so, i keep doing the same thing, over and over, and nothing seems to change. i can't decide if this is hell, or a sign of insanity. of course, i'm talking about tidying up. i am not the best housekeeper, i admit it. i'm one of those people who in spite of the outward appearance of mess, actually knows where (almost) everything is. i am also pretty good at giving a thing a place (you know, something called organization) but i'm not always the best at putting things back in their place. however, i now have a husband who dislikes the clutter (but who is a TERRIBLE pack rat, sheesh!) and so i try to work on this. but then i have three things working against me: child the first, child the middle, and child the baby. tommy is the worst, to be honest, though sasha can hold her own. since hiro is in school for half the day, he does the least damage.

for example, we have a sideboard which has basically become a toy storage cabinet. recently we have just been stuffing the toys in there instead of organizing (there are several puzzles with lots of pieces that need to be put together, otherwise they're very messy). there are a couple of baskets for small toys, there's a shelf just for books and stuffed animals can just be...stuffed...inside. anyway, i took everything out last night and fixed it all up (it was amazing, how stuffed it was and how much room there was afterward) and yet this morning, sasha took out a basket and dumped out all the little toys in it. frustration!

or the dvds which are in a bookshelf next to the TV. this works out really well for obvious reasons, but little tommy loves playing with them. we have several scratched disks and broken cases now. and i can't tell you how angry i get when i step on (and often crack) a dvd case. not cool. tommy also loves to play in the kitchen. my kitchen (which i hate) is too small for kids to be playing in there. he also climbs on things, i really don't need the drawers to be broken, or for bread machines (or rice cookers) pulled down on little heads. but he likes it, he tells me. or, why can't he be in the kitchen. very frustrating.

so i don't know...i feel like i picked up and tidied up toys all day long, as well as chased tommy out of the kitchen a million times (and he just coming back...) and nothing has changed. hell, or insanity?