Getting It Done

Do you ever feel like this is your life?  Working hard to get all of it done in a day where seconds don't tick by, but FLY!  Golly gee this is me.

First off, I consider myself to be a master of time management.  There are few gifts I'll admit to, but time management and budgeting time is one of them.  Despite this gift, I have found myself with items unchecked on my daily list.  It drives me mad.  Bonkers, actually.

I was discussing this with one of my fellow time management pals, when she revealed to me her cleaning schedule.  Now I'm going to be really honest.  I have seen these so called 'Cleaning Schedules' on Pinterest and rolled my eyes at them.  My thoughts were, If you need a schedule to help you clean your house, then you don't use your time wisely.  Then school started...and dance...and football...and gymnastics...and wrestling...and five children...you get the point. We are going strong all week long.  The house was suffering and so was my sanity.  So when my time management gal pal mentioned her 'Cleaning Schedule', I wasn't rolling my eyes.  In fact, I asked her to email it to me.

Well, guess what?  She did.  I read it.  I did it.  I love it.  The end.  It even has me breaking down other items that were overwhelming me.  Items like preparing Chunky Monkey and Little Miss for Pre-K.  Now I have organized daily goals for the house and kids.  And it goes a little something like this...HIT IT...

Cleaning Schedule* 

(Thank You, Jamie!)

Monday: Vacuum floors
Tuesday: Windex Mirrors, windows, and glass doors
Wednesday: Scrub the toilets, tubs, and bathroom floors
Thursday: Mop
Friday: Dust/Polish Furniture

*In all actuality, Jamie has a much more detailed schedule that goes beyond the week.  It has daily and monthly chores as well.  The daily things go along the lines of doing a load of laundry and wiping down counters.  The monthly ones are items like dusting baseboards and blinds.  It is broken down in a totally doable manner that will enable me to remember when I last dusted those darn blinds!
As far as our Educational goals, this is what it looks like this week.

Educational Goals*

Monday: Review and identify basic shapes (circle, square, triangle), letter recognition within their names

Tuesday: Introduce oval to basic shapes.  Color each shape by category (circles red, squares blue, ovals pink, triangles orange).  Begin printing names as we review letters.

Wednesday: Introduce difference between square and rectangles.  Color squares blue and rectangles purple.

Thursday: Counting sides to triangles, squares, and rectangles.  Introduce pentagons.  Continue with name writing.

Friday-Play Shape Memory, and letter jumping (call out a letter within their name and they have to jump on the correct letter)

*Each week we will focus on one Math objective and one Language Arts objective.  During the evenings we cover reading aloud and such.  Science/Social Studies gets covered by read alouds and checking out the daily stuff around us.  Like yours, my kids ask a TON of questions.  Steven and I like to answer them all and then some.  Our poor kids.  They get earfuls!

Doesn't this seem so Type A?  It is.  I realize that, but it has helped me stay focused on what I would like to accomplish.  It gives me purpose in life.  Yeah, I'm seeking help on this.

The Baby's Room

 

If the text is difficult to read, just click the pic.

A Tale of Two Women

Once upon a time there were two women, and they looked like this...

Those women had a day to shop all by themselves.  They went here...

They were there shopping for fabric for a baby blanket.  It's tradition for every new baby to get a quilt made by the women of the family.  Each woman gets a square to embroider and then the quilt gets pieced together.  The end results looks something like this (if you are a girl baby)...

Editor's Note:  Please excuse the chick on the right.  She had just delivered a baby a month prior to taking this pic.  She looks a little tired and scary.

As the two women were strolling the aisles looking for the perfect fabric, one woman decided to veer off course.  (Another Editor's Note:  This usually happens when the above mentioned women get together.  They often have a difficult time staying focused on one topic at a time.  They are multi-taskers.)  She saw fabric that caught her eye and another project came to mind.  The baby blanket got pushed to the side.

This woman had been desiring to recover her kitchen chairs.  After almost 8 years and two kids later (almost 3), the upholstery on the chairs had seen better days.  This new fabric was a perfect match and design for her house.  Better yet, the new fabric was half off.  The woman had her mother figure out how much she needed while she sat down in a chair and contemplated lunch.  She was getting hungry.

After the woman's mother declared she would need 3 yards of fabric, she pulled it off the roller and stood in line for it to be cut.  Fortunately, the women also completed their original task of picking out the baby's fabric as well.  They may chase rabbits, but they still get jobs done.

