If you know me, you might know that I dislike clutter. In fact, Matt and I have had many a fight in our six years of shared residence related to this topic. Case in point: the time I threw away all his saved up Wall Street Journals that he was planning (I use this word loosely) to read at some future date. (There were A LOT of them people). Let's just say it was not a happy moment when he found them in the recycle bin. Thankfully, he forgave me and we are now at a point where we can laugh about that story.
Still, we are definitely wired differently in our feelings about clutter. Matt does not hate clutter. Actually, he doesn't seem to mind it at all (or even notice it). I, on the other hand, feel this hovering cloud of annoyance and stress when our home gets too cluttery. And it has, on occasion, caused me to over-react a
tiny bit (refer to the above for instance). I know, you are probably shocked at the thought of me over-reacting, but it does happen on occasion folks.
I'm not claiming to have the most organized house or even the cleanest. And it's not that we
never have clutter. It's just that once it reaches a certain point I feel it must be dealt with....which often involves a trash can. I have learned my lesson about Matt's clutter and now I make my trash selections more carefully and then just move the rest from visible sight (please do not look in our attic, closets, garage or under our bed).
But the newest little member of our family is not helping me win my war on clutter. It seems that every moment, every day is filled with it. Everywhere she goes it follows her, and after a few hours it looks as if a tornado has blown through the house. She is literally into EVERYTHING. Today's clutter involved: dirty laundry, clean laundry, a box of note cards, the contents of my purse, a stack of books within her reach on the counter while sitting in her high chair, the contents of all the bathroom cabinets that are not locked or out of her reach, two boxes of plastic silverware, tupperware, the contents of her bookshelf, the contents of her dresser, the diapers in the top of her diaper champ (disgusting) and the contents of the cat litter box (just kidding, I did put an end to that one but she sure made the attempt)! And it's only 2 pm!
I am not sure if I am not disciplining her well or if I just am taking the phrase "pick your battles" too much to heart. I mean, in order for me to get anything done, she has to be "occupied" and it seems as if toys no longer do the trick. So sometimes its just easier to let her play with all that than to constantly say "no, no, no, no, no, no." Which does she even hear me when I say that anyways? I know she
understands me, but not sure she
hears me. Hmmm. A little early to be using the selective hearing my darling.
I do not write this post to complain (ok, maybe a little bit) but more just thought I'd remark on the irony of how my effort to keep our house clutter free has now been rendered useless.
I hear this is normal with a todler?
And that it gets a lot worse before it gets better?
Apparently God's telling me to just surrender and get over myself....ha!
