Irresponsible me?

Well I have officially been made to feel like an immature, irresponsible fool! I don't like being berated because I know that I am NOT immature, irresponsible, or a fool.
Now to dissect that, can anyone else make me feel anything? Hmmm, I think the answer is yes. If you care about someone's opinion and they say something hurtful or "get you in trouble" (even if you have done nothing wrong as in my case) they can make you feel hurt or foolish. Now I need to ask myself why do I care about her opinion. She is much older than I, we are not friends, so why does it matter? I guess the only conclusion I can logically come to is that it doesn't matter. However, she is a forceful, opinionated, take control (not charge, but control) kind of woman. To be honest, she scares me and I know for a fact I'm not the only one she scares and makes feel immature and irresonsible.
OK enough of that. Watching my beautiful two year old Meg run circles around the kitchen table shouting "RUN" is helping me put into perspective what is important and worthy to pay attention to...and it isn't an opinionated, old lady!
So this weekend is a bit busy for us. Saturday is baseball game day for Nathan, Sunday is church, board meeting, Emily's birthday party, and possibly church again.
Well, I suppose I should go be responsible and do some work!

Returning Home

Well, I had a marvelous weekend away from my crazy, can't keep it neat, or tidy, or clean house. I went to a Ladies Retreat up at Canby Grove Conference Centre (in Canby, Oregon). My friend Megan and I left Friday and came home Sunday afternoon. I wasn't sure I was going to get to go. Thursday night about, oh 8:00 PM I started not feeling so well. Everyone in our house except Nathan and I had already caught this particular stomache bug. Sure enough (almost two weeks since the last person had it) I caught it. All night I made visits to the bathroom, still determined to go to retreat. The next morning I got up and called my father-in-law and asked if he would take the kids to school, left my youngest in bed (she was happy and singing to herself), and proceeded lay down on the couch and try to convince myself I wasn't sick. I'm glad I did go, even though I missed Friday evenings speakers and slept instead. I felt much better the next day and back to normal by Sunday.

I love coming home after being away from my family. My marvelous husband had made sure the kitchen was CLEAN! Better than I ever seem to manage. My four year old informed me she missed me sooo much but that she still loved me as much now as she did before and that none of her love had gotten lost :) Made my heart warm. My son proceeded to eat 3.5 big bowls of the black beans and rice I made like he had been starved all weekend and pronounced it soooo goooood. Megan (my Mega roo, not my friend Megan...confusing I know) on the other hand, who had apparently been missing me all weekend, singing songs about "mommy back?" really didn't want much to do with me. Oh she didn't fully ignore me, but she wanted daddy to hold her and put her to bed which is very unusual. Two days later things are back to normal and she is my little shadow again. I'm glad my shadow plays so well by herself.

Well, aren't I chatty today!

Signing off to start all those chores! Despite the kitchen being clean (which it is no longer of course) nothing else got cleaned and the bathrooms are desperately calling out to me for attention!

Clean kitchen...dirty kids!

"Keeping House"

So I think my ideal woman lives in a different era. Back when most women didn't leave the home to work and girls were taught from a young age how to "keep house". Nowadays keeping house is something you try to fit in between all the other craziness of life. Nathan started playing baseball this year, which so far has been fun, but it takes up two evenings and Saturday morning. Kung Fu takes up Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Add the 15-30 min of homework Nathan has each night and I feel like my head is spinning. Of course I always have mornings to get some work done, but Megan does take up just a bit of my time. Oh yeah, and I forgot that I do church books at least one morning a week (sometimes two).

Oh dear, sounds like I'm complaining...actually more like I'm making excuses for not "keeping house" better.

I guess I need to define what "keeping house" means to me. Let's see...keeping house means keeping my dishes done, laundry done, bathrooms clean, floors clean, house de-cobwebbed, beds made every day, big vegetable garden, beautiful flower garden, home cooking, home canning, laughter, love, and lots of family time. Boy I have a long way to go! Mostly in the "clean" department. Computer, reading, and kids are waaaay more fun!

I'm still struggling to follow some semblance of a routine for keeping up on cleaning my house. I will admit the dishes are getting done much more often and I've actually gotten my bed made almost everyday for the last 2 weeks. I've even de-cobwebbed a few rooms! So I guess habits aren't made in a day and long ago, girls spent years learning how to do it all so I shouldn't give up just yet.

Of course I wouldn't want to give up all my modern conveniences...like my washer and dryer!

Are we done yet?

Well, I feel great this week, which is fabulous. We have had a icky stomach bug making its

way around the family. First my little Megan bug caught it on Saturday, then the next Tuesday my sweet Emily got it and followed it up with 3 days of a different bug, I caught that bug and hurt for almost 4 days, then I thought "whoo hoo, we are done" I cleaned, I sanitized...and wouldn't you know it, David woke up a week and a half later on Friday morning with the original stomach bug that Meg had. Now, starting Monday, Nathan seems to be down with the ouchy tummy stomach bug Emily and I had. Hopefully it'll clear up tomorrow and life can go on. I do not like watching my kids be sick and in pain when there is nothing I can do about it.

I am half dreading catching the original throw uppy bug, I HATE throwing up, but the other half of me just wants to get it over with since there seems to be quite a long incubation period for whatever it is. The cynical part of me figures I will get sick either right before or during a Ladies Retreat I am going on next week.

Ah, well life continues and since I am feeling so well I guess I should go tackle my dishes and the giant pile of CLEAN laundry. At least it is all clean this time. I have kept up on washing it, but folding and putting away after every load is still eluding me. Goal for next week, is to keep on top of the laundry.

Waking up Clean

Well, here I am the day after Easter enjoying my mostly clean house (just don't look into my living room where shredded paper (thanks to my 4 going on 5 year old) and blankets reign supreme). I woke up this morning and came downstairs and just enjoyed the fact that my kitchen was clean! I didn't have to clean it. Marvelous! Thrilling! OK so it doesn't take much to excite me.

This morning was parent-teacher conferences. I am a proud parent. Both my kids are doing so well and get top grades in Listening and following directions, getting along with peers, participation...I love it. Nathan is having trouble with his cursive writing. My poor little leftie is just finding it so hard to find that smoothness when writing and as a result it is a tad(!) messy. Better than the beginning of the year, but still not great. His teacher and I and then his dad and I discussed what we could do at home to help him with that without making it a chore. I don't want him to hate writing! If you have any fun ideas with the whole fine motor skills thing let me know.

Me and my Easter beauties