Clean?

We were totally snowed in today... close to two feet of the white stuff!  The morning was relaxed.  Very relaxed!  My dad called at 8:30 and woke us ALL up.  Even Miss Sassy, the very early riser.  Even youngest-always-ready-to-go-child.  Even me!  On a weekend with no kids at home, I generally can't manage to squeeze my eyes shut past 7:00.

Then, after sleeping half the day away, the girls and I managed to accomplish nothing noteworthy all morning.  It was lovely.  But by noon I was tired of all that relaxing.  Blah!  Time to do something. 

Hubby has been working on oldest kiddo's new room.  Oldest and youngest have been sharing a room.  Maybe I should add that they comfortably shared a room with no screaching, hair pulling or any of that rotten sibling stuff.  Really!  They are well-matched.  But... incoming!  One baby.  That could tip the scale....

Anyhow, other than piles of tools, sawdust, and pieces of linoleum, the room looked pretty finished to me.  By the way, I have no idea how to spell linoleum.  I hope it is spelled correctly.  Or that you do not know how to spell it either.  I digress...  I don't know how to spell digress either.  We decided to move oldest kiddo into the new room! 

A couple of hours later, all the tools and sawdust were banished and kiddo's furniture was moved into the room.  There was the trail of mess that accompanies any big move.  Miss Silly had spent the two hours alternating between giggling at us and scattering all of her toys.  And... ummmm... housecleaning is not my favorite chore any day of the week, so I often clean tomorrow.  I was several tomorrows behind.

Soooooo... I had the brilliant and impulsive idea to invite my parents over for supper.  In two hours.  With the house a mess and dinner not even begun.  Sigh.  Since there was NO chance of cleaning up the living room and all the various messes on my to-do list, I focused on making the meal that I had promised.

My parents arrived with dinner close to ready.  They admired oldest kiddo's new room.  We hugged.  We talked.  And my mom said, "oh!  Your house is so cozy and clean.   It's all picked up.  Your counters are all cleared off.  The dishes are done." 

Huh??? 

My mom actually LIKES to clean.  She shines the bottoms of her pots and pans.  She washes windows twice a year even if they don't have any spots on them.  She vaccuums ummm... more often than I do.  Beds are washed every seven days without fail.  She dusts before fingers can leave trails.  She thinks my house is CLEAN??? 

I guess it's all a matter of perspective.  When I looked around again, I saw kids playing, rocking chairs and quilts, a braided rug, a mostly-cleared-off table, a couple of projects mid-progress by the sewing machine.  The rug was recently vaccuumed.  The few things on the table were oldest child's cross stitch, youngest child's homework and a book.  Not immaculate.  But tidy.  And very cozy.

Perspective.  Our house is cozy.  Maybe I'll clean tomorrow.