Confessions of a Housemom- Round 2

So this is a re-post of an entry I wrote about 3 years ago in November.  Caroline was 6 at the time, I was a part-time working, part time stay-home mom, and life was just crazy.  I just couldn't deal with social media guilt anymore.  I read an article that confirmed everything I was feeling, which prompted this post. It popped up today on my Timehop and I wanted to share it again because we all know that holiday seasons get insanely busy, and we have to just remember to slow down and enjoy the moments that matter!
~LA

Confessions of a Housemom

I read an article tonight that made me feel so much better...... It was about how social media has given mommies a whole new level of stress and super-mom expectations.  SO. TRUE.  And I'm so over it. I've tried to keep up - and I'm just freakin' exhausted.  And I only have 1 kid.  One.  Uno.  Singular.  I cannot imagine having 3 or 4 little kids in this day and age.  It makes me nauseated to think about. What happened to the days of regular 'ole birthday parties with balloons and chocolate cake? And macaroni and cheese for dinner? And watching cartoons after school? And letting kids get so dirty outside that you strip them in the garage before carrying them to the tub so they don't touch the floor? Some days when I look at social media and see my friends who have pristine kitchens with their little perfect plate of after-school snacks or homemade biscuits or handcrafted outfits sitting atop a perfectly polished surface, I literally want to scream.  Who lives like that?!?!?  Not me.  So here it is- the God's honest truth about what my life is like on a daily basis.  And what I think MOST people really live like, if they had the nerve to tell you........
Confessions of a Housemom.
1.  I haven't cleaned my ceiling fans since we moved into this house.  Cuz really? Who the hell has time for that crap? I don't eat off of it or EVER touch it, so why should I clean it more than once every, I dunno, 5 years?
2.  I have wiped my child's nose with receipts in my purse more times that I care to admit.  But once they've been in your purse for a few weeks, they really do become quite soft.  It's not so bad.... and much better than snot running down your kid's face while you rush to find the perfect sanitized solution........ It would probably be wise to stick one of those little packs of Kleenex in my purse. But can I remember to get one? Of course not.
3.  I have never, in my life, cleaned a base board.  I know a girl who cleans her base boards once a month. Whaaaaaat???? No.  Just no.
4.  I might have bathed my child with shampoo because I forgot to get the "all-in-one" on my 3rd trip of the day to Wal Mart for the other 6 things I forgot on my first trip.  Like little Kleenexes. Which I've still not gotten.
5. I have a birthday present - wrapped- in my laundry room for a friend of Caroline's. His birthday is in December.  And no, I'm not just super- prepared. It was for his LAST birthday. He's only going to be a year older.  I can still use it this year.  Can't I??
6.  My car literally looks like I took a box full of stuff, dumped it upside down, and then drove over 50 speed bumps in a row.  Seriously.
7.  The current contents of my nightstand: 4 glasses of water half-drunk by a 6 year old, a lamp with mermaid stickers stuck to it, 3 bottles of Aloette, 1 tube of lipstick, 2 remote controls, 4 Junie B. Jones chapter books, an iPad mini, 3 Aloette order forms, 5 ponytail holders, 3 bobby pins, a pair of earbuds, a headphone splitter, alarm clock, my watch, a fairy wand, an old birthday card, a devotional book, a wind-up Papa Smurf.......... and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.......
8.  I cooked dinner last night in my own kitchen for the first time since Halloween...... no lie.  That's almost a month. Whoops.
9. The dry erase calendar hanging in my laundry room has the calendar dates from July 2012. That calendar is super helpful.  Don't know how I'd survive without it.
10.  There's a vase of flowers sitting on my dresser from my anniversary........ last June. That just means I'm sentimental....... right?

Ok, 10 of my short comings is all I can handle at the moment, lest I fall into a deep depression that requires Hallmark Christmas movies and thin-crust pepperoni pizzas from Domino's.  I don't say all of these things to make you think less of me, though.  I actually say them to make you think more of yourself.  Because I'm going to bet that you're guilty of at least one of these confessions.  And "guilty" isn't even the right word.  Because I shouldn't feel guilty for any of these things and neither should you. They're what make us human.  My house stays relatively clean in the important areas. My kitchen is clean and sanitary (cuz it hasn't been used), my clothes are washed weekly (well, usually), and my child is healthy and happy.  And that's why it's ok.  Because being a good mom is what is most important to me.  And perfectly placed snacks and theme-parties posted on social media is not what being a good mom is about. It's about doing the Opposites puzzle on her bedroom floor when I really SHOULD be doing laundry.  It's about letting she and her cousins make a fort in her room with comforters to watch movies and eat snacks, even though I'm cleaning up tortilla chips 3 days later that I found under the bean bag.  It's about reading Junie B. Jones with silly voices and laughing until our sides hurt. It's about snuggles in the recliner, painting pictures on the kitchen floor, and desperately trying to suck every single moment out of my little girl's childhood before it's gone. So the social media guilt is over for me.  I'm shaking it off and do not care what the Joneses are doing.  We're the Allens and we're doing it our way.  Try to keep up.  Or don't.  :-)