I don't know how my mother let go of the mess we kids made all the time. Our basement isn't really a basement...it's more like the "lower floor" and it pretty much belongs to the kids. That means that they truly have reign over 1/2 of the entire house. I think that Adam and I would like to spend more time down there, but, at least for me, the stress of looking at the mess all the time is enough to make me crazy. The entire place gets totally cleaned, on average, about once a week...and it's usually only clean for a day, or maybe a few hours.
I remember the days of no kids...back when Adam and I lived in an apartment. Even then, I likely vacuumed at least 2 times a week and kept a pretty clean house. Of course, vacuuming an 900ish square foot apartment is nothing compared to...well...triple that. Our first house was great. The entire first floor was covered in either hardwood or vinyl and keeping it clean was still a chore, but far more manageable than entire house covered in carpet. Our current house has carpet in EVERY room except for the kitchen. Even 2 out of our 3 bathrooms have some sort of carpet in them!! Who puts carpet in the bathroom!!??
Anyway, keeping this house looking clean has proven to be quite difficult. Because the kids have overtaken the downstairs, I try my best to keep all the toys down there as well. This can be hard sometimes, as my kids like to be wherever I am...and 1/2 the time I'm upstairs. The carpet issue is frustrating. We live in a split-level house...so in order to get anywhere from any entry, there is stairs. The stairs are covered in carpet! Ugh...try living in the sticks and trying to keep a purely carpeted house clean! Fortunately, we've developed at sort of system and the mess is getting a bit easier. We also try our best to heat our home purely with wood. We bring the wood in the basement through the slider and it's inevitable that the carpet is gonna get a bunch of wood debris on it. The downstairs carpet NEVER stays clean for more than a few hours because of that very reason. It always looks filthy. But, the biggest grievance I have is towards my one and only dining area. Toddlers make messes, spill things, etc. Ahh...don't even get me started on the dining room. Most mornings, Soren eats in the kitchen by himself while the rest of us eat at the table. I got tired of trying to find/clean up all the starchy cereal milk he'd manage to fling on the floor. And the carpet is the only reason Soren still eats in his chair with a tray. Sometimes the kids eat at that little table I got Soren for his birthday. Its in the kitchen so that the kids could actually have a "safe" place to color or use markers. Occasionally, I'll catch Synnove in the living room with crayons or markers...but hopefully, she's learned her lesson. She's having a hard time learning lessons these days...but that's a blog for another day.
Well, I suppose I should get back to cleaning. I guess I just needed to vent some of those typical stay-at-home-mom woes.
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