spoiled me....a monday at home.

Wait, I need to go to the store. Coffee. Return Redbox movies which we have already had for two nights. Dang. And we are meeting Abigail at the pool after she gets out of work today. So I guess I am not staying at home.

The college kids are leaving now. We had a little conversation about maintenance. Some of my kids were talking yesterday about the fruitlessness (is that a real word?!) of doing a job around here, such as organizing the refrigerator. Because...duh it gets messy again. I said Welcome To My Life. I said Try Maintaining Things A Hundred Times In A Row, Then Complain To Me. Anyway, I was talking to the college kids this morning and I mentioned the front of the 'fridge. Stainless steel, and NOT the fingerprint-proof kind. It is endless, wiping that down. Plus, it has the ice/water dispenser, and our water is so hard, even with a softening system, it leaves white streaks where it drips. So I mentioned that I was sick of wiping that down all the time, and Mirielle said so nicely, "Mom, we are leaving. We don't have time to hear a rant." ha ha. ouch.

Anyway. I know I need to be a better manager, assign consistent chores, organize things better. And I try. I really do. But. It is one of my many flaws, and I try not to get too upset about my scatterbrained-ness.

Sweet Suri peed AND pooped in the living room last night, rrr! Back where the kids play dollhouse. I had to pick up furniture and people and put them in a bin to wash in hot soapy water. I took her out late last night, too. And got up early to take her out. She knows it is BAD DOG, because she won't even look at me when I am cleaning it up. I put the wet paper towel near her and say, "NO NO", and she turns her head and blinks all nervously. She knows.

Sometimes I get tired of the same old same old. Cleaning up the house, cleaning up the house. I want to spruce it up a bit, make new curtains. Last night I had a dream about winning money, lots of it...and of course I wanted to build this big nice house. With a huge mud room with hooks and shelves. Our "mudroom" is when you walk in the door, there are some hooks. Right in the kitchen/dining room. Add nine backpacks, two or three pairs of shoes for each of the 14 people living here, and some coats and hats and mittens...and yes, you've got chaos. Lots of the kids keep some of their footwear in their rooms, and perhaps their favorite jacket, and maybe they take their backpack into their room here and there...but. I have tried a hook for each one, but there aren't enough hooks. Anyway. In my dream house, there is room for everything. Lots of room.

I do remember though, that once upon a time, THIS was my dream house. Back when we lived in a mobile home, or a trailer, in a trailer park. It was a nice trailer park, and a very nice trailer, we bought it brand new. But we did have five children in it, and when we were building this house, I was so excited I would lie awake at night just thinking about all the closet space. I like to remember that old thankfulness sometimes....

Because we are not building a dream house, this is it. So perhaps I will get off my lazy one and clean it, make it pretty.

I already cleaned up the papers that Suri shredded up, the Barbie she ate, the peanutbutter jar she chewed on.

Lazy. That's me. Either that or I am really just tired of doing the same old thing. Either way, I do not feel like cleaning this house today. I already swept yesterday. blah.

But since I like it clean, I am gonna hafta do it.

We had a nice dinner last night...chicken that had marinated in southwest sauce, mashed potatoes, cauliflower, and spinach with lemon pepper for Mali and I. Oh, and dinner rolls for the them, not me. I also had only a teaspoon of the potatoes. Dessert: those yummy cookies made with almond and coconut flour and white chocolate and craisins. I really wanted to make them, but didn't have any white chocolate, then I remembered I had bought a 7 ounce Russell Stover solid bunny....so I chopped him up and put him in the cookies. Sacrificed for a good cause. Here is the recipe. I sort of made it up from another recipe....they are good. I never follow recipes too closely...

1/2 cup coconut flour
1 + 1/2 cups almond flour

add to:

2 sticks butter (one cup), creamed with
1/3 cup coconut oil. (you could use all coconut oil, but is expensive!)

8 tablespoons honey (last night I used 1/3 cup and a tablespoon of brown sugar)
8 eggs
2 teaspoons real vanilla

mix together and add a cup or so of whole oats, and some flaked coconut, sugar free or whatever you like.

And...of course, white chocolate and craisins.

They are super yummy, baked at 350 for a while..sorry! They will start to smell good, and brown around the edges...

Anyway...there are some out there in the kitchen calling me. I am trying to decide whether to have them for lunch, or wait until the kids get home so they will help me eat them, I don't quite trust myself. Even if they are slightly healthy, white chocolate has tons of sugar, and all that butter...ugh.

Of course you can make these with chocolate chips instead of white. They would be good with chopped macadamia nuts too.

I took a break to switch the laundry over. I don't just wash what is in the hampers, I scout around in the bedrooms too. Two little princesses like to change into their jammies and leave their clothes right on their floor, mixed in with dolls and dress up clothes. They did clean up all the toilet paper they had dressed their Barbies in...they like to make these elaborate dresses....with toilet paper.

My second cup of coffee is just as good as the first. Mirielle made it, she ground up the beans and made it fresh. My first cup was from pumpkin spice coffee, which not everyone here likes. We are running low on coffee, so I used it. It isn't bad, but I like plain better.

I have realized that I LOVE staying home, and do not want to get a job. Char was sick Friday, it wasn't a big deal, we had a cozy day. Suri gets to go out when she wants to, I can putter around and clean up. Almost every day there is bedding to wash, there are appointments, I make dinner...okay, so I still wander into the kitchen at five sometimes, but still. I can exercise before lunch, go out and about when I need to. I know, wouldn't everyone like so much free time? I feel rather guilty sometimes, not bringing in any money. So I rack my brain. I could put ads on my blog. But then I would want to advertise it far and wide so as to get more money...and that would be like selling my family. I don't know. I don't really want to babysit. I should at least sell stuff on e-bay. Goodness knows I have a closet full.

Oh well...time to wash those dishes and shine up that fridge....