UGH! Sigh... (In the words of my son...)

So...have you ever had one of THOSE days???  Oh my goodness!  It all started yesterday morning.  I got up to William hollering, "Mommy, Anna had a puppy!!!"  Oh joy!  So, I knew that a regular routine wasn't going to happen with that kind of excitement going on.  And truly, that is one of the very things I love so much about homeschooling.  Since we do homeschool year round, on days like that, when life is way more educational than the textbooks, we can pause and enjoy it.  So I don't resent the distraction.  I only wish I hadn't let it distract me so completely!  I kind of let most of my responsibilities go as well.  That means that when it came time to go to bed, there was still stuff left to do in the kitchen, and things in general weren't quite as picked up as usual. 

This morning, I woke, excited to get back into the groove and get things back to normal.  But then Harold needed the kids to help him with the fencing for the animals and cleaning out the trailer so he could haul some things later this week.  So, again, glad for those too-hot summer days that will be coming later on when it's too hot to be outside playing and we can spend the day inside schooling, I told the kids that we'd pick it up tomorrow.  Since I didn't have anywhere to be today, I let the little kids hang out in their PJ's and I just wore some sweats and an old T-shirt.

Well, cleaning out that trailer inspired Harold to go ahead and bring in some bins of summer clothes I had stored out there.  (See, he was actually being very helpful and thoughtful.  He had heard me mention yesterday that I needed to get the kids warm weather duds out.  He was HELPING!!!!  I have to keep telling myself that....)  The bins took up almost all of the living room floor space--and they were brought in hastily and were not stacked very neatly.  There was literally a narrow walkway through the house. 

Then the kids took a short break from helping Harold to come in and eat a quick lunch of various and sundry leftovers that we had in the fridge.  So now, picture my already untidy kitchen covered with gladware and more dirty dishes.  Knowing the kids would be going back out to help Harold later, I decided I'd take care of it later.  Then I sat down on the couch to eat some pancakes--after all, moms have to eat, too.

That was about the time a group of about 8 CAP volunteers and Workfest participants drove down our driveway and decided to visit with us!  UGH!  So--not only does it look like we're all just lazing around the house, but the house is a DISASTER!  The table is covered in the remains of the quick lunch the kids had just had.  The living room was in such a shape that they couldn't even SIT DOWN, heck--they could barely all get in the door!  My kids are in their jammies.  No school was getting done.  And I, the momma--the one who should be the one making things right--am on the couch eating pancakes as if nothing is wrong with this picture????  Oh, my!  I was never so embarrassed in my life.  Why, oh WHY do guests seem to show up only when my house is less than presentable???  I just sat and ate my pancakes while Harold chatted them up!  Eventually they left to look at the puppies (all 11 of them!!!) and I was SOOOOO relieved!  You better bet that I got my self in gear and started picking up after they left, though.  Thanks to some help from my kids, things are looking much better.  Now, if that group would just come back so they could see we really DON'T live in a pigsty!!!