No Moms Allowed!

I am a strong believer that there should be a new club complete with a fancy, wooden clubhouse and a sign hanging on the door that says "NO MOMS ALLOWED!" You know, like the ones every little boy or girl made to hang on their clubhouse or bedroom door, though they usually said something about the opposite sex instead of their parents. Anyway, what kind of club should this be? The Sick Club. That's rights folks, I am a mom and I've been sick. As most of you know, that's a horrible combination.

I want to preface this with a little something about me. I'm not a super tidy or neat person. My house is usually presentable, but it gets cluttered and messy from time to time. When you have 3 kids, 2-4 additional kids (daycare), a husband and various pets, things sometimes get left around. But I pride myself in knowing that if company were to call and the house was iffy, I could get it presentable in a matter of minutes. It's usually just a quick pick-up. I wouldn't call it dirty.

Well, I'm also one of those people who can't leave the house for a weekend unless it's clean. We went camping this weekend, so before we left I cleaned the house. Sure, there was still a pile of clothes on the living room love seat, but they were neatly folded and sorted, just waiting to be brought to their home. And the basket of socks needing to be sorted was pushed against the wall. But the floor was picked up and vacuumed, the kitchen floor swept, the counters clean, dishwasher run and sink empty, family room toys picked up...You get the picture. I HATE coming home from a weekend away and having the mess from the weekend and the mess from the house. I know I'm not the only one.

So while camping I started coming down with a cold. I stuck it out and when we got home on Monday, it slowly got worse. By Tuesday night, I was dying. I'm not kidding you. I don't get sick often and usually when I do, I plug it out and go on with life. Not this time. I had a raging headache, terrible sore throat, major head congestion, fever of 102.5, body aches, chills, nausea...you name it, I pretty much had it. So I spent my time laying on the couch, trying to monitor my children but relying more on the gates that close them into the family room to keep them safe. Anything else was fair game.

Today, almost 2 days later, I'm feeling better. I'm not done with it, but I can at least sit up and type without getting dizzy or nauseous. I can walk without my legs getting all jelly-like. I can breathe through one of my nostrils with only a minor sniff. I'm doing better. And I can't believe the shape of the house. Oh. My. Goodness.

Remember how I just told you all that my house had been clean? I even put everything away on Monday after camping because I knew I was getting sick and knew it would sit around for awhile if I didn't. I honestly can't describe the mess, so you all get to see it instead! You may need sunglasses....

So here is the family room. Toys, pillows, blankets, even grass that someone drug into the house.

You can't see it, but it's there by the piano bench.

The very unclean kitchen. The sink is piled with dishes, the counter is covered, the stove has grease splattered on it from dinner 2 nights ago (Andy obviously cooked) Dinner still on the table from the other night, food and newspapers on the floor (and yes, our dishwasher is old and needs replacing, and I am working on peeling that awful wall-paper)

Clothes all over the living room. Andy was kind enough to wash 2 loads of laundry, but he then just brought them upstairs to be folded later. Apparently one load didn't have a basket, as you see it was just deposited on the couch. And those clothes on the floor? Dirty jammies and a pair of underwear.

So again, anyone want to help me build that clubhouse? Because honestly, Moms just can't get sick or things fall apart. At least in this house they do. The only good thing that comes out of this is that Andy can no longer say "What do you do in a day besides watch and play with kids?" Because this is what it looks like after only 2 days of me doing nothing. And that was without the extra daycare kids helping. With them here, there are only more toys and more dishes and more food on the floor...Moms can't get sick.