The Buhrley Bunch: Cleaning House

I LOVE summer! We're officially OFF any kind of schedule at our house. Because the kids are older and there aren't things like swimming lessons and such, we stay up late, sleep in late, and kind of do our thing. It's what summer should be. I think it's hard for Brook because he's the only one who has to wake up for anything, yet we don't seem to make it bed before midnight or later.

I also love summer because my house stays cleaner for longer. That goes against ANY sort of logic, I know, but it's true. Because I'm not working I can clean any time of the day, there aren't papers and homework bags constantly cluttering things up, and the kids are out and about so much that they really don't make messes.

I know that everybody has their own cleaning routine. For me, I move from the east side of the house to the west and clean each room completely before I move on. It seems to work well unless I have a sort of schizophrenic day and lose focus.

Maybe you've had a day like the day I'm about to explain. Here's how my cleaning went yesterday:

It began well as I cleaned the kitchen and laundry room. It was sparkling. It continued well as I moved to the family room. I even got those great straight lines in the carpet when I vacuumed (now that says clean). It kind of fell apart, however, when I got to the hallway which leads to my bedroom.
My mother gave me about 15 purses she wasn't using anymore (she's kind of a purse collector, and I, on the other hand, am a one-purse-kind-of-gal. I use it until it's in shreds. I've known I needed to step my game up a little bit in that area, so acquiring all the new purses was exciting). They were collected in a huge pile in front of my bedroom.

Looking at the purses it dawned on me that I didn't have room for them all. What the heck was I thinking when I helped myself to such a cache of goodies? Clearly, I wasn't. Realizing they wouldn't fit in the master closet, I decided to clean out some space in the coat closet. After moving some things around in the coat closet, I realized the linen closet might work better. After cleaning out the linen closet I saw the boxes and albums of photos waiting to be scanned. I'm making a goal to scan all my photos and upload them on a web album so they won't be lost in case of fire or natural disaster (seems relevant given the frequency of this summer's wildfires and the fact that there's one house that lies between us and miles of dry grass leading up to a canyon). I've only scanned through 1996. Um, hello, only 16 more years to go.

Doesn't it seem obvious that I should drop everything and spend the next few hours scanning pictures? Yes, quite a schizophrenic day. I scanned 1997 and loved every minute of it. I love my cute kids and husband. What is amazing to me is that I still remember every outfit they wore, the event from the photo, how they smelled when I hugged them, the funny things they said, and how fun it was to be a young mom with a young family. Time flies!!! It didn't make me sad to scan them, just happy I still have the memories.

Here are a few of my favorites: