Thanks a million!

Thanksgiving time has arrived! I love this holiday that allows me to take a break from my overly-hectic life and count my blessings. And boy do I have a lot to be thankful for. Although my daily life is super-stressful, I make sure to tell God what I am thankful for each day.

I am thankful for:

• My relationship with Christ, through which I am continually blessed
• My amazing husband, my best friend
• Our beautiful son
• Each and every family member who enrich our lives
• The freedom so many lay down their lives for
• The complexity of life

Without these blessings I would not be the woman I am today. And for that I am continually thankful.

I LOVE comments! Post a comment to tell me what you are thankful for this holiday season.

Thought for the Day:

The Horrible Housewife's Dog has OCCD - Obsessive Compulsive Cleaning Disorder

My dog, Saki, cannot stop cleaning things. Seriously. She cleans herself, our chairs, our floors, our living room rugs.

How did I end up with a compulsively clean dog?! At least one of us cleans regularly...

Horrible Housewife Confession: I am thankful that dog cleans my kitchen floor. If someone has to, I'm glad it's her and not me!

Tag, You're It!

Tag, Anyone?

My new bloggy buddy, Lauren, started this fun little game. Since I'm always up for a good time, I decided to play along.

Okay, these are the rules -

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Paste these rules on your blog post.
• Respond to the following prompts (in bold).
• Add a prompt of your own and answer it.
• Tag a few other bloggers at the bottom of the post.
• Leave "Tagged You" notices on their blog/Facebook.
• Let the person who tagged you know when you've written the post.

1) The best investment you ever made:

As much as I complain about this old house, I truly love it. I love the charm and character it possesses. Our home can be a cozy, inviting place. I'm so glad we bought it and are giving the old place a new life.


2) If you could’ve written any book, directed any movie, and composed any song, which three would you pick:

These are just a sampling of my all-time favorites. I have so many it was hard to choose!

Book: Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. I am inspired by his overwhelming intelligence and creativity.

Movie: Steel Magnolias. Even though a large part of the story is sad, this movie/play is a testament to the power of women.

Song: Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. No matter where I am physically, every time I hear this song I am transported to a calm, soothing, romantic setting in my mind.


3) Weirdest quirk:

I become totally engrossed in electronic games - video games on the Wii, stupid little time-wasting app games, computer games, you name it. I cannot do anything until I beat the next level.


4) One wish immediately granted:

My house would be completely finished, interior designed by HGTV designer Sarah Richardson.


5) Most expensive hobby:

I have OCTP: obsessive-compulsive trip planning. I am addicted to going on vacation. I like to spend my free time researching the next fun place to visit, then I beg and plead with my husband to take me. That's when it starts to get expensive! ;)


6) An inexhaustible gift-card at which store:

This one was tough for me. I can't decide between Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com. The more I think about it, I'd probably go for Amazon, just because I can get darn near anything I could ever need or want - and then some - from that site.


7) In another lifetime, you’d be:

Anything that inspires others to do good.


I Tag: Lauren, Brandy, The Girls over at the 6, Jamie, Megan.


Have fun with it!

The House is to Blame

It's the house's fault it's such a mess all the time, not mine. Seriously. I'm not trying to blame my lack of housekeeping skills on the house...okay, maybe I am... Let me explain.

Super Hubby and I bought this old farmhouse a little over three years ago. The place was in shambles when we bought it (which is why it was so cheap!). We were looking for a fixer-upper and boy did we get what we asked for! Before we could move in Super Hubby had to completely gut and rebuild the bathroom. While he was working on that, I painted darn near every other room in the house. We ripped out carpet and filled multiple dumpsters full of crap.

When we finally moved in, we were so overwhelmed with all the work that still needed to be done that we just shoved boxes full of stuff in places that made no sense. Three years later and I'm still unorganized. Now this disorganization has become a monster that is eating my house room by room. Because we live in an old farmhouse we have no closet space. And I don't mean "Oh, I have closets, but I could use a few more." I mean seriously NO CLOSETS. I guess back in the late 1800's the builders didn't foresee how much useless crap the people of the next century would accumulate.

And don't even get me started on the kitchen. I do not have a pantry. At all. I have to store my boxed and canned goods on the spare kitchen sink counter. Yes, I have two sinks in my kitchen. WTF? They could build two sinks a hundred years ago, but not closets?!

