My Lenten Confession:

I often complain about my house being a wreck.
Truth is, I hardly ever clean it.
Like.
Ever.
Maybe once a month I'll try to dig myself out of the mess we've made and attempt to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS! And if you're at all familiar with that article (who isn't?) - my life quickly devolves back into my self-congratulatory mode until I look up a month (or two) later and realize, CHRIST everything is a MESS. AGAIN.

Like, people use dishes every fucking day.

And the bathroom develops a peculiar smell after the dirty laundry piles up by the tub and doubles as a bath rug.

And laundry. It typically gets washed (at least a couple loads) during the week - but apparently you have to put that shit away or it just piles up on the bed (and then on the floor when you go to sleep with piles of clothes on your bed and kick them off during the night).

Basically, my secret confession is - I am a slob. And when I get depressed (or better yet depressed AND pregnant-sick) my apartment starts to look like an episode of Hoarders (on the bad days) or AT LEAST an episode of Clean House waiting to happen.
It's not safe. It's not sanitary. And frankly. I'm sick of living the way I am.
I am a stay-at-home mom. And I don't clean.
Ever.
Holy shit. That is embarrassing to admit. I mean. Like whoa. But I'm so sick of living this way that I'm announcing it to the internet so that I can CHANGE it.
They say it takes 21 days to make (or break) a habit. So.
I've armed myself with a $4 e-book aptly titled 28 Days to Hope for your Home by A Slob Comes Clean author Nony and a few basic chore charts. You know, those basic chores that normal people just do? Yeah, I don't do them. Sweep more than once every three weeks? What?! Clean up that spatter of spaghetti sauce when it spatters?!

I've already started implementing the doing the dishes everyday (which is where Nony's eBook starts) - but I've taken it a step further because my house is driving me insane, now that I'm seemingly done with morning sickness (Smalls, don't you dare make a liar out of me. I will make you pay for it later, I promise). I'm working on the daily habits I want to instill while also attempting to organize/clean one area of my house at a time.
That's been the key I think. So many times while organizing Marley's room I've wanted to jump into my room (or maybe just my closet) and start purging and cleaning and organizing, but I've restrained myself. And yeah, there's still piles of clean clothes over-flowing out of a laundry basket in my bedroom (it's kind of taking up all of the floor space at the foot of our bed) but I'm okay with that. It's been there for weeks months (and God that's embarrassing to admit) and right now, it's one space at a time. One day at a time.
So for Lent. I'm going to make those daily habits DAILY.  I'm going to work my way to a cleaner house. I feel like a clean house is a clean slate. And a clean slate is simply good for the spirit.
And my motto for when I get completely overwhelmed, stressed out and anxious?
"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." - Edward Everett Hale
And I will attempt to not become overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the mess. Maybe I can't get it all done RIGHT NOW. But I can sweep the kitchen floor before bed tonight.
And I think that will be enough.