Surviving At Home

OK, let me start by saying my mother will die when she sees this picture. Somehow her neat genes didn’t fully form in me so the clutter builds up over time and somehow I’m able to just ignore it…until it gets bad.

But when my friend Cara at The Household Helper announced her new contest, I figured I would “own” the mess (isn’t that an Oprah-ism?) and maybe even win some household coaching!

So here’s my mess…(face turning 20 shades of red)…

Let’s see…we’ve got the dog leash from our new puppy; shapes from a Girl Scout meeting held last month; bills that have been paid but need to be filed (better yet, need to find a way to go green; the paper kills me!); a filing box that just gets stuffed with miscellaneous things instead of the organized bills; PTA notes and volunteer list; and lastly my work planner with deadlines and notes. Phew!

And in case that picture doesn’t do it justice, here’s another view:

So obviously I have NOT found any systems for keeping the chaos at bay but I will find a way to get financial statements and such in digital format because this is the result of not putting things away as they come in.
I’m going to use this as my Tackle It Tuesday project this week. We’ll see what happens…

I’m beginning to wonder if we are seriously the only parents on earth who do not allow our kids to have televisions in their bedrooms.

Ever since 2nd grade my oldest has asked for a tv, mostly to play video games, all because her best friend (at the time) had a tv in her room. We stuck to our guns and said no, because we all know how kids can be. For sure, she would try to sneak extra tv time or game time after lights out.

We’re still saying no, three years later, because we have an abundance of televisions in our home. There is always one to choose from and I think 11 years old is too young for setting up a bachelor pad in her room.

But did you see Oprah’s show on Thursday with the wasteful families? Every single child on that show had a television in their room! And not just small ones from dad’s old apartment. Big, brand new tvs. One kid even had a plasma screen!

Just wondering if we’re the weird ones or if there are other sticklers out there, who think the kids should be spending time with family rather than holed up in their rooms.

I love blog hopping to read about fellow moms and their experiences. In fact, this can get rather addicting time consuming, so I have to really limit my blog hopping time til AFTER my work is done. Since there’s always some last thing to do, my blog reader is always chock full!

New blogs that I discovered this week:

Chrysanthemoms: chock full of fun mom stuff, kids stuff, and some business stuff as well.

Weekly Beef: there’s just something about this writer’s style that makes me laugh.

Smart Mama: again, another funny mom who writes about all mom things, most of which only moms would find funny.

Five Under Five: I’m just in awe of any mother who has 5 children under the age of 5.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: not exactly a “new find” but one that I love. Wish I could hire her to be my personal chef.

If you missed my Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Spencer was my very first dog and a Christmas present to my husband. My husband had waited very patiently for almost two years before I would relent to get a dog. I grew up with cats and couldn’t fathom having a dog, especially a large breed like a golden retriever. I also didn’t think it would be fair to have a large dog in our small townhouse, so after we moved into our first house, I made up a “gift card” at Christmastime and we picked up Spencer from the breeder in April.

We got to choose which dog we wanted from the litter. The first two they brought to us seemed timid and shy, not wanting to get too close and very unsure of who we were. Hubby wanted a dog that was ultra friendly and the minute Spencer walked into the room, we knew he filled that requirement. He came to us immediately wanting to play and kept knocking his head on the underside of a desk they had in the room. Not sure why that goofy move sealed the deal, but it did.

We had 13 years with Spencer before he passed away on March 1, 2008. We’ve had our share of him chewing on dishtowels, stealing toys and eating grass. He even ate 2 chocolate cakes! Nothing was safe on our countertops because he would just stand on his hind legs and reach for anything his paw would touch.

His death came very quickly. He had osteoarthritis and was on medication but one day he just started limping and walking down the stairs very slowly. Within a week he went from moving slowly to losing all strength in his front legs. Miraculously, I was able to get him into the car to the vet’s office but the steroids they gave him just didn’t help.

Luckily we were able to go and visit with him one last time, even though we were all slobbering fools. The girls haven’t known life without him and even I, the one-time cat lover, had gotten used to him being at my feet all the time.

Now we’re embarking on a new adventure with our new puppy. It’s just like having a newborn again and it’s fun to see how this little one has found all of Spencer’s favorite spots to lay already.

Find more Tell Me Thursday stories here.