Most of you who have been following for a while, know that we have remodeled most of the house, room by room we have ripped off popcorn ceiling tiles, torn out bathrooms, fallen through the hallway ceiling, added on, pushed out, gone back to the front again, and freshly tiled the fire-place… I have a list of what needs to be done next. Lucky Keith.
When we added the back half of the house we were told we had 10 years to get the siding changed out on the house to match the addition. Well, we were given the occupancy of residency about 3 weeks before little A was born, she is now 7 (seven and a half to be almost exact) We officially have 2 and a half years left.
We flew O home for the Easter weekend. She had days off, but we needed a way to convince Keith to fly her home when she only has 3 weeks left at the university. We had days off and she is a great worker with Keith, the weather is not roasting hot yet, and the sun is just far enough south that most of the job would be in the shade. But mostly because it was not going to be a billion degrees that weekend. We flew her down to work, and to spend time with her. But work. Friday they worked pulling off plastic siding, pulling out rodent nests, and showering in termite fras, they finished the first floor outside before we went to the Good Friday Service at church. Saturday early until late they worked, the fireplace with the bees hive (empty) had to be removed, half way into the 2nd floor they had to quit, and finally on Sunday night they came to a stopping point. The next few weeks are slammed as school ends so they will not be able to work for a good long while.
Monday somehow got away from me. I had lots of stops and starts, we were out of toilet paper. Sunday night we started running the 1 roll we had left from bathroom to bathroom… A trip to target was unavoidable. Hours later and blown budget we came home to lunch, when the phone calls started E had been feeling badly and needed to come home, we had already tried the tricks and nothing was helping. J has had some breathing issues, allergies, topped with debris and termite fras (poop) raining down on him while he helped work on the north side of the house, he just could not stop coughing and needed to come home. Once home O and I sat around watching C.O.P.S. (she gets a sick thrill when bad guys get the taser) we had planned on watching a movie, but with runs to school and no napping from PS we gave up. School ended and we ALL went to Sam’s club. In and Out and Under budget it was a win… Dinner, homework, baths and bed.
Which leads to today. I went to Bible Study and O stayed home doing homework. When she first arrived we took lunch to 2 of the school kids, so today we took lunch to the other 2, she was going to be leaving Tuesday night for the last few weeks of the University, it had to be done today. After lunches we came home, and after lunches I tried to clean up, I really did. I did not know it would not happen… Because the kitchen is on the north wall where the construction is happening, and Keith was replacing 2 windows in the dining room, and 2 in the kitchen everything from that area had to be moved to the island counter, which was already a mess, now became a huge mess. I had dirty dishes, and dirty dishes, dirty counter dirty floor,even dirty drawers, and everything piled together. I had 1 clean counter where all meal prep had happened, the last few days. I tried to get things taken care of, PS did not take a nap, I needed to run to get stuff for dinner in the car, and time was not on my side, washing another counter top and a few big dishes we left for the airport.
Tonight after we returned home the house stayed messy. PS fell on the brick walkway as she raced into the house, I carried her in and set her on the table, chasing little A to the shower E took over caring for PS. She scraped her knee scratching the skin off leaving a little blood mixed with the dirt, it is red, and sore, E brought her a freezie pack and a blanket. While A was taking a shower I flipped over the laundry, went into my bath room and found more rodent droppings (more on that in another post) and began pulling laundry to throw in another load before I crashed for the night. PS cried for me, I went to check on her, E came back in to her rescue to draw pictures for her. PS cried about the vacuum that is in the kitchen, (it was not even plugged in) I dumped in the laundry load and went to wash little A’s hair soaking myself in the process, changing into pajamas. PS was content with E’s care, little A was done with the water, washer machine was humming along, I thought I could sneak in a few dishes while little A was getting ready for bed, E was with PS, I washed 3 pans before soaking myself, changing pajamas again, little A brought me her homework (a money worksheet) I sent her to the table and tried to wash another pot. I forgot about little A sitting at the table, PS came out to the kitchen dragging her clean blanket on my dirty floor, crying about her knee. E picked her up and had her nose knocked in the process. Her nose hurt, PS’s knee hurt, and Little A needed to get her homework done. PS settled into the chair next to me and began to chant Miss Mary Mack all dressed in black with silver buttons… while I sat at the table to help little A add money. E began unloading the dishwasher and dropped a glass in the dishwasher and on the floor. I stopped listening to Miss Mary Mack, and the number of pennies it takes to make a quarter to carry E out of the kitchen and began sweeping/picking up glass. Little A wanted to show me her math paper, I finished counting pennies to make a quarter, signed an assignment tablet, supplied ice water for little A, sent her upstairs. I carried PS to my bed to wait for me, where she burst into tears asking where I was going (she {we} are suffering from separation anxiety…) E came down needing water, I had to make it since I only got some of the glass cleaned up. Thirty minutes later everyone is in bed, no one is crying, pajamas and prayers, water and kisses… That is why my kitchen, and my house are messy.
My life is filled with starts and stops. Some days more stops than starts. But that is okay, I am just where I need to be. Well right now I am sitting in bed snuggling with the poor baby and her skinned knee. But in all honesty I want the kitchen to be cleaned, but it can wait. I choose my people over the kitchen, I choose my people over the broken glass {which I need to clean up soon} I choose the stops because I choose my children. One day I will follow a load of laundry from the basket to the dresser, I will follow the dishes from the cupboard, to the table, to the dish washer and back to the cupboard. But not today, or tomorrow or any time soon. I am going to stop when Number 1 child calls, I am going to stop when O has a color question, an art question, I am going to stop when R needs some human conversation after spending hours doing homework. I choose to stop when J wants to visit, I am going to stop when E wants to be with me, I am going to listen to little A read or count pennies, I am going to carry the baby and do hand slap games because I choose to stop. I want to stop, and sometimes I needed to be reminded that stops are more important than starts. When I see my kitchen, the construction dust in my dining room, and the dirty floors it is easy to be overwhelmed and discontent. I need to be reminded that I live in the stops right now.
Living in the stops, go hug your kids and tell someone you love them
jen
overholt8 