We interrupt cleaning my house for this very important message on housework.

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk
before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966

This house is really getting in the way of my blogging.



The laundry is taking away from my daily time on the keyboard.



The vacuuming keeps me from sharing the most insignificant of tidbits in my life.



And that is why I must take this break to just share these most random thoughts on cleaning my house.



Making the beds - why? In just a few short hours we will be back in them. Because it makes me feel good, I guess. I heard once that if you make your bed it will keep the population of dust mites down. Then I heard if you make it you are actually giving them a warm and cozy home, so you should not make it. So, which is it? Although, I really want to believe that dust mites live in the next door neighbors beds and not ours.



I tried to enforce a new rule last week. I told my little family that if their dirty clothes were not in the laundry hampers when I went to do laundry that they would not get washed. Except that I could not stand to see the dirty clothes hanging out all over the bedroom floors, so I broke down and picked them up. Oh,they know me too well.



On yet another day last week, when my kids did not pick up their stuff from the family room, I put their things away in the attic. I am such a tough guy, you know? They honestly do not even remember they are missing these toys because they have so many more.



I think I clean this house mostly for my own sanity. If it is cleaned up and neat, then I can find things and I feel good about being at home. When my house is a wreck, I start to take notice of what exactly I have been doing with my time. I notice that it is usually because I have not been home much.



As much as I complain about cleaning, I actually very much enjoy taking care of our home. I am thankful for my home. As a matter of fact, this is the longest I have ever lived in one house in my ENTIRE life. We are going on 9 years.



I often commiserate with other moms that my family really does not care if the house is clean.

But, I think they do enjoy it when it is tidy and they are proud to bring friends here. I know I am.



However, I count this as one of my many blessings: My husband does not say a word if this house is not cleaned, if there are dishes in the sink, if I don't make dinner or if he has to fetch his socks out of the dryer. He appreciates it when it is, but never gives me grief if it is not.



I have a childhood memory of my mom cleaning the house. She would always put on a Fleetwood Mac album, open the windows and clean from top to bottom. I absolutely loved walking into my house after school on those days. She would even clean my room!



So, maybe a clean home will be something my family remembers as my gift to them as they grow older. My gift to them - that's sweet isn't it? ;)



Until then, I found some fun quotes from the late Erma Bombeck to share with you if you are home cleaning and doing laundry or just need a chuckle.



There is even a special one for my sweet little boy and his carpet peeing incidents:

"With boys you always know where you stand. Right in the path of a hurricane.
It's all there. The fruit flies hovering over their waste can, the hamster trying to
escape to cleaner air, the bedrooms decorated in Early Bus Station Restroom."

My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint. ~Erma Bombeck