As of today ...

How many times have you gone to someones house and the first thing they say is,"Sorry about the mess." You look around, maybe notice a few things out of place, but then genuinely respond,"I didn't even notice and I SO don't care." :) You have some coffee, the kids play and good times are had by all regardless of the "mess".

I have decided that I am no longer going to apologize for the state of my house.

Ever.

Again.

I am a clean person. I own more than one label maker and I use them both almost daily. I am an organizer. My clothes are hung in my closet in descending color order first with solids then prints. So are my shoes. The bills in my wallet all face the same direction and the $1's are in the front.

But I have two small children. That is not an excuse, but an explanation. That is why there is a trail of cotton balls from my bathroom to the kitchen. Audrey got them out and Devon used them as bombs. That is why my shoes are in the kitchen, living room, bathroom and by the front door. Audrey pulled them from my organized closet, one pair at a time and clomps around the house in them. Today Devon was a ninja turtle, Spiderman, Iron Man and Iron Man pretending to be Spiderman and it's only 1:00. There are swords and costumes in my room. The couch cushions are also in my room so he could "cross the bridge". I never make my bed anymore because the kids want to snuggle and jump and fight so making the bed seems like a waste of time.

The dishes? Oh yes. How could I forget. I didn't do them yet. I was going to, but we were having a bomb fight with a hackey sack daddy found at a job sight, Audrey was having one tantrum after another and there just wasn't time. I had the groceries delivered today for the delivery fee of $4 so all of the bomb fights and not-doing-the-dishes could occur. Needless to say I slept in the dress I wore yesterday and I'm still wearing it. That is just the type of day it is.

So yeah. I'm not apologizing for the messy state of my house because anyone who comes over is someone I know understands my life. They understand that I WANT to have a clean house, but it may not be clean at that moment. I usually clean the house at the end of the day so if you happen to come by during the-kids-are-awake-o'clock then you will not see my home neat and tidy. And I am not one of those moms who will "someday miss the mess". I won't. I long for a clean house. But I will miss the things that coincided with a messy house and how all the problems the kids had during that time were so simple. Devon can't find the rocket launcher for his Iron Man guy and Audrey wants me to read the same book to her for the 5th time in a row. Simple problems that don't involve scary things like teenage driving, broken hearts and being late for curfew.

I'm off to do the dishes now. I am going to distract the kids with lunch and a cartoon that will probably rot their brain so I can wash dishes without getting pelted by bombs. But they will love the cartoon just the way we loved cartoons when we were kids and we turned out ok, right?