Treasure Hunting!!

Four consecutive days home means that I get to do one of the things I enjoy the most...organize and clean!

Today I tackled the living room.  It is amazing what treasures one can find in their own home!  Behind the piano were cd's and toys.  The couch cushions offered me up freeze pop wrappers and tinker toys.  Under couches I was able to do some archaeological research to see what kids of snacks my children have been enjoying (and dropping).  There was also the exciting find of a special pillow that my husband had bought a few months back.  I have continuously put it "away," frustrated why it keeps being in the way.  Today I found out why...there are THREE of them!  The train tracks, the tinker toys, the big legos, the small legos, the marbles - all of them waiting for me to find.  It was extra delightful to locate those items as 2 weeks ago I thought I had removed all of those items from the living areas since they were not being used properly and need to go to go "toy time out."  Some of them decided to just hide out a little while and play hide and seek with me though;)  Striving to dig deeper and find some really buried treasure...I opened up the floor vents.  Wow!  A pair of winter gloves!  A good find for sure!  In another one I found the back to a remote control that we have been searching for for a long time!  Yay!  How can one not be excited with all of these fun finds?!?!

  Ah, it has reminded me the days when we only had 2 children.  I used to keep the house very clean.  There wasn't a thing that I could not locate.  In fact, I distinctly remember that there was one (1) item that we lost and it drove me crazy.  It was Beautiful's pacifier.  We only had a few.  I always knew where they were.  No problem.  I kept things clean and organized. I even (insanely) used to not just sort out all of my receipts...but put them in chronological order!!!!  Oh how far I have fallen...  I even found time once a month at least to use a toothpick to clean out the crud from my kitchen cupboard doors and dusted EVERY WEEK!  When we were remodeling our house when Beautiful was 4 we had to cut into the vent to her bedroom.  There was her pacifier! Mystery solved:)  "I" did not lose it lol!  Nothing used to go missing in our house (ummmmm, well, please don't ask the story of the missing keys that have never been found.  That is a sore subject).  Now we are missing puzzle pieces, game pieces, remote controls, important papers, kitchen counters, my sanity...

Yes, when you stop laughing and can get back onto your chair you may continue reading...

I am downright embarrassed about my house at this stage of my life.  I don't even like to take pictures of the kids because the background is...chaos.  I have thought about hiring a cleaning person but the problem isn't cleaning floors or vacuuming.  It is finding a place to put the accumulated...junk.  I love to organize.  But it just never seems to stay that way and I have, I will publicly admit, given up.  My kitchen counter is a place that I am scared to look at.  We have a "U" shaped kitchen.  I keep an "L" fairly clean and usable.  The other side...no way.  There are times when I get the motivation to clean it up (usually when someone is coming over and has given advance notice).  But within 24 hours it is back to stacks and stacks and stacks.

So, I stay away from the kitchen...and my desk...

But the living room!  Ah, the living room is a treasure chest waiting to be opened!  Tomorrow I hope to continue the momentum and clean out Beautiful's room.  All of my mother in laws things as well as all of the wedding things are just waiting to be organized and sorted.  That is in addition to the, uh, treasures that Beautiful has left behind.

If you can't find me...you will know where I am lost;)

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Saturday
Saturday, blessed, uninterrupted Saturday.  Today I put on my headphones and dove into Beautiful's bedroom.  I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I sorted all of her things that she left behind and put them in totes for her to take to her home.  I organized my mother in laws things and left them for my husband to sort.  He has enjoyed doing that already.  She was a woman who kept a calendar and wrote on it every.single.day.  She also kept it as a journal.  The weather and other special events were always marked down.  It was fun to flip through some of them.  The last time she wrote on her calendar was the day her mother passed away, 10 months before she did.

Anyway, going through Beautiful's things was a treasure hunt to be sure.  I had expected it to be harder than it was to go through it knowing she will never live with us again.  But I reminded myself often that she will come visit and it was not like she had passed away and I was going through her things.  Perspective is always important, right;)

I went through the wedding things and got them all to fit in the closet. Yay!  We also keep the gift bags/tissue paper in that closet and I got all of that sorted.  There were a lot of those.

It was no secret in our home that Beautiful was not a...ummmm...diligent housekeeper.  I cleared away dust, paper clips, pens, and a lot of candy wrappers...and a whole lot of other things.  Then I got to her bathroom.  Thankfully my husband had done a run through a week ago so there was less than there could have been.  I scrubbed the sink, toilet, floor, and shower.  It felt good to see the clean room:)  

Here is a fb post I made Saturday night;)
I removed Beautiful's curtains and took them outside to take them off the rods because they were so dusty and dirty I didn't want to remove them indoors. I then left the rods outside. Do you see where this is going? I just took the curtains out of the dryer and went to retrieve the rods...which apparently were used as swords as they are now so bent up that they are unusable.

