DID YOU KNOW that I have managed to keep my house virtually spotless for four solid days now?  It is true.  We’re getting ready for an open house Sunday, so we’re doing everything we can to keep the house clean.  My poor kids go to take toys out of the toy basket and I snap, “You’re just going to have to clean those up when you’re done, so DON’T TAKE OUT TOO MUCH STUFF!!!”  And then my daughter heads for the bookshelf with the look in her eye that tells me she’s about to chuck every board book we own over her head just for kicks, and I snatch her up and sit her in the corner to play with, um, her feet.  Because I won’t have to clean that up.  Instead of teaching me that it’s really lovely to live in a clean house — and I mean CLEAN, like mopped floors, shiny countertops, organized everything — it’s taught me that it’s really a huge pain in the ass and not any fun at all.

So if we don’t sell our house quickly and have to live in a cardboard box, rest assured that it will be filthy, and that I will be OK with that.