Light as a Feather

The Croquet Match

I actually had a really nice day in the middle of the week that really turned things around for me. As you can gather from my recent posts, I have been caught up in a whirlwind of activity, wherein all my brain power seems to be focused on the “what now” and “what’s next”. From waking until midnight, I have only sat down for meals.

On Wednesday morning, I was worried about a certain problem and suddenly felt like the Holy Spirit was inspiring me with the solution to it. I was doing dishes at the time, and looking out the window I saw what looked like a diamond glistening up high in a tree. It had been raining all night, and the sun was just coming out to play, so this was probably just a group of raindrops sitting on leaf, reflecting the sunlight. No matter the scientific explanation for it (natural law is God’s law, after all), I really felt like it was a sign meant for me.

The whole rest of the day went so well and I wasn't worried about anything anymore. The kids were home early from a half day for teachers’ conferences. They finished their science fair projects, which was a big load off my mind! I looked around the house and could see order and cleanliness had been largely restored. I will never be satisfied with the level of cleanliness of my house, but have to accept that children live here, and it should not look like a museum. I started to envision where I would place fresh flowers, and realized that meant I was “almost there”.

That night we had two softball games, so the schedule was busy, but I no longer felt harried. The report said we might have thunderstorms the day of the Communion, but that no longer bothered me. I truly felt light as a feather!

Today I spent the baby’s nap time mowing the front lawn. I used to really love mowing the lawn, but my husband took over this chore after I became pregnant with our second daughter (we moved here right before the birth of our first daughter). It has been raining so much that he could not mow it last weekend, and he would not have time to do the whole four-hour chore of doing both the front and back by Saturday.

It was a new mower that I had never used before. I had a problem getting it started and called my husband. He asked if I had pressed the primer button. “The what?” He described it. “You should have told me there was a magic button!” He also said there was another rip cord for automatic propulsion. I couldn’t find it, and said I didn’t need it.

I got it started and could not believe how hard it was to push this thing! I got the first half done, taking three breaks for water and spoonfuls of yogurt. I was huffing and sweating. To turn the mower around and push it up a slight incline I had to push with all my might off the street. I used the angled cutting style my Dad had taught me, so that the grass meets the house at a 45-degree angle. I was pleased with the overall effect.

Then I found the thing I had to press for automatic propulsion and the second half went like the wind. I couldn’t believe I had put so much effort in for no reason! It really is just like the way I do most things, though. I act like the hardest way must be the best way, just because it is difficult. And it is not always so.

I thought of how my day went so much easier just after having a little talk with God. It was like the automatic propulsion on my lawn mower.

I’ll leave you with that thought. I may not be able to post much over the next several days, but as soon as possible I will have a thorough update on our Communion weekend.

God bless you and thank you for reading!

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

Matthew 11:28-30 (NAB)

An Explosion of Activity

In the dead of winter, when there is time to write, the ideas eventually start to peter out. I wonder if I will run out of things to write about. Then spring comes and – BOOM! – there is an explosion of activity, with ideas speeding around my head like a group of electrons threatening to collide, and there is no time to write!

Things have gotten worse in regards to my schedule. I am having very un-Christian thoughts about the people who decided it would be a good idea to have all the grades have their science fair on the same date this year. However, I am wishing I hadn’t gotten myself all stressed out by worrying in advance. Everything is getting done, although I am losing my cool more often than usual.

I keep having wrenches thrown in the works. Like a jury summons. In order to request an excusal, I had to write a letter explaining that I am the primary caregiver to four minors, enclosing copies of birth certificates as proof, and explaining why I could not get someone else to watch them. Just one more thing to add to the long list of things to do this week.

Things are coming together for my son’s First Communion. We got the hardest part of the banner done today. He picked out the symbols he wanted and I cut them out and glued them on. I may add some embellishments later, but the basics are done. Most of the food shopping has been done, and the order placed for heroes and salads. His hair was freshly cut and he looks adorable.

