I, ladies and gentlemen, strive to show you something those "other" bloggers will not. Don't get me wrong, I'm not out to try to glamorize the frump or even complain about the mundane. The reason I have these photos in the first place is that they are part of my famous photo-essay entitled "I am a Mom, and it's Taking Over My Life." One day on a Las Vegas freeway, I looked in the rearview mirror and the image of the carseats all over the place made an impression on my brain. I thought, "I didn't have carseats in my car before, and I won't always have carseats in my car. And some people want to have carseats in their car but can't have a baby and some people have carseats in their car but don't embrace the crazy years of mothering young children - they can't wait to get rid of them."
I am trying to enjoy it while it lasts without killing anybody. How's that for a motto?
No matter how many times I reiterate the rule, "No removing couch cushions!" they still do it. I am a killjoy because apparently, these cushions make great slides, as shown here.
This photo is titled "Lunch aftermath." It could as easily be titled "Ode to Mothers of Preschoolers" since it includes: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; unfinished food; sippy cups; and a handmade gift (the vase from Mother's Day 2006).
The top of the washing machine is the catch-all for items needing to go somewhere else when I get the time. This particular stack is nursing nightgowns waiting to move to a bin in the garage. My baby just night-weaned and I get to go back to regular nightclothes. Bittersweet.
Someday (between menopause and grandparenthood) I will not have Costco-size boxes of diapers in the laundry room. And someday around the same time, I will organize that same laundry room and find a better place for the floor-cleaning paraphernalia my husband has invested in.
This is the piece de resistance! The floor of my van after a road trip. Truth be told, it looks like this even when the road trip was only to the grocery store and back. My father (comedian that he is) suggested I shampoo the rugs more often. Right. When I have the money to pay a detailer to do the job properly while I sip a cappuccino, I'd rather spend it on counseling to reconcile the part of me that has four children who eat Goldfish in the van with the part of me that was raised by an EXTREMELY obsessive housekeeper.
And there you have it.
5 comments:
Can I steal your motto? And I couldn't help but notice your house looks very clean - no dust motes, no streaky fingerprints on the polished dinner table - what's up with THAT????
Oh I love it Teri, thank you for boldly going where others of us are too ashamed, embarrased, scared to go....I was thinking as I looked at those pictures...my kitchen table looked way worse than that before I scrubbed it this morning, I didn't see any crumbs, milk puddles, or food smothered all over your table. No matter how annoying and messy, I think we should all TRY to enjoy these years, I do think I will miss them when they're over!
So much fun! I am so glad we are all in this together... I get in a bad mood when all the couch cushions are pulled off, too. I know that they are just having fun---but until they know how to put them back....JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!!!
p.s. this is heather...I am too lazy to log my sis off of my computer :)
LOVE the van picture! That is what mine always looks like! I try to teach the kids to put things in the trash, but that seemed to monumental so I decided to just start with bringing in the house what you take to the car, i.e. jackets, water bottles. That I am able to acheieve minor success with! Enjoyed the post!~
Ahhh, the joy of kids. At least there is always food around. From the table to the floor of our car. It is like our own version of a food storage. Ours is decentralized though.
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