Stay-in Sundays

Yesterday was Sunday and it was the only Sunday this month that we got to stay at home and relax...


Wait, no we didn't.


Rewind.

I knew June was going to be a busy month filled with a wedding, father's day, recital, graduations, and birthdays. I love busy months - don't get me wrong. Having something to look forward to on the weekends made for fast work weeks, and who doesn't love the company of great family and friends?

However, having busy weekends, also meant that we didn't have too much free time to enjoy the quiet moments with each other. I savor the Saturday mornings where we wake up at ten, stay in bed for an hour longer mapping out the day's plans, then enjoy a nice homemade brunch in the quiet of our kitchen nook. The rest of those days are usually spent lounging with our babies and catching up on our guilty pleasure shows that have been piling up on the DVR... I love those simple stay-in days... and I was hoping we'd have that yesterday since we finally had a day free of outings.

Then, I opened my mouth and asked my husband what he wanted for his birthday. I thought he was going to answer with the standard, "Oh! I want [insert new collection obsession here]!" or "Let's go on a trip to [insert any of the many places I've been hinting him to take me -- oh wait, it's not my birthday?]!"

Instead, he said this:

"For my birthday, I want a clean house."

For those of you who know me, you know I'm not the tidiest person in the world... yeah, I am not known to clean up after myself very often (I'm the baby of the family, so I guess I was a little spoiled in that department)... but I'm not completely disgusting... right? I do the dishes.... sometimes... and I think I vacuumed the house last week.... OK, fine! I'm kind of a slob. There. I said it.

I'm not perfect and I am the first to admit that, but disclosing that I am too lazy to pick up after myself for all of the interwebs to see, is pretty darn embarrassing. (I'm not 100% a slob... just 85%)

Matthew is no neat freak himself, but he is definitely better at it than I am... I would say 80% of the mess is my doing, so it's only fair that I take responsibility for cleaning it up.

I like being organized and having a neatly kept house... When we know we are having people over, I will definitely make sure that the blinds are dusted, the floors are mopped, dishes are done, books in bookshelf alphabetized, and no dirty undergarments are left out in the open. So, for those of you who come over to our house once or twice a year, you would think I was Mrs. Clean (sorry if I've shattered your illusion of me).

Well, we haven't had a party at the house since... oh, Thanksgiving, I think... so.... you can say we had a lot of catching up to do.

Our main problem area is the master bathroom. The master bath is the last room we clean/organize because no one sees it but us. I told you all about the tub situation, but I also failed to mention that our walk-in closet is the most unorganized it's ever been! 90% of my clothes were all over the floor. Matthew has had to climb over the different piles I created just to get to his side of the closet (poor guy). I only lived off of whatever came out of the dryer, so there were lots of outfit pieces I hadn't seen in months.

OK, back to the present. Matthew wanted a clean house for his birthday present, so that's what I gave him.

I woke up bright and early-ish (hey, 9:30 is early for me on a Sunday!) and got started. I knew the closet was going to take the longest, so I dove into my clothes pile and started organizing. I will spare you the details of how I organized everything, but just know that it took 5 hours to finish... Matthew and I did a million loads of laundry in between the organizing and eventually emptied the tub-o-clothes.

Then, I worked on our grimy shower. Let me tell you... My parents never made me do chores - let alone clean the shower - and I guess I never understood (until now) how hard and gross it really is! YUCK! Since we've never it's been a while since the shower was cleaned, it took for-eh-vah to complete. I have never felt so dirty coming out of a shower in my entire life.

I cleaned the rest of the bathroom, including the tub (which I'm super excited to use now!) and moved on to the kitchen and dining room. I think Matthew saw the sweat rings on my shirt (I never sweat) and the tub grime in my hair, so he gave pity on me and we tag-teamed the kitchen/dining room duties.

It took a really long time, but I am happy to report that we have a very clean house upstairs! Yeah... I didn't really have time to finish the 2nd half of the house - darn closet took forever! However, I will work on finishing the rest of the house sometime this week. Hopefully in time for the weekend, in case we have any last minute 4th of July shindigs at the house.

So, yeah... we had a Stay-in Sunday... but not quite the relaxing one I had in mind.

It would have been waaay easier if he'd just ask for that darn soda dispenser system!!! (His new hobby)

Happy Birthday, love!