If you need someone to take the goldfish and cheez-its off your hands when you clean, I'm totally there for you.

Hope this weekend is fun for you with company!

We still love ya and know life gets busy! =)

If I were close by, I'd come help out. But unfortunately, I'm not and I'm buried under a pile of laundry (I hate that laundry!). Good luck! =)

Your family comes first, obviously. If and when you're able to come back to blogging, we'll be here. Good luck cleaning your house! I HATE doing that! And have fun with your guests this weekend!!

ooo, house cleaning. it can be overwhelming. it's good that mary feels loved. :)

OK I am in the same boat as you, except I don't have company coming to spur me into action. I am glad your daughter is feeling better.

It looks like you have a lot of cleaning ahead of you. Good luck.

And I'm all too familiar myself lately with the lack of blogging thing. I still wake up with 100 new blogs in my reader every morning and sometimes just want to cry.

I feel ya. My house is in the same state and last minute house guests are arriving today for me too. Gotta run. SO much to do.

Regardless of how often you blog or don't, I'll love you always. You can escape me that easily.

I'm glad you're giving quality time to your loved ones. There's a season. I'll always be here, rain or shine.

I love your style ---even down to the "clutter:.
Ah, what's a little mess now and then.
My hubby has what I call FSS--flat surface syndrome. Anything with a flat surface he will load up with STUFF...all kinds of stuff, papers, tools, hats, gloves, stuff stuff stuff.
Oh, it makes me crazy. Good thing I love him as I do.
I have missed you my friend.
\I know it is hard to "fit everything in", but just know I think of you

i miss you too my friend.. thanks for the reality check... i have few counters that look like that and i am SOO not motivated to do anything about it!

I am glad you are getting to spend more time with your daughter, but you are missed.

Now about your house. . . one day my daughter went to her aunt's home which was a bit of a mess. When my daughter returned she said,"Mom!! They must have a lot of fun at their house!" Looks like you have been having some fun at yours too. :-) Good for you!

I would hop right over and help, if I could.

That is quite the reality check, and I have been trying to be better myself. It helps that the computer isn't in the kitchen anymore.

Have fun with your company!

I salute you for posting those pictures. You are so not alone. Thrilled to hear that the wonderful middle child is feeling loved. Hope you are also feeling loved. I loved the description I read of a dining room table as a "horizontal filing cabinet." We have that problem, too. Enjoy your company...

Ahem, this is Thora, not Avram, her husband. I'm just too lazy to do the process of signing myself in - sorry.

I feel better that you posted some pictures of your house looking less than magazine cover ready. I LOVE the pictures you post of your beautiful furnishings and decor, but it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who loses their counters sometimes (or more than sometimes...).

I completely understand about blogging less - although I wish I had some advice about how to reconcile your daughter and your love of blogging. Maybe get her blogging.... Considering I'm not very far from being a teenager (Mid to late twenties) it amazes me how out of touch I feel with teenagers. So I don't know.

So good to hear that your decision to blog less actually has resulted in your daughter saying that she feels more loved. Isn't that what it is all about anyway? I have been blogging less too and it is actually nice that most of my blog friends have been blogging less too, because then I don't feel overwhelmed in trying to keep up with everyone's posts. I hope that by my commenting you don't feel that you have to read my blog and comment, because it is really not worth time away from your family.

1. Hello!

2. My house often looks like that.

3. My two-year-old has lain across the keyboard while I type to get my attention, so good for you.

4. I was having issues with my spacing/font size yesterday so...Blogger sucks right now.

Barb--you'll have to fight the Big Guy for the cheezits and goldfish. Just warning you up front, it could get ugly. Carolyn-thanks sweetie! Christy--I hope to have fun if I am able after all the cleaning I have to do (ugh!)Jessica, yes, I agree! Pat--thanks! Erin--I feel your pain. This blogging thing can get kind of sticky, can't it? Luann--saw your spinning laundy on facebook--cute! Laura--big hugs!! And kisses, too! Wendy-so sweet! I think of all of you, too. I feel lonely. :( Hillary--I would still rather be looking at your messy counters than mine. Wish you didn't live so far away! Linda--thank you so much for your positive uplifting perspective! (We have been!) Lara--reality checks are painful sometimes, though, arent' they? Pam--we dont' even eat at ours anymore. Sad. Thora--I take a lot of pics of my house when it's clean so I have them to post when I need them. It isn't usually THIS bad but it is rarely "magazine-cover" clean. Between my fibromyalgia and my kids, it just can't be clean all the time (or even very often). I refuse to feel guilty about it--even if I weren't writing or blogging or whatever, I wouldn't be cleaning all the time--I just don't have the physical energy for it. Heather--I don't feel like I need to read your blog more than any one else's--but I do feel like I need to see how all my friends are doing and what they are up to. I miss everyone! Thanks for your kind comment. Melanie--hee hee! Kids sure get inventive, don't they?

