I'm HOME again!! For a few weeks anyway...

I made it!  My Census job is done and while I am sad at how the whole "ending" thing went down, I can honestly say that I am completely relieved to be done with the drive and the 2nd shift schedule.  Sometime I will go into detail about the pros and cons of working at the Census.  Right now, none of that matters.  What matters is that I am back home and have had 3 glorious days of time with my family.  Kind of.  Actually, my husband has been working the entire weekend, so I haven't seen him much, but the work is good, because it is the first real job his demolition business has had since he started it a few months ago.  YAY!!!  Whoo-hoo!! 

And the weekend hasn't necessarily been glorious.  It has been...well...it's life.  Injured kids, housework, bills.  All that stuff that makes work seem like a good place to be some days.  So maybe glorious is the wrong word. I'm not sure I have the right word to explain how I have felt the last few days, as I fold clothes and load the dishwasher.  I just know I'm home. You know that feeling?  The one that makes you feel like you are right where you should be, even if your circumstances are chaotic and stressful?  That's what my weekend felt like. 

I have to be truthful though...it took me a few hours to get to the point where I was glad to be home.  When I woke up Friday morning it was the most awesome feeling in the world...no work today!  Then I opened my eyes.  The house looks like a bomb hit it.  There are dishes and clothes everywhere.  I don't have a clue what's dirty and clean with the clothes, so I'm spending hours rewashing and folding and putting things away.  The bathrooms are seriously in need of a major hosing down.  Like with a fire hose. 

But inspite of all the extra housework I have to do, along with finding a new job?  It feels so nice to be here and to be needed.  My house needs my attention.  My kids need my attention.  My husband needs my attention.  I feel like I have worth and value as a wife and stay-at-home mom that I never felt before.  My people actually appreciate me!  My kids hug me...like all day long.  For no reason.  They just walk up and hug me and tell me they love me.  My husband thanks me for trying so hard to get the house back into shape.  (Funny, it was never in that great of shape to begin with, but it really looks bad now!)  Everyone is so excited that I went grocery shopping and that there is actually food in the house again!   

Now I'm not stupid.  I know the appreciation won't last.  My being home all day again is still new.  In about a week (maybe two if I work really hard to stretch it out) I will no longer be a novelty in our house and things will go back to the normal lack of attention and proper appreciation.  But a woman can hope, can't she?  And in the meantime, I am going to suck up all of the praise and glory I can from my male family members and remind them constantly about how lucky they are that I have a few weeks off between jobs to nag and complain at them and make them do chores care for them and nurture them and teach them. 

So...I'm back home.  For a few weeks.  And the house is a wreck and my kids need haircuts and my husband is working 2 jobs and life is...normal again.  I'm kinda diggin' on that.   

Sometimes You Get What You Ask For

My laptop (actually it's my husband's laptop, but I have hijacked it because it is soooooo much faster and more efficient than my raggedy old desktop PC) has taken a serious hit. I got the Blue Screen of Death today. Can't start it, it's stuck in this reboot loop telling me it is doing a physical memory dump. I have never known anything with the word dump to be very positive. I think it needs serious help. I have tried all the tricks the forums and message boards offer. I'm only a novice techie, not a full blown techie. There's only so much I can do to revive this thing! So...I may be absent for a few days while we try to work out the issue. I don't always feel like fighting the painfully slow speed at which my PC functions.

I guess this may be the Universe's way of granting my daily wish for a cleaner house. I don't think I clarified to the Universe that I didn't want to be the one to clean the house. It was just supposed to just happen. I thought the Universe would know that...all powerful, all knowing Universe. Whatever.

Guess I'll go sully my hands now with some dishes and laundry. I hope the Universe gets a massive migraine from all of the economic issues it is dealing with right now. (Pssst...kidding, Universe! I was just kidding! Still friends, right? Universe? )

Tackle It Tuesday

Yay! I love "Tackle it Tuesday!" Can we have Tackle it Wednesday and Thursday too?

I think I have mentioned that I am domestically challenged. I know people don't always get it. I don't always get it. I just know for some reason I have this really big emotional issue attached to housework, I don't know what it is or why it's there, it just is.

Okay, it may have something to do with my getting it clean, only to have 2 boys and a man come in and wreck it in a 2 minute frenzy, then walk away completely oblivious to the fact that they just undid all my hard work! Hellooo! If I did that to His truck he would lose his ever lovin' mind! Or how about I walk over and topple every carefully placed Star Wars action figure of Big Brother's and walk away? Maybe I can...well, Little Man is a little less obsessed with his stuff, so he'd probably just go, "It's okay, Mom. I'm not mad at you, cause I love you!" That's how he rolls.

