Ants, Missing Keys, Lost Power and Clean Closets

Whew, what a wacky week!  Ants, missing keys, lost power and clean closets sum up the majority of the past several days.

I locked my keys in my cars at work on Tuesday evening.  I hadn’t done that in years!  I was parked across the campus and had to call a co-worker to come pick me up. Then I had to call my husband to bring me the spare set of keys.  That meant he and the kids were on the road for an additional hour – 30 minutes to meet me and 30 minutes back home again.

After a great day on Friday where I attended my first day of Leadership training, we found a large trail of ants in my oldest daughter’s room.  They were everywhere.  We had piles of clothes and bags of toys on the floor of the closet.  Each item I picked up was covered in ants.  They were the tiny sugar ants so they didn’t bite but still…. ugh!  Finally after pulling out sizes my kid had outgrown years ago that we’re saving for our second daughter, we found the culprit…. a pink lollipop.  Who knows how long it had been in the closet?  Or where it came from?  Last Halloween?  We had to take everything off the floor in her room to spray poison.  This was no easy task for a six-year old girl who has princess costumes, books, games and dolls in every nook and crevice imaginable.

On Saturday, we lost electricity for half the day.  The power flicked off and on every few minutes for nearly three hours.  My oldest daughter held our guinea pigs.  My youngest daughter took a crappy nap.  I read a few chapters in my leadership book.  My husband powered up the generator.  Finally after 84 degrees of heat and two whiny children, we headed out for ice cream and iced coffee.  Later we enjoyed a dinner out with our best friends and their family.

Sunday we went on a cleaning frenzy after Friday’s all-over-ants escapade.  My husband and I both cleared out and cleaned out our closets.  Mine was in desperate need.  I hadn’t seen the bottom of my closet floors since we moved in almost five years ago.  I donated several bags of clothing, shoes, purses, coats and more.  I was holding onto items for way too long…things that were now too big for me (maternity clothing? , faded or just way out of style.  My spouse and I held up things while saying, “Donate or Keep?”  Most of the time, the response was….Donate!  Or better yet, burn it!

That purge felt good.  Why do we hold onto so much junk for so long?  It feels great to actually be able to walk into my walk-in closet now.  I can find a shirt and a matching pair of pants I need for work.  Let’s see how long I can keep it clean and neat!  (Hmm, three months maybe…?)

We ended our weird weekend with a swim at a neighbor’s house. The whole family enjoyed a dip in the pool.  They didn’t want to stop swimming.  But peanut butter and jelly sandwiches finally enticed them home.  The girls watched a Mickey Mouse movie while I folded one last load laundry before bed time.

Tomorrow is Monday and it’s back to the grind – 4:15 wake-up for our exercise routine, 9-hour work days, 9:00 p.m. bedtimes, 1st grade homework, piano lessons, swim lessons, dinner, bath time and rushing around.  This is our life.   But truthfully, I love it.  I’m thankful for it.  It’s crazy but it’s perfectly mine.  What more could I want?  (Well maybe no more ants and the ability to keep our closets clean!)