Press Spoon on Seam

The other day, Tuesday, I think, I didn't feel like doing ANYTHING. I mean nothing. All day. Of course, I did change 20 diapers, and made 3 meals and 2 snacks for all parties involved, and reluctantly changed from PJs to sweat pants, but that's it. Luke even wore his winter pajamas ALL DAY. His idea. Anyway, we were lazy with a capital L. And then Brad got home from work, and I saw the house through his eyes, and I seriously wondered if it's ever worth it to be that lazy. The house had literally EXPLODED in a matter of 9 hours. How is that possible? How can things get so out of whack in just one day? So I started really thinking about it, mulling over what was the root of the problem. And came to this conclusion.

My house, each area alone, and collectively, is like a can of biscuits. Things are crammed in here so tight, the pressure is so built up, it only takes one little press of a spoon on the seam and.....BOOM.

Yes, I can make it look spic and span. Things CAN fit if we work on it hard enough. But everything has to be just so. The large little people toys only fit a certain way in the large tote, with absolutely NO small little people toys below them, otherwise the tote doesn't fit under the bed. And said tote has to be on the left side under the bed because of the rail latch in the middle, which means the laundry basket of miscellaneous baby toys had to go in the middle, so there's room for the race track next to it, and the tote of small little people toys has to go in the center of the race track so it doesn't stick out from under the bed and get in the way of the rocking horse. And on and on and on. Every nook and cranny through the whole house.

So when one thing goes BOOM, it creates a chain reaction that takes days to recover from. It's completely ridiculous.

Don't open the mail for a few days?
KA-BLAM

Don't do the dishes before bed one night?
KA-POW

Can't do laundry because of a bad back?
KA-BLOOEY

So I realized, what makes it difficult is that we're not just trying to "tidy up" each evening. We're trying to put the biscuits BACK IN THE CAN. Every day. In every room. Not an easy task.

By the way, I heard a speaker the other week liken removing one's Spanx to an exploding can of biscuits as well. Clearly, I wouldn't know anything about that.

Anyway, I'm DONE trying to cram biscuits back in the can. I (we) say it every few months or so - the "OK, this time we're really going to get rid of stuff" speech - but we're serious this time. We talk about living within our "square footage means", and how we will do whatever it takes to stay in this house, and raise 4 boys in 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, and all the good lessons that come with that, but when it takes a full paragraph to explain how it's possible to store 187 separate toys under a baby bed, it's out of control. And I have set up these organizational systems that the boys can't really adhere to on their own. Yes, everything is labeled, and yes, everything has "it's place", but if it's overwhelming for US to sort and put away, we can't expect them to do it either. There's just too much stuff. And I desperately don't want them to hate doing chores. I want it to just be a natural part of their day. For them to look at it as good stewardship of the things Brad works hard to provide.

So, that's my resolution. To get REALLY realistic about what can comfortably fit into 1490 square feet. Without things going kablooey.

As a great philosopher once said,

Twice as much
Ain’t twice as good
And can't sustain
Like one half could

Ok, it wasn't a great philosopher. It's John Mayer. But he makes a good point, in spite of his bizarre facial expressions.