Whew?!

So where have I been? I know you are all dying to know why I haven't blogged all week.
Is she sick? has there been a fire? Has she really run out of things to say? (uh no), and the best one; Does she have something better to do???

So here's the thing- My husband has been out of town - out of country actually - He had a business trip that took him to Texas for the better part of a week, and I stayed here to hold down the fort.
Actually, I ended up cleaning the fort.
And purging the fort.
Oh it felt good - When in doubt; throw it out!
I sat there, cleaning off my kitchen window sill, wondering why the heck we kept all these little screws and plastic pieces in a little cup, when we would never EVER use them again. Even if by some chance a miracle occurred and we actually had a use for this stuff - we wouldn't use it because:
A. We could never find it when we want it, and
B. My husband would have already gone out and bought what he 'needed' anyway.

He has a habit of buying things that we 'need' and not quite getting around to the task until later - by which time we've misplaced that caulking and roll of duct tape that was purchased 3 months ago, that spent 3 weeks sitting on my kitchen counter before I got annoyed and stuck it on the bookshelf where it disappeared into a black hole, which is where most stuff goes once it's been relegated to 'the bookshelf'. Occasionally, the bookshelf has the decency to spit stuff back from the black hole - Like our TV remote control that was missing for at least a month. Of course by then we'd already spent 28 dollars on a replacement (you can't live without a TV remote you know - Goodness, I can't be expected to change 500+ channels BY HAND).
So you see - I had a lot of pitching away to do, and while DH was far away in Texas and couldn't reclaim anything from my 'toss away' pile I became Queen of the purge.
It was fun in a way - I started with the bookshelf. yes "The" bookshelf. The large piece of furniture that not only holds books, but every other kind of object that is deemed somewhat valuable that we don't want little hands to get a hold of. This includes but is not limited to pictures, candles, sewing kits, computer parts, vases, trophies, games with far too many pieces for anyone under 10 to be allowed to even look at, and of course; books, old magazines, and assorted paper products from a 3 yr olds nursery school homemade bunny hat to a wedding bulletin from 1998.
I just took a large banker box, and started removing items, until the only thing remaining were books that fit on the shelves, interspersed with objects that looked like they belonged on the shelves. A globe. A nice vase. An attractive candle. All arranged upon my bookshelf in such a manner that it looked right out of an Ikea catalogue.

For 4 days I went through the rooms of my house - tossing with wild abandon, anything that I couldn't find a proper place for. When garbage day rolled around - I used the heavy industrial bags - and rejoiced that I couldn't even remember what was being thrown out - I didn't miss it - which means it wasn't useful.

When my husband arrived home - all he noticed was an uncluttered house. In fact - it was more than uncluttered. It was immaculate. The floors washed, the bathrooms cleaned - even vacuumed and spot treated with the steam cleaner. It begged for company. I could have had surprise visitors that day and not been embarrased to invite them in for a drink. There weren't piles of laundry on the couch, no crumbs lurking on the carpets, no chocolate stains, or juice splatters on the tile.
Somehow - in my husbands absence, I had turned into Martha Stewarts protégé.
Of course, as soon as he came home, that all disappeared, and here I am not cleaning and blogging about it all instead!

WILT: If Martha Stewart had kids.....I'm just going to stop there - Ha, I'd like to see her make her own eco-friendly diapers and prepare a dinner party for 4 with toddlers nipping at her high heels, and breaking the lovely hand-made pottery biscuit holder she was planning on using.

Of all the stains on a beige carpet - The hardest to get out so far has been strawberry pop-tarts.

Every mom needs a bubble machine :)