cleaning house

Cleaning house requires nerves of steel.

People are always encouraging you to keep what you don't need "just in case."  You start to doubt yourself and before you know it, the "to go" pile is two-deep and the "keep" pile is a bigger mess than you started with!

Making time to clean house is an entirely different battle.  Right about the time you get up the resolve to take out the trash and do some nitty gritty scrubbing, it seems like everybody in your life decides they "need" you.  Before you know it, you've not only put off cleaning, you've also added to your junk.  You've run out of time, patience and energy.

Of course, even if you are able to clean house, the old stuff often seems to find its way back inside.  And even if you keep out the old, new dust and grime settles in quicker than you can call on Mr. Clean (who might be otherwise preoccupied anyway!).  You look for backup support, but it just isn't always there.  You look inward, but realize the only sound you hear coming from within is the muffled snarl of deep-sleep breathing, but it's better than moans of despair or screams of insanity.

Cleaning house isn't some domestic rite of passage for stay-at-homers.  It's just part of life.  A stressful, unpleasant, excruciating part of life.

change

If change could come as quickly and easily as the spoken word, I would...

Be passionate about some form of exercise.

Stop comparing myself to others.

Write for hours and come up with something to actually publish.

Love to cook, and settle for nothing less than the best foods for my family.

Find something I love in this life that isn't about my husband or children.

Make big bucks doing something I love!

haiku for momma

Teaching me letters
Earliest of memories,
Trained in motherhood


Rolling tortillas
Working the early mornings
Telling me good-night


Laughter like silver
Light-catching, free, like spring time
Love for the masses


Wisdom flows freely
Sharing with others always
Listen and you'll learn

the stuff

What is all this other stuff for, anyway?

For about three weeks, my family of four lived out of two overnight bags, a suitcase, a duffel bag and an ice chest.  Suddenly, these extra... spaces... filled with so much extra... stuff!... seem utterly superfluous.  I managed quite nicely without a pantry (even though I cooked for several days straight) or even a week's worth of clothes (we each had about three changes of clothing with us -- including adequate clothing for colder temperatures -- and I made use of laundry facilities about three times).

So the board games, DVDs, computers and extra seating seem so silly at the moment.  I know at some level and for various occasions these items are "needed."  But I can't stress enough the fact that for almost a month, I didn't miss these things at all!