I Dream of...

a clean house.

I dream that one day, the kids and I come in the house at 5:00 after a long day of work and school, and there are exactly three empty hangers for our coats, three empty hooks for backpacks and purses, and three empty cubbies for our shoes.  I walk into my spotless kitchen without tripping over 12 pairs of shoes, 4 goalie sticks, a jump roap and a pair of boxers.  BOXERS?  Why are there boxers on the floor in the foyer???  I open the fridge and the cupboard and retrieve all the ingredients for a lovely family dinner and cook to my heart's content. (a girl can dream, right?)  My kids shower every night and hang their wet towels.  Their dirty clothes are put in hampers and the hampers are happily emptied every day when the clothes are washed and put away.  And there is no crap in the living room.  None.  Why hasn't someone invented something that sucks all the dust out of the air?  Good Lord I hate dust.

I think my problem is that I'd just much rather be doing anything else besides cleaning.  I'd rather be knitting, or watching TV, or doing something with the kids, or golfing, or helping with homework.  I realize I should have starting making the kids do more things around the house a long time ago.  But, I didn't.  And at this point, it is such a battle to get them to lift a finger.  Sometimes if the wind is blowing right and there is a valuable reward at stake, Morgan might help a little, but she'll probably complain the entire time she's doing it.

Sometimes I wish I had some of that OCD stuff that made me be more on top of keeping everything clean.

I've tried so many things to keep myself motivated to keep it up better, and they've all failed.  I've tried a chore calendar, with items for everyone in the house to complete.  I've tried picking one room at at time.  I've tried rewarding myself in different ways.  It just doesn't work.  I work so hard to get it clean if I know people are coming over or something, and then it's back to a mess in two days.

I am going to take a moment right now and complain about the amount of paper that comes home from school with my children.  It's a LOT.  Weekly notes, book orders, corrected worksheets, lunch menus, art projects, etc, etc, etc.  Ok I'm done.

I really really need to go through every room of my house with a whole box of garbage bags and just get rid of the junk.  There is just too much stuff in my house.  I have bottles of lotion from Avon that have to be 10 years old.  WHY!?!  I guess I have a hard time throwing away something that might have some value to someone.

So, I'm here today begging you to help me fulfill my dream.  Or at least get a little closer to it.  What motivates you?  Is it just a gene that you were born with, and I'm pretty much screwed?  Do you have any good tips or tricks for me to get my kids on track?  What are your organizational methods?  How do I manage working a full time job, getting the kids to football, hockey, dance, birthday parties, homework, laundry, and cleaning, and still get some time to knit and take cool pictures? 

Help!!

XOXOX

NH