After many other errands and a nice hardy lunch, the women decided to call it a day and return to their own homes.  The fabric for the chairs sat in its original bag on the folding table in the laundry room for a few weeks.  

Finally, the two women were able to get together again.  They decided it was time to recover the nasty chairs.  After much pulling, stapling, pulling, tucking, more stapling, the women finished the chairs.  They now look like this...

...and they make one woman very happy.  THE END.

Now wasn't that a great story?  Your life probably feels more complete after reading this cliffhanger of a story.

The Loft Bed Has Arrived

The loft bed made it's way into our home on the last day of 2011.  What a great way to end the year for Little Man.  He's had so many wonderful accomplishments in 2011 it only seemed fitting that he be rewarded with total awesomeness.  A big thank you goes out to my mom's husband for spending over 65 hours on this bed.  I literally handed him a picture of a loft bed from Pottery Barn, told him what I wanted differently, and he took over.  Working all hours of the night he built the bed so sturdy that our whole family can crawl up there for bedtime stories.  And yes, this preggo mama has been up there numerous times already.  It's been so fun watching Little Man enjoy his new floor space and I'm enjoying seeing the floor to his closet now that he has some more shelving to put toys at the end of his bed.  It's a win-win for both of us.

Progress on Baby #3's Room

You would think that staining a full size loft bed would be enough of a project this week, but no.  Here at the Casa de Torres we like to cram as much work into Steven's vacation time as possible.  He's such a lucky man to be married to a slave driver like me.

Really our only accomplishments yesterday were two trips to Lowe's, spray painted frames, painted peg board, and hanging the frames and pegboard.  What's been floating around in my head, or shall I say my Pinterest board, is starting to take on reality.  After all this baby will be here in less than two months...yikes!  Am I really ready for all this???

Baby #3's Room

Well the Littlest Man will make his debut in a few months, and true to Torres fashion, we are getting some things done.  When it comes to projects for our upcoming babies, we get things ready early.  So here's a little info on baby #3's room.

When we built our house we nixed the formal dining room. Steven and I didn't see the practicality of having a formal dining room that was separate from the kitchen.  Our families like to eat in one area together.  Instead of having a wasted space, we decided to turn it into a fourth bedroom.  A decision that have proved to be very wise for us.

This is what the space looked like before we knew baby # 3 was coming...

Of course it has carpet now, but other than that it looked pretty much the same.  Nothing really in the room except items we really didn't have a place for.  In a way, it became the catch-all room.  At least the closets did.  We like to hide our clutter around here.  You know...give you the impression that we have it all together.  We're a bunch of pretenders.

Welp, once we knew baby #3 was going to be reality for this family, I started planning.  Or shall I say Pinterest'ing'.  I searched and searched for ideas.  The room is not as big as Little Man's and Little Miss', but it has a certain quaintness to it with the window seat and separated closets. 

At first I thought I wanted to paint the walls gray and have yellow accents for the walls, but then I started thinking that wouldn't be enough color.  Sooo, we went with this color...

I wasn't too sure about the baby blue-ish colors hitting the walls as Steven was painting, but I kept telling myself to trust the color palette I picked out.  However, it was looking really blue.  Thankfully, Steven got a fire under his britches and immediately began priming and painting furniture we already had and were going to utilize in the baby's room (an old armoire cabinet and Little Miss' old crib).  Once those items came in it helped me to see not so much blue.

 {Little Miss' crib that used to be black, now gray}

{Old armoire cabinet that used to be black as well, now gray}

As for the walls, we are searching for vintage sport items that go along with these pics...

These used to be in Steven's office a couple of years ago until he decided he didn't want them anymore.  What I'm trying to decide is what color to spray paint the frames.  Do I go with all once color, or three different colors?  And then there's this little beauty I found on Pinterest...

{via Project Nursery}

Of course the colors are all wrong, but the concept of the peg board above the changing table I LOVE! One thing I haven't decided is what I want to do with the window seat.  It has hinges and storage inside, but I also saw this on Pinterest and I kinda thought it was cool....

{via These Moments of Mine}

Maybe add a cusioned window seat cover and cushy pillows with curtains in a just right vintage print/  I just haven't decided if it will make the room look even smaller.  Basically, I need some opinions.  What to do?  What to do?  Feel free to chime in on all aspects of this room so I can get yet another item checked off my long term task list!

