Losing the battle.

I have never been a fastidious housekeeper. I like keeping everything clean mind you and I am obsessed with sweeping the floor, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Lately though my house seems as if it is in a constant state of disarray and in need of a major overhaul. I try to get it together, but it never seems to work out because Ryan and Lilly are always under foot. Like last Friday morning for example, I woke wanting to get down on my hands and knees and clean. I wanted to get out the hand-held steamer and clean corners and baseboards and all the crevices. That was my ultimate goal for the morning. I started out slowly by cleaning the glass storm door. As soon as I opened the door Ryan came running to see what I was up to and then when he saw that I was using Windex he wanted to help. My first mistake was letting him spray it because I never could get him to understand that once the window was clean it didn't need more Windex. This resulted in the two of us fighting over the spray bottle. Let's not leave Lilly out. She sat on the floor in front of the widow shredding the used paper towels. She started crying when I took them away and threw them in the trash.

I decided to clean the windows on the door leading to the deck next. They are always a mess. The kids are constantly touching them and the dogs are just as bad. I managed to clean the inside while Ryan and Lilly watched television. This is good I think; I'll try the outside. Lilly spotted me as I slipped out the door. I continued with the task at hand, but stopped when I realized that Lilly had her face smooched against the glass on the inside and was smearing her runny nose and dirty hands all over it. I couldn't help but laugh. She saw me and laughed too. What does she care about clean windows and floors? That's just it; she doesn't care. She cares about having fun and playing and spending time with her mommy. She cares about soaking up all the attention she can from her family. That's when I admitted defeat. I put away my cleaning supplies and got both kids dressed for a backyard outing that lasted until Lilly's nap time.
A week has passed and I still haven't steamed the baseboards and the more I attempt to clean-up the more I find that needs cleaning. I have decided it is just a vicious cycle anyway. I am working on letting go and taking on a new motto "A little dirt wont' hurt." I squirm a bit as I write that; proving I still have letting go to do.