It Can Be Clean!

 

For those of you who have been to our house and have seen the amazing growing mountain of clutter that collects at my computer nook behind the couch: It Can Be Clean!! I'll let you know how many days it stays like this. Todd is betting on less than a week : ) I should have taken a before picture but I would have been too embarrassed : / I cleaned out every drawer and organized it. You can even see the labels from my new label maker. (You got that for me Dad!) I was able to go through all the art and other keep worthy school papers from the kids and filed them nicely away near my messy scrapbook table. (I mainly relocate my clutter from one area to another, never really eliminating the burden.) Although when the job was finished I had two (walmart) bags of paper to be recycled and one bag of trash; always a good thing. What motivated me to finally get this done? Well, the kids kept coming over to me while I was on the computer and I was tired of them trampling all over everything. Something was going to get ruined for sure. I wouldn't have known what because I couldnt' even remember what all I had there anymore. But also, I just finished watching my recording of Clean House's Messiest Home in America. A woman from Cincinnatti won that honor. It was truly the messiest thing I have ever seen. She had a basement. You could walk down the stairs but the clutter went all the way up to the ceiling, wall to wall mind you! The show rented a 7,000 square foot space of what was a closed down department store. She had that entire space filled with things she was trying to keep in her house. (And still denying that she had a shopping problem.) It was their best yard sale yet. They raised over $15,000 for her charity!! Now I knew my house would never get that bad but my little office space didn't not look much better than that basement. It was just the motivation I needed. Check out their audition video! I just wish they had shown the basement.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1321419597?bctid=16959983001

July 1st- Family Vacation Begins

We decided to have a Patriotic themed vacation this year; taking us to Antietam, Harper's Ferry and other surrounding areas, Burnside Bridge, and Gettysburg. Our first thought was to get up and get going early on Wednesday morning so that we would be at our first destination on Thursday. But Todd and I both weren't up to the challenge of getting everyone up and ready so we took it slow on Wednesday. The downside though is that not only were we driving a lot on Wednesday but a considerable amount of time on Thursday before we reached Antietam. The kids were tired of being in the car, Todd was tired of listening to them ask for whatever popped into their heads, and I was tired of telling them no for every other thing they asked for. (Cookies was the most popular demand for this trip.) But we got there and slowly settled into a groove that defines our family. (Molly screaming her head off because I won't let her chase down every dog she sees. Clarissa throwing a tantrum because she doesn't want to get out of the car. Adam bouncing around as if he just had a large slushi. And every single one of them ignoring my requests for order and stability.) But that's why we do the whole Family Home Evening thing, isn't it?!

July 2nd- Antietam

So we finally get to where we're going and the kids have a chance to get out of the van and run around. I never would have thought that visiting battlefields would have been so enjoyable for the kids. But as it turns out, it is a lot of fun. Of course they didn't share the same enthusiasm for the sites as much as Todd did. The highlight for them was finding the little frog in the grass. They of course fought over who was going to hold it; that's always so much fun to be around. Todd was able to share a lot of information with us about this site. I was glad to have the chance to stand there and see where it all happened. It was sobering to think about the losses suffered there. Adam entertained the thought of what if the south had won? Oh dear!

July 2nd- Burnside Bridge

We continue our patriotic trip to Burnside Bridge. Adam was fun to bring along with the trip. He had just completed his studies on the Civil War (from South Carolina's point of view nonetheless) and was interested in hearing more stories from Dad. The girls, however, continued their search for other forms of life. The excitement in this trip was the teeny tiny inchworm Clarissa found. I don't know how she spots these things. She actually saved this worm from being trampled on by me. It was on the brick path where I never would have seen it. She picked up and safely placed it in the grass out of harm's way. After playing with it first of course.

July 3rd- Hershey, PA

We found a really great hotel but couldn't stay there for as long as we would have liked. We thought we would break up all the histroy tours with something the kids could really sink themselves into: CHOCOLATE! We stopped first at the gardens. All three of them found amusement in searching for whatever bugs or other such easy to catch and hold creatures they could spot. So when we saw the ad for the butterfly house at the gardens we knew we couldn't pass it up. Of course we got in trouble for trying to catch the butterflies. (I can only stay with one child at a time and they were just plain excited about seeing all the butterflies that my "no touching" comments went in one ear and out the other.) We stayed until I could no longer take them ignoring my every word of caution. We went to the Chocolate World for lunch, (very bad idea) and a chocolate treat, (very scrumptious idea). We went on the "tour" of how the candies are made and they kids went into work at their children's factory. Before we knew it, we were on the road again. We were on long country roads for most of this so it was very pretty. The kids loved the roller coaster effect of the hills and we enjoyed listening to them giggle at each one of them.

July 4th- Gettysburg

Everything we did was really leading up to this day right here. We wanted to watch a couple of the re-enactments that they have near the Gettysburg Historical Park. The only thing is that we had no idea just how big the park was. We really could have spent another entire day there still exploring the visitor's center and battlefields. I know that I would like to go back again to see what we missed this time. The kids weren't all that thrilled about the re-enactments though. We were directly behind the cannons. I thought it was really cool. And Molly commented on how the cannons went BOOM! (I was thrilled that she wasn't scared at all.) Adam thought it was just too loud and sat in his chair. And Clarissa walked around searching for more bugs. If you enjoy history then you will definitely enjoy this. I found it to be exciting to watch. I was also amused by the "celebrity" status for those in costume. They would walk around talking in character, collecting prisoners of war, performing music, and selling their goods. They are very serious about their hobby.

Accepted!

Todd received his letter today announcing that he has been accepted into the Tripler Army Medical Center for a fellowship position. Now we just need to decide if this is truly what we want to do. I told Todd that I would work what he calls my voodoo. (That means I will pray about it and read the scriptures for an answer. I was planning to go to the temple this Saturday so I'll that will give me a good purpose for the trip this month.) We'll keep you posted on what we will end up doing. Besides, we still have one more year in Columbia.