Then I'd feel like crap and I'd end up fixing whatever I did to his stuff with him and he'd give me a huge hug, then I'd go in my room and kick myself for being such a vindictive Mom and then all these other self-worth issues would come out and I'd end up in a fit of depression and Big Man would come home and wonder what happened, cause 5 minutes ago when he talked to me on the phone I was fine, then I'd have to tell him what a big slob he and the kids can be, which won't really help him find me endearing, which will also make me mad and blah, blah, blah.

So maybe it's just easier if I learn to enjoy the housework and teach the kids that taking care of where we live can be a fun experience. If not fun, at least tolerable. That's probably best.

I think I am actually making headway here, people!

Here's the kitchen today - BEFORE:

And AFTER:

The State of my Home

BandanaMom wants to play a game where we all post photos of our homes for decorating ideas and suggestions. I laughed out loud at the thought of taking pictures of my home because I am domestically challenged. Mostly because I am housecleaning challenged. If I could ever keep the house clean for longer than half a day, I might be able to progress to decorating. I am 44 and have yet to master the art of homemaking when it comes to keeping a clean and orderly home. I do well to keep a home where you can walk from the front door to the family room without killing yourself.

So BandanaMom's challenge kind of irritated me. Her challenge kind of stuck in my mind as I walked around my house that day. It made me get out my carpet cleaner and actually shampoo my family room carpets. Now the rest of my house looks like crap next to the clean carpet, so guess what? I have to do more!

So I cleaned off the table, which my mom said I would never be able to do. I took a picture as proof.

Then I vacuumed under the sofas and mopped the kitchen floor and did 2 loads of dishes and wiped down the entire kitchen. All because Bandana Mom wants to play a "Post your Pics for Comments" game! Dang, girl! See what you did? Quit makin' me care about my dang house! You are so fired right now, Lezlee! This is seriously cutting in to my blog reading time.

P.S. - here are some pics of my family room with possible color choices. Whatchya think?

The Mominator Fights Back

I'm learning about new backgrounds and templates...experimenting. Trying to personalize my space. I am having so much fun learning about all of this, but it is soooo time consuming! I either have to watch my poor kids bounce off the wall all day while I am attached to the computer or stay up after everyone goes to bed, which leaves me a little less than pleasant the next morning. It's not so bad when all of the neighborhood kids are home, they all get together and play and everybody is occupied. Then I can do my "thang" and pretend that I am actually accomplishing something by piddledinking with my blog for 4 hours.

The only problem is that then the housework stares back at me. Sometimes I use my super powers and stare back, then it slinks away. But I think it's gaining strength of it's own, because I swear I heard the laundry pile whispering yesterday. When I walked up to it, it got all silent, like I didn't know it was talking about me to the vacuum. And I'm not sure, but I think the office paperwork has been rearranging itself into different piles than the piles I made, because I can never find anything. I'm pretty good about remembering which pile I put stuff in, so I'm 99% certain the office is trying to make me think I'm crazy. It's also making me fight with my husband (nice strategy...divide and conquer). I tell him which pile something is in, he goes to that pile and it's gone. I get mad, storm into the office, walk right to the pile I put it on and...it's gone! I just laid it down 2 minutes ago! The next day it will appear, in the same pile, but 2 or 3 pages down. Or I'll find it in the shred pile, when I KNOW I did not put it in the shred pile. Great! Now the shredder is in on the whole thing! And here I thought Shredder was one of the good guys!

I have to get a handle on this housework uprising before it gets strong enough to take over the world. (Where I made my Mominator)

The good news is, Ive been watching Justice League with my boys, so I know how evil things plot. I've picked up some pretty good moves from Wonder Woman and Hawk Girl and the African American Chick who kind of likes the Green Lantern. I think I can take the housework, as long as I don't let the Flash distract me.

I like the Flash. He's funny. Have you seen him run? That dude is fast! Wait! What was that?! I gotta go! The Toilets are attacking. I finally realized that The Toilets are the Supreme Evil Beings who really run the show. You know how I know? Cause every time I start to get a handle on things and get into a really good cleaning groove, the Diabolical Doo-Doo Catchers work their mojo and I end up with a...well, let's just say an urge, that forces me to stop what I am doing and run to one of them. Inevitably, while I am in the bathroom, I will notice that my boys were also recently in the bathroom. This leads me to look for the Clorox Wipes, so that I can clean up the evidence. While I am being held prisoner by the Throne, the housework reorganizes and doubles it's efforts to beat me. By the time I get free, everything I've done is undone again. Dang!

Yep...Toilet Terrorists are the Supreme Bad Guys of Housework. They are my Kryptonite. I can see I'm gonna have to call in reinforcements. "Um, Hello...American Maid? Yeah, this is Boymom. Ummm, can I ask for a favor? Yeah, I know it's the third time this month, but I can't seem to get a handle on this housecleaning thing...it's the Toilets. What? NO! I was NOT hanging out with The Flash again! I told you, it's The Toilets - they're kicking my butt. Okay, well, Flash did stop by for a minute...he's so hilarious! Have you seen him run?"