Keeping it real

So we have all seen the cutesy , awesome home maker blogs out there, where the children are immaculately dressed in wonderful clothing fashioned by Mommy, the homes are immaculate and look like something on the cover of Better Homes And Gardens,the recipes and pictures posted of their daily meals look like something out of Food And Wine,but do you really think their day to day living is like that ? Is everything really pristine and perfect everyday ? I have to wonder.
Today I started off my day at 5:45am, I came downstairs to the smell of freshly brewed coffee, my kitchen was immaculate and ready for whatever the day handed it, everywhere I looked everything was just so,(after busting my butt all day yesterday when everyone was at work and school) the children got up fully refreshed from a good nights sleep, breakfast was eaten, farewells exchanged, Reagan was dropped off at school with a cheerful goodbye, grocery shopping was done and put away before lunchtime and then, WHAM !!!!! It was time to pick up Victoria from school and take her to Physical Therapy, a quick trip home to finish off my pantry Fall cleaning, back to pick up Victoria from P/T, over to the Elementary school to pick up Reagan, back to the High School to pick up a friend of Victoria's, back home where litter box duty commenced and then I smelt THE smell, "Cat Pee" OMG, is there anything more pungent ? Apparently Miss Pris had decided the litter box wasn't up to her standards and so the coat closet was fair game, not only did the smell about knock me out but when I STEPPED in it I almost lost it, OMG, how freaking gross is that ? Warm cat pee all over my freshly pedicured feet, blech, blech, blech. So every shoe that littered the floor in there was thrown outside, vacuuming had to be done before the mopping, then it was the spraying of tumultuous amounts of white vinegar to get rid of the stench, followed by Lavender and vanilla Swiffer wipes to calm the soul (yea right)Then it was onto dinner and homework, running friends home, coming back home,baths,dressing wounds caused by callous driveways, story time for the wounded, phone calls to an out of town Daddy and decompression time for Mommy.
I now look around my home that could have been posted on the front pages of BHG just 16 hours ago and I see ice cream bowls w/ smears of chocolate goo around them littering the tables in the living room... WTH was I thinking ? I don't allow food to pass that threshold, a vacuum cleaner sat smack bang in the middle of the entrance way, glasses 1/2 full still sat at their prospective places at the dinner table w/ the Pepper and Salt as companions, clothes that never found their way to the laundry hampers strewn all over the bathroom floors, a paper towel used for a soda spill still sat on the floor where the soda once was, Band Aid boxes sat on the table in the living room, books spread out over my bed spread,and a hockey stick sat over by the refrigerator. Not pretty huh ? But the reality is the chocolate ice cream was given to 2 children who had awesome days at school, the vacuum cleaner is where I left it when I went to a child who needed consoling, the Band Aid boxes are in the Living Room, because what better distraction for a 6 y/o girl w/ bleeding knees than a rerun of Hannah Montana on the Boob Tube, the books are all over my bed because that's where story time took place tonight, the 6 y/o is snuggled under the covers on her Daddy's side of the bed, (that's her spot when he's out of town), the glasses and pepper and salt on the dining room table are the remnants of a dinner eaten together as a family, the hockey stick in the kitchen left by a 6 y/o who is so passionate about a sport that she wants to play it inside and out, the clothes strewn all over the bathroom floor and paper towel left on the floor, definitely signs of laziness, but they'll be dealt with momentarily.
I'll be getting the coffee maker prepared soon so I will come down to freshly brewed coffee in the morning, my kitchen will be picked up, but as for the rest of the house, eh, I'll work on that once the kids are in school. I refuse to stress on the little things anymore, my kids will not remember the fact that ice cream bowls were left on the living room table, but they will remember that when they needed consoling Mommy was there for them, when they wanted to talk about their day they could share it with the whole family around the dinner table, that a myriad of books were always available for their enjoyment,and that litter boxes HAVE to be cleaned on a regular basis otherwise very nasty consequences can occur.
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that's why we call it the present.”