as if it wasn't messy enough in here....

This morning, five minutes before the bus came, Miss Suzanne remembered that she has to swim for gym today, and needed a bathing suit. Now, Miss Suze is growing and growing, she is almost ten years old. The suit she wore in the summer is getting small, and of course she could not find the one I gave her a few months back to wear to the school pool. So..panic. She ended up taking two unmatching pieces. At least there was a nice clean towel in the towel closet, though...with no holes.

This morning has been challenging. It is freezing for one thing, it is up to zero now. Miss Rosie was a pulling-energetic brat on the leash on our little jaunt. Samuel James growled at me for no reason.....as he was coming out of his room, I commented that he was just the person I was looking for, and rrrr. Grumpy! I bit my tongue. He continued to grump at everyone else as he put his sneakers on. Ooh, he is in trouble later. No, not in trouble, but jeepers, I don't like to be talked to like that in the morning. rrr.

Then one of the other kids wet the bed.....shower....bedding in the laundry mountain. Out to the bus with the hood on, so wet hair doesn't freeze. rrr.

And now the mess: well, it isn't that bad...just the bathing suit bin dumped all over the living room. Two little girls are trying on every single suit. They are asking to take a bath. I am not letting them take a bath just so they can try out the bathing suits. Well, maybe I will.

Our little gold car is in the shop. The power steering went on it, and driving it is like when I wrestled with my brothers when I was young. Joseph casually mentioned the other day that he almost hit someone. Hopefully it will be really cheap to fix. So Mirielle and Joe had to drive to classes, didn't want to take the fifteen passenger van (social sucide!!! plus it is almost as hard to drive as the little gold car with no power steering)...so Paul took it to work, which is almost as funny. I mean, if it wasn't all dented....anyway, I have to take Aaron to the Nose Doctor this afternoon when Mirielle and Joe get home, to find out if about getting his broken nose repaired. And I get to drive the nice small minivan.

Blah, the car guy just called...he isn't sure what is wrong, and is recommending we take it to his friend a few miles up the road....

I decided to paint the bedroom that Suzanne, Sonja, and Jonathan share. It has been re-painted several times since we have lived here, each time a shade of pink. They do not want pink again, so I am thinking of a periwinkle blue/purplish color. They do not keep their room clean. When I put them to bed last night, I told them we are going to start keeping it much neater, picking things up every day so it won't get so messy. Then I told them, without even thinking about it, that I would paint it for them if they helped me get it all clean first. I would like to do it by this weekend. So now I have to do it.

Every once in a while, it seems like my eyes get opened really wide to how it is around here, I can see glaringly the things that are out of order. And I notice how the kids try to bargain with me, they don't take me seriously, don't listen the first time...and I get overwhelmed, and want to fix everything. ha. I want to stomp my feet and demand respect and get everyone moving and get this place cleaned up.

Anyway....I am a scoffer at self-improvement plans, of big organizational plans, of new ways to do things. Because I know ME. Yet....every once in a while, I get itchy to make some changes. So I am going to do the following....

1. Less computer time.

2. More cleaning time.

3. I drew up a new chore list that includes having two of the girls help me at least once a week with the ever-growing couch monster...yes, it WAS shrinking, but it has now doubled in size.

4. Get their rooms clean again so I can maintain them more each day. And train the younger ones more to pick up after themselves. (ha, may as well dream!)

5. I am going to start excercising. I am getting sick of winter and feeling blah, and I know going on the dreaded treadmill will make me feel better in the long run. In the short run, it will be suffering and agony. And I am just talking about like ten minutes.

6. I shall clean out some cupboards, organize the coats and remove the ones the little girls have outgrown....

7. The main bath needs a facelift. Paint, new shower curtain.

8. I shall eat more fruit and less chocolate. ouch, I don't even like writing that.

9. I shall shop less, save more money, and be more creative with meals to stretch the money farther.

10. I shall meet up with my friend Martha one of these days.....


Oh, it is fun and easy to sit here and write about it!!! Except the less chocolate thing, ouch. But yesterday at lunch, we had two dozen small chocolate covered donuts....I didn't have one. There were less and less left, then down to one. I asked someone to pass me the box. I looked at it. I didn't eat it. Yay, someone else did, and they were all gone!! That doesn't mean I didn't get two big bars of Aldi chocolate out later to share with the kids....of course with me, too. But it is a small victory, and if felt really good in a strange sort of way.

Well, since I am a nice mommy, I shall go start running the bath water for the two bathing-suit beauties.....