I spent the day cleaning his room. On a daily and weekly basis, this is his own responsibility, but once a year or so it becomes necessary to really get in there and do a thorough revamping. A glance behind a dresser reveals a wealth of socks, legos, and other small items that have fallen back there. All furniture must be moved, dusted, and vacuumed behind. As my husband left for work, I joked about being like the Holy Spirit who restored order to the Earth that was void.

Several hours later, my son arrived home to find all his toys sorted. Cars, legos, Lincoln logs, assorted figurines, blocks, marbles, baseball cards, and miscellaneous small items. He really does enjoy having things organized like this, but things do tend to get out of control when several creative children live in the house! (I also did this for my ten-year-old last month, while she was at a sleepover, but my almost-twelve-year-old has gotten the hang of it, and values her privacy, so I let her room be.)

Here is where you may think I am a little crazy. I spent a good part of the weekend out in the rain watching my girls try out for the summer travel softball team. Why, oh why, would you want to extend the season for several more weeks, you might ask. This is where I agree with my mother-in-law, who likes to cite a study in which people were asked to select a problem they would like to have in lieu of their own; most people chose their own problems.

I am not trying to boast here when I say my kids have athletic ability. All kids have some kind of God-given talent and it is up to us to nurture that. This travel team is professionally run by a group of soft-hearted guys who really teach the girls how to play ball, and display good sportswomanship. The girls they play with are really terrific kids, and I would love for my girls to get to bond with them before high school.

I am having a problem wrapping this up, so I’ll leave you with this helpful list.

Tips for coping in times of stress:
Don’t stress out if it’s not going to be helpful.
Remember to pray throughout the day.
Carry a pocket devotional with you – there are always periods of waiting when you can get two minutes of soul food in.
Carry nuts (if not allergic), granola bars, water, and baby wipes in the car.
Never rush in and out of the car even when in a hurry – this is when driveway accidents happen.
Close the day with prayer and time with God’s Word.

“The Creation” by Matthaeus Merian the Elder, 1625-30

Things I Found in the Couch Today

Not Much Wrong

1 baby doll shoe
2 ceramic polar bear tea cups
3 Sweet Street dolls
4 Nutcracker Advent mini-books (obviously there since Christmas)
5 pens (one had burst)
6 pencils (mostly broken)
7 buttons
8 animal crackers
9 Kix cereal pieces
10 Chex cereal pieces
100 Cheerios

Mind you, these were not underneath the cushions or in the crevices. These were actually IN my couch. I went to try out my new mini-vacuum and, upon lifting the cushions, discovered a huge, gaping hole in the fabric of the couch seat. I looked into the abyss and found all these treasures lurking down there. (My mom probably doesn’t know if she should cringe or laugh at this.) Not one to stick my hand into mysterious dark holes, I fetched a long serving spoon from the kitchen and scooped out whatever looked like it was worth keeping. My toddler watched this process, recognizing things that had gone missing in the past few months, most notably the first four things on this list.

Then I stuck the vacuum wand in there and cleaned out the insides of the couch.

I took my toddler up for her nap. “Mommy is going to fix the big scary hole,” I promised her. “Scary hole, fix it,” she repeated.

Finally, I sewed up the hole and covered it up with the cushions, which I flipped over.

One of the countless invisible jobs of motherhood.

If you enjoyed this post, please read “Things We Found in the Freezer”.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.”
Matthew 6:19

Why My Floor is Never Clean

Alice

The last day of school before winter break, I knew I had my last chance to clean the floor. My floor extends from the front door all the way to the back door, through the kitchen, and to the garage. It is a porous tile, which sucks up all the dirt and gets darker over time. Although I sweep it daily and damp mop it a few times a week, the only way to get it looking clean is to use a three-in-one wax, which cleans, whitens, and protects in one step. It sounds easy, but there are a number of prerequisites to be met before I start.

1. The kids can’t be home.
2. The baby must be napping.
3. The husband cannot pay me a surprise lunch visit.
4. The dog cannot request to go in or out.
5. The phone cannot ring.
6. The front door bell cannot ring.

