Disarray

I originally wrote this little stream of consciousness rant in my private journal, not wanting to share the messier aspects of life with small children. But after reading Amber's post at The Run a Muck, I decided I might as well share my take. After all, I think most mothers can relate to the feeling of slogging through the daily messes of life.

Sometimes I wonder if the stink will ever leave us.

The kitchen smells like milk-soaked rags, left under the table where they have been dropped or kicked or thrown. The spills dried and crusted on the kitchen counter go unnoticed for days until they reach a critical mass. Remnants of this morning’s breakfast linger on the table, and a full cup of coffee hides, forgotten and cold in the microwave.

From the bathroom wafts the scent of wet towels, pulled from the peg to dry freshly washed hands and left to lie where they have fallen to the floor. Pee pools in the toilet or dries in sticky splatters after hasty little boys have run off to play. Diapers, needing to be washed, collect in a bag on the bathroom floor. Where has the diaper pail gone? It still sits in front of the washer in the basement from the last time we washed diapers, three days ago.

The dog dish and the recycling sit side by side -- out of sight but not out of smell -- in the back hall.

The boys bedroom smells of sweat and dirt and humid summer air. In our room, scents mingle. Breastmilk, baby spit-up, and the evidence of love stain sheets that need desperately to be washed.

This is the odor of the life we live. It is a stinky mess, this business of raising young ones. The need for cleaning is constant. The messes bubble up from a bottomless well. I feel ready to surrender to the state of disarray.

I wonder if it will always be like this as long as boys grow in this home? It has to get easier to keep up with it all, to strike a balance, to maintain some semblance of order.

Perhaps when the minutes stretch longer and parenting ceases to be called play by play. Maybe then I can find a middle ground between order and chaos. But for now, I will quickly gather the towels and wipe the spills and keep skimming the top off the mess.

My inability to keep my house clean seems to be a common theme here on the blog. Here's more tales to help you feel a little less alone in your messy house:

Funky Kitchen

The Dishes

Why didn't I think of this sooner?

What are your biggest messes? Does funk linger in your kitchen? What are your biggest obstacles to a nice smelling home? Share. Commiserate. Feel ye not alone. :)