Confession: The Unmade Bed

When it comes to the task of making beds, there are two kinds of people in this world: Those who make their beds religiously, unless they are so sick they can't get out of them, and those who just can't be bothered.

I fall squarely in the latter category. (Sorry, Mom!)

Somehow I have an enormous blind spot in my OCD tendencies when it comes to making the bed.

Growing up, I was taught to make my bed every morning, but as soon as I was a teenager and got my own room in the basement, my true bed-making (or non-bed-making) nature emerged. I was always in a rush to get out of the house in the morning, and by the time I got home, what was the point? It was almost time to crawl back under the covers anyway.

Wash the sheets, sure. I wash almost every week because I love clean sheets on the bed. But pull up the sheets and smooth out the comforter every morning? That's a challenge for me.

I've reformed several times. First when I went off to college and shared a dorm room. Then, when I got married, because I was a grownup now and grownups make their beds every day, right?

Truth is, the tiny place we first lived in had a lot to do with it. As soon as we got a big enough place that I could just shut the bedroom door, I backslid again.

My next big reform came after I had my first child. I was trying to set a good example. But the sleepless nights and morning rush to daycare and work soon put an end to that effort.

Shortly after the triplets came along, we moved Amelia to a big girl bed. And then I really tried to shape up and make her bed as well as mine. After all, it was my job to set a good example.

I could not have picked a worse time for reform. My attempt clearly shows how badly clouded my thinking was. Between nursing round-the-clock and maintaining a pumping schedule that could qualify as an extreme sport, I got back under the covers every chance I could. And I certainly didn't have time to be making the bed 10 times a day.

So I closed my bedroom door and made Amelia's bed, more or less, most days, sort of. OK, so her bed mostly went unmade, too, but if it didn't need to be fed or changed it didn't get much attention around here when the boys were tiny.

Now I find myself in the mood for reform once again. But this time I might just be successful. Because this time I'm motivated by the need to regain a little control around here. So now my perfectly made bed is an island of calm is a swirling sea of chaos. It is a small victory in the larger battle to keep the house from sinking entirely into the morass.

True, it makes no sense to make the bed that no one will ever see instead of spending those 10 minutes on laundry, cooking or cleaning a part of the house we actually live in. But I have discovered something about making the bed.

It stays done longer than anything else in this house.

The laundry regenerates so quickly I sometimes wonder if it hasn't taken on a life of its own. Meals are eaten as soon as they are cooked, and sometimes even before, leaving more dishes in their wake. Diapers are the very definition of perpetual. And I think the toys are picking up some tips from the laundry.

But the bed. The bed gets made in the morning, and it doesn't have to be remade all day. It doesn't get dirty as fast as it gets clean. It doesn't have to be picked up three times a day. It doesn't need changing in triplicate.

Sometimes it stays made as long as 16 hours.

Which is 15 hours and 59 minutes longer than anything else around here.

These days, that's my definition of victory.

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Insult or Exellent Marketing?

Today a lady came to my door. She was in the neighborhood putting fliers for her house cleaning business on people's mailboxes.

Turns out that she saw my triple stroller attached to the back of the van so, "I thought I'd knock."

Insult or savvy marketing?

I Tweeted about the incident and the jury is still out.

One person wanted to know if it was Mary Poppins. Ha! Don't I wish. No carpet bag and no brolly, so no luck there.

Another wanted to know if I asked for a free sample. Shoot. Wish I had thought of that.

The Cavalry Has Departed

The last of our help left this morning. But boy, did they leave things in great shape here! I don't know that we can ever really be ready to bring three babies home, but some cleaning and reorganization sure helps give us the illusion of being ready. And it lowers my stress level considerably, too. It has been frustrating to know there are so many things to be done, and to be limited in my capacity to even help do them.

Check out the A+ projects that got done last week. Sorry there aren't any "before" pictures -- if I were organized enough for that, we wouldn't have needed more than 200+ man hours of help over the last week.

• Big thanks (again) to Brian and Jeanne for cleaning the basement steps that were still suffering the effects of the flood, and for painting a tired, old dresser so it could become this cute dresser for the nursery. Using the wallpaper border on the drawers was my idea. Martha Stewart's got nothing on me!

• Kudos to my brother-in-law, Virgil, for all his hard work in replacing our worn out kitchen sink with this spiffy new stainless steel one. He also fixed the leaky bathroom sinks that we've been ignoring (ok, neglecting) for far too long.
  

• And check out some of the organizing my Mom and sister, Judy, did. Believe me, this is NOT how my kitchen cabinets looked before they arrived. We have entire shelves that are empty now! I always thought I was pretty organized, but I bow to the Queens of Organization. Turn those two loose in WalMart for an hour and suddenly everything has a neat plastic basket or tote to go in.

• This project is my Dad's handiwork. It's not quite complete, yet, but these are two new storage closets, and they are huge! And, as a bonus, I'll have a whole new sewing space. I don't know how much I'll get to use it, but having it in the playroom sure ups the odds. (Don't worry, Jeff walked downstairs to take this picture, not me!)
  

All I can say is thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! It's good to have family and friends who are so willing to help. We appreciate everything you've done for us more than we can ever express.

Cabinets and Kitchens and Construction, Oh My!

The other day, this conversation took place in my house. I was going to change the names to protect the parties involved, but those of you who are family would know who these people are, and those who aren't family -- well, what difference does it make to you?

Dad: Do you have any black electrical tape?

Virgil: Yep.

Dad: Will this insulate well enough for me to cut a hot wire?

Virgil: Why don't you turn the power off?

Dad: I'm only cutting one wire.

Virgil: Well, don't use those pliers. Those are expensive pliers. Might as well ruin cheap ones.

Dad: Maybe I'll just turn the power off.

Note: The breaker box was about 10 feet from the wire to be cut. Finding the electrical tape required walking upstairs and taking the time to have this conversation.

You'll all be happy to know that ultimately, the power was shut off and the wire was safely cut with no harm to father or pliers.

Construction Delays

Sorry for the lack of posts. We (and by we, I mean my parents, my sister and her husband and Jeff) have been busy getting things in order for the babies -- and doing a few other projects like building storage in the basement and replacing the kitchen sink.

Things are really starting to look good now, thanks to the helping hands. Clothes are folded and in drawers in the nursery, we've almost figured out how to put the second-hand cribs all back together, and the basement is getting restored to some semblance of order. It's a relief to see everything coming together.

Check out our project crew. Thanks guys!

I didn't get pics of my dad building the storage in the basement since I don't get up and down the stairs very well anymore!

Lady of Leisure...Yeah, Right!

If it weren't for the massive belly I'm resting my laptop on, I could almost feel like a lady of leisure today. I saw the massage therapist this morning, though I consider that a necessity, not a luxury. If it weren't for her work (painful at times!) on my back and legs, I don't know if I'd still be on my feet.

It's not exactly a leisure day, as I've been working from home. But, telecommuting does afford me the luxury of indulging my need for a nap. One hour over lunch makes the whole world a better place. Even though Amelia has been sleeping well the last couple of nights, I've been getting more tired and tired faster. So that nap is really becoming more than a luxury. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow and didn't wake up once until the alarm rang an hour later. Ahhhh.

But what really makes me feel like a lady of leisure is a wonderful young college student named Becky. Becky comes once a week to do whatever needs to be done to keep the house from caving in on itself. This week it's picking up Amelia's room, doing some laundry, wiping down the bathrooms, vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen. I can smell the clean from here. I always feel better after she's been here to help conquer some of the chaos.

Becky's putting her earnings toward her college education, so I guess that makes a fifth college tuition I'm going to pay for!