Our house has been driving me crazy lately. The dishes are a never ending cycle that continue to perpetuate into a pile of disgusting need to wash even though we eat at my mother-in-laws at least two to three times a week. It's completely baffling to me. The crumbs that have manifested itself on the floor everywhere, poke me and actually hurt me sometimes. We try to vacuum once a week but apparently that's enough when you're not able to put your foot down and the kids go running with their food towards the carpeted living room. The toys are categorically placed into different bins, supposedly making it easier to clean up at night, but none of this matters when friends come over and the game always seems to be "let's take out EVERY SINGLE TOY he has and then see what we want to play with." My kids love this game, it's not one they're allowed to play often. The only thing I've been able to get under control is laundry, and right when I think I've got it down by doing only one load a day - from start to finish - the boys' room stares back at me taunting me, telling me to dare to fit more junk into those trunks. What I really need is to invest in some transparent bins and store up all our winter clothes, making room for the summer ones - and I really need to find out if #3 is a girl or boy because then I can either put away some of these boys clothes until the next son comes along or what I'd really like to do is take my chances and trash 'em with the thought that I'll only have daughters here on out. The reality is, we've got a room with a pretty good closet, jam packed with clothes from newborn to 3T and it's starting to get insane. We also have an entire closet of Church dress shirts in itty bitty toddler sizes that are wrinkly and finally got hung up by Andy (I left them in a pile, telling myself I'd iron them one day... that day has not come yet nor will it ever...) Can someone start inventing some iron-free toddler dress clothes already?!
I try to keep our bedroom toy free. And I try to keep my desk clutter free. I learned from my college roommate that a desk without much on it - really feels clean and good. Instead, my desk is overflowing with bills I'm behind on (I missed my CPA renewal AGAIN .. dang it), photos I printed and am not sure if I should trash or keep, and ticket stubs for Jet Blue because my reward account is still under my maiden name (yet another task to do.. ugh).
So since we moved into our new home, I had been sharing my office space with the boys as their playroom. The intention is to clean up the playroom every night before bed. Of course, the reality is this doesn't always happen and most days, mom and dad are cleaning it up so mom can be sane. I don't even care if it gets messed up right away the next day. The bigger problem I noticed was that my desk was always gross. My kids decided they wanted to work at my desk, color at my desk, and basically take over my desk. And then I never really actually work at my desk. I take conference calls from our bedroom so the boys can't break in while I'm on the call and the sitter can keep them occupied. I rarely work in the designated office desk because it's easier to have the comp out in the living room while they play if I have to send an email and really, I try not to work unless I have to when they're around. So what's the point right?
Except my sanity! So... after having a really messy dining room cluttered with stuff we'd just throw when we got home and a really messy playroom, I made an executive decision to move their playroom to the dining room. Let the mess be contained and let me have some sanity in my workspace. I still need to get some type of shelf for a bunch of files that now sit neatly on the sides of the wall, I need to put up some frames (a year later and counting) and I need to pay my overdue bills... but it feels good to look around and not see any toys (okay.. there's a stuffed animal and a helicopter). So I basically moved 'em on out.
Jordan asked me, "who's room is this gonna be now?" I said.. mommy's work room and maybe baby? And he asked, "but baby isn't gonna share with Bubba and me?" So cute. If we can fit em, I'm sure they will all share a room... especially since I often have an inkling that it's another boy. Only time will tell!
