Happy Mother's Day and Clean House Here I Come

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! Mine was super fantabulous. We had brunch at one of my faves Louis Benton Steakhouse. Reminisced about Mother's Day brunch from the previous year... Woke up having contractions, went to brunch, then made a quick stop by the hospital to have a baby. All in a day's work, right?

No babies this year... Just a perfect little family that gets on my nerves sometimes but I would not trade any of them for the world. Maybe for an Aston Martin... :)

So I am getting ready to head out to our brunch and I hear John asking Caleb if he told me Happy Mother's Day yet. He says no, so I hear John giving him the low down.

"You need to tell Mommy Happy Mother's Day. This is the one day of the year we tell Mommy Thank You for all she does."

Priceless... I know.


So we have this ongoing discussion at our house about how clean it is or mostly isn't. My husband and I have 2 totally different ideologies on this subject. He wants the house to look sparkling and spotless like it has just been "Spring Cleaned" when he walks in the door. Let's face it... realistically, that ain't gonna happen. I have 2 kids... even if I didn't have kids there is just no way I can do that. You might be able to... but not me. Just not wired that way I suppose. Now don't get me wrong... I am not a slob, I am just distracted.

So anyway... I have been busting my tooshy to keep up the last few months trying to make a noticeable difference. I feel like I am barely treading water with just my nose poking through the surface allowing me to breathe.

Then I run across Christin's blog about her "Incompetent Housekeeper Binder" and I was able to take a sigh of relief. I was not the only one out there. In her blog she talked about her binder and posted a link to FlyLady's website.

So I cruise over there and Oh My Gosh!!! I have only been doing this about a week and already I feel like my life has been transformed. It's so simple I feel stupid for not thinking of it myself... Basically, you break your house into Zones and that is your focus for the week. You still work on other areas of your house at the same time but you are only "surface cleaning" those and you do the "deep cleaning" and de-cluttering in the current Zone. Check it out... it's pretty good stuff.

This week we are working on the Kitchen which also happens to be the entry way to my house. I have gone out 3 times this week and each time I have come home has been the most relaxing entry to my house I have ever had. Even with a few things out of place it just feels good the sense of accomplishment knowing what I have done to make it sparkle and I am not overwhelmed by the chaos that usually comes rushing at me when I walk in.

Age is Just a Number... Right?

So a few weeks ago on January 19 I turned over a new page in my life. I can now no longer consider myself among the ranks of twenty-somethings. That's right... I turned 30! It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be. I mean, really, 30 feels just like 29...

Someone asked me if I felt grown up now? Not really... But in some ways yes...

I've thought about my life the past 10 years. I've been married for all of it. Moved 1000 miles away from home. Bought a house. Started a business with my husband.

The past five years are a little different. I've been pregnant five times. Had two miscarriages. Had twin girls where unfortunately one was stillborn and one only lived 6 days. And I have two beautiful, energetic, boys. Caleb almost 3, and Zachary almost 9 months.

If I had to say when I felt grown up and put on my big girl panties I would have to say it was when the twins died. Something about that experience changed my perspective on life. Things I thought were important were no longer on my radar. And other things became more important. Relationships changed. I changed. My whole world changed. My relationship with God changed.

Anyway... that's another blog for another day.

So for my BIG 30, John threw me a big party with 35 of my friends at our favorite restaurant, Louis Benton Steakhouse. So much fun! John took Caleb the whole day and they ran all over town buying me flowers and balloons and Monica's Best Gourmet Cookies which I shared with my guests.

I went to Heidi Christine's Salon and Spa and got a much needed pedicure and spent some Mommy and Me time with Zac.

It was such a wonderful and memorable day. I could not have asked for anything more.

Thanks to all my friends who came to help me celebrate. And a HUGE thanks to John for organizing the whole shindig. Love you!