I start as soon as I have the baby down for her nap. I put the dog out, remove all loose furniture from the floor, sweep, and make sure I have all personal items within reach so I don’t have to backtrack over the wax: glass of water, telephone, etc.

This Friday, everything goes wrong with my plan. I have everything prepped to do the actual job, when my husband comes home for lunch. The baby is talking up a storm over the monitor; I don’t think she is going to nap.

I hang out in the living room, impatiently. “You know I love you, honey, but I’m kind of on a time table here. Do you think you’ll be leaving soon?”

He grabs his sandwich, kisses me, and runs out. He’s in a hurry too.

I wet my mop, pour out the solution, and start. I realize I’m low on solution and must really stretch it to cover the whole floor. Then the phone rings. I have to walk on the wet floor. It’s nobody. I cover my tracks and continue.

The dog is jumping on the door. I ignore her.

The doorbell rings. I look out the front window. It’s just a package. The delivery man leaves it there and departs.

Finally, I have reached the front door. The baby is yelling, “Tissue!” which means she wants her nose wiped.

I run up the stairs. I’ll keep busy up there for the next 20 minutes, while the floor dries. Then the kids will be home for winter break, covering the floor with several new layers of dirt.

“Who can say, “I have made my heart clean, I am cleansed of my sin”?
Proverbs 20:9

Of Children and Peasants – Part II

(To read Part I click here.)

Excerpt from “Anna Karenina Comes to America” by Leia Tolstaya*, Millerskaya Ltd., New York, 2009

Levina had thrown in her lot with the children for a day, thrilling in the physical labor of shoveling snow. “Hot chocolate with marshmallows for all if we reach the street by dark!” she had hollered.

On the skirts of her enthusiasm, the children had cleared the entire driveway. Levina had slept well that night, dreaming of leading the simple life of a child again. She was tired of intellectualizing all the time.

But waking up with her husband next to her, knowing all they shared in their happy responsibilities towards each other and their children, she also realized that the simple bliss of a childlike mental life was neither possible nor to be desired.

So she returned to the puzzle of how to get the children to work more efficiently while making it worth their while.

She had given them each their own room, thinking that naturally pride would cause them to care for their own space. If she told them to clean them, they would disappear for hours, without accomplishing anything that could be seen. They were so easily distracted.

“Give them a good education,” she had been advised by her elders.

That gave them even more to distract from their duties! Reading, writing stories, and illustrating could wile away the hours, as could chess games and backgammon.

All they wanted to do was have fun! She could not fault them in this, which was their natural inclination. She needed a better system, one which would work in accordance to their natures.

To be continued…

*Leia Tolstaya is a pen name for Elizabeth K. Miller, and as such her works fall under the same copyright.

I'm Giving My Bathrooms a White Christmas

One week before Christmas. It is too early to do the regular cleaning for Christmas, but there are some deep cleaning chores that can be done to spruce up the house. When houseguests are expected, I make a conscious effort to organize my linen closet and bathroom cabinets. I also see the bathroom through a guest’s eyes and think, “Hmm, if I was a guest here, would I want to take a shower in there?” I keep a clean bathroom, but old tile and grout will never give you that satisfying bright “clean” look.

Every five years I use grout whitener to brighten up the look of the bathroom. You apply the whitener to the grout, let it sit for four hours, polish it, then apply the sealer. These results could not be gotten through scrubbing.

About once a month I throw the shower curtain in the bleach wash. The liner can go in there as well. After the washer is done, simply hang it back up on the hooks to dry.

If you have those crystal-looking sink handles, you can remove them and let them soak in an ammonia and water solution for about an hour, scrub with a toothbrush, and replace. You won’t believe how shiny and new they look! This I do about once a year.

This is how the tile and grout in my shower looked before.

This is the product I used to whiten the grout. It is available in Walmart and Home Depot, and comes with a sealer in a similar bottle.

This is how the tile and grout look after. All the kids noticed immediately.

This is how the faucet looked before.

