The things I see

As I sat in my chair this morning and picked up the laptop, these are the things I could see:
~The living room is 'full' in every corner. The clutter could eat away at me but I've begun to get comfortable with it (for a short time) until I can get to it all. I see baby toys all piled up in front of my chair. Angel Baby can sit on her own now and she enjoys emptying the toy bin and banging all the toys around. I see a 'nuki' on the floor (pacifier)- Angel Baby loves her nuki (we have LOTS of them around).
~I see two sippie cups on my end table. One from Princess' morning juice and one from Angel Baby last night while I was at church (she's still learning, she likes to chew on it more than anything).
~I see Hotwheel cars (among other sized toys cars) all piled up in the corner by the fireplace. No doubt the boys were racing them and seeing who could make their car 'fly' the fastest. It looks like all the cars crashed there in the corner- and that's where they stayed.
~I see our electric screwdriver on top of the fireplace insert along with the Dominos game and various toys that need to return to the toy room. Good place to store these things when there's no fire going...right? It's next to the toy room....but not quite there yet.
~I see folded laundry on the coffee table from yesterday (I folded 3 loads while sitting on the couch and multi-tasking various other things. There's also about 3 loads of clothes the girls pulled off the line for me last night when I was at church- they are heaved on the couch in a mountain.
~I see a baby blanket and 3 throws all piled up in one of the chairs from last night's movie night. The kids (and Hubby) all like to cuddle up together under one or more blankies.
~I see two boxes I pulled from the back of the attic. One had all our wedding memorabilia in it (our guest book, feather pen, unity candle, cake topper and some other various candles). I lovingly placed them for display above our entertainment center. It's been about 7 years since those things have been displayed. The kids love seeing it. The other box held my two favorite tea pots and all the glass vases we had on the reception tables at our wedding. I'm donating the vases to our church so they can be used.
~I see two unfinished sewing projects. One is a shopping cart cover for Angel Baby (can we say EWWWWWWW! to shopping cart germs?) and the other is a pair of gaucho pants I cut out of African fabric. I think I'll have to sew my own capris and pants for this summer- why don't stores sell pants that will fit my shape???? Oh well, atleast I can buy some cute tops to go with my homemade 'bottoms.'
~I see a messy high chair from Angel Baby's breakfast consisting of a graham cracker and bananas.
~I see my flip flops, one of Princess' flip flops and my slippers next to the couch. Everyone else listens to my rule about putting shoes away- how come I can't follow my own rule? Uh oh, hypocrite mom.....

This is just my living room. The rest of the house is about the same this morning. I will walk along all day picking these things up and returning them to their rightful place. Tomorrow, I will do it again. This kind of stuff used to drive me crazy but you know what? This is the stuff memories are made of. My kids don't live in a 'museum house.' The kind where nothing is ever out of place. This house is the kind of house where an occasional goat sneaks in the door, the outside cat jumps on the table and tries to drink the Kool-Aid (all the while one of the kids try to peel him off and he's hanging on for dear life to the table cloth), mud comes flying off my boys' boots as they run in to give me flowers, the dogs play and chase each other around the house (trying to make it to the food bowl) and a place where the clothes line is ALWAYS full (day or night).

Really, I wouldn't have it any other way. There will be a day when the house is empty and we're waiting for grandkids to arrive. It will be then all my things will be in place and nothing will be a mess- until my precious grandbabies get ahold of everything, then I'll start all over again- with a smile on my face!