Old Fashion Sewing Table

Welp.  I finished yet another DIY, except you can't really call this a DIY because it required one can of spray paint and stain.  Maybe this is why it took me a lot less time than the window pane. 

I found this little treasure at a garage sale for $15.  It was hard to pass up and it has character.  Without further ado here is the latest piece in my living room.

Yes, I am one step closer to finishing out the room.  Instead of like 50 years, I think I'm down to about 20 years left to completion.  What can I say?  I can't help but be an overachiever.

A Guest Post From...Good Girl Gone Glad

Hi there everyone!

 I'm Jesse from Good Girl Gone Glad and am excited to be here today guest posting for Amanda!

What do you do with all of that special art work your sweet little ones make for you? Well today I am going to give you some ideas. I am a big fan of making large gallery walls of photos, like this one.

{via pure style}

 Why not take that same concept, large or small, and use our children's art. I have a small area in my hallway, but I think this would be fun wall decor if you have a game room. It add such life to any space.

{??}

I know frames can get pricey, so another options is making an art line. You can make one super simple with a line of twine or ribbon and some clothes pins.

{??}

Last summer at my twins birthday party we made handprints on small flat canvases. I really wanted a fun way to display them so I took large clothes pins and cut some command strips to size and attached them to the back of each clothes pin. Hung them on the wall as a fun way to display the hand prints. {Easy removal with the command strips too}

{via goodgirlgoneglad.com}

And if you have some photo editing software you might be able to whip up something like this. Where you can combine 18 pictures into 1.

{Click here for the full tutorial}

{via howdoesshe.com}

I don't know about you but seeing all of the sweet little things they make puts a smile on my face. Why not have it out where you can enjoy it?

xx

Jesse

It's Finished!

Back in February, my wonderful mom, Little Miss, and I took some much needed time girl time and went antiquing.  I purchased an old baby blue window pane for $12.  It was a steal.  I couldn't pass it up.  Even when I tried to pass, it called to me. 

Amanda.  Amanda.  You want me.  Pick me up.  Hold me.  Cuddle me. 

I cannot promise those were his exact words, but it was something along those lines.  The weird part was my mom did not hear anything.  I'm seeking professional help about the voices.  You don't think it's a problem do you?  

Nope.

Did you hear that?  No? 

Okay, definitely seeking help.  While I'm dialing my therapist, you can check out my awesomely hot husband sanding the talking window pane.  He did a good job.  I sat around and drank strawberry lemonade with a little umbrella straw.  It was hard work sucking all that down. 

And here is the finished product...

Now, I have a little quiz for you.  Are you ready?

1. When did I purchase this window pane? 
2. What month is it now?
3. How long did it take me to finish?
4. Should Amanda ever attempt a DIY project ever again?

If you answered "Yes" to question #4, message me 'cause you're gonna need the digits to my therapist!

As you can see a DIY project that takes longer than 5 minutes starts out strong and then fizzles out.  However, I do love it.  It is what I had in mind, and I now know I hate stenciling.  Just sayin'.  On a positive note, I do have another item on my wall.  So maybe now we're down to just 5 additional years before my house is fully decorated.  That's totally doable!

She's the Best

I know everyone thinks their grandma is the best, but yours is going to have to take a back seat to mine.  Sorry.  My grandma is hands down the best woman ever.  I could listen to her stories of growing up in the depression, yet still having a giving heart for hours.  She looks to bless others always.  She's a great example of how we all ought to live.

Knowing all this about her, I shouldn't have been surprised when she called me a few months back and offered me her full set of Frankoma Plainsman Prairie Green dishes.  She began collecting this particular collection of Frankoma Pottery when she was my age.  Piece by piece, she was able to put together an entire set.  Many of the pieces are difficult to find today, but she searched flea markets all over to find them all.  As we packed the pieces to make the move to our home, she told me how she came about finding her first pieces, the plates, all the way until she collected the last accent pieces. 

Even though these dishes come with a great value, it's the stories and memories that are priceless.  I have a little bit of my grandma that I will get to keep forever, and eventually will pass them along to Little Miss.  I get a little emotional thinking about the legacy that has been passed down. It's not just about the plates we eat on or what butter dish we scrape from, but the memories of time spent together at the dinner table.  Grandma, thank you for choosing me to house your Frankoma.  I love them almost as much as I love you.

Without further ado, I give you my newest collection of Frankoma Pottery...

