Do you know what I should be doing right now??? I SHOULD be writing a guest blog post for a different, more popular blog than this one... I SHOULD be putting together an intelligent piece of work that makes me sound like a good mom and a professional author.

But. Instead I need to be real. And I need to hear myself talk. Without worrying if my sentence structures are correct or if I've used the word "like" too many times to be considered an adult.

I need to be in a place where I don't have to sound like a good mom. Because even if I am some of the time, I'm NOT just as much or more...

And I Really, Really need to be in a place where I don't consider myself a professional. Because the Lord knows, I am ANYTHING but professional. I'm more like a chaos-surrounded hippy that just falls into things.

Even though, I didn't really fall into writing. Writing was that elusive dream that I chased for years and years, maybe my whole life, before I gave up on self-expectations and my ideas of how that dream should work and took matters into my own hands.

Or more accurately gave things over to God's hands.

Anyway, I think that particular blog post is going to have to wait until the kidlets are asleep anyway. Since this one is happening between calling out appendages and colors for Twister and helping a three year old match her Princess Memory Cards. Thank goodness that little boy is still asleep. Because if I've learned anything this last month, it's that I cannot hope to accomplish anything other than pulling him down from potential life-threatening objects all day every day.

He can climb.

He's fourteen months and he knows how to make a staircase out of dresser drawers so that he can crawl right up to the top!!!

I do not have enough non-gray hair left for this adventure Stryker is taking us on!!!!!!

Which reminds me, I need to set up another hair appointment. That would be my second one this year! It would also mean I met my New Years Resolution for having two hair appointments in the same year.

You're floored right now for how ambitious I am, aren't you????

Haha.

Well, let's not get too excited, I still haven't actually MADE the appointment.

Oh but moving on....

And speaking of being a writer.... I finally made a Rachel Higginson Facebook Fan Page.... Not sure exactly how I feel about it.... I just have a very hard time viewing myself as needing a fan page.

Ok, I know how that might sound. And I am SO not trying to sound insincerely humble or anything. But I am trying to be real. And it's really, really hard for me to see myself as anything other than normal.

If not on the very crazy/chaotic side of normal... :)

Anyway. Enough about that.

I sent the girls off to clean their room. How successful do you think this will be???

This is my BIGGEST struggle with them right now. Why does it take less than thirty seconds for them to have every single one of their toys out on their bedroom floor? Yet, it takes an entire day of time-outs, mom-yelling and constant reminding to get it all put back together again????

It's not just their struggle either. It's mine.

First of all, I am a total believer of "A place for everything and everything in it's place." So the struggle comes from me wanting to do all the work, so that every little Barbie piece ends up back with all the other million Barbie pieces. All of their dress clothes are put away nicely and together. And so forth and so on.

Plus, it about takes ALL my patience to deal with those two in their room alone whilst trying to clean. They are either best friends and doing nothing but playing, and no ideas of cleaning anything on the horizon. Or they are mortal enemies, sworn to make the experience as awful as they can for each other.

Then lets add Stryker in to the mix. He prefers to wait until they finally do get motivated and then just follows them around the room, undoing everything they just did.

Here is what I need in order to make this experience more enjoyable.

Or in the words I like to use, less loathsome.

I need a timer that can sit in their room and better storage facilities.

But also because they haven't ever experienced either one of those things, I feel like we should be good to go by now!!!!

We are so not.

And I prefer to blame it on their ages and NOT on my lack of qualified parenting skills....

So don't judge me.

And what haunts me the most is that I have these flashbacks of a year ago, when I took the kidlets over to a dear friend's house. My friend and I were talking and so the kids naturally ran the house, moving from room to room whilst playing. I was worried to death for the havoc my kids and her kids were creating on her house until I needed to use the restroom. I kept thinking, Oh lord, I better leave at least 45 minutes in our schedule so I can help the children clean everything up.

Anyway. I went upstairs to use the restroom and I noticed that there was no mess along the way, no clutter, no toys strung about or a trail of play things leading from room to room. I even peeked my head in one of the girl's rooms to make sure every one of their possessions wasn't lying in a heap of rubble on the floor.

And to my surprise, it was spotlessly clean.

I stood their stunned for a minute, and heard the girls talking to each other in the next room over. Now, I knew their were children in this room, and lots of children because at the time, between us their were seven little ones. Anyway, it was her oldest daughter talking to my oldest daughter. Normally, the closest of friends, Stella was standing or more like staring kind of curiously at this other first born. After a few seconds of watdching, it became clear to me what was happening.

The children all wanted to go play in the basement. But my friend's oldest was determined that they first clean up the bedroom before they moved their party downstairs. She said, while shoving something into Stella's hands "Stella, we need to clean up now. My mommy wants our rooms clean and she wouldn't be happy if we left this room a mes."

Stella was like... What???? You should meet my mommy!!!

I was so impressed. SO impressed.

Lindsay.... :)

So that's what I imagine, when I set ten minute increments of check-in times and the work goes sooooo painstakingly slow!!!!

Oh, and I should say for the most part, we clean every night before bed. But, I swear, there is always one day a week when things get OUT OF CONTROL. And then I have to fight tooth and nail to get back to some semblance of order....

Any tips moms?? How did you motivate your children to clean? OR. What storage containers/organizational skills do you find successful???

But somebody please tell me that my children are not the only kids out their with an inability to get jobs finished.

The other week, a dear friend of mine told me that her parents were late to everything and so now she is hell bent on being thirty minutes early every where she goes.

Putting aside the fact that I pray daily this will be true for my children.... (Yes, yes I am hoping to damage them so severely in one area of their lives they come out normal.) I am also wondering if the same is true for cleaning. Because I am a crazy clean freak that likes every thing in order, will my children come out the opposite???

If that's the case, than I am seriously praying for some hard core patience.