First, use a flathead screwdriver to take off the little pieces that say H and C. Holding the knob to the right to keep the faucets from turning on, use a Phillips head screwdriver to remove the screws that hold on the handles.

This is how the faucet looks without all the handles, after I have cleaned the gunk off with some CLR and a toothbrush.

This is the faucet after all parts have been cleaned and shined.

Did Adam and Eve Exist?

We are a little behind with our Jesse Tree this year. Normally when we trim the tree we would have a large fir branch we could use for this purpose. This time, the branches were cut at the nursery and my husband had not thought of bringing one home. I brought out our box of Jesse Tree ornaments and started today, with one scripture story per child, until we catch up.

During our reading of the story of Adam and Eve, my 11-year old daughter told me that everyone in her religion class, including her teacher, says the story is not true! It is just a story to teach a lesson, not to be taken literally, they say.

I informed my children that of course the story is true, the all of God’s Word is true, and that people have been trying to say otherwise since the dawn of time.

I teach my children not to believe everything they hear, whether it be in a textbook, in the newspaper, on television, or from their teacher.

But the Word of God is one thing they can always put their faith in.

Adam and Eve. Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1526. Courtauld Gallery, London

A Volcano Erupts in my Sink

“And now, for something completely different.”

If you’re easily grossed out, don’t read this post.

I’m working at my computer this afternoon when the front door bursts open. My son pounds up the steps. “I feel like I’m gonna throw up,” he exclaims.

“Try to make it to the sink,” I say.

Two steps more and he is in the bathroom, throwing up.

Within an hour, he is feeling much better, but the question still remains: how do I get this stuff to go down the drain? So I bring up a gallon of vinegar, pour it on, and let it sit for a while. It does some magic, but it needs more help. Four hours later, I have poured the entire gallon into the sink.

“Hmmm, how about baking soda?” I think to myself. This is normally what I use to clean out drains. I get the baking soda out of the fridge and sprinkle a little in. There is a satisfying fizz. What the heck, I think, and pour the rest of it in. Suddenly I remember that this is the way we make mud volcanoes in the backyard.

“Oh no!” I yell. The fizz is coming up and is halfway up the sink. My daughters come to see what is going on. It is grosser than gross, and I’m laughing hysterically. It comes right up to the rim of the sink and stops.

Five minutes later, the liquid settles, leaving only the molted lava at the base of the sink. Phew, that was a close one.

“The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.”
Psalms 97:5

Photograph by Carsten Peter.
“Perched above the lighted city of Catania, Italy, Mount Etna hurls a fountain of fire skyward as rivers of lava spill down its flanks. In spite of its dazzling displays, Mount Etna is a relatively safe volcano with rare, compact eruptions and slow-flowing lava that gives people a chance to escape.” – National Geographic

Teach Your Kids to FLY!

Thinking back to my childhood, I seemed to have been born with an organizational system in my head. My room was kept beautifully. All my collections were kept together in a way that made sense. If Mom asked me to organize the pantry, or Dad needed help sorting screws in the garage, I was all too happy to dive into the project and see it to completion.

An only child for 11 years, I was the definition of a perfectionist. This quality was of a great advantage in academics, and would have been the key to success in a worldly career. But in family life, where the tending of primary relationships is key, it is a hindrance.

Weaning myself away from perfectionism was a process that took several years, and many major life changes. Marriage was a first step, birth an important second. However, I was still cleaning my floors every day when my first child was a newborn. It took a second child to make me tired enough not to care so much. Spic-and-span changed to clean-enough.

I first heard about FLY LADY when I started homeschooling. A quite vibrant young mother with several children told about how Fly Lady’s system had gotten her in control of her house and her life. I was skeptical, thinking everyone needs to come up with her own system of organization.

Hearing about setting timers was a real turn-off to me. After constantly wearing a watch through my twenty-fifth year, I found that the ability to go without one was like taking off one’s fetters. I could appreciate the minutes and all the lovely baby things that could be encompassed within them.