 {Tea Pot with Cream and Sugar Bowls}

 {The basic plates, bowls, butter dish, and serving platters}

{Pitchers and Vase}

Not pictured: the most adorable coffee mugs ever.  I didn't take their picture because you would be insanely jealous.



Go Getters

There are some weekends we relax. Rarely, but it happens.  We usually jam pack our weekends with family time and projects.  This last weekend's project turned into a two day outdoor marathon.  It all started with my idea to put landscaping in the backyard.  Previously we had grass, and when I say grass I mean immaculate grass.  It was pretty, but my heart longed for a tree and some dimension. 

Poor Steven, he knows when my heart longs for something it usually means his muscles will long for something else...Icy Hot.  You would think after 8 years of marriage, he would turn and run the other way, but he likes rough work.  I think he should have been a farmer.  After all, he does have the brute strength for working the land. 

If I had doubted his ability to work the land, I would have been reassured on Saturday.  As I dragged the family to the backyard on a chilly Saturday morning, Steven grabbed his shovels and began to shovel up his beloved grass.  He carefully sectioned the grass into sod like pieces and then shoveled out the root so he could transplant it to my father-in-law's yard.  At one point he asked if I could get him a machete.  I didn't get one.  I wasn't sure of his intention in using the machete.  Was it for me or the grass?  I didn't want to find out.

After an hour of sod work, we began leveling and mixing is some good nutrient rich soil with the dirt.  Then the planting began.  I would like to call it a Plant-a-Thon.  I wish now I would have asked for sponsors and then broadcasts our acheivements along the way.  You would have been impressed, and I would have been rich.  Here's the Plant-a-Thon recap...

• Two bushes my neighbor just ripped out and had in trash bags.  I about died.  The bushes retail for $30 each.  I blame this on their youthfulness.  So young.  So naive.  I'm so thankful.  I just saved myself SIXTY BUCKS!
• Three Hostas from my grandparents yard...in Springfield, MO.  They survived the 3 hour car ride.
• One Flowering Plum Tree.
• Two Creeping Phlox.
• One Tomato plant.
• One bunch Cilantro.
• One bunch Chives.
• Two bunches of Parsley.
• One bunch Greek Oregano.
• One bunch Thyme.

{Patiently awaiting Steven putting in rock as the border instead of edging.}
• A container full of Impatients.
• One flat of Begonias.

{Peek-a-boo!  There's me in the window.  Slightly creepy.}
• Rows and rows of Monkey Grass (From G-ma's and G-pa's).

{My Pansies survived the winter.  I have an issue with ripping out living flowers. 
Guess I'll wait until they kick the bucket before I replace them with Begonias.}
• Layed 3 bags of mulch.

Total cost: $64 (Including 2 bags of Tree and Shrub mix, and 2 bags of container potting soil)

Since we had set aside around $500 for this project, I'd like to call this Plant-a-Thon a success!

BUT, we're not done yet.  Steven and I still had some gumption left in us.  Gumption or stupidity...I'm not sure which.  After getting the backyard how I wanted it, I looked over at our pathetic patio chairs.  Then I thought of that black spray paint can sitting in a closet.  I put the two together and I am a happy woman.

{My Summer reading spot.}

I was impressed with my spray painting ability.  As I was cleaning up our mess from the day, I walked right passed the window pane.  Darn it!  It got two coats of paint as well.  However, I'm still not done with the dang thing.  Maybe next weekend...

There's a Reason

There's a reason why I don't do DIY (Do It Yourself) projects.  I love the idea. I like to get creative.  I do not have the time.  If given a choice to play with the kids or work out in the garage on a project, I'll choose the kids everytime.

This is precisely why I have had an old window pane in my garage since February.  F-E-B-R-U-A-R-Y!  I even have all the supplies to complete what is floating in my mind.  I just haven't carved out enough time yet. 

I have made progress. By progress, I mean I've sanded, and then Steven re-sanded because he said my sanding job was "Stinky", then I painted two primer coats.  So after almost 2 months it went from this...

{Steven re-sanding.  What a man!}

To this...

{Primered...twice}

And that my friends is it.  That's all that's been done.  I hope, emphasis on hope, to get the frame painted black this weekend.  Consequently, I also want to put in some ornamental grass, and a flower bed in the backyard.  The gardening will probably win out.  Don't lose heart though, I'll get my DIY posted.  I may be 80 when it happens, but it will happen.  Until then you should just keep checking back...every...single...day... for the next 49 years.  How's that for optimism?

