Summer is kicking my butt, plain and simple. I’m not one to post pictures of my messy house and be proud of it. Clutter makes me insane. I’m practicing lots of patience and peace with myself this summer to over look it all, and choose to be in the moment. I don’t love the mess but I love the people who live here. Therefore this summer I’m choosing to let a lovely mess live here.
There are books everywhere, all the time. I cannot complain. At least they are reading. I usually don’t even know what they are reading. When they read to each other it’s so sweet that I do not even care about those details. If it were a great classic book that was boosting their future SAT scores that would make me a great mom. Chances are it’s something girly and hopefully not about a fictional popularity contest, or based on characters from a Disney movies. Only one out of the six book reports due the first day of school is finished. The “homeschool drawers” the middles set up on the first day of summer with activities and things they wanted to work on have gone untouched. Oops. Ok honey. You are right. I would be a terrible homeschool mom. They need teachers and I need a clean house.
But instead of getting frustrated about the mess that lives at my house this summer I’m choosing to ignore it. We are spending lots of days away from home. Amusement park? Sure why not. We even went Splash Country and Dollywood both in one day. We closed one down at 7:00 and the other at 10:00. Because why not? What to take an Asheville trip on a Wednesday? Yep! What about that music festival on Saturday? Sure! Baby in tow all the way? Of course! It’s how we roll.
Back at home the laundry is piled high and there might be a mildew smell coming from one of the dirty bins. The well-meaning overflowing donation bags in the attic don’t ever make it to the car. I don’t have free hands or even an extra big toe (it feels like) these days for household chores. Everyone gets fed. That’s the bare minimum each day at home this summer. Clean clothes? Who needs them? Borrow your sister’s underwear socks.
The girls have been playing the game of Life. It cracks me up because my free sprit girl always needs a second car to hold all her kids. Yesterday she was homeless with five kids and kicked her husband out so she didn’t need a second car. Her little sister had a luxury home with five bedrooms and no kids. She moved in with her. I’m sure it was a mess after that. Hopefully it was lovely. Maybe they ate cookies for dinner. At least they ate dinner.
And this is how summer goes with a baby and three kids ages 6, 9 and 11. It’s pretty much been survival. Stay sane, breathe deep, stay busy, say yes to fun things, reuse the towels, forget the clean sheets and be thankful hubs remembered to feed the dog.
I have been avoiding Pintrest and all loftily ideas of magazine like anything at home. My leisure ideas of sewing projects have been abandoned because the basement is a mess. Like the attic, it too is overcrowded with things that need to be donated. When I was pregnant last Spring I cleaned out a lot of areas knowing I wouldn’t be able to manage a big purge until baby girl goes off to some sort of mother’s morning out program. I was right. As of now I’d still rather love on my baby girl, make my nursing soul some nourishing lunch and leave the mess for later. Right now I’m going to love my mess. And keep wishing I had a sister with a luxury house to move in with. But I’ll keep my husband. He’s handling this messy life quite well.
