Wanna know what I hate? People whose houses are clean ALL the time. You know them, even when you show up unannounced, their house is totally spotless. Where is all their kid's STUFF? Are the kids hidden away in the dungeon if they want to play? Do they spend their ENTIRE day following the kids around picking up after them? And it's not just the "stuff" that's missing when you come over; it's the fact that even the baseboards are dusted. HELLO?! My house is perpetually messy. I'm not an unorganized or dirty person, but I also have 4 BOYS and boys are gross and messy. Plus, I do have a life and lots to do each day. Here's a list of a few of the things I do (not necessarily all of them EVERY day)-Make sure the kids are dressed before school and get some semblance of breakfast (they seem to always forget socks), make lunches, get them to school, make the baby breakfast and get him and Peanut dressed (if Peanut picks out his own clothes, he ends up wearing a sleeveless shirt with church pants or something like that), shower/hair/make-up, exercise, post office, library, grocery store-sometimes even two if they each have different deals going on, returns to stores, laundry, lunch, dinner, laundry, dishes, picking up toys downstairs, vacuum, help with homework (because one gets EXTREMELY distracted if I don't read him each math problem, and the other one has to have me read the spelling words so he can spell them back to me and has to do out loud reading), did I mention baseball practice for TWO kids on the same day at the same times, oh, and scouts of course. So when do I have time to dust the blinds or ceiling fan? So this is what my house looked like yesterday-

Jo Jo followed me into the laundry room. I had unloaded everything from the dryer into a basket so I could fold it, and while I was doing this, he decided to start THROWING everything out of the basket with BOTH hands like a MADMAN. Then he thought he would be helpful and start putting the clean clothes back into the washer. He left the room for a bit and I put the clothes back in the basket, and then he came in and did it AGAIN. He also likes to remove ALL the books from both bookshelves in his older brother's room. Another favorite past time is to remove ALL the tupperware from underneath the cupboard (and we have a ton, not to mention I organize it by size and shape, so when he's done I have to re-do it). And if someone forgets to put the rubberband back on the game cupboard (that's what we use to keep the doors shut togther to keep him out), he unloads every game and remote. And he does all of this with both hands at full speed EVERDAY.

Okay, this IS more than one day's dishes, but you get the point. Each week this job belongs to one of the boys, but inevitably they forget to do it at least once and I just leave it there for them to do the next day, which means the pile keeps getting bigger and starts smelling like sour milk. Of course, I get stuck doing it during Peanut's week, though sometimes he'll at least help load or unload. The third job is to clean the playroom, which usually isn't that bad since the big boys are gone all day and Peanut usually only takes out a couple of bins at a time. Although, the yesterday I went in there and Jo Jo had taken all the DVDs off the shelf and strewn them around the room.

Now, for the kitchen counter. It turns into the place we were leave EVERYTHING-mail, homework, books, magazines, empty pop cans, lunch boxes, and most of the time the boys leave food out instead of putting the boxes back in the closet. And they can't throw a wrapper away to save their lives or put their bowls or cups in the sink. The table also contains homework, books, lots of snacks, crayons or pencils, and sometimes even cars. Oh and lots of sticky stuff and crumbs. Also, did you know that shoes, jackets and backpacks belong in the middle of the walkway from the mudroom (where there is a bench with cubbies specifically designed to hold these items)to the kitchen?

So, I give up. I cleaned off the kitchen counter and did the dishes yesterday (since Bubba left them sitting there so long I couldn't stand it anymore), and you know what? The counter looks like that again today. I'm resolved to the fact that for the next 17 yrs., my house will look like this on any given day, unless we're expecting you. Then I'll slave away and stress out for two days straight to make sure the house looks good enough to live in.