Around My House

The Tortoise and the Hare, now that an Aesop's Fable that I can relate to.  For most parts of my life, I am the Hare.  I can multi-task with the best of you.  I'm pretty good at accomplishing a lengthy to-do list in a short amount of time.  I get this from my mother.  However, when it comes to decorating I am the Tortoise. 

Slow and steady, steady and slow that's the way I always go.

We have lived in our new home for approximately eight months.  I thought by now I would have the place completely furnished/decorated.  When we were building, I had visions of what I wanted to do.  The rooms were empty canvases just waiting for me to get my hands on them.  They looked like this...

The possibilities were endless.  Then the walls were finished complete with a coat of Macadamia colored paint, and my ideas went out the window.  There was simply too much wall for me to handle.  So I decided that I wasn't going to purchase anything until I found the pieces that were perfect for my space.  The good part about that is you don't just run into the perfect pieces on a daily basis so it spreads my decorating budget over months and months.  The bad part is I sit and stare at blank walls frustrated that I can't find the perfect pieces.

This frustration led me to searching design sites.  My first stop, Apartment Therapy.  Once there I had to do some real searching.  I found a ton of cool ideas, but no rooms that were perfect for me and my family.  Then I decided to go back through the photos and look at individual pieces to the rooms.  BAM!  I struck gold. I found a ton of ideas.  Unfortunately, they are all ideas that consist of projects I must complete.  Like a gigantic chalkboard with a red distressed frame, and a wire corner shelf that would need to be spray painted red.  Then I'll have to sift through thrift store after thrift store to find all those crazy pieces to fit my wacked out style.  It's going to be a task, but I'm ready for it.  Maybe I'll find something soon, but I'm not counting on it.  However, I will share with you any little additions I find.

For now I'll leave you with new pictures of the blank rooms you saw in the above pictures.  Feel free to chime in if you have a brilliant idea for my space!!!

A Sorta Copycat DIY Decorating Thingamajig

I am by no means a crafty person.  Sure I follow many blogs who have these cutesy crafty DIY projects, but when I have the inclination to do it myself I slap myself two times and that immediately snaps me back into reality.  Then Jesse Peak came along.  Although I'm not ready to tackle her extensive stenciling and crafting projects, I did see a glimpse of a photo collage in her home that made me say, "I might possibly could reproduce something such as that."  I tried slapping myself two times, and the idea stayed with me.  I took that as a sign to go for it. 

So I dragged my sorry non-DIY self to my local Goodwill store and purchased two of the ugliest wall art pieces I could find.  Actually, I was looking for two sturdy and cute frames.  It just so happened the ones I liked were a horrendous shade of gold with 1980's style prints of bathtubs.  In fact, when I was purchasing these $3 hideous prints I resisted multiple urges to tell the worker that these were not going to hang in my house as is.  Then I realized, she didn't care.  Nor did she want my in depth description of how I slapped myself in the face before I driving to the store.  I only share these things with my best friends and family.  You are my friends, right???

As soon as I got home I ripped out the 80's bathtub prints and scrubbed the frames clean.  There was about an inch of hairspray caked on the frames.  More proof that these were 80's prints.  I'm pretty sure I caught a whiff of Aquanet hairspray.  Yep, totally 80's.

After the frames dried, I spray painted them with a black semi satin finish.  Then busted out my fabulous hot glue gun, twine, and mini clothespins (which were school bus yellow...thank you spray paint).  Bringing all my ramblings to an end, I came up with these (sorry the pic quality is stinky)...

They were an addition to our Hall of Fame...

I was pretty pleased with the end result.  I think I may contact Genevieve Gorder of HGTV.  She may need my assistance on her next show. 

Seriously though, our house is such a work in progress.  When I say a work in progress, I mean a-work-in-progress.  As in one work per month.  I flip-flop between what styles I like and wait and wait and wait for the perfect piece.  At this rate my house will be fully decorated when Little Man and Little Miss get married...so about 50 years ;)

Now if you'd like to see what these were really supposed to look like, be sure to go here.

The Most Prized Jars

When we moved from our little house to our big house it was like Christmas.  Since our little house was approximately 1200 sq ft, we had little room for extras.  Simply put, our attic was crammed with items given to us when we were married that could not be squeezed into the house.  Most of the items were for the kitchen that my Grandma had passed down to me.  When we moved into our new house and I opened the boxes that had been stored for 7 years, I cried.  Not really, but I was excited.  Inside one of the boxes was a group of original Mason Jars.  I had not a clue they were tucked away all those years. If I had, I certainly would have found a space for them in the old house.  Granted it would have probably been in the living room since the kitchen was busting at the seams, but STILL...

