I woke up this morning abnormally early at 5:30 a.m. due to baby Grant's early morning nursing session and, unfortunately, was not allowed to fall back asleep. But that's because I brought him back into bed with me to nurse and I don't normally do that, so he felt like playing as soon as he had a full tummy instead of going back to sleep like he usually does in his crib. So I started my day quite early and it is currently 8:55 p.m. and this is the first time I've stopped "working" and sat down ALL DAY LONG. It's such an interesting story, really, which is why I felt like blogging about my day.
The cleaning frenzy began when Payton spilled her LIFE cereal (itsy bitsy crumbs, to be exact) all over the kitchen floor around 7:20 a.m. Now please tell me, does anyone really feel like sweeping at that early morning hour? Well, I wasn't exactly chipper about the scenario but it had to be cleaned nonetheless. I even tried to allow PJ to "help" sweep the mess but she only made it worse and I wasn't in the most loving, patient mood at that time...so that "lesson" was cut rather short (of course, I'm feeling total guilt over that now).
I almost entitled this post: Ants, Fleas, and Mice, OH MY! but decided that wasn't the overall point of my blog. However, I must embarrassingly admit that we are currently fighting all kinds of nuisances in our home right now.
Michael set mouse traps last night because I found mouse turds inside our kitchen drawers (of all places - really?). I told him that I refused to open those drawers this morning and that he had to do it. When he checked them, he said, "Those darn things snatched my cheese!" So...they're baited with cheese AND peanut butter tonight. Ugh! Just the thought of mice IN my silverware drawer makes me want to hurl. Needless to say, I am washing everything before I use it from any of those drawers. GAG!
We've had those annoying little ants pop up here and there on the kitchen counter and on the bathroom floor over the past few days. I clean my kitchen every single day, so I'm not sure what they keep coming back to find. There's usually only one or two at a time so I'm hopeful they won't get worse!
Maya picked up fleas recently and I *thought* I exterminated them before they infested our home but, it seems, that I was wrong. In spite of routine application of Frontline ever since she was a puppy, the darn fleas have won out this summer. Let me preface this by saying the first time I found fleas on her was last summer when I was 7 months pregnant. I FREAKED OUT the minute I saw the fleas! I made Michael bathe her immediately while I stripped our bedding, doused the carpet with flea powder, washed every surface in which she might have slept in hot water, and basically had a nervous breakdown. My reaction was absolutely extreme but I blame the pregnancy hormones! However, my reaction rid her of fleas and the problem was remedied.
Fast forward to the last few weeks and my reaction has been less extreme, thankfully, but I'm completely aghast at the speed of the flea life cycle. I have found an organic pest control called Wondercide that I ordered today. Once it arrives, I plan to "bomb" the entire house with the stuff and spray Maya with their organic killer/repellent (replacing Frontline).
This brings me back to this morning...poor Maya was obviously uncomfortable - scratching, licking, shaking her head, etc. It was grossing me out so I decided to bathe her as soon as I put Grant down for his morning nap. Then I realized that I'd need to clean everything the dog touches if I want to at least try to control the situation (or make it more comfortable for her for a little while). So after Maya's bath, I stripped our bed linens (yes she sleeps with us!) and threw every soft surface I could think of into the washing machine. Then I decided that I'd better vacuum but before I could begin, I'd need to straighten up and move all the kids' toys out of the way (which are constantly sprawled across our living/dining room floor). While I was vacuuming, I decided to be more thorough than usual, so I moved the couch and chair and vacuumed under and around their usual places as well as alongside the baseboards.
Once I got the living room vacuumed and dusted, I stood back and looked at the furniture all out of sorts and got the random idea to rearrange my furniture! It was about this time that Michael woke up for the day. He walked into the living room and the look on his face was hilarious - "WHAT happened in here?" So then I proceeded to ask for his input on different furniture arrangements. He wasn't much help but that's only because we're very limited on space in our living room since we only have two walls and one of them has the T.V. on it.
Yesterday, I purchased a few bins and storage items to help organize our dining room a.k.a. "playroom/my office." I started the sift-and-sort process last night but did not finish so all of that stuff was sprawled across the dining room and kitchen island. If I let myself look around at my house at this precise moment for more than a few seconds, I just might have lost all sanity. It was the epitome of "disheveled." But...I kept pressing on!
Michael took PJ to McDonald's so Grant and I continued cleaning house. I started vacuuming and dusting in PJ's room and decided to rearrange her furniture, too! I finished that shortly after Michael and PJ returned - so it was at least an hour long process.
Lunch time was a circus as I tried to maneuver around the stuff in my kitchen/dining area but, somehow, I was able to feed all of us without many real problems. Once the kids were down for naps, I decided to go to the gym since this was my day to go. When I returned, I showered and then decided to clean my shower and bathroom floor... It's such a slippery slope, this darn cleaning stuff!
After her nap, Payton received a much sweeter and more patient "lesson" while she helped me put the sheets on our bed. Once it was made, she promptly jumped on top of it and started singing and dancing to her favorite song. I caught it on video, of course! Soon after, Grant woke from his nap and joined us on the bed while we read a new book. It was around 4:30pm and as I read the book, I felt the TIREDNESS hit me...okay, so THAT was the first time I had stopped working. Once I did, though, it hit me like a mack truck!
I declared that it was bath time for the kids. I let PJ play in the tub while I dressed Grant and prepared him for bed. Then I prepared dinner, fed Grant, put him to bed, fed PJ, fed myself, put PJ to bed, cleaned the kitchen, took the dog for a short walk, folded the clean clothes/put them away, and now...here I sit. It was probably one of the most physically active days that I've had in awhile - I mean, CONSTANTLY moving with very little break! But hey, look at how much I accomplished!
I amused myself today because my MOTHER could have had a day very similar to mine when she was alive. She hated fleas!! She regularly sprayed the perimeter of the house (interior and exterior) for fleas. She sprayed for ants, too. She screamed at a huge rat she found inside her toilet (promptly slammed the toilet lid and set a waste basket on top of it until Dad came home to retrieve it). She randomly decided to rearrange her furniture in that same house I grew up in year in and year out. It's just what you do when you want a change but can't change houses! And she always had some project hanging in the shadows waiting to be completed. In spite of her many tasks to complete, she was always a caring, steadfast mother to me. She was always patient and loving and I need to be more like her in that way.
I wonder if these nuances in a person's life are learned or innate? I could argue that it's in my genes to be spontaneous yet erratic in accomplishing tasks at home but, perhaps, I just watched and learned from my Mother? :-) Either way, it makes me love her and miss her. I wish, wish, wish that I could've called her today and shared with her the craziness of my day. And I always wonder what she'd say...