So basically I have this huge old house full of crap that has nowhere to go. I need a serious organization intervention. I watch HGTV all the time and drool over the beautiful closets and storage units other lucky homeowners get all day every day. And yet, I have none. And don't even give me that "do more with less" line. I love my useless crap dearly!

Horrible Housewife Confession: I pile clean clothes on top of my dresser (and other places in my bedroom and laundry room) when my dresser drawers are full. This irritates Super Hubby beyond belief, but I can't stop!

Sno-cones, snakes, and skeletons, Oh My!

Happy Halloween, ya'll!

(No, I'm not Southern, but I was born in Texas, does that count?)

We've been pretty busy this holiday weekend, which as you can imagine doesn't leave much time for housework. Darn. Friday afternoon was my cool kid's kindergarten Fall Festival. Two bus loads of children spilled out onto the grounds of his teacher's home to take part in hayrides, nature walks, cookie decorating and pumpkin weighing. As fun as that may sound for the kids, it was mild torture for me. I was put in charge of the Singing Station, which entailed singing three earworm songs repeatedly for the duration of the event. The singing part wasn't all that bad, except that my voice went hoarse halfway through. The really bad -no, humiliating - part was that I had to Tootie-Ta at least a thousand times in front of people I know! You say you don't know what the Tootie Ta is? Watch this, and then imagine yourself doing this dance repeatedly around people you know and respect.

Friday night Super Hubby and I took our cool kid to Hallelujah Night at a local church. That place, complete with carnival games and bouncy houses, was insane! There must have been at least 300 frazzled parents with several over-stimulated kids in tow all crammed into one line for a free hot dog. What's worse is that several mothers (and a few kindergartners) stopped me, sang a few lines of the Tootie Ta, and ran away laughing. The question is, were they laughing at me or with me? Regardless, the best part of the night was when Cool Kid got his face painted. The woman doing the designs took one look at him and said "I've got just the thing for you!" Check out her awesome artwork (and Cook Kid's cute face):


Saturday was filled with obligatory visits to the grandparents and trick-or-treating with friends. I just love trick-or-treat night. I have many fond memories of running around my neighborhood as a kid, costumed as a Barbie bride, green-faced witch, or PeeWee Herman begging for candy from strangers. I am so thankful my cool kid gets the same opportunity each year, just watch out for that creepy guy sitting on the porch swing, darling.

Horrible Housewife Confession: the only shred of housework I did this weekend was to finally clear those cobwebs from the corners of my living room. Cobwebs still remain in every other room of the house. I guess I could have left them up one more day as Halloween decorations...

The truth behind the Horrible Housewife

I've tried to hide it for so long. Those who know me well know the truth... I am a horrible housewife. And trust me, my husband will tell you so.

In my house you will find cobwebs in nearly every corner, dirty dishes in the sink, dust on most surfaces, and piles of laundry so big a small child could get lost. I used to be embarrassed by my horrendous housekeeping skills (or lack thereof). Unannounced visitors would send me into a speed-cleaning shove-stuff-under-the-bed frenzy. What's worse is that I come from a long line of perfect housewives. I am surrounded by June Cleaver wannabe's! My mother keeps her house in tip-top shape. My grandmother raised 6 kids in a spotless house. Grandma's house was so perfect she even used place mats and cloth napkins! I mean, can you image?! My sister-in-law, bless her spotless soul, cannot physically rest unless her house is in perfect order.

I, however, do not share the same genetic code as these women. I can sleep just fine if my floors are not mopped. Isn't that what the dog is for? I use paper napkins. There are toothpaste stains in my bathroom sink. Hey, I'm not perfect, and I don't try to be.

Now before you run away screaming "She's a SLOB!," let me explain myself. In all actuality, I'm not even a housewife. While I don't by definition "work" outside of my home, I am gone pretty much all day every day. I am a full-time college student, you see. And I am a part-time 2nd grade teacher. After I get home from college classes and teaching, I have oodles of homework and lesson plans to do. Which, as you can imagine, does not leave much time for spicking-and-spanning. Instead of scouring the walls, I prefer to spend my free time lovin' on my husband and kid. This is my platform to share it all with you.

This blog will chronicle the misadventures of our lived-in home, my failures at being a housewife, and how, at times, my husband flips his lid over the crap covering the nightstand. I hope you get a laugh or two out of my corner of the blogosphere.