Real Life

    The other night the phone rang and I (Julie) looked at the number before answering. Ah. A number I recognize - my sister's. After saying hello, I ask her what she's been up to. She nervously laughs and says she doesn't...really...want...to tell me. What? I'm thinking to myself. Why doesn't she want to tell me? I inquire further into this strange comment and then breathe a sigh of relief. It's nothing bad. In fact, it's really quite sweet that she doesn't want to tell me.

     She's been walking around her immaculately clean house. Even went out and cut fresh flowers to adorn her (I'm assuming) kitchen counter.

     Then she says, "See, that's why I hesitated telling you." Oh. My. I just shake my head. I tell her that it's ok. She needs to enjoy this moment because when she starts having kids, she'll never do what she's doing now... for YEARS!!! I'm serious. Years. I can count on one hand the number of times my whole house has been clean since having kids and that's not even using all the fingers that one hand has to offer!

     Well, our little conversation gave me an idea (of which, Glynne reminded me was her idea in the previous blog).  I thought it would be fun to document just how messy a house can get. Now, mind you, I'm going to use this as a bit of therapy. The following pictures are areas of my house - at this moment - that are causing me angst. I walk by them on my way to do other things and they yell out to me.

Doesn't everyone's van look like this?

Kate took this picture.  There are no words!

I was trying to clear out the games we no longer want.  

Who wants to cook and then have to clean up? I don't.

It's not so great that our 9 foot bar can hold so many dirty dishes!

The laundry room isn't that bad.

Again, no words.  I just need 15-20 min. to take care of this.

Our pantry.  This is Glynne's domain this month.  Lucky her!

Microwaves are supposed to look disgusting - right?!?

This is hard to see, but the middle window is covered with muddy water.  You should
have seen the clothes that were just outside this door.  They were rock hard with dried mud.
Boys!!!

This just bothers me.  I want it perfectly swept and tidy!

Really? How does one of a kind end up in the yard? Again, no answers.

Boys' closet.  We installed cubbies so they could easily put their clothes away.  Hmmm.

Boys' room.  At least I can see the carpet.

Gotta love Legos! Now let's move in closer.

Again.  How does a corndog stick end up in a cup with brownie batter?

You can't tell from this picture, but when I turn this faucet on it rivals the water fountains
on the Plaza! Annoying.

Maybe I need to throw this out.  I noticed my flowers needed watering while taking pictures of
messes and then this!  Great.

This hardly looks abnormal to me.  The stairs usually have something on them -
that is until chore time at 4 p.m.  Someone's job is to clean them off.

One of my favorites - bugs in light with one bulb burned out!

And the school shelf.  Wow.  

      I feel better. These pictures make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. That was the therapy I was talking about. Somehow, we can clean and clean, but it still looks like this most of the time!

     Ah... I must remember, through all the craziness, life is good. Really good. I am blessed to have 8 healthy children, a husband whom I adore, family close by, good friends that are in the same boat, and on and on.

 (But, let's be honest, life's a little better when your house is clean! We all know it.)