Anyway, I have since cleaned them out and filled them with my baking staples.  It makes baking all the more sweet to open my pantry, reach in, and pull out a Mason Jar with the patent date of 1858.  Love it.  Absolutely love it.  And since I love it, you'll love it too...or...at least indulge me in my craziness.  Yes, that's probably what you'll do.  I'm quite certain there is no one else who would 'share' about their Mason Jars, but if you did I would come rejoice with you.  Totally.

You Can Get With This, Or You Can Get With That

It's pretty common to have a security system in your house.  We have one in our new house, but I don't really put a lot of stock in it.  If someone really wanted to get in our house, they would do it before the police could even get here.  I personally feel security systems are more of a 'security' blanket for ourselves.  Just my personal opinion.

So instead of getting 'secure' with our security system, we got secure with God's Word.  Back when our house was in the framing stage, Steven and I wrote scriptures on the 2 x 4's in every room in the house.  Today I'll share what we wrote above our front door, and living room.  I'm not sure I'll get to every room in our house, but I've had a lot of questions about why or how we did this.  (Note: The scriptures are not visible.  They are covered with the drywall, but we know where they are and what was written.)

Our Entryway:

Written directly above the top of the door and under the under the upper window, it says...

Psalm 91:5-7
"You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.  A thousand my fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you."

If ever fear arises in our spirits, we don't run to check to see if the alarm is set.  Instead, we say this scripture.  God promises us that even though there are people and circumstances in this world that are able to destroy, we are protected.

As for our living room, it says this right behind the black shelving unit...

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your crooked paths straight."

Our living room is most often the place we spend our time as a family.  It's a great reminder to us that when we don't know what to do in a certain instance, we trust that God does.  He will show us what we need to do as long as we are seeking Him (we have to do some work too).

This is just something that was right for our family.  God is a huge part of our life.  We don't make decisions about our family or life unless we consult with God.  It's always worked for us.  We've never ever been let down.

In no way do I desire for this post to judge you if you depend on your alarm system.  We have one.  We use it.  However, we trusts God's Word more than our alarm system.  That's all I'm sayin'. 

A New Piece

For those of you who have been to my house, you know my living room is bare.  Of course you would never say anything, because that would be rude. I don't have rude friends, but come on.  You know you've thought it.  Well, Steven got his new toys for the living room.  A movie screen tv mounted above the fireplace complete with his surround sound that drives me nuts. It's entirely too loud all of the time.  I'm thinking of returning it because from what I know there are only two noise levels...off and blaring.  I prefer off, but guess who prefers blaring?

I can't complain too much.  He's happy, and I'm happy a little.  I can now pick out my 'toys' for the living room.  Since he has his set up complete, I can now work around it.  Of course the furniture had to be rearranged so The Chair is the direct view of The Screen.  Once that happened I could see what I wanted and where I wanted it.

So this is the start.  My shelf.  I especially love all the little trinkets.  I really fond on one piece in particular.  I'm sure you'll be able to find it immediately, and NO, it is not my coupon binder and/or recipe binder!

It's a lovely piece, isn't it?  Truly, one of a kind. 

Reality

I dislike clutter.  I dislike dirty floors.  I like organization.  I like cleanliness.  I have three kids during the week.  Two are my own, and the third I like to claim as my own, but he is my nephew.  These three kids love clutter.  They love dirty floors. They dislike organization.  The dislike cleanliness.  They are the reason my house looks like this for the majority of the day...

I think it is their daily mission to see how many toys they can pull out and how much food they can fling on the floor.  Just look at Chunky Monkey's face.  It says it all.  He's looking for the next opportunity to throw something.  As for Little Man, he's working on crashing into something breakable with his remote control car.  And Little Miss over there in the corner?  Don't let her fool you.  Five minutes before this she was the ring leader.  She saw the camera and decided she'd better get her act together.  She didn't want any proof that she had been guilty.  Typical girl!

But the reality of it all is I would clean up after them no matter what.  No matter how many messes.  No matter how much food goes on the floor instead of their mouths.  No matter how much they are out to get me, I love them to pieces.  I wouldn't trade this life for the world.