Frankly, My Dear, I Don't Give a Hoot!

Jen at Denton Sanatorium threw down the gauntlet.  Well Cherie at Bakow Babble picked up that gauntlet and threw it down even harder!

The Gauntlet?  Well, the challenge is to post the raw & unedited from this week.  That's right folks, post the REAL DEAL, the 411, the Skinny on a day in the life of ourselves.  No airbrushing or smoke & mirrors allowed!

Not to be one to give into peer pressure, nor to be the one called chicken, I decided to relent on the grounds that my posterity will possibly be curious about this too...POSSIBLY being the operative word here.  So let's give it a-go.

If you're wishing there was more guts & less glory on this here blog, then before going any further please be sure and read the next paragraph.

DISCLAIMER:  In no way am I perfect nor do I ever pretend to be.  I just enjoy finding the positive & being content with the little bit of positivity that I find in everything, even in my imperfections. And just to keep it real here, you must know that I kinda CLING to the positive so I can survive the ugly moments.  Learned this coping mechanism while I was very young, haven't been able to shake it since.  (To all you pessimists out there, my sincerest apologies.)  Ya know, happy really IS the occupational hazard of being an optimist!  Some people are hopeless romantics, I am an eternally, incurable optimist!  (Guilty as charged...lock me up, throw away the key....but I betcha I'll still find something to smile about, hee hee...)

So, knowing all of that about me, recognize that the rest of this post is NOT a bitter diatribe or pout-fest.  It's just my life.  And you'll see where my thoughts come full-circle.  I think that's the happy-ending still trying to steal the limelight, but you judge for yourself!

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Really, the past 24 hours kinda flows into the past 48 hours which blends in with the past week since returning home from Utah.  So this is a smattering of what's been in my head, what's transpired on the outside of my head, and some stuff in between....Oh if you could see my house right now though!  All ya'll's OCD'd be flying off the handle, no lie!  (I know mine is.)

Let's just say I'm on strike. 

When I left that week to Utah, I'd done a considerable amount of laundry...with a bit more to be done (Ya know some of the lingering summer clothes that really aren't filthy or gross, I just like them smelling downy clean before being folded & stored away in their appropriate totes?)...well, since we live in a shoebox, and the living room, my "office," the dining area/library, and kitchen are really all the same room (I'd swear we live in a studio apartment if it weren't for the 2 walls that separate the bedrooms from the rest of the common area)...AND there was still some laundry that needed to be finished, I left distinct happily-sorted piles to be finished.  (Just your basic laundry piles: blues & greens, browns & khakis, blacks & grays, whites, towels, linens, unmentionables, shorts, reds & oranges & corals & yellows, creams & off-whites, and lastly ANY of Mr LKP's work clothes.....have I mentioned OCD in this post yet?)

Let it be known for the record that I love my family.  I love 'em, I love 'em, I love 'em!

When I returned home, exhausted from a week away....you couldn't actually see the floor.  It looked as though my entire house threw up on my living room!  Every happily-sorted pile now bled into all the other piles....and there were NO piles.  Not even IGNORED piles.  Just one continuous 4+ inch thick, carpet of clothing broadcast from one end of the house to the other.  Massive bummer.  I almost cried.  And that's just laundry.

Again, I love 'em, I love 'em, I love 'em!

My kitchen counter?  Some dishes had been done.  But really I'm talking the bare-minimum dish doing went down while mom was away.  Ya know the kind right?  SMD: Survival Dishes Mode.  Whatever was in the cupboard that could be used INSTEAD of the actual dish that was meant for that actual job, so as to prolong D-Day? (....Dishes Day)  FINALLY some of the originally dedicated dishes were done just so there was SOMETHING to be used.  Yep, THAT'S what went down.  (Guess what, I threw a slight tantrum.  I may or may not have insisted that the chores schedule get back in gear immediately since it had all fallen apart while I was away.  But, on the other hand, I guess this means they love me back and can't live without me, so I should feel flattered.  Too bad I wasn't, and I probably handled it a wee bit poorly.  Just sayin', hind-sight's 20/20 isn't it?)

So, back to the fact I'm on strike...call it tough love if you'd like, cause.... (yes, mom, you're gonna relish this next statement) ...there are STILL dishes on the counter from before I left.  Too often I find my controlling-self hop in and fix it all cause I'm driven crazy.  This time I refuse.  I've decided I'm still the more stubborn one in this family, and eventually the lesson will be learned....and that eventually is NOW.

Therefore, I've been getting only as dressed as needs be, depending on the day.  Each day requires I be dressed enough to let the animals out of the "barn" and feed 'em.  Other than that I've either been living in PJ pants or jeans & hoodies.  Non-greasy hair?  Optional.  (Aside from the house a-mess, it's almost my kind of Nirvana....ok, then again, no it skieves me to no end....I try and be all eco-friendly like that, but I usually still wind up showered by 4pm.)  Then Mini-Me's got to be picked up from volleyball by 5pm (except Tuesday when there was a game, but Mr LKP picked her up in the big ol' semi that night---it was lovely).

Now those of you who are thinking, "What?!?  She's only got one