In hindsight, if I had followed Fly Lady’s tips during my homeschooling years, I would never have gotten into the spot I am now in. While my main living areas are in good order, my drawers and closets are filled with unsorted collections of things (“clutter”).

My most organized friend congratulated me on all the strategies I have been following to keep clutter at a minimum in the common living areas. I blushed reading her e-mail, wondering what she would think of my garage. In my post, I was focusing on my successes so I could push forward with the improvements needed.

My biggest problem is with my children’s rooms. I barely have the time to check if they have made their beds, and they get out of control really quickly. Fly Lady has a section just for kids, to make cleaning fun and doable. I just loved her Student Control Journal. I printed out three copies, put them into binders, and presented them to the children. They pored through them, set the kitchen timer for fifteen minutes, and went through the zone of the day. I could not believe what a difference such a short time span could make.

My friend thought I must have been processing something mental, and I denied it. But really, this all came on immediately after hearing the election results. I watched a show called “Neat” (on The Fitness Channel), in which a book lover had to narrow her beloved books from four shelves to one. I immediately went to my bookshelves and filled a box with books to donate.

A week later, I am still in de-cluttering mode, fully aware that I am trying to process the enormous implications of the election results for our country. I had been so anxious about it – and was managing my mental let-down through cleaning and sorting.

I can see how constant cleaning could be a coping mechanism for those with obsessive-compulsive disorder. And that is why I am begging people to take this system with a grain of salt. If your home is in total disarray, you need a system. If just certain areas are in disorder, hit those areas – but do not let it take over your life. If everything is in relatively good order, please do not start wrapping up your sheets with ribbons Martha Stewart style. Take your kids for a walk and enjoy the wildly divine order of nature.

FLY stands for Finally Love Yourself. If you want to teach your kids how to FLY, you need to teach them balance. They need to respect their home and environment, but also feel free to be messy and creative and unfettered by time restraints. For everything there is a time.

And for everything there is a season. For me, the pendulum had to take me further center. It had to swing a little farther to the left for me to get there. Life is a constant ebb of change requiring us to focus on our ultimate goals and constantly adjust our schedules, habits, and expectations to follow God’s will for our paths.

Painting above: Renoir's "Charpentier and Her Children"

Elizabeth’s Anti-Clutter Techniques for Larger Families

We have had a few rainy days, leading me to spring into my fall de-cluttering. I immediately hit my worst hot spot, the home office, where I have many piles of paper to sort through. I packed up forty-three books in genres I no longer read, and which I have no desire to pass along to my children.

While there, I picked up a few books from the library on de-cluttering. I skimmed through these during commercial breaks, while watching the evening news with my husband. I really learned nothing new. But I did discover that I could skip whole sections because many of the zones in my house are clutter-free! I decided to pat myself on the back for that and proceed with what needed to be done.

The most painful books to give away were a set of four “Story of the World” books by Susan Wise Bauer. These had been a rare brand-new purchase I had made, with the intention of incorporating them into my homeschooling curriculum. Even after I had enrolled the children into school, I always thought I would supplement their education by reading these books to them. A few years later, I had still only gotten halfway through the first book. A good homeschooling friend of mine who is using this series was a happy recipient of these. While painful, it was also the most fulfilling book giveaway I had made.

While sorting through school papers in the kitchen this morning, I discovered that I actually have several systems in place that I have incorporated over the years. I found none of these tips in books or magazines, and several are unique for larger families.

1. Have a ready-to-go center at your front door.
In the coat closet by the front door, I keep a baby bag stocked and ready to go at a moment’s notice. My keys and pocketbook are kept on a coat rack, which is installed on the wall. There is a small table with one drawer, in which I keep all my coupons and one-day-store passes. I remove expired coupons on a regular basis.

2. Keep a clutter basket in your kitchen.
Junk drawers are useless, but kitchen clutter does happen, especially with a family of six. Everyone knows they can feel free to toss in miscellaneous small objects in the basket. Once it gets half full, I can carry the basket around the house and put things where they belong.

