Last evening, I walked outside with my husband. The boy was napping. The girl was glued to a cartoon. We took some time in the garden to just talk. My husband got more than a little nostalgic, and gripping my hand he recalled the day our little girl came bursting onto the scene.
“Remember how red her little lips were?” He asked.
“Yeah,” I laughed.
“They’re still dark,” he smiled.
Once back inside, my husband scooped his daughter up and told her all about the day she was born and made us all cry. Well… he cried and I cried. My daughter just asked if she could watch her cartoon again please.
Instead of watching her cartoon, we had her watch old movies instead. We flipped through old pictures and movies for over an hour and in so doing MISSED the eclipse. It didn’t bother us much… we were having our own sort of “Sunrise, Sunset” kind of moment within the walls of our little home.
Then we started going through pictures of the boy’s birth:
And oh! the days…
And oh! my daughter…
Fast asleep with her dress pulled up over half of her face.
There was the Christmas where he HATED his boots:
Only to later figure out there was no other form of shoe necessary -boots were all he’d wear.
The boy’s birthday generally falls around the same time as the County Fair, so we like to take him to the grand stands to watch beat up cars ram into each other. This was his second birthday:
Merrily we’ve rolled along through the years. It’s going by so fast -though some days feel exceptionally SLLLLLOW.
We played through so many old home videos and giggled and giggled and giggled… one video in particular was so adorable. My kids were much smaller, and they were playing puppy. Puppy is still their favorite game; although, my “sweet” daughter has taken to playing Rottweiler and my son has taken to playing Victim. No fun for Mom who actually had to say, “NO MORE PUPPY IN THIS HOUSE FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!” yesterday.
*pulls hair out*
Anyway, the video shows one cute little toddler and one cute almost-toddler rummaging around on the floor, “arffing” and hanging their tongues out. And I want to be touched by the cuteness of it all, but something else really stood out.
The house was FILTHY. I’m not talking a little cluttered or a little messy. I’m talking: FILTHY. There’s toys scattered over almost the entire surface of the floor (which desperately needed vacuumed). There’s laundry draped over one couch, half folded. Every surface is covered in something… a counter covered in paper and THREE old pizza boxes.
Incidentally, it made me feel good about myself.
No, I really mean that. For the past, heck, 7 years I’ve been working HARD on being a better housekeeper.
Now, I know that it helps that my kids are old enough to help.
I know it helps that they’re over going through cupboards and dumping everything out.
BUT I also know that I’m making PROGRESS on my goal of being a better housekeeper! I honestly didn’t think I was! The progress has been SO SLOW that I’ve barely noticed it, but there in HD and color video is the LIVING PROOF.
Right now, my house is dirtier than it’s been in a LONG time. And it’s STILL cleaner than it was in that video.
Hark! All ye angles of mercy! I’m up and coming! Give me another 35 years, and I’ll be writing the book on how to slowly recover from bad housekeeping!
No one will buy it though. I mean, would you buy a copy of a book titled, “From Hog to Heaven: Transform Your Housekeeping Skills in 40 Years.”
Har, har.
Anyway, as I sat the home videos aside I got up and picked up my house a very little bit. And then, per my husband’s request, I baked chocolate chip cookies -minus the chocolate chips. It’s his favorite (I know. I don’t get it either). And as I mixed up the recipe, I realized I had to actually READ the recipe.
Two years ago, I had it memorized.
I could whip up a batch in ten minutes flat, and I was always guilty of eating waaaay too much cookie dough. My eating habits have also been something that have bothered me. Again: I didn’t think I was making much progress, but as I read the recipe and realized it took me double the time to make the dough… I was a little proud of myself. I’d forgotten my cookie recipe! If you’re a woman, you KNOW what a good thing that is.
Is my housekeeping and health work paying off? YES!
I had no idea that it was! Thank GOODNESS for old home movies. Thank goodness for forgotten cookie recipes.
Thanks to the two of them, I’ll be shutting my computer off this morning and rolling my sleeves up. Sure, I’ll get sick later on… but for now, FOR NOW… I’m going to conquer what I can in this house because I CAN. That old home movie was just what I needed to recharge my battery.
Look out, kitchen, I’m coming for you.
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