Gettin' the Spray Nozzle...

Do you ever want to attack your house with a garden hose? You know, the kind that has a powerful spray nozzle attached to the end of it? I am talking about the inside here, folks. Do you ever want to power wash the inside of your home? Good, I am glad I am not alone.

I feel like I am in a "can't-keep-my-house-looking-nice" rut and it is driving me crazy. I try, I promise! But, sometimes, I feel like my home is creeping in on me and that at any moment, I will be suffocated with junk.

It usually starts in the kitchen. The counters become a catch-all for mail, homework, and well, junk. I try to cook and can barely enjoy myself for fear of being attacked by the looming paper monsters that are at each corner.

It then bleeds over to the desk. Being book lovers, we tend to allow our desk to house our books. But it doesn't stop there, we also let the desk hold our bibles, various studies, magazines, camera stuff, calendars, and other paper junk that escaped from the kitchen. It never looks nice.

Next, we have the living room. I actually love my living room. It is a sunroom where the walls consist of large windows instead of plaster. On sunny days like today, it is a source of joy and warmth. But, the problem is our 70 pound dog who loves to lay on the furniture. Despite the discipline, we can't keep her off of it, especially when we are away from the house. So, the big red couch incessantly has a quilt on it (usually a nice shade of brown thanks to the muddy dog...it snowed a lot, ya'll.) Our nice black leather chair usually houses the ottoman, upside down, so that Savannah will stay off of it as well. This room is my favorite, and it usually just makes me want to cry.

I would tell you that our dining room table is almost always clear, but it is currently housing the boys' Valentine sacks of goodies.

Moving right along...we enter the boys' rooms. Cade is me made up in a 9 year old boy's body, so his room is usually straight. He even loves to have the covers in perfect order when he sleeps, but that is a different story.

Next, we have the little boys' room. It houses ALL the toys in the house, bunk beds, and a small TV and movie station. They also share a closet, which is getting trickier as their clothes get bigger in size and take up more space. Eli is the most random sleeper. One night, he will be sideways and the next, he will be at the opposite end. So, you can imagine his top bunk and what a pain it is to keep it made up. Since this room serves as the playroom as well, it is hard to keep it picked up all the time.

Next, enter the master getaway. I love my bedspread. I think I have had it for 3 or 4 years, and I still love it! I am usually happy about this room, after all, it houses my bed, and as my Mom previously said, I liked to sleep when I was 18 months old and that trend has definitely continued. This room isn't hard to keep picked up, especially when Eric makes the bed in the morning! :)

Lastly, we have the laundry room. I have the BEST laundry room in the world...as far as size goes. Aside from washer, dryer, set up ironing board, etc., it houses a makeshift pantry, huge shelves that hold the kids games and our extra books, photography props, and the dog's stuff. This room is so large that it tends to become a catch-all where, if I am not careful, in a week's time, I can't even see the floor.

Here is my dilemma, I think: I know you are supposed to have a place for everything...and to keep it in that place. My dilemma is that I don't have a place for everything because I don't have room for everything. Do I downsize our stuff in order to create space? I am a pretty "throw it away" kind of gal, so I don't really have a lot of unnecessary things, but I need to breathe here!!

If you have any suggestions for any of the rooms, or anything in general, then please share.

And, thanks for letting me vent a little! :)