3. Keep multiple tools together.
I think large families should be exempt from the “keep one each” rule most expert organizers tout. If you cook and bake with your daughters, for instance, you will need several of the same kitchen tools. If father and son like to build together, they will need more than one hammer and screwdriver. Just keep the same types of tools together.

4. Support your local library!
Once a season I fill a diaper box with books I know I will never have use for again. I bring it to my library and receive a donation slip.
I also have made friends with the children’s program director, who happily takes off my hands empty baby jars for use in storing paint and other craft supplies.

5. Jesus told his disciples to keep only one coat, and give away the second.
This policy prevents clothing clutter from every happening. If I buy a pair of jeans, I donate one pair. One pair of black shoes in, one pair out. When I store clothing to pass on to the next child, I make sure to keep only half, and donate the rest.

6. Use a pad rather than scraps of paper.
I keep all of my lists and idea on little yellow pads so I can always find them. Once I use my ideas to write out a post, I tear out the page and throw it out. When cleaning out my pocketbook, I know all the folded-up yellow pages are shopping lists that I can throw away.

7. Keep a school and art work collection box.
With multiple children, it is absolutely impossible for me to sort through all the pages that come in a daily basis. I have the children empty out their folders into a box. On a weekly basis, I can go through the box and sort the papers I want to keep into appropriate folders.

8. Get everyone to put their own laundry away.
I fold laundry in one of two places, depending on where my toddler is at the moment.
If I fold on the dining room table, where the children do their homework together, the children are told to put away their own piles before doing homework.
If I fold on my bed, they have to put away their piles before going to bed. I must put away my own pile before climbing into bed.

9. Pin-up visual reference clutter behind kitchen cabinet doors.
For easy reference, I know which cabinet to open and find any of the following:
Doctor and business cards
Calendar of birthdays and anniversaries
Sports schedules
First-aid poster
A Mapquest of our area (in case someone needs directions to our house or gets lost on their way)
Often-referenced recipes
Important church numbers, cut out from the church bulletin
Postcards from a loved-one who travels often
Health articles for inspiration
Inspirational quotes
School and class numbers

10. Create “way-stations” for things to be put away.
By the garage door I might put a pile of things to put away in the garage. When I fill up the dog food bowl, I take the pile in with me.
At the bottom of the stairs is a pile of things to be brought up, and vice-versa. Everyone is trained to “not waste a trip”; they must bring the things up or down, and then deposit them in the rooms of their owners.

This last tip is similar to one I found in the book , LIGHTEN UP! Free Yourself From Clutter (HarperCollins), by Michelle Passoff. Rather than being stuck on everything going straight to its home, she suggests everything be put on its right path to its final destination. You can find out about her books and sign up for her tips at http://www.freefromclutter.com/

How Many Square Feet Did You Clean Today?

I was fortunate enough to be able to clock my 4.0 miles on my bicycle and get it safely in the garage before the predicted deluge of rain came down this afternoon. I just love my new little gadget, a “bicycle computer” (by Schwinn, $10 at Walmart) that lets me know how far I have traveled this trip, my average speed, and time traveled. Total time traveled is probably the more important one, as the American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of exercise per day. But knowing the actual distance gives me more mental satisfaction. I reset the odometer every Sunday so I know my total distance traveled for the week.

I have never worn a pedometer, but know it is a beloved device for those who like to keep track of how much they have walked per day. I started wondering if there was some way we could keep track of how much cleaning we did per day. I think every mother thinks she must spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning. Magazines regularly report the number of calories expended per ten minutes of dusting, vacuuming, or scouring. But how many women do you know that actually keep a log (unless they are actually on someone’s payroll for their cleaning duties)?

What if we could attach a meter to our arms that would measure how many square feet we cleaned per day? This would work well for both types of cleaners: the ones who cover lots of area with a light “once-over”, and the ones who like to concentrate on a small area, carefully scouring until each spot is immaculate. Say you went back and forth with a toothbrush 100 times to clean the soap dish in your bathtub, while your friend dusted her entire living with a feather duster; both might be the equivalent in terms of square footage, although you were covering the same square footage multiple times.

