The Reality Is.......

.....I am NOT Martha Stewart!! 

Nor the Proverbs 31 Woman!!!

Oh, yes, I do make cheese, and sweet little projects with my Ag Science students.  I can sew a dress, and paint my own house.  But, really, I am not a wonder woman like someone called me.  To prove it, I am choosing to expose the real me.  If you would stop by my house unannounced, you would see what I can't do - like keep an organized house, start and complete the laundry in one day, never have my kitchen sink clear of dirty dishes.  Kitchen floor clean?  Can't tell you the last time I used the mop.  Spider webs?  Yep!  Right above my sink, and over there and over there. And finding things?  Forget it!  Well, I can't!  When something is lost, I become this obsessed woman, wracking my brain on where I left it.  Please don't tell anyone, but the frustration of it drives me to tears occassionally.  Ok, Martha, how is it done again?  And did you homeschool your children?  And what size was your house?  Oh, you have 20 closets to neatly stack all your possessions in?  You have a maid that does your laundry?  And a chef to cook your meals?  My oh my!  Life would be quite peachy if that were my case.  Or would it?  Really?  My head yells "YES", my heart yells right back, "NO!" well......depends on which day you ask me.....

The playroom/laundry is always the worst.  We can clean it up one day and the next it looks like a tornado went through.  I finally gave up.  If the boys are going to play in there, they have to learn to be responsible and keep it tidy.  Well, here is a picture of how it looks sometimes (this was right before a major clean up where some stuff went to the trash and some stuff went to Jubilee), .......

    But, what do I do all day?   Don't you love it when someone asked you that?  And  when you start to think about it, you really don't know?  You know you did something, but what was it?  I decided that I am going to keep a record of how many times I do the basic things for one week.  This does not include the meal fixin', school teachin', grocery shoppin', etc.  I started on a Monday morning and ended Saturday night.  Here are my results:

How many phone calls did I make? 25 

 How many times did I answer the phone (this does not count machine messages)?  40

How many times did I do laundry (does not count those that Dave did)?  12

How many times did I wash dishes by hand?  9

How many times did I run the dishwasher (not counting when Dave did it)?  8

How many eggs did I make?  91 (approx. 7.5 doz)

So what can be gleaned from the results?  Not exactly sure, except how did we talk on the phone while eating all those eggs?

And the laundry......it gets washed, hung in the basement to dry and then ends upstairs to fold....

Sometimes it goes days till it gets folded, in fact, finally yesterday I folded quite a few baskets and do you know how many pairs of socks I matched?  61!!  I can imagine what you are thinking.......poor Brenda's family.  In fact, I remember my big sister telling me when I was about 10 or so (we shared a bedroom) - "I am going to pity your husband one day!"  I didn't realize she was a prophet!  

So, you now see, I am no Martha Stewart nor the Proverbs 31 woman.  I am me!  A woman who God created, a woman who can make cheese, sew and paint, and obviously talk on the phone and make eggs, but has a more difficult time keeping on top of the house.  The point that I want to reach, though, is to be able to remain pleasant and loving, even though the house is sometimes chaotic and I can't find something (like a library science DVD that would've cost $25.00 to replace, which by the way we finally found, but I really don't want to tell you where).  My husband and children will not be near as effected by the topsy turvy house as they will be by my attitudes and manner towards them.  So, next time you come to visit, I will be sitting under the pile of laundry that needs to be folded singing my heart out......... move on over Martha, bet you wouldn't do that!!

Until next time.......