my house is closed today

On Monday, I made this (Boeuf Bourguignon) and decided that mushrooms are not, as earlier suspected, evil.  They are just "tolerable" but the rest of this was to die for. YUM.

On Tuesday, I finished this quirky fellow

along with some other projects, so now my kitchen table looks like this.

Tuesday, I made more of a dinner mess (but I am in the middle of cleaning it up)

there is no excuse for my island to look like this.  a little too much fun and not enough work I suspect.

I have stuff on chairs that doesn't belong

my laundry is piled up (clean, but piled up)

and I haven't done my hair.

So please don't come over today.  My house is closed for renovations.

investing in sanity

Our weeks are pretty crazy, it seems.  But then again, I like a simple life. And when things get off just a little bit, or mama gets sick, well, you know what happens.  Chaos upon chaos.  Or maybe it just happens to me?

 
This week our schedule got all wonky for the beginning of the week, and by this morning, we were all begging for a change of scenery.  The children were sick to death of their mother, and the clutter and dirt in this house were driving me a little past the brink of insanity.  On more than one occasion I had to get out my go-go-gadget arms and hang on tight.

So this morning, I dropped the kids off with a friend who is also their usual farm-day sitter, (they came with me this week to the farm) and I cleaned the house whilst I paid for child care.

Best. Investment. Ever. (okaaaaaay, best investment in a long while)

I think I'd rather do this than hire a house cleaner.  Almost.  I really REALLY hate to dust.

But seriously, there are many Things You Can't Do while kids are around in the cleaning/dejunking department, can I get an Amen? Because when kids are around, and you find a random part for a toy you know has long been missing, the 1200 square feet of house becomes 12 square feet of house and they Know What Your Plan is, and there are voices loudly protesting the throwing away of such useless plastic part.  In our house the same thing happens with Sunday school papers, doodles, and stickers that have lost their stick.

So it's been a cleansing day.  In more than one way.

SO thankful for sitters, for friends, and for breaks.  Because sometimes all you need is 3 childless hours to get things done!  (tomorrow, I get to do it for someone else! YAY!)