Treading Water

"My house is lived in...." ~ my mother

The Good Old Days

     Once upon a time, in what seems like a far off land, I used to be OCD. Not clinically diagnosed of course, but surely self proclaimed. My closet, for instance, was not only color coded, but it was organized by the sleeve length and then color. My kitchen counter tops showed no signs of life in there off peak hours. Minus the fact  that I had animals, you could have probably eaten off my floor. Okay....maybe that's a bit extreme, but the point is I was organized, detailed oriented, an interior designer. So it sounds like the opening to a resume, a very good one I might add. Every week there was a menu made and a grocery list (the one thing I seemed to have held onto). I had spread sheets for my bills, grocery bills, credit card purchases. I could tell you down to the cent where all my money went (when you don't have much, it's not that hard really)! Hey, I impressed myself if no one else did.

Tornado Alley

    As I stand in the eye of the storm, I watch the chaos unfold around me. The thing about trying to stop the destruction of a force of nature is, you will fail every time. It's amazing how I can clean and clean, well I feel like I clean all the time, and then the little force of nature and the bigger less sever storm can turn my house upside down in minutes. The things that just sit around drive me nuts. I really don't mind the toys nearly as much as all the other things (dirty dishes, coats every where, random mail sitting all over the place, etc.) And don't even get me started on the laundry. How can a few people create so much laundry? I am pretty sure I wash clothes about every other day and still have several loads to do on the weekend.

     Many times I have been told "just enjoy the time with your kids while they are young, you can clean after they move out". Now that sounds all good and stuff, until I literally start to tweak out about the mess. I honeslty have physical and psychological reactions to the mess - yes I know I am mental. So all though it sounds great to ignore it, I just can't do it. I mean, if all those people that say that, never cleaned their house because the had small children, well then I don't really want to come over, I can imagine it's an episode of Hoarders. I am learning to let it be a little more, but I suppose I have finally reached the point in my if where "I live in my house"!

***Not sure how this is gong to go for selling, but we will see***