and often very hard to come by. So in the
hour that I had to myself the other day, before my kids came home from school, I
was in my kitchen, frantically trying to peel stickers off the floor and give
my house some much needed TLC. Then it dawned on me- I am fully slipping in the
house cleaning department.
This is no exaggeration. The laundry is piling up (and
unfortunately, not folding itself). I don’t mop my floors as often as I should.
The same can be said for vacuuming. I can’t remember the last time I cleaned my
blinds and the dust bunnies living behind the TV really, really need to be
evicted.
I could go on.
It’s so easy for my moments of self-reflection to turn in a
negative direction- ‘I should be better
than this’. I should do a couple loads of laundry every day’. ‘I should make a
cleaning schedule and try my best to stick to it’. ‘I need to set a better
example for the kids’. And again, I could go on.
But honestly, my harsh reality is this – I’m doing the
best that I can.
I don’t (and wouldn’t EVER) claim to have the cleanest
house. I have my share of junk drawers and closets that need gutting. I skip
laundry days because by the time the kids are in bed and I’m finished working,
mothering, juggling, etc. I’m seriously just too exhausted to worry about the
clothes that are waiting to be folded. Don’t get me wrong- I LOVE a clean house,
I clean as frequently and as often as I can and I certainly don’t do everything
by myself. My kids are fantastic helpers and so is my husband. But let’s face
it- life is just too busy to have a perfectly immaculate, mess-free house, every.single.day.
I’ve learned (and am still learning) to appreciate the
chaos. As much as I’d love to fake it and pretend to have all of my sh*t
together- I can’t. I don’t. And that’s totally okay with me. My home is my safe
haven from the pressures of needing to be “perfect” and the people in it remind
me that the mess is okay- that there’s beauty among madness.
So there it is- my messy truth.
But I’m hoping that there are people out there who are like
me. People who aren’t ashamed of not having it all together. People who sometimes
forget to change the laundry and who will occasionally forgo an afternoon of
cupboard reorganizing and baseboard cleaning because taking the kids to the
park, to a movie, to a party – anything, is way more fun. And people who know
that it’s totally okay to see the value in making messy memories with your
family rather than stressing about the clean-up.
 |
| This is what happens when you live with a 2 year old and a 4 year old and skip a week of sweeping. |
So here’s hoping that you find the time to stress less about
the chaos and just enjoy the beauty of the moment. And when you get around to
cleaning, grab a few extra hands, turn up the Hit List and have just as much
fun with the clean up as you did while making the mess.
XO
M
