From Bunnies To Jack-A-Lopes

OK- I admit it. At times I can be a bit high-strung. Sometimes even a bit, how do I say this delicately?- anal. (Alright not so delicate, but truthful.) I also struggle a bit with perfectionism. I certainly don't expect other people to be perfect, but I tend to hold myself to a different standard. I can't remember if I have always been like this or if it is something that has developed as I have grown-up. Maybe it started when Husband deployed and I was the only mobile person in the house? (Son was 5 months old when Husband left... just a baby lump- though a very cute baby lump.) When you are the only one to "blame" when something isn't where it should be, it makes you pretty motivated to put things where they belong! At least that has been my experience.

Where was I going with this?

Oh yeah... high-strung. I have been pretty much on the high-strung side for the last... 2.5 months? We had a rather unexpected death in the family at the end of March that really seemed to throw me for a loop. I don't think that I have really been able to get my bearings back since then. My house has suffered the most, I think. I can't seem to keep up with the laundry, there always seems to be clutter out on the counters (not in the clutter basket where it belongs!!), we have progressed from just having dust bunnies to having dust jack-a-lopes. My whole cleaning schedule has really been off. Well, I lost it yesterday. The kiddos both went to hourly care on post and I got more done in the 3 hours while they were there than I have in the last 3 weeks. I attacked the house with a vengeance. I potted plants, I dusted, I cleared clutter from counters, I scrubbed bathrooms, I cleaned the stove, I cleaned floors (though not the garage floor, because Husband did that for me on Tuesday!!), I washed walls and baseboards, I finally got the house back into the condition that it belongs. And then my children came home.

For someone who doesn't like messes, and who truly doesn't function well in a messy environment, children can be a challenge. There's a part of me that wants my children to just sit on the couch and look pretty all day, that way they won't make a mess. But that's not what children are for. I have been blessed with 2 healthy, active children that really like to make messes, as children should. It's just finding that happy medium for me that sometimes causes a true internal struggle. Someone once told me to remember that the house "needs to be clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy". Maybe if I had that painted on a wall somewhere in the house it would be easier for me to remember.