Clean Slate

 I decided today was the day I was taking back my house!  Hold your applause.  

I'll tell you right now what that was: a pipe dream.  Show me the woman who got her house cleaned while her children were in it, and I'll show you a liar.  Unless she first duct taped them to their chairs.  Then maybe.  

Our girls have been on a bit of a tear.  They dumped every toy receptacle and half the game closet in their room over the course of this weekend.  I'm not sure why.  I'm not sure there was a "why."  They accomplished half of their mayhem during bedtime and the other half while I ignored them and took a minute outside, so that's on me.  

The game and craft closet has been spilling into the hall for close to a week now anyway.  It needed some attention.  The trail from the closet to the girl's room made it unavoidable.  The darlings also managed to spill craft supplies from the closet to the garage door.  They are on opposite sides of the house, so that was quite a feat.  They may have their mama's competitive spirit after all.  

It was another rainy afternoon, so I had no excuse and began my cleaning with an overhaul of the games.  This would have been much easier to accomplish if I hadn't had one twin standing on my calves and climbing up my back while I knelt on the floor.  She even brought a stool over in order to make the climb easier.  Meanwhile, her sister called me into the kitchen every ninety seconds to "look at this!"  

Eventually, the closet mess was cleaned to my low standards.  Things were more or less put back into their appropriate boxes, and the dirty socks were removed.  I then concentrated my effort on the craft cleanup.  I threw as much away as I could without being noticed and boxed up the rest.  Several items found their way out of the garbage, and I managed to find a spot for those too (in another less obvious trash can).  

The price I payed for cleaning?  Our dining room was destroyed by kinetic sand, and the living room was covered in rubber bands and rubber band gun targets.  

Meanwhile, I needed to make dinner.  Before I set the table, Ross and I did a teamwork clean-up on the sand situation, and that's when I noticed the crafts were back to decorating the floor...

This house is not my own.

  

**Note to add: Yes, the kids are capable of doing their own clean-up and usually do.  Sometimes, I just need things done my way.