"Our house will always be a messy house"

You know how you try and try, and you think you're killing it, and then one of your kids points out your weakness in the one spot that you are actively trying to do your best in? Yep, that happens a lot here.

Don't they know I'm trying? Don't they care that I just spent the last several hours vacuuming, and washing dishes and cleaning the bathrooms? Isn't it obvious that I just mopped the floors and picked up all the toys under the couch??

No. No it isn't, and they don't care. Kids are brutally honest, and the honest truth is that there is just too much going on around here for my house to be a truly "clean" house. When I'm completely caught up on dishes, chances are good that the floors are dirty. I'm my bedroom is clean, it likely means that the laundry is starting to pile up. If I spend that week hardcore prepping all the food we're going to eat for the month, or the preserves that will carry us through an entire year... well, the whole house will look like a bomb went off. This in one area in which I do not excel.

A casual Thursday morning mess

My oldest daughter, Reilly, has the unique (and I think blessed) experience of having two homes. She has a wonderful, strong, step-mom whom I have been known to call when the pre-teen drama hits hard and I need someone to commiserate with. I love this woman, and she is very different from me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I will almost always look a little unkempt (another area in which I do not excel, self care). My hair is almost permanently in a mom bun, and while I do change my clothes daily, the tiny humans are very capable of making my staple outfit, leggings and a tank top, look like I've been wearing it for a week within minutes.

Her step-mom, however, is put together. She invests the time in herself, does her hair, wears clean clothes, puts on make up, and just always looks fabulous. I saw her a few days after having her daughter, and she looked like a model who'd just had a blowout , not a baby. And her daughter, who is roughly the same age as my youngest, is also clean, and has her hair done, and does not have a rats nest at the back of her head that I cannot figure out how to tame.

This came from under the couch.

I can never, ever, really see those counters.

My house is very much the same as my personal appearance. Oh, I clean it. I clean it all the time. I clean it all day long, and often well into the evening and night. I make it pretty, I stand back and admire it,and then the children wake up, or come home from school, and I fondly remember the time, 5 minutes before, when my house was tidy and clean. Reilly's other home is what she refers to as a Clean House. When I talk about this with her wonderful step-mom, she assures me its not always clean, and then reminds me that there are 5 billion things happening over here, but still, it stings a little to know that mine is the Messy House.

So, if you're still reading this, or just joining, this is the post where I let you see that I am not doing it all. I am trying, I'm giving it my very best effort, and I am organized and hard working and can cook miraculous meals, but this is where I am lacking. If you have kids, or pets, or a crazy, whirlwind life and you have a clean house, I think you are a God, and I want to know your secrets.