My Beautiful (and possibly, sort of, occasionally frustrating) Mess
The other day, I came home from carting a kid to and/or from something and my other daughters were eager to show me a flyer that a "nice lady" had given to them in my absence. She was publicizing her services to clean house, walk dogs, pick up dog waste from our yard, and basically do all of the stuff we don't like to do around here. The girls were pretty sure I'd be interested in this service. As I gazed around our house, I wondered why on earth they'd consider our household in need of a cleaning service. I mean, I don't even actually work in the summer. We don't need to hire out for these tasks!
Except that.... Today I found myself walking across my wood floor and then wiping my feet on my carpet to dust off whatever had accumulated on my soles. As I gazed around my living room and perused my kitchen counters, I found odd collections of trinkets and "things" that had been taken out of the backpacks we had finally cleaned out the other day...the backpacks that had still stored whatever they brought home with them from the last day of school. Also, the Littlest Girl informed me that she "almost threw up" when brushing her teeth because there was a clump of toothpaste in their bathroom sink that also had "something green in it." Before all you clean house people judge me, remember that I spend about 50% of my day in my vehicle acting as chauffer. And also, the book I had requested through inter-library loan had finally come in...and I've had an old tyme school dress to try to sew...and Netflix. Priorities, people. I know how to make them.
With the reality of our semi-filthy home becoming more apparent as the blazing sun began to rise, I realized that today needed to be cleaning day. Not the kind of cleaning where you pick up stuff and wipe off the counters and wear flip flops all day to avoid sweeping. Don't even pretend I'm the only one who does that! Solidarity, sisters and brothers! No... Today was the day when we would vacuum, scrub the kitchen sink, and actually clean our many, many toilets.
The girls sort of try to be helpful on cleaning days. That sound you hear is someone laughing very loudly at my comic genius. Who am I kidding? They don't try to be helpful at all. Usually, I give them a task to do, such as finally putting the laundry away that I had lovingly delivered to their bedroom, and then they get "distracted" by their stuff and "forget" to actually put the laundry away. I can't even judge because I've forgotten to clean before when I got distracted by Barney's antics on "How I Met Your Mother." I *could* be a taskmaster and actually make them be more helpful, but I also have a secret issue with things like cleaning in that I like things done the right way and most of the time I am the only one who does it the right way. So, house cleaning mostly involves me doing most of the work and my kids hiding in their rooms pretending to clean them.
When I'm cleaning, I am always surprised by the things I discover during the process. You would think that I would be over the being surprised thing. I mean, it was about 15-ish years ago that I discovered a BM in a diaper that I was sure could not have possibly been produced by the tiny human wearing said diaper. Kids, however, have an uncanny knack for always upping the ante on weirdness. One time I was cleaning the bathroom and I discovered saran wrap placed in the bathroom cupboard. I believe someone tried to play the old saran wrap on the toilet bowl prank. The saran wrap is still there, actually, because I'm not sure how one might hygienically use saran wrap that has been stored in the bathroom for several months.
Today, my discoveries included a ball of twine that was sitting on the bathroom sink (why? what on earth? we probably don't want to know...), a wet spot on Middle Daughter's floor that she didn't realize was a dog accident and had walked across several times (awesome! Go wash your feet!), a massive pile of pencil shavings on the floor of the bathroom closet, and several sets of doll clothes that had been lovingly placed in the laundry for the laundry fairy to clean. I also rediscovered the piles of candy wrappers that someone, not anyone who lives at our house according to reports from people in the know, had placed into the desk drawers instead of the garbage can located approximately 15 feet away. Oh, and I found about 75 cents in someone's shorts pockets only I kept that and added it to the emergency diet coke fund that I have in my car.
Sometimes when I make these discoveries, I just feel despair. I mean, these people are going to be grown ups before we know it. One of them is going to be in 9th grade in just a few weeks and is two days away from being done with driver's education class. These humans who manage to get mostly good grades and are considered to be reasonably decent children cannot be bothered to throw their garbage away in an actual garbage can. They can't accurately identify a wet spot in the carpet and then act upon that discovery with the urgency that such a discovery requires. They don't even check to see if the dishes in the dishwasher are dirty and just set them on the counter most of the time. One of them, just the other day, asked me how to wash a dish. And the toilet paper rolls! Why, for the love of all that is good, is no one in this house capable of replacing a used up toilet paper roll? Actually, the Littlest Girl apparently does that one because she was complaining about being "the only one" who changes the toilet paper in their bathroom. Sweet baby Jesus, who am I even raising? How can they be so clueless about basic cleanliness and housekeeping?
I try to find meaning in everything in my life. When things happen, I look for the lesson or the hidden blessing. I've thought and thought and thought about what I could possibly learn from sharing a home with three humans who appear to be part tornado. It was hard, I tell you. It is difficult to find the blessing in cleaning out melted sucker that was stored in the side compartment of my car. But, the blessings are there. They always are. Today, when I found the twine, I tried very hard to figure out why it might be in there and I could not find one possible reason. I knew, however, that someone had fetched it from the garage in the fit of some sort of creative genius and it was surely used to bring an artistic vision to life. When I saw the pencil shavings, I realized that someone must have decided to clean out their pencil sharpener, but had missed the garbage can in the process. Someone was actually cleaning her room instead of just hiding out! When I found the doll clothes, I sighed a wistful sigh because right now I only have one girl who would have put her doll clothes in the laundry because two girls are mostly grown out of that kind of play. What a very precious discovery! As for the rest, what better way to be needed because these girls would surely live in a pig sty of epic proportions if not for their parents?
