Mother’s Day and Other Matters
At last I had an entire day at home yesterday. It’s been a while, between traveling and driving kids to and fro, since I got to just hang out at the house. Well, truth be told, it wasn’t 100% at home all day. I did have a breakfast date with my youngest son. Every Thursday this month our local Chick-fil-A has a free breakfast entrée and we go and have a little date. Being the youngest of nine, he needs some alone time.
So I did get up early and get dressed and we went out for breakfast at 7am. But then we came home and bam….by 9:00 I was ready to spend the rest of the day catching up on all of the things you miss when you’re gone. Like cleaning. And organizing the pantry. And sleeping.
As soon as I got home from breakfast I started going from room to room cleaning all of the little things the kids never see. My kids are great about the surface stuff. Like dishes…they will clean the dishes but not wipe off the counters. Or they will put the toys and games away, but not move the chairs back around the table neatly. None of it is a huge deal, but after a week and a half of those little things not getting done the house was looking pretty messy.
I started with the kitchen. It needed the most TLC. I scrubbed the sink and behind the sink (doesn’t it get so icky back there?!) and gathered all of the random cups and towels and washed them. I pulled all of the countertop appliances out and wiped behind them. I swept between the stove and the wall. I spit shined the whole room and then moved on to other areas of the house. Cushions needed fluffing and glass needed de-fingerprinting and corners needed sweeping. You can bet I had all my diffusers going….Purification and lemon for the win!
After a couple of hours it started to feel clean. I’ve missed that feeling. It gives me all kinds of warm fuzzies.
I stopped for a while to get school done and grade all of the papers from the past week. Then more dishes and laundry and straightening. Does it ever really get completely straight? I’ve never seen it. Then I tackled my bedroom, otherwise known as the Bermuda Triangle. It’s a landing zone for all of the junk we don’t know where else to put. I really want a room that has no other purpose but to hold that stuff, so my bedroom can be a place for sleeping and catching up on old TV mystery shows. Just think, I’d never have to stare sadly at a pile of school papers, receipts and leftover wedding invitations that I don’t know what to do with. They could all be in my “junk room”where I could close the door and pretend it’s not there.
But it will be a year or ten before I have any extra rooms available, so I will have to just deal with the piles in the meantime. It took me all afternoon, but I did it. I cleaned up all the piles and the bedroom looked so nice I almost thought I heard it whispering for me to lie down and rest. My bedroom understands me. It knows that even though I am moving around and looking active, I am always wishing I could lie down on my comfy, soft bed.
Some days I do it, others I don’t have time. It’s all part of the mom life, ammiright?
I also did a little whipping into shape of some attitudes around here. Don’t worry, no actual whipping took place, just some talking and consequence reminders. I really have the best kids, but they veer off track occasionally. The whipping into shape really translates into time spent together and each of us rededicating ourselves to doing a better job at our responsibilities; me included. It was good.
With the house clean and the kids back on track, it frees up the weekend for some relaxing time together. I plan to chill on Saturday, playing some games with the boys and maybe a little hammock time in the afternoon.
I don’t have any idea what we are doing on Sunday, but it would be fine with me if we just went to church, came home, took long naps and did nothing. Mother’s Day doesn’t have the same excitement for me that it used to. The whole mom thing has been rough for the past few years and I would prefer to just let the day slip past, unnoticed.
Here’s a post I wrote about that over on Tommy Nelson, “To the Hurting Mom on Mother’s Day.”
No matter where you are in your motherhood journey, or if your house still needs a good mom-clean-up, or if you are wondering right now if you will ever have time for reading in the hammock….there is something to be joyful about. God’s goodness showers down on you and surrounds you no matter what you are dealing with.
Relax, refresh, renew your mind. And try wiping behind the sink….you won’t believe how much better it will make you feel!
Have a great weekend!