I'm not sure how it happens. One minute I can have our place looking fabulous, the next minute...well, not so great. Oh well. A friend of mine once told me that she thought mess was good -- it makes a house look like a home -- look lived in. Hmmm, I thought. I can live with that. Whatever makes me sleep at night, right?;) Hope you have fun with your guests. We're here in CA now...so I'm sure we'll be seeing you sometime in the near future.

Oh, you can knock that out in an hour. Just a little clutter. My husband always says that the house is clean if the main living spaces can be cleaned up in an hour.

I miss you too.

So good to hear from you Heidi! And your photos could easily be the illustrations for my most recent post! (You should read it -- it will make you feel better.)

Love you. Proud of you for putting your priorities in a place where your daughter can soak them up.

I have no kids and no jobs and still my kitchen manages to look like that quite often. Basically daily. I don't know HOW it happens so fast.

Enjoy your company!

We miss you!!

We have matching Kitchens!!! And I have no excuse, I live alone!!
Enjoy your family time... that is most important anyway. :)

I'm back - this is in NO WAY a threat to your blog reading numbers and you are in NO WAY required to read my blog but I thought I'd say HELLO! And I'll pop back in now and then just so you're relieved to know that I haven't been swept up by aliens or forced to enter the witness protection program or anything like that.
LOVE YOU!

Oh, but the font size just makes it unexpected and fun!
I have no idea how you did it. I am wondering how I do it! (and really, if it's necessary. . .)

Don't feel guilty--you are making better choices. I still love ya.

Looks like my house, only prettier. You'll find gold fish, cheese its, lotions , prescriptions and mail on my counters at ANY given time! We gotta LIVE here so we keep the most-used things handy!!!

Nothing prompts you to tidy up like unexpected company~

Have a great weekend,
♥,Lilly

You are brave and wonderful for sharing pics. I suffer mightily from flat surface syndrome. And also boxing-up-all-the-stuff-when-I-don't-have-it-in-me-to-clean-it-all-up syndrome. Which means a lose a lot of stuff in boxes.

Blogging. Such a love/hate thing. I'm trying to cut back so I'm not on the computer as much during the day when kidlets are around.

I am soooo glad that your daughter is doing so well and feeling so loved! Now for the kitchen...it looks like a loved kitchen! Have fun with your guests!

Yeah why is it that when I try to create more time by eliminating something there is still no time.

My fonts been going wacky too. I blame the internet gods. I think their planets are out of alignment.

Who needs cupboards or cabinets? All that stuff is going to be used again, right? :)

I'm so glad you can feel a difference in your family not sitting in front of the computer. I have had a similar experience with not blogging (or doing it very rarely) lately. I feel like a mom. And it's been the best school year so far. I'm involved! It's great.

I do miss you, though, and have been meaning to email you. . .

No kidding. There are so many times in my life that I look back on and think, "HOW did I do that? And how can I do it again?!"

Good luck!

You (and your messy kitchen) are so lovely just like you are. It's inspiring to find a woman who can step away from something she loves to do to make sure her family feels more loved.

Peace.

Aww, yes, I've dealt with a scorned kitchen many a time too.

So glad to hear your daughter is feeling so loved. I feel for these young ladies these days. My daughter has had similar issues.

Your kitchen looks just like mine. Good luck on playing catch up. (You should ask Kim for tricks. She's brilliant that way!)

Have a great weekend!

Reading this and looking at these pictures makes me feel much, much better. Now I can tell my husband I haven't been lying. Blog reading *is* like therapy. :)