When I’m not…

When I’m not vacuuming up the endless amounts of cat hair…
When I’m not mopping the floor for the bazillionth time this week…because I just might be OCD..
When I’m not taking care of emails, mail, and other business…
When I’m not dusting…
When I’m not picking up after everyone else…
When I’m not changing dirty diapers…
When I’m not playing with my toddler…
When I’m not spending valuable time with my husband…
When I’m not chasing Lorelei, picking up after her and keeping her from sticking her fingers in light sockets and licking cats…
When I’m not tending my garden…
When I’m not on my hands and knees, scrubbing…
When I’m not scraping food off the highchair…
When I’m not pulling dried waffle and bananas out of my hair…
When I’m not holding a crying baby…
When I’m not dealing with bill collectors…
When I’m not praying…
When I’m not washing load after load of clothes…
When I’m not trying to fold a mountain of clothes while simultaneously trying to keep the toddler from pulling everything out of the basket…
When I’m not trying to clean up the  goodies the dog just left on my newly  cleaned floor…
When I’m not shampooing the carpets….
When I’m not trying to research what’s best for my baby (vaccines, foods, medicines, etc)…
When I’m not comforting others…
When I’m not trying to sneak a shower or lunch in before the baby wakes back up…

…When I’m not doing any of these…I must be asleep.

I’m not longer going by “Stay-At-Home-Mom.”  I’m a Work-at-home-mom.  I’m a mother.  A wife.  A full-time nurse.  I’m a researcher.  I’m a writer.  I’m an actress.  I’m a seamstress (err…sort of).  I’m an artist.  I’m head of billing and accounts.  I’m a teacher.  I’m a student.  I’m a counselor.  And, I do it all for free…day in, and day out.

And, I love it all.  I love my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  But, when you walk into my home and you can’t see your reflection in my floors.  Remember that.  That, and the fact you are a bonehead if you think you can see your reflection on cheap vinyl flooring that’s approximately 20 years old anyways.  If you see a ritz cracker smushed into my carpet, know that I will get it later.  Either that, or the toddler will.  If you see some hair floating by, it’s not my fault.  My 2 indoor and extremely fluffy cats and little dog shed like there’s no tomorrow.  There is no way that i can catch every single hair that comes off of them.  If you want to try, you go for it.  Otherwise, shut up.  They’re cats.  What do you want from me?  I’ve already tried taking the vacuum and every fancy brush to them.  It. Doesn’t. Work.  It just wastes my time.

The truth is: I do what I can.  But, I refuse to sacrifice my family time and MY personal happiness to be a slave to this house.  My house is not nasty, but sometimes you’ll see dust on the TV.  Sometimes there will be tiny hand and nose prints on my glass door.  Sometimes you will spot some cat fur…that’s not attached.  I’ve learned a valuable lesson in the past 3 years as a wife and a mother:  My house will never be TOTALLY clean.  As soon as I finish, it’s time to start again.  And to speak frankly, when my life is over, I don’t want to look back and regret all the missed slobbery kisses, my daughter’s first steps, my husband’s joy in sharing about his day and sweet kisses from him, or listening to a friend that needed a shoulder - mine.  I don’t want to look back and realize that I missed all of these things and more because I couldn’t put the mop down and live my life.

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