My husband took the girls to the grocery store this morning. He does this almost every Sunday and after he leaves, my head fills with ideas of what to do for that glorious hour…I could read, watch TV, take a long shower, write in my journal, straighten up the clutter, start the laundry, organize toys, ugh just thinking of these mundane chores causes my spirit to plummet. Gee that happened so fast.

Usually I just sit, almost paralyzed with the idea of an hour to myself, while the clock ticks and my minutes of freedom just pass me by…is there something wrong with me I wonder? I guess it’s like people who get out of jail and don’t know what to do with themselves…I waste so much time thinking and before you know it, the door busts open, the house fills with the shrieks of little girls, “Mommy, mommy- we ate donuts and we bought Scooby snacks and can I eat them now please, please, please!”

Sigh– the peace and quiet is over and I have yet another food battle on my hands.

I might as well just start going to the store with them from now on. This jailbird does not sing – Maya Angelou clearly was not writing about me.

On this particular morning, I looked up, I looked around, and then I looked down. I saw crumbs and dirty marks all over the floor…I started getting anxious, and a tight feeling started in my shoulder muscles, the start of a panic attack beginning to form.

There was no quick sweep and spot cleaning my way out of this – I had to bring in the big guns. Pine Sol. I don’t know about you but I absolutely hate mopping the floor more than any other household chore. There is nothing gratifying about it, it’s so time consuming, so many steps, filling the bucket, mopping the floor, getting out the brush and scrubbing the corners, rinsing, drying with the towel, and when you done, it still doesn’t look much different and it’s dirty within five minutes of my kids eating some snack.

And they are ALWAYS hungry. They always want a snack. And they always leave a trail.

By the time I got motivated to actually start the mopping, the girls were home and I said to Gia, “Hey, want to play Cinderella!”

“Of course,” she said with a giggle and started dancing and wiggling about so excited.

“Great,” I thought to myself. This is the answer to all my mopping woes.

We got the bucket and I gave Gia a brush to scrub and she starting scrubbing and giggling and whooping with delight. She was so enthusiastic about this chore. “Look at me Daddy, I’m mopping, I’m Cinderella!”

A smile spreading over my face, “I am ingenious,” I thought.

Thoughts racing through my head like a run-away train, this is so awesome, we are going to mop all of the time, we are going to clean the bathrooms, were going to put away clothes, and straighten up rooms without bribes of ice cream! My cleaning woes are lifted forever, or at least until she’s out of the princess phase, hmmm, maybe we can make games out of this, the possibilities were endless.

Humming along, lost in thought, I suddenly realized I was alone. Stranded on the tile. Not a princess in site.

“Giiiaaaa! Where are you? What happened to my Cinderella, we have to clean and then get ready for the ball.”

“I am not Cinderella- I’m Gia, and I don’t want to help you anymore- I’m tired and I just want to lie down.”

Today was Make it Mondays

A while back, I discoved these Edible Color Markers by Wilton Brand at Michaels and thought that it could be fun to decorate marshmallows. Since it’s winter here, we created a snowy scene. We used a large piece of cardboard from a box, glue, and cotton balls. We made a couple of trees as well. This was our landscape to place the snowmen on.

Must use imagination- this is supposed to be snow!

Then the fun part- decorating the marshmallows.

This was our result- I think it kind of looks like a scene from a Halloween special, but hey, the kids had fun.

Scary looking marshmallow people

This was a simple idea that I thought of and it didn’t really come out that great BUT as soon as we started this project, G, said “Mom, this is so much fun!” and “I love this craft!”

This was then followed by a, “You’re the best Mom ever!”

Awww, she does happen to say this a lot lately and it probably is a phase but hey, I’ll take it.

A few thoughts during this craft- it really was a mess, especially with the two year old, and I tend to feel like a two faced momma when it comes to crafts…I read about them or think of something creative, get the materials, start the project and then start to feel my patience waning…thinking to myself, “Ok- I have to start dinner soon, this floor is a mess, the kids are a mess, darn it, there’s glue and marshmallows on my clothes, and I can’t take this anymore!”

Today, I tried to just go with it – they were happy and having fun and I felt a lot less guilty with this activity than dragging them to the mall.

I remembered back to this one day when I was on the check out line to purchase a dress at the Ann Taylor Loft and me, being the chat it up with anyone kind of woman, started talking to a very put together woman who was wearing an adorable white summer dress. She also had two year old twins in her double stroller. I said to her, “Wow, your brave wearing that white dress.”

She just laughed and said without any frown or hesitation, “Oh, everything is washable.”

This woman appeared so carefree and probably was the type who wouldn’t even get too upset, even if the twins did decide to create a masterpiece with spaghetti on her dress.

I cannot remember this woman’s face but obviously her attitude stuck with me. When you really think about it, messes, stains, and sticky faces are not too high a price to pay when your kids are happy, engaged, and having fun.

Here’s to relaxing, making messes, and knowing that crafts, projects, and crumbs can all be cleaned up (you may lose out on your putting your feet up and reading the latest gossip magazine time ) but I think it’s worth it. I surely feel fulfilled today and I have no idea Who wore it best!