I'm not saying I wouldn't be thrilled if people around here actually started making use of the real, live garbage can on a regular basis. I also realize that I need to let go of the need for things to be done "right" so some girls can learn how to actually do housework and take pride in that work. But, I also feel super lucky to have three girls who have wild imaginations, endless creativity, and who trust me to clean up all their messes, literal and figurative, and love them through it all. The phrase "Beautiful Mess" is perhaps overdone and overused, but it seems to capture these moments so very well. I honor the beautiful mess that is our lovely home, but I still want someone, anyone to Puh-Lease stop putting empty boxes of cereal back into the pantry.
Except that.... Today I found myself walking across my wood floor and then wiping my feet on my carpet to dust off whatever had accumulated on my soles. As I gazed around my living room and perused my kitchen counters, I found odd collections of trinkets and "things" that had been taken out of the backpacks we had finally cleaned out the other day...the backpacks that had still stored whatever they brought home with them from the last day of school. Also, the Littlest Girl informed me that she "almost threw up" when brushing her teeth because there was a clump of toothpaste in their bathroom sink that also had "something green in it." Before all you clean house people judge me, remember that I spend about 50% of my day in my vehicle acting as chauffer. And also, the book I had requested through inter-library loan had finally come in...and I've had an old tyme school dress to try to sew...and Netflix. Priorities, people. I know how to make them.
With the reality of our semi-filthy home becoming more apparent as the blazing sun began to rise, I realized that today needed to be cleaning day. Not the kind of cleaning where you pick up stuff and wipe off the counters and wear flip flops all day to avoid sweeping. Don't even pretend I'm the only one who does that! Solidarity, sisters and brothers! No... Today was the day when we would vacuum, scrub the kitchen sink, and actually clean our many, many toilets.
The girls sort of try to be helpful on cleaning days. That sound you hear is someone laughing very loudly at my comic genius. Who am I kidding? They don't try to be helpful at all. Usually, I give them a task to do, such as finally putting the laundry away that I had lovingly delivered to their bedroom, and then they get "distracted" by their stuff and "forget" to actually put the laundry away. I can't even judge because I've forgotten to clean before when I got distracted by Barney's antics on "How I Met Your Mother." I *could* be a taskmaster and actually make them be more helpful, but I also have a secret issue with things like cleaning in that I like things done the right way and most of the time I am the only one who does it the right way. So, house cleaning mostly involves me doing most of the work and my kids hiding in their rooms pretending to clean them.
When I'm cleaning, I am always surprised by the things I discover during the process. You would think that I would be over the being surprised thing. I mean, it was about 15-ish years ago that I discovered a BM in a diaper that I was sure could not have possibly been produced by the tiny human wearing said diaper. Kids, however, have an uncanny knack for always upping the ante on weirdness. One time I was cleaning the bathroom and I discovered saran wrap placed in the bathroom cupboard. I believe someone tried to play the old saran wrap on the toilet bowl prank. The saran wrap is still there, actually, because I'm not sure how one might hygienically use saran wrap that has been stored in the bathroom for several months.
Today, my discoveries included a ball of twine that was sitting on the bathroom sink (why? what on earth? we probably don't want to know...), a wet spot on Middle Daughter's floor that she didn't realize was a dog accident and had walked across several times (awesome! Go wash your feet!), a massive pile of pencil shavings on the floor of the bathroom closet, and several sets of doll clothes that had been lovingly placed in the laundry for the laundry fairy to clean. I also rediscovered the piles of candy wrappers that someone, not anyone who lives at our house according to reports from people in the know, had placed into the desk drawers instead of the garbage can located approximately 15 feet away. Oh, and I found about 75 cents in someone's shorts pockets only I kept that and added it to the emergency diet coke fund that I have in my car.
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| The Mystery Twine |
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| The doll clothes <3 |
I try to find meaning in everything in my life. When things happen, I look for the lesson or the hidden blessing. I've thought and thought and thought about what I could possibly learn from sharing a home with three humans who appear to be part tornado. It was hard, I tell you. It is difficult to find the blessing in cleaning out melted sucker that was stored in the side compartment of my car. But, the blessings are there. They always are. Today, when I found the twine, I tried very hard to figure out why it might be in there and I could not find one possible reason. I knew, however, that someone had fetched it from the garage in the fit of some sort of creative genius and it was surely used to bring an artistic vision to life. When I saw the pencil shavings, I realized that someone must have decided to clean out their pencil sharpener, but had missed the garbage can in the process. Someone was actually cleaning her room instead of just hiding out! When I found the doll clothes, I sighed a wistful sigh because right now I only have one girl who would have put her doll clothes in the laundry because two girls are mostly grown out of that kind of play. What a very precious discovery! As for the rest, what better way to be needed because these girls would surely live in a pig sty of epic proportions if not for their parents?
I'm not saying I wouldn't be thrilled if people around here actually started making use of the real, live garbage can on a regular basis. I also realize that I need to let go of the need for things to be done "right" so some girls can learn how to actually do housework and take pride in that work. But, I also feel super lucky to have three girls who have wild imaginations, endless creativity, and who trust me to clean up all their messes, literal and figurative, and love them through it all. The phrase "Beautiful Mess" is perhaps overdone and overused, but it seems to capture these moments so very well. I honor the beautiful mess that is our lovely home, but I still want someone, anyone to Puh-Lease stop putting empty boxes of cereal back into the pantry.
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