what a fine mess i've gotten myself into...

literally. a big ole mess. so messy i don't even know where to start. so instead i'll just sit and blog about it. that's the best way to deal with anything overwhelming right? just ignore it!

what makes all of this all the more stressful is that mr. h and i are going out of town...tomorrow. i am so not a good traveler. packing isn't bad. getting the pets taken care of isn't too bad-daisy the princess pug is going with the girls, the kittens are going to the kitty hotel (i had a feeling someone might sneak them to the pound while i was gone. i know what the pound does to kittens. that plan is thwarted!) and the big boys and tortoise are staying home. but i have this crazy obsession that the house should be spotless before we leave. why? i mean we're not even going to be here. it's some trait that i inherited from my mom. which is a cruel trick because i'm a neatnik trapped in a packrat's body. so, the house is not going to be spotless-it's an impossible thing. you'll understand why in a moment. and that causes me stress. i also don't do well on long car trips-i prefer flying. the jetson's had little flying vehicles so why don't we? once i arrive at the destination, i have fun. so there's that.

i'm still on the look out for my camera. the house is a disaster-i'm still getting to that. but i have a feeling that it's not here. that likely means it's at my parents house where i last used it. maybe the car? who knows. hope it's *somewhere* as i really took tons of pictures. and it would be nice to have for our trip. sigh.

ok so the disaster. seriously bad. the girls are messy. and they have stuff. and we don't have a lot of space. and they share a room. and these are not good things. it amazes me how quickly they can trash their room, but can't put it back together. it is overwhelming, i get that. so i'm the one who cleans their room. when i do it i always incorporate a major purge session, find a place for everything and put everything in it's place. and i just did this not too long ago. my efforts last, oh, about an hour or two.

prior to christmas it was near impossible to open the door. and the floor? well it was missing. gone. "girls, go clean your room" was often followed by weeping, wailing and the gnashing of teeth. and it never happened. my goal was to head in there with trash bags and get to work so that when the got their new loot from christmas their room would be ready. except i didn't do it. i guess i was busy...reading blogs and books, napping and getting ready for christmas.

so the other day i decided it's time. which probably wasn't time because there's christmas stuff everywhere and mt. laundry and all that. but bad call or not...we started. instead of me trying to maneuver around the disaster zone of a room, i had the great idea to have the girls start bringing stuff out into the living room. thinking as they bring it out little by little i would be standing by with my trash bag. it was working well. the room was completely emptied out-and there was in fact still a floor. i'm sure it was overjoyed as it was vacuumed all nice and pretty.

eventually i ran out of steam, and was dismayed to see that our living room now looked like their bedroom had but even worse with all of their new christmas loot. which by the way, are my kids the only kids who must open up every package, take out all of the gazillion pieces to not play with really, just to go to the next-lather, rinse and repeat? this made me really cranky as i see zhu zhu pet parts and mindflex thingies all over the place, having no idea what goes with what and the game boxes missing. ugh! if only they understood what santa and mama had to do to get those must have hot toys of the season. and darn it, i still haven't gotten to see the zhu zhu hamsters in action. i think i'll just get my own. hmpf! i really want jillie, the cute little pink and white girl. ok i'm getting off topic aren't i?

back to the pretty bedroom...the girls set up a spot for their american girls-they got little armoir/vanities for julie and felicity which i hope will help keep everything together and free up room in the toybox, etc. and little by little we start moving toys in. i see a bit of a love triangle happening though as edward is running off on horseback with taylor swift...bella is so not going to be happy. i'm not sure where bella is. maybe she's off playing with the zhu zhu hamsters.

the point of all of this is that this time tomorrow we will be on our way to jacksonville to see bobby bowden coach his last game. i'm not a seminole fan, but i can appreciate that he has a legacy and mr. h admires him...so for one day i'll pretend. but there is no way and i mean no way that the house is going to be in spotless condition which again is a must whenever i travel. this causes me great stress. heck i don't even know if i can manage to get the girls and the puggy princess packed up for their vacay at mammie and papa's house at this point. which reminds me that i need to do an emergency load of laundry. oy. and knowing our luck some robber is going to break in, trip over the junk that's everywhere, and then sue us for personal injury and likely win the case.

i guess that i'm going to have to make it a xanax moment and just go with the flow. and i'll make sure the kitchen sink is emptied and shiny. that flylady woman would be so proud!

sometime next year, 2010, (wow how weird does that sound? we really should have personal little flying vehicles by now) i'll hopefully have found the camera and share our christmas photos. i'll find a place for everything and put everything in it's place. and we have some really great ideas for maximizing our space and redecorating. i got a beautiful new bed set and bathroom set! and some of my online friends are participating in "project 65 in 365" which sounds like a great way to give me some goals and stuff for the new year! stay tuned...