A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

I love reading the newspaper.  I get the Arizona Republic every day of the week, and a local newspaper twice a week.  Before becoming a mother again in January, I took time every morning to read my newspaper.  I took time to read the multiple magazines and catalogs I get in the mail.   I read an occasional book (couldn't put down the Twilight series!).

Now ... 

The paper stacks up for days, until I get a moment to go through them.  By then, the news is old and I pick a couple of my favorite sections in the paper and read them, and recycle the rest.

This scene plays over again all over the place:

• Laundry - clean laundry piled high on the washer/dryer (or still in the dryer - wrinkling).  Dirty laundry piled high in hampers.  I actually love doing laundry ... I just don't have time to keep up.  But I can assure you, nobody is walking around naked or in dirty clothes.
• Dishes - piled high in the sink
• Magazines - piled high on the kitchen counter
• Mail - sits unopened.
• Coupons - sitting in a few messy piles - either cut or uncut.  But certainly not nicely organized into my coupon binder like they used to be.
• The bed - unmade much of the time (I used to make the bed nearly every morning - a nicely made bed makes the whole bedrroom look nice.
• Netflix - I got my most recent movie a couple of months ago.  And it's just been sitting on the counter, with all the above-mentioned stuff piling on top of it.  

I have realized I really enjoy cleaning, now that I don't have the time to do it - ha ha!   The only time our house gets a decent cleaning these days is if somebody is coming over.   Even if its just my sister, or the air conditioner technician, our house gets a good cleaning.   I keep thinking we need to have somebody come over once a week, just so I can be forced to clean the house.

And yet while I crave a clean house, I'm not going to sacrifice family time to get it.   A long, hot summer is just around the corner and I'd rather get all of us out and about.  There are lots of things to do in the Phoenix area this time of year, and we're out doing it while we can.

If you're reading this post and would ever like to visit us ... just give us a week's advanced notice so we have time to clean. :)