I think this might give us some small amount of satisfaction. Then competitive super-moms could call their friends and say, “I cleaned 10,000 square feet today. How many square feet did you clean today?”

“How good God is to the upright, the Lord, to those who are clean of heart!”
Psalm 73:1

Cleanliness, Inside and Out

We accomplished so many things in the past week that it feels like a whole month has gone by! I hardly noticed that the kids had started school again, because I was still working on a spur-of-the-moment weekend home improvement project.

My Mom arrived for her visit last Wednesday night. I had spent all day straightening out the house. My brother had also helped me to get the kids’ rooms in order, so everything appeared to be clean and organized.

On Thursday we prepared for my son’s seventh birthday party, a Whiz Bang! Science Experiment Party. I was a little nervous about the experiments, because I had never gotten around to trying them out myself. Here on Long Island, most class parties are held at a professional party place, so kids are used to being entertained. I always feel like I have to meet a certain standard to keep their attention. But everything went smoothly, and the kids had a blast. We even got a little whiffle-ball in. I was very relieved to have it over with.

During the party, we grew some crystals. I got out some food dye to color the crystals and asked each child what his or her favorite color was. When my nine-year-old said GREEN my Mom carefully noted the change from her long-standing old favorite color, PINK.

“Why is her room still pink? Let’s paint it green!”

I agreed, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

On Friday, Mom took my nine- and ten- year-old girls out for a day of beauty. They got hair and nails done. They stopped at Walmart for color chips. We picked out a shade we could all concur on, and Mom went back to pick up two gallons.

“We’re not going to start today though?” I half stated, half asked, “They have their dress rehearsal at 5:00.”

“I’ll just do a little cutting in,” said Mom, “It’ll be a cinch.”

I dropped the girls off at the church and returned. Before I knew it, Mom had all the furniture moved away from the wall. I cringed because I knew what was lurking there.

Bags and boxes full of miscellaneous girly stuff. Doll clothes, hair thingies, game pieces, play jewelry, markers, old cards and papers, all in a jumble. She started to put things in bags.

“Just clear out behind the headboard and we’re done,” she said.

I was overwhelmed by all the stuff. I needed time to sort through everything. I misplaced a bag that had her precious American Girl Kirsten’s Noah’s Ark set in it. I went to inspect the garbage in the street but could not find it. I burst into tears. I left Mom with the gargantuous chore and went to catch the end of the girls’ dress rehearsal.

Mom painted all day Saturday, and we went to the see my daughters perform in The Sound of Music that night. It was absolutely beautiful.

On Sunday, we went to Mass, came back home, had lunch, and put the baby to bed. I brought the girls back to the parish hall, saved our seats, went to Home Depot for new blinds and Stop ‘n’ Shop for flowers, and back to the church to meet my in-laws for the matinee performance. My husband and son met us there. Mom stayed home with the baby. She did the white trim and put everything back in place.

My daughter was absolutely delighted with her new room. Mind you, I still had all of her STUFF in my study and could not even get to my computer until I sorted through it all and carted out the unneeded boxes.

So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning after the kids went off to school, Mom worked on an academic article, I worked on sorting through the stuff, and together we took care of my toddler. The time flew! And then she flew away.

An hour ago, I got through the last shoebox full of stuff and put the sorted under-the-bed boxes where they belonged. We decided which pictures to keep, and they went up on the wall. It’s the cleanest room in the house. I have always thought the best way to clean out a room is to paint it!

It got me thinking about how our secret thoughts can be like all the dusty stuff lurking behind my daughter’s furniture. We might look and act like “nice people”, but we know all the prejudicial, judgmental, complaining, non-loving thoughts that we might harbor in our hearts. The only way to get rid of those spiritual dust mites are through prayer, confession, reading God’s Word, and filling our minds with Godly thoughts. Then we can look clean and actually BE clean.

“How good God is to the upright, the Lord, to those who are clean of heart!”
Psalm 73:1