The Week of Insanity

In short, this week has been insane. 

Last weekend Ryan and I began really cleaning the house. Of course we all clean our house - pick up, do the laundry, dishes, etc. But we were cleaning. That type of cleaning that really only happens every once in a blue moon.

When we first moved into our house 3 1/2 years ago, I used to really clean every Saturday morning. We're talking a solid 3-4 hours of cleaning. Every. Single. Week.

I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking.

A colleague once told me that she keeps her house spic and span because you never know who will come to your house at any time, and you always want to make a good impression. I can see that. But to me, I would rather walk into a house that is "lived in" than one that feels like a museum. I would consider our house "lived in," Clean, but obviously homey.

So this week I worked my fingers to the bone. I hurt everywhere. I have been complaining to Ryan that my foot hurts, my knees hurt, my lower back hurts even worse than normal, my lower abdomen hurts, etc. But for me it isn't just, "Man this hurts! I'm super sore today." I obviously have some life threatening illness. This drives Ryan insane, but I simply cannot help myself. A little while ago I slipped on a book on the floor and Ryan said, "I'll be sure to remind you tomorrow, when you think you have a tumor on your groin, that you simply slipped on a book."

Gosh darn it.

Anyways, this week has consisted of back breaking cleaning. I've been trying to binge watch all seasons of Parenthood and I was so upset that this week consisted of zero Parenthood watching. Dean was so good playing in his pack n' play and jumping in his jumper as I sprinted from room to room doing as much as possible before he got too annoyed with me.

Then yesterday morning I got a call from our realtor. I was instantly filled with nerves. Does someone want to see the house? What if they want to buy it? Are we going to seriously be moving this soon?

False alarm.

She was calling to see if it was okay if her photographer came over today to take pictures of the house. Wahh wahhhh. Not a problem.

But that means more cleaning.

By this point I felt like I had cleaned every inch of the house. My best friend even called me on Tuesday asking if she needed to talk me off the ledge of cleaning before our realtor came to put the house on the market. She knows me all too well.

So I didn't do anything yesterday. I sat and watched TV during Dean's nap and ate a ridiculously large bowl of ice cream. With chocolate syrup.

And then this morning came.

And I panicked.

I was running around vacuuming my already vacuumed house, Swiffering my already Swiffered floors, cleaning the mirrors in the bathroom and putting away the last minute clutter. Needless to say it all got finished of course. It always does.

After a long week, Ryan and I decided to head to the Reds game with Dean. We deserved some serious relaxation. It was our last game that we had tickets to for the year, and our last game for who knows how long. Dean only made it through one batter before he and I headed to the Kids Zone, and then we only made it through two innings because he was so hot from walking all around.

As we were walking out the stadium I apologized to Ryan that we couldn't stay longer. Dean is so squirmy it's difficult to take him to games yet. Ryan said it was fine. He simply liked going and smelling the hot dogs and popcorn, seeing the players, seeing the field, walking through the stadium...

I checked for tears. He held it together.

So we went to the zoo. Dean's obsessed with the zoo and has a conniption every time he sees a new animal. We only stayed for a little over an hour as the zoo had a special event later tonight and closed early.

But the point is, no matter how hard we work during the week, no matter how much we clean, work, or take care of others, we all deserve time to relax and focus on what's truly important in life. Because I could spend all of my time, every day, cleaning my house, but I would be wasting away hours that I could spend playing with my son. I cleaned so much this week because when given the choice daily, I choose what's more important to me - my family.

Here's to a relaxing rest of the weekend and tickling Dean until he can't stand it.

xoxo,
Beth