To Clean or Not to Clean ⇒

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am so overwhelmed by the mess in my house. I keep trying to remind myself that it looks like this because I choose to play with my kids instead of cleaning. I know that one day down the not so distant road when Elise and Daniella are older and don't play with toys anymore, I'll be able to sit in a nice tidy living room and wish I could have this time back.

Every day I say, "Ok today I will try to leave each room tidier than when I entered it" and, for the most part, I do this. The trouble is, there are three other people in this house who leave stuff in the empty space I've created by putting things away. Case in point. I took at least five things out of the living room as I put the girls to bed tonight. Erin just came home and put his back pack against the wall by the kitchen. I guess I'm still ahead by 4 things.

Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming Erin. I do exactly the same thing! I look around and see things that I've left around - craft supplies, my floor pillow, my quilt, my own backpack from earlier today. It's just that I know I will be the one that returns these things to their rightful home eventually....along with the backpack Erin left against the wall...and the Littlest Pet Shops that the girls "are still playing with".

Even if I cleaned it all up and had it spotless, an hour into tomorrow it would look like I had never cleaned in my life.

Still, I wouldn't trade the hour I just spent (including 40 minutes past bedtime) playing Littlest Pet Shops with Elise and Daniella on my floor pillow and quilt, after spending half an hour making crafts with them after I had returned from a day at a writing workshop instead of cleaning my house.