Cleaning

I went out today.  Not for long, just for lunch and shopping with my mother in law and Julianna, but when I came back, Jules went down for a nap.  Marc went to pick up the kids from school while I was putting her down, and when they got back, Jessie and I sauntered down the street to return her boots at Payless and get the right size.

None of this is remarkable, except that when I came home... my house looked as though a bomb had gone off.  It was clean, really clean, as of last night just before bedtime.  But there was an hour or so this morning where Julie was playing wily-nily in the living room and then an hour or so while Jessie and I were out and about, with Marc here and the Boy playing.  And the house... my good God - it was just stupendously messy.  Dishes everywhere, army guys and dollhouse furniture battling out for supremacy in the living room.  Laundry scattered around the house, dishwasher not loaded, laundry not folded...

I'm at a loss.  I should be cleaning, I'm just too tired to attempt much more than basic upkeep.  So the dishwasher is going, the washer and dryer are both running and that's as good as it's going to get until tomorrow.   If I ever want to feel essential, and the kids/husband aren't enough to make me feel loved and needed, I'll just take a day off and let the house fall apart - because apparently, I perform such a necessary task of CONSTANTLY PICKING UP CRAP that when I stop or take a few hours off to go shopping, all hell breaks loose.  I'll be playing catch up for days...

Marc is working nights this week, and I'm a sad and lonely girl without him here.  Julie is a sad and lonely girl, and Sam asked sadly if Daddy had no work tonight, knowing that he did and just hoping for another answer.   Jessie is actually just really happy that there's a new episode of Bunheads that I recorded for her, but I'm sure she's missing her dad as well.  We got all her homework finished earlier and now all that's left is for me to nag her into the shower, get her hair brushed afterwards, Sam and Julie need jammies and Sam needs to read to me,  Julie skipped dinner again (she's got a habit of skipping dinner when I feed the other kids and eating later on when Marc gets home - sadly, he won't be home tonight until well after midnight...), so I need to try and shove a little food into her before bed.

Nothing really earth shattering going on here today - just a normal sort of Tuesday.  Harrison was here for a playdate and Joy and I had coffee and caught up while the boys played and Jessie avoided doing her homework.  Julie sat mostly on my lap, nursing off and on.  Tomorrow is religious school for Jessie, although I'm seriously considering keeping her home to hard core study, study, study for her unit test in math.   Aimee will be here for dinner tomorrow night, she's heading down to NY on Thursday on the bus, and it's easier to catch the one in Worcester - so at least I'll have a little adult companionship tomorrow night.