Transparency

So, I read a post on a MOM (mother of multiples)'s website last week titled transparency (I wish I could remember where it was because I would give her credit and let you go there to read the post!). She was basically trying to be transparent by showing how her house is a disaster most of the time and she wanted to share it with the world. Here is my adapted version of what she wrote about.

• I am not perfect! I never was...but now that I am a MOM, I am even less so. I have a messy house.
• I have dust on furniture 99% of the time. I have a dead bug in my bathroom that has been in the corner for at least a week (eww..I know).
• I have toys EVERYWHERE, even though I feel like I do nothing but pick up toys.
• When I am cleaning one room...my kids are in another tearing it apart...I have NO idea how to catch up.
• My guest rooms are storage rooms right now. There is crap everywhere in both of them.
• I have had "clean out girls' closet" on my to-do list for 8 months.
• My fridge is always dirty, my freezer is crazy disorganized, my pantry was organized about a month ago for about three days and is back to chaos, my closets are a mess (except for my entry closet which got cleaned out the other day...obviously for the first time since the babies were born since I found dishes that belonged to a friend who brought food over when I was on bed rest).
• My basement looks like a tornado went through there. There are random pieces of furniture, luggage, and computer stuff piled up in corners.
• My bedroom is NEVER clean. Don't get me wrong..I try to clean it...every other night almost, but the next day there are clothes everywhere....glasses on the nightstands....random shoes covering the floor....books & magazines all over the floor (half of which have been torn apart), items from under the bathroom sink strewn all over the place, and a consistently unmade bed (most of the time with wet towels laying on it).
• My entry hall bathroom sink (guest 1/2 bath..whatever you want to call it) has hair in it much of the time because that is where I dry my hair in the morning so I can "watch" the kids while I get ready.
• There is ALWAYS laundry piled up somewhere. Sometimes it is in the basement waiting to get washed...or on the couch in the basement waiting to be folded, or in a laundry basket in the girls' room waiting to be put away, or in the laundry basket that we keep in the kitchen (since we go through THAT many baby clothes and "clean-up rags" a day), or on the floor in our room (sometimes it is just too difficult for SOME people to throw their clothes an extra five inches across the room into the hamper...not naming any names on THIS one..he he he).
• My house is a mess! Many days it drives me crazy. Many days I am not content with my house because I can't stand the mess and the clutter. Many days I blame in on how "small" our house is and think if we only had a bigger house, it wouldn't be like this (ha ha ha..yea right). Many days I wish for things that we don't have that would make the situation "better." Most days I try to cover it up as best I can so that anyone that enters my house doesn't think poorly of us. Most of the time I will only post pictures on this blog or facebook or wherever that don't show the mess that is our house. Most of the time if I know someone is coming over to our house I will do a quick "clean" and put up a front to make it look like I have everything "together".
• Well...guess what...this is my time to be transparent....I DON'T HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER. Not even close! I would love to be more organized. I would love to have a clean house. I would love to have everything perfectly in order and serene. I really would.
• BUT...I LOVE MY FAMILY EVEN MORE! I could spend the three hours that I have with my girls every night cleaning and organizing...but I don't. Instead, I spend time sitting with them on the floor, laughing and dancing to music. I could spend the two hours I have after they go to bed cleaning and organizing, but I don't (well...I do spend about an hour...but not two!) because I would rather have a small amount of time for myself at night...or even better...a small amount of time relaxing with the hubby. I could spend my weekends cleaning the house and organizing, but I would rather soak up every second I have with my babies and get to know them even better!
• My goal (not resolution because those never work) for 2011 (other than getting back into running shape like I was before the girls came and reading the bible EVERY day in 2011) for this year is to STOP beating myself up for the imperfection that I call a house. When I see a mess on the floor, I will thank God that I have two BEAUTIFUL and curious little girls that can walk around and use their gross motor skills to pull chocolate chips out of the cabinet for the third time in a day and dump them all over the floor! I will thank God that our lives are so fun and busy that the laundry may not get done for two weeks and when it does it doesn't get folded for another one. I will thank God that we have a beautiful house that we dreamed of for so long before we actually got it and thank God that the mess is a sign of Love, not failure!
• Don't get me wrong...I still want a clean and organized house...and I will still do my best at keeping it as good as I can....but I am going to stop trying to act like I have it all together and start being a little more transparent!

Here are two shots of what my kitchen looks like on a typical night after the kids have gone to bed! Ugghhh...embarrassing, but in the spirit of being more transparent...here ya go! I didn't get any shots of the other rooms...but I'll try to get some and post them. I will be more transparent and I will be OK with it! (Than sounded a little like a speech from an AA meeting or something!).