Feeling SpOILed

This past weekend was a heap o’housecleaning and packing.

It began on Saturday morning after my walk.  When I got home we all sat around in the living room going over plans and schedules and who needed to be where and when for the week.  We talked about budgets and how to juggle the cars and when to do the grocery shopping, etc.  You’d think after all these years it would be simple, but it never is.

My husband James and our oldest son were planning a trip together for the week, leaving at 4:30 on Sunday morning.  So we all needed to plan for their exit needs.  In addition to that, the rest of us had gotten a little tired of the house staying messy, so we decided to make Saturday a deep cleaning day.

OK, maybe that’s a little exaggeration.  *I* was tired of the mess.  I think they were too, they just didn’t know it.

We divided up the household chores and each person had an area they were responsible for.  I had the dining room and my own bathroom (which was a little sneaky on my part since I cleaned my bathroom a couple of days before.  Shhhh….).  Levi was going to be my “cleaning assistant” which basically meant more work for me than if I had just done it by myself.  He likes to talk a lot and forgets that we are supposed to be working.  But that’s OK….I like hanging out with him so it all evens out.

In the morning I poked around doing a few other jobs like 8 loads of laundry and giving the puppy a bath and then I told Levi, “I’m ready.  Let’s clean the dining room now.”  He acted excited at first, under the false assumption that it was gonna be a picnic.  Like we would just erase the random drawings on our white board, sweep and we’d be done.

Wrong.

When Mom cleans it is a serious thing.  We pulled books off of shelves and dusted, we moved furniture and scrubbed under it.  We cleaned out baskets of junk and polished all of the furniture.  At one point he disappeared under the guise that he had to go to the bathroom, but this isn’t my first rodeo, mister.  I am onto that trick.

After a few hours we were mostly finished and it was time for me to move onto to helping James pack for his trip, so I told Levi we could finish the rest tomorrow.  “Tomorrow?! How much could there be left to do?!?!” he exclaimed as he slapped his palm to his forehead.  I hated to tell him that I could work on just that room for 2 more days.

To make it up to him I let the boys watch a movie, even though we don’t usually watch movies on Saturday.  That soothed his tired little self.

Poor James had been feeling queasy all day, so I offered to pack for him while he told me what to do.  It was also a great way to spend time together before they left.  He sat in our bedroom recliner and pointed while I located what he needed and put it in the suitcase.  By the time we were finished he was looking a little green so he went straight to bed with the plan to get up at 4:15 the next morning in order to be at the airport by 5:30  (in case you don’t like math, that’s an hour drive to the airport from our house).

But the next morning when my backup alarm went off I checked on him and it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t going to be able to go on the trip.  He was just too sick.  Jacob and I made the quick decision that I would drive Jacob to the airport and hopefully James could catch up with him the next day after 24 hours of rest.  I literally flew out the door without even drawing my eyebrows on.  By 4:45 we were on the road.

Even though I was unprepared for the early morning drive, I did enjoy spending that time with Jacob.  We were talking and then about 15 minutes before we got to the airport he realized that all of his supplements and oils were in James’ suitcase.  They had planned to check one bag and filled it with the liquids and that bag was still at home.  Uh oh.

When you get used to having oils in you life it’s hard to live without them.

I said, “Let’s just see what’s in my purse.  Maybe I have at least some peppermint (Jacob’s favorite oil and one I always travel with!).  I set my purse next to me and started digging around in the bottom of it as I drove, going by feel alone.  If you’re wondering why he didn’t just look in the purse for me, it’s an unspoken law of nature….men don’t look in ladies’ purses.

As I blindly rummaged for the familiar shape of the bottles, I pulled them out one at a time.  “Here’s some Thieves!” He grabbed it from my hand, “Oh cool, I’ll take that!” as he shoved it into his bag.  I dug again, “Oh,” I held out a bottle, “I found peppermint!”  “Hey thanks!” he liked that.   “Here, I have a bottle of Abundance…”  He took it saying he had always wanted to try that one.  On and on it went until he had about 8 oils, 2 packets of NingXia Red and several NingXia Nitros to take with him.  And there were several more he didn’t want to take (in case you’re wondering, he opted out of lime, Slique, Valor II and Northern Lights Black Spruce.  My purse was like a clown car of Young Living products.

I don’t think I realized how many oils I carry with me since I just toss them in there and use them individually.  I saw for how spoiled I am and had a moment of gratitude for these gifts.

The only bottle I may shed a few tears over is the Abundance.  I use it every day and I have a feeling I’m not getting it back.  It’s one of those oils that every time I recommend it to someone they message me a month later and say they never want to be without it ever again.  And being the mom in this situation….well we all know the rules.  The kids don’t feel they have to return moms’ things.

I’ll be ordering myself a new bottle this week.

Once I got home it was time to dress the boys and head off to church.  The sermon was wonderful, which kept me awake.  Well, that plus I drank a NingXia Zing mixed with lemon, frankincense, Light the Fire and an ounce of NingXia Red on the way to church.  Nothing was holding me down after that.

After church I helped James a little and then settled the kids in for some down time.  One of my girls and I decided to watch “The Karate Kid” because she had never seen it.  It was a flashback of the 80s complete with big shoulder pads and music by Survivor.  By the time it was over I was thinking about popping open a can of Tab and playing with my Rubik’s Cube.

This morning James was feeling well enough to go so he headed to the airport to catch up with Jacob.  Those of us staying home will be doing our normal weekly activities of swimming, sweeping and trying to keep up with laundry.

And I’ll be refilling my purse with oils, of course.

Have a great week!