I asked the boys to clean up and divided various areas of the house… and each to deal with their room.
I am quite pleased with the out come.
I was sitting in the family room folding some laundry and something caught my eye.
Are you kidding me?
No wonder the room was cleaned so quickly and everything was picked up!
My dear messy by nature Jordan shoved everything under the couch.
A quick check into his bedroom showed me a neat room but very cramped quarters under his bed!!!
Oh Bother!
I did find a solution to our dirty floors. This “new” house has tiles that are light in colour and shows all the dirty! A good thing, yes, I suppose. Our last house we put down this lovely grey/taupe 12×12 tile. I loved it. It hide the dirt well… but was easy to clean when I cleaned it.
I bought the Swifer Wet Jet… the boys love it because it is kind of like a toy… with a button to press to squirt out the cleaner and mopping is fun! I love it because I don’t have to worry about the mop bucket spilling or drowning a child (I saw this on Oprah years ago… and it obviously haunted me).
I am forever looking for creative ways to get the boys to add more of the housecleaning on their chores.
Of course the older ones don’t care how ‘fun’ it may be… they realized the cleaning part of it and complain… so I just say “do it.” If you pee on the floor, seats, ceiling… lol then you can clean it.
I wonder if God gave boys their appendage to be an annoyance to moms?
Maybe He was just punishing me for my sins by blessing me with 6 that lack aiming abilities!
I do love my boys.
I had sort of a moment the other night. One of the reasons I wished for a for a girl is that I feel that I will miss that relationship later in life of a daughter. I also have seen too many ugly or stressful daughter-in-law/mother-in-law relationships and not enough positive ones to fear the future, so to speak.
I just wonder how to have a great relationship with the ladies in my boys lives.
Then the other night I was on Facebook. The instant chat pops up and there is Tyler’s “friend” saying hi.
I was a bit caught off guard. I figured maybe she wanted me to get Tyler on line or something.
But no, she just chatted. It was funny.
She asked me what I was doing…
I replied that I was putting the 2 youngest to bed… but it wasn’t going to well…
She then told me that she had to put her younger brother to bed the other night and how he was hyper.
OK… we chatted for a few minutes… and I have to tell you it was weird… but cool.
I even told her that Tyler wasn’t home but at hockey.
She said that she knew as he wanted her to come to his game.
I had an epiphany of sorts. Now this isn’t Tyler’s girlfriend… as he isn’t allowed to date till he is 30.
But I had this moment that life is so different now a day. There is the possibility to be friends with the ladies in my boys lives… someday.
My mother-in-law was not looking for friendship (at least back then)… it was more about respect and treating her son well. It was about being “daughterly” but knowing my place, so to speak. It was all so different even culturally, I suppose.
Maybe God was just opening my eyes a bit. Maybe He was just showing me that life is full of potential… especially the future. It is all good. I need to be open to all that the future will hold.
I always hated when people said to me, “Don’t worry, you’ll have 6 daughter-in-laws some day.”
I felt that they didn’t understand my desire for a daughter. But really even I couldn’t understand it.
But I know that relationships are a two way street. The future (which I know is a LONG ways away) that will bring ladies into my life… will be full of beautiful possibilities… I need to be willing and ready to embrace all that may be.
As I ended my chat with the friend of Tyler’s, I appreciated the nudge that I felt from God.
Open Hearted… Open Minded…
My heart is pounding at bit… lol