I’ve always been a low maintenance kind of girl.  Never super girly; jeans and a t-shirt, bare bones makeup, hair done, sneakers.  After I had Matt, I was still the same.  After Preston, well, things have gone downhill.

I like to drive with all my windows open on nice days – I don’t mind the windblown look.  But here’s the thing, it used to be I would never get out of my car without at least checking my face and hair in the rearview mirror.  The other day I was out and about and once I got back into my car it dawned on me that I had never once looked in the mirror.  Luckily, I didn’t have a bird nest for hair, but still! The possibility of looking a complete wreck and having no clue was very real.

Today, we were at the local waterpark and not once did I worry about what my hair looked like while we were playing, nor did I worry about what people would think of my sadly out of shape body as I walked around in my swimsuit.

There are apparently some benefits to being even lower maintenance than I was even before I had kids! Now, this is not to say that I go out of my way to look like a slob before going out, but rather that I just don’t seem to give a damn anymore.  As little as two years ago, I would never have dreamed of leaving my house in yoga pants and a somewhat ratty tee; these days, as long as I’m clean, who cares?! (And I am ALWAYS clean – seriously, I rarely leave the house without taking a shower).

I do have 2 things that I insist on, which are not so much low maintenance:  having my hair highlighted and getting the occasional pedicure.  If money were no object, you could totally add massages to that little list.

Then there is my house.  I’ve never been the best housekeeper, but I used to make sure my house was clean – picked up, dusted, vacuumed, wiped down.  As I sit right now (not cleaning, obviously) there is dust on the tv stand, a ridiculous mess of torn up dog toy on the floor, and on the ottoman is a kid doctor kit, a pile of drawings and art projects, two pair of clean underwear and a pencil sharpener.  From my perch on the couch, I can see a gihugeous pile of laundry waiting to be done, and there are clothes in the dryer. The front room is filled to the brim with stuff from the playroom that needs to be put back; there are baskets of clean clothes in each of the boys rooms (on the floor, next to the piles of discarded books).  My craft room/office? Well, let’s say it looks like a pack of raccoons came to visit, redecorated and then ran away.  And the dog hair? Holy hell, the dog hair!

And I hate it.  I hate how disgusting everything looks.  My carpets need to be cleaned, the windows are atrocious, and luckily I haven’t seen the spiders that go with the webs that are hanging around.

Here’s the problem…I want to have a clean house. I really, really, really do.  But I don’t want to clean. I don’t want to do laundry. I JUST.Don’t. Want. To. Obviously, that’s not a choice.

I can’t figure out where to find the time or motivation.  What I need is a day of no kids, no husband, no dog so that I can just clean. Just Clean.

I have so many things to do…so many lists, so many things just bouncing around in this brain of mine that inevitably some things are going to get pushed to the bottom of the list. Playing with kids, attending to their needs, living? That all comes way higher than cleaning my house.  So it actually is a good thing, this realignment of my priorities, but I think I may have swung just a little too far the other way.  It used to be I couldn’t relax at all in a messy house. Really. I could not sit down and watch tv or read or book in a messy house.  I finally let that ideal go, but instead of landing someplace in the middle, I’ve switched to being able to sit down in a pile of mess.

There has to be a happy middle ground.  I just wonder if I’ll ever be able to find it. Although, I guess if not, I won’t be alone, right??

Right?!

*I realize that the rules of writing and grammar say that one should never start a sentence with But or And or So, but I write like I talk (with a lot more punctuation), so it is what it is! Also, I don’t get paid to write this here blog, but if I ever did, I would totally correct my horrible gramatical ways.

I read a lot. A LOT. I’m sure most of you already know that about me.

I just finished 3 6 books on my Kindle*. I have a number of new ones waiting for me, including samples of 4 or 5. (Samples? Awesome way to decide if you like a book or not! It’s more than just the back of the book, it’s the whole first chapter!)

I read a lot of status updates on Facebook and every Tweet my Twitter friends make throughout the day.

But there is little I enjoy more than reading the blogs of people I’ve gotten to ‘know’; those friends of mine who live in my little white laptop.

The subject matter is varied and diverse. Many are so-called mommy bloggers, but all of them are so much more than that. The most I have ever had was 177 unread blog posts in my google reader. While most people would have just marked them all as read, I actually never want to. I want to read them all.  Eventually, as the days go by and I don’t get caught up, I’ll have to just mark some read and move on, but I am loathe to do that.  I currently have 98 subscriptions, with a few more taking up residence in my bookmarks folder, waiting to be added into the rotation.

Out of those 98, there are a few that I go to first. It may be that they always have something new written and posted, or it may be the very style with which they write, or even the laughter they induce. Most of you probably know some or all of these bloggers (they’re popular for a reason, yo), but if you don’t, you should.  I was going to take the time to single out some of my absolute favorites, but really, I do read them all. And, besides, I’m totally lazy, and my top 10 every day reads deserve more than a link – they deserve true introductions.  I’m going to save that for a separate post.  In the meantime, just go to my Blogs to Read and check them all out. I guarantee you’ll laugh, get something to think about, agree with someone, laugh some more, and learn something.

*Now, about that Kindle….

At first I was unsure. So unsure, in fact, that I considered sending it back.  Then something happened that changed my mind for good.  You see, I read fast. Absurdly fast.  Yes, it would certainly behoove me and my bank account to use the library more, but I live in small town USA and our selection is a wee bit sparse. The new books? Wait listed. I hate to wait.  My Kindle? She doesn’t make me wait. Ever.  Here’s what happened:  I was reading a book, a series romance I believe, and suddenly, I was done.  I needed to know what happened next!! Normally, I would sigh ever so loudly, moan and whine, and then wait until I got to the bookstore or Target to pick up the next book.  This time? I made two clicks, searched for my book and downloaded it within mere moments.

As a busy woman with 2 young kids, my chances to actually read come in random spurts. Not needing to run to the store to get something to read? Priceless.

Oh, and the size of it makes it easy to take everywhere.  But the very, very coolest thing?  I can link it to my iPhone so that I can read my books RIGHT WHERE I LEFT off if I leave my Kindle at home.  And when I get home to my Kindle? I pick up right where I left off on my phone.  That’s technology I can get behind!!  The other nice thing about the iphone app is that it allows me to read in the dark since it’s backlit and the Kindle is not.

Mike has even download a book for it, so we’re sharing it now, which is nice.

And you know what else this Kindle is doing for me? Helping me RE-read books (which I never do!).  I just enjoyed the entire Twilight series (AGAIN) and am reading bits and piece of it here and there, too.

Speaking of Twilight….I’m totally into it right now – books, movie, soundtrack, score. I can’t get enough. Apprarently, I’m 15 again.

And say, but at least my blog is back up. Have to tweak this one a bit, but this is it. For now.  Definitely have to work on the images in the post thing on this theme – it is all wonky and messy.
Must get some cleaning and laundry and grocerying (new word) done so I can play. Have a great Sunday!!

Ok, so the management was able to fix my site for the most part after I spent all sorts of time screwing it up by trying to install the newest WP version.  Whoops.  Anyway, stick with me while I fix some other stuff up – my themes look all wonky on my laptop, but fine on hubby’s PC and on my iMac, so hopefully there are no issues with your end, but if so, PLEASE let me know!!Thanks!!  

EDITED TO ADD:  It appears to be a firefox issue….stay tuned!