Recipe for Disaster

Do you ever get the feeling that you are moving backward in your attempts to clean your house?

I do. Frequently.

I love a clean house, but have made it a priority not to obsess on domestic tasks while raising my kids. As you can tell from the title of my Blog I have found that Dust Keeps (Kids Don't). There is a certain basic standard of cleanliness that must be maintained, and raising three daughters often presents a daily battle to keep the standard. Use the below example as evidence.

Today my second daughter came home from school with a "Snowman Soup" kit. It included a hot cocoa pouch, a bag of marshmallows, a candy cane, and three Hershey Kisses.

"Can I make it Mom? Pleeeeeease! " begged my impossibly cute five year old.

I didn't realize that my response "Sure." would then render several rooms of my house look like testing site for an chocolate atomic bomb.

Innocently enough, Tori (age 5) began with one mug with water and cocoa powder. I stepped out of the room while she stirred it to pick up the family room.

Unbeknownst to me, she found her child-sized tea set and decided to pour and serve cocoa in cups slightly bigger than a thimble. An adorable concept of course, but in practicality the pouring of hot staining items into tiny fragile items by sticky, unsteady five year old hands is not really a workable equation. It was rather, a recipe for disaster.

"Uh-oh. Mommy, I spilled a little bit."

"No problem," I called from the next room, "Just grab a paper towel."

What happened next is a blur of marshmallows and melted chocolate. Tori brought me a miniature hot cocoa. "Thank You!" I said happily and then set it on the end table in the family room.

In came daughter #3, Sarah, who proceeded to knock off the aforementioned mini cocoa on the carpet. It was followed closely behind by Tori, in her disappointment of her sister's spill, accidentally tipped her teapot of cocoa, melted kisses, and candy cane pieces on the couch.

I stood up, noticeably annoyed, to retrieve paper towels and try to keep my temper. I reached the kitchen to find that hot cocoa was splattered all over the room. Hot cocoa on the table was dripping through the seam of the table forming a pool on the floor. Partially congealed marshmallows stuck to my socks and three of four chairs. There was cocoa on the wall and a trail of it to the family room, and the paper towel holder.

"What happened in here?" I said in a tone that betrayed my irritation.

Two little girls peered nervously at Mom in the kitchen.

"Don't worry Mom. I'll clean it all up." Tori gathered all the sticky and dripping tea set pieces and took them down the hall (still dripping) to the bathroom sink.

While on my way to get 409 and carpet cleaner I heard, Crash! followed by quickly by "Oh no!" and "Mom!"

Tori stood at the sink with tears in her eyes. She held a fragment of a broken cup in one hand. Cocoa, and bits of candy cane dribbled down the front of her shirt, across the counter and into the sink.

I held my breath. Big tears rolled down her cheeks. Instead of yelling I hugged her. Knowing I was transferring the cocoa dribble to my best sweater, I started to chuckle. She looked up at me with questioning blue eyes and we laughed together.

Oh Lord. I am so grateful for my children. Help me to laugh at life's little messes and to realize that true contentment is not found in perfection in myself or my home.