Cleaning and the Critter

Mamaglop asked a great question in a comment. With a schedule like that, when do I do cleaning and laundry?  I did have a week off from laundry as my washer was broken, but now that the friendly Sears guy came and removed a pair of gym shorts from between the drum and washer and a big pile of other things from the drain, I can wash again. And again. And even some more! 

But, honestly, I’ve never been much of a good housekeeper.  Yes, I vacuum daily (or make sure it is done) and make sure all the dishes are washed each day, but my idea of dusting is to take my hand across the bookshelves before someone writes his name in the dust. I do make my kids do something every other day or so–bathrooms, garbage, stuff like that. It’s a very different cleaning life from the last however-many years when all five children had at least two daily chores and general zone cleaning. But, when they aren’t home, they don’t mess up as much. Plus, TGD usually marshals the troops for a Saturday morning cleaning (or decluttering) and often makes sure things are done when he is home and I am not.

Some of you (okay, maybe no one) may have been wondering how Lucy training is going.  Some friends took pity on my (thanks, Jacksons!) and loaned me a puppy training book written by the monks of New Skete who raise dogs at the monastery. They had some great advice, as did my friend who said, “You can’t trust your puppy for a second!”  So, when Lucy is in the house, she is leashed to one of us for constant supervision.

Since we’ve started this process, she’s been much more delightful. She whines and barks when she needs to go out to “do her thing,” and instead of running around the house, getting into mischief, she eventually settles down and sighs and lies there.  Nope, I don’t trust her a bit yet, but it’s getting better.

Soul Ketchup

Besides the fact that I am hardly ever at home and at my leisure to apply bottom to chair and hands to keyboard, I have also put off blogging because it seems my life makes for dull reading.  Oh, it’s not that I’m not blowing through 1.5 tanks of gas in a week lately (that’s 30 gallons x 20 mpg = 600 miles a week for those mathy folks out there). It’s just that it’s awfully tedious to read about it.

But, just for those who really are keen to know, I shall post a day. (And, I will be keen to remember later so I can shake my head in dismay.)  Let’s take yesterday, Saturday, October 4.

6:55–Wake up and get ready to leave
7:15–Out the door with Hunter and LibbyK
7:45–Drop off Hunter at high school for SAT
8:00–LibbyK and I have breakfast at The Waffle Shop (the most delicious blueberry Belgian waffles ever)
9:00–Go to Kohl’s which just opened in State College so LibbyK could find clothes for her birthday on Wednesday
9:45–I was sitting in front of the dressing room doors while LibbyK tries on clothes
10:15–Still sitting in front of the dressing room doors while more clothes are rejected
10:45–Now we are in the shoe department at Kohl’s
11:30–Hooray! We made it to the checkout line at Kohl’s!
11:45–No pick up call from Hunter, so we went to Target and wandered around
12:15–Sure that Hunter will call any second, we head to Goodwill, which is near the school
12:45–Confident that the SAT can not possibly be this long, we park at the school and consider our options
1:20–Huzzah! Hunter has emerged from the school! We get Subway subs to celebrate.
2:00–Arrived home, get a water bottle, leave to watch Little Miss’s cheerleading
3:00–My squad begins to arrive for their game
3:30–Left game to get apples for someone at church (we live near a fruit farm) and to take Wit into the church to catch a ride to the hay ride
4:15–Arrived back at the football field where Gockle’s team is playing and LibbyK’s squad is cheering
6:15–The game over, we rushed to my house to get changed
6:35–We left for the Youth Group event at Camp Kanesatake, which actually started at 5:00
7:00–We arrived at the camp to discover that everyone already left on the hay ride, but all the food and the bonfire were still out. Starving, we dug in, feeling an awful lot like raccoons.
10:00–We left and drive to the church where parents awaited
10:30–We arrived at the church, disperse children to their various cars
10:35–I held the flashlight while Mr. B cleaned up half a container of chunky homemade salsa which spilled in between the side and the back seat of his van. Ick.
10:50–Started for home, drop off a hayrider at her house
11:10–Home again!

And, the weekdays are just as wild.

But, I’m not complaining. I don’t mind that my children and I have a lot to do. I need to be content that this is what my job is right now–chauffeur. There are great opportunities in the van for conversation, fun, and such. But, I keep thinking of the story I heard once.

There was an explorer in Africa who wanted to make a journey under a tight time limit.  He hired a group of Africans as porters to carry his supplies.  The first few days, he made the men keep to a quick pace. The third day, he was dismayed to find the porters sitting around, refusing to move.  “Get up!” he demanded. “Don’t you know that I am on a tight schedule? We must press on!” But, the Africans refused to move. “Why? I don’t understand,” the explorer pleaded. One African gazed at him thoughtfully and answered, “We have moved too quickly these past days. Now we must rest here to give our souls a chance to catch up with us.”  

I think I will need some time to let my soul catch up.

Are you feeling caught up?

The Dog Ate My Homework

Yes, it’s happened. Lucy ate Gockle’s homework while we were out. She was on the porch, whining, so Hunter let her in. She was unsupervised for about 20 minutes until the rest of us got home, and she decided that it would be fun to chew on the leaves Gockle had drying between encyclopedias. Yes, this is the leaf collection we’ve been working on for THREE weeks.  Yeah. That homework.  It is difficult to past back together a puppy-chewed, dried leaf.

While I was cleaning up the big puddle of urine on the upstairs carpet she found time to make while not chewing leaves, I thought, “Am I content?” You see, I’m doing this Sunday school on contentment, so I’m asking myself the question more often.

I had to say, “No, I’m not terribly content at this moment with the kitten stomping through the puddle of pee I’m trying to clean, Gockle ready to hang the dog by her ‘I’ve used these to dig holes in your wooden porch, lots and lots of holes’ claws, and Little Miss howling about how it is unfair that she has to go to bed at 9:00.”  So, I think I need the Sunday school lessons more than the class.