The Upstairs: An Epic Battle

I suppose I should preface this post with the super-est awesome update: we're spending two weeks in Colorado!  In just over a week, we'll be touching down in Denver, climbing into my parents' van, and gleefully giggling the entire way back to Colorado Springs to spend two weeks staring at mountains, stargazing in minimal light pollution, picking apples in FloBabe's backyard, and climbing all over Avia and Ahee's house until they're desperate for us to leave.

That said, I have made it my unwavering mission to leave the house in near-spotless condition before we leave.  The Mister will be insanely busy while we're gone, so I want to make sure that the house is in stellar shape so that we can come back to it being in decent condition.

Instead of a list of tasks to complete, which the kids seem to respond to very well as far as chores are concerned, I've turned their list into something of an epic.  They will "conquer and imprison the toy army" and "send trash to the cave of no return."  Clothes will be "refugees gathered for renewal and relocation" while "captive toys" will be "freed" to the donation bag to find new homes.

I know, it sounds pretty lame, but guess who is upstairs this moment, stomping around like soldiers and wailing with battle cries as they fill up trash and donation bags?

The din is entirely worth it. :-)

Rebranding...

I should rename this blog into "No, There Isn't Time For A Blog!"

My husband has started traveling season again.  After a weekend in KC, he's staring down the barrel of trips to Texas, Israel, England, and possibly even Australia!!!  While I'm beyond thrilled that his company is growing, I'm so anxious about all of that traveling.  Israel is a hotbed of conflict, but I'm SUPER DUPER STOKED that he will be where Jesus was, see some of the same things Jesus saw, walked where Jesus walked.  I'm also a tad jealous that he'll be spending that time with a professor of ours who was rather influential in bringing us both into full realizations of our faith.

But, if we're going to throw around some serious honesty, I'd like most to accompany him to England.  It's not a hotbed of conflict, there are family friends dotting the area, it's a boat ride from Ireland, and it's not a steaming haven for poisonous snakes and spiders (looking at you, Australia).

Alas, I will be accompanying him to none of these places.  I'll be camping out on the home front for England and Australia, and I'll likely crash in CO for a couple of weeks around time for his Israel jaunt.  I think I'm getting the better deal, for sure!  The kids can overdose on Grandparents while I drown my nieces and nephew in gifts and attention. :-)

Sweet mercy, it's already dinner time.  Gaaaaahhhhhhhhhh...

I Seriously Can't Believe It Is Friday.

The week has been SUCH a blur!  My MIL visited, my youngest had surgery (nothing major, but it was necessary), Scouts started again for the boys, and my sewing machine died (again).

There is more to come, but it's looking like straight-up daisies!  Tomorrow, Kids #1 and #2 have an astronomy get together with their Scouts group.  I can't WAIT for my astronomy-junkie firstborn to look at actual star clusters and planets through a telescope!  Kid #2 will also be so excited, though he tends to gravitate more toward botany and chemistry.  Beyond that, we are actually going to a farm to pick out our Thanksgiving turkey from a farm to bring back to our friend's pasture to raise it for slaughter closer to Thanksgiving!  SUPER SWEET!!!  Shortly after that, those same friends are slaughtering their lambs, which means I need to clear out my freezer to prepare for that!

A trip to Colorado is soon to follow as well.  Some of the details on that hinge upon whether or not my husband will still be taking his trip to Israel.  With Syria in a violent limbo, it's tough to gauge how that will pan.

Off I go...

Lookin' On Up...

Today will be dedicated to making the house presentable for my MIL, who will arrive around noon on Saturday to help us next week when Kid #4 has surgery (nothing major, but sadly necessary).  Tomorrow will also be spent working on this venture.  And the last half of Friday...  and until we go to pick her up on Saturday.  Let's face it: it will probably be necessary.  

An inconvenient truth.

We'll be purging all along the way, which will cause the kids to have minor strokes.  After all:

And then Mommy has to sneak the stuff out in a donation bag.

I also am working on my eating.  I fell off the GF wagon, and I can feel it.  I wake up achey and tired, I have been moody and lazy, and I can't seem to shake the mental fog.  I'm restarting the GF efforts today, but I'm also cutting carbs in general.  I have to fly in a about a month, and one of my biggest not-so-irrational fears is the airline folks telling me I have to buy two seats for the size of my butt.  It happened to a college roommate of mine, and I've been terrified of it ever since I put on all the baby weight (from all four kids... combined).  Minding my cleaning and watching my eating...  all in one day...

True story, y'all!

I plan these things out, and they never work the way I want.  I wanted the upstairs to be gleaming and sterile on Monday, the living room to have intense attention on Tuesday, the kitchen to have all of Wednesday, laundry would be knocked out on Thursday, and the bathrooms would be sterilized on Friday alongside a quick pick-up in the house overall.

I managed to put a major dent in the laundry on Monday and Tuesday, and today will be spent getting the upstairs cleaned.  We started it yesterday, so hopefully it won't take the rest of the day.  I would like to start on the living room, which is in something of a desperate state.  If I don't get it done, I can always sit my MIL down in front of an episode of Hoarders and hope it has the same impact on her that it does on me:

Yes and yes, and you're welcome!

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to clean I go!