Several thoughts are going through my mind:
1) why do I even bother?
2) my dad's frequent saying "if it is not one thing it is another."
3) there is no way I can ever move out of this house as it would cost a fortune to fix all of the broken items.
4) when they estimate how much money it takes to raise a child, do they include costs of replacing things like curtain rods...and siding on your house that is full of holes from said curtain rods and other sword-like objects?
5) one day I will laugh about this...but it.is.not.today.
6) I hope that heaven does not include breakable objects;)

All in all it was a very productive day and I feel very good at what got accomplished...There were a lot of little treasures that I found that reminded me to special memories with Beautiful.  There were also reminders of the reality of my life...but I am focusing on treasures;)

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Sunday

I had texted with Beautiful yesterday and tried to bribe her to come visit, but she did not take the bait.  I was in the bathroom before church talking with a friend about how much I missed her and wished she had come home for a few hours yesterday.  When I left the bathroom...I saw Buddy and assumed he was talking to his friend.   But...he was talking to my son-in-law!  I was shocked for a moment trying to understand it, then gave him a big hug.  Then Beautiful (who had JJ:) came around the corner!  I was so excited.  Definitely the biggest treasure of my weekend:)  They had told my husband, who loves surprises and therefore never let on AT ALL that we would be having surprise guests.  

We spent the day watching some silly shows that we like to watch, and catching up.  My son-in-law had made a 20 minute video of their honeymoon.  It was beautiful and funny:)  Of course, no visit would be complete without hunting.  The older people (except for me, but that goes without saying;) all went out...TWICE lol!  

One thing that my treasure hunting of this weekend has revealed is that we are woefully low on food.  I usually buy things in large bulk containers - 50 and 25 lb bags. Large bottles, etc.  I never really think that we are running low.  In fact, I usually think about how we need to just eat down the food we have.  Well, that has happened.  I went to make lasagna since that is my son in laws favorite food and...I was out of both sour cream and spaghetti sauce:(   With it being a Sunday the grocery store was closed (in our small town) so I improvised (which usually makes the kids groan).  At supper Superman said, "Mom, it is actually good!"  :)  My son in law said he liked it too so I guess it was OK.  Next weekend we are making a Sam's run and I just made a large Azure order so we will have our stables replenished again:)

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Monday

This morning I got up and walked my normal hour on the treadmill.  Grace was also up and she talked.non.stop.  She was upset she did not have school today and I explained it was Labor Day.  She asked what it was and when I explained she said "Oh, I thought it was a day that a bunch of moms went into labor and had babies."  That kid cracks me up.  This nuggets are the treasures that keep me going with her:)

I made the kids french toast and bacon for breakfast.  They all count that as a treasure usually oatmeal is the breakfast of champions around here;) 

It was so precious for Beautiful to come into the kitchen.  How I miss seeing her walking through the house every day.  It gave me a moment for levity and silliness so I thought I would go with it.

We went to Women of Faith last weekend.  I really enjoyed it.  The comedienne had a sketch of being a mom who wears different "hats" and she demonstrated by putting on literal hats.  When we left I asked Beautiful what "hats" she sees me wear.  She said the worker, accountant, and psychologist.  She said "not the mom."  The "mom" was a woman with a happy countenance who was singing "rise and shine and give God the glory glory."  Well, I couldn't resist.  It was too much temptation.  I saw her walk into the kitchen and I...broke out into that song with a big smile and even a few dance moves.  To say that the Middles and Beautiful were shocked is an understatement.  Their mouths fell open, they had looks that we almost like a grimace, and they were speechless after my moment of impulsive levity.  Yes, the family that calls me the "fun sucker" definitely made it clear to me that such moments of "mom" were not typical and they did not know what to do with me.  I will never forget their faces lol!  Definitely a memory I will treasure even if they thought they should call someone to haul me away lol!

Beautiful and her husband then left to visit friends for the day.  I baked some apple pies, got a tiny bit of paperwork done, and settled in to can cucumber relish:)  A dear friend called and asked if Superman could play with her son, and if Grace wanted to go for a ride with her.  When they returned I was chatting with her and...life went on as normal.  Meaning, JJ hauled off and hit Grace.  After my friend left and I disciplined JJ, I found out that Grace had pinched JJ first.  Such is my life.  Not 30 minutes goes by without some kind of drama like this occurring.  However, it was a treasure that I can be real with my friend, "real life" can happen and other than her being stunned for a few moments she went away with what I assume was just another tangible reason for her to continue to be a prayer warrior for me:) I desperately need friends like her...they are a treasure:)

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I spent the weekend trying to find positives...trying to find treasures.  So much of life is about perspective.  I was so encouraged by the Women of Faith conference.  Last year the conference really spoke to my heart about some solid spiritual issues I had to wrestle with.  This year was far more vulnerable for me.  This year I heard speakers talk from their hearts about trials and realities.  It was less this year about a scriptural lessons and far more about gathering my courage to be open, honest, and vulnerable with the people around me...as the speakers modeled in their own lives.  They all had been through/are going through "life" and have made a choice to seek to see it from God's perspective rather than be crushed by the weight of this sin filled world as we are all tempted to do.  Last weekend I learned good lessons at Women of Faith and this weekend I hope that I put it into practice to seek my experiences as "treasures" rather than a millstone around my neck;)

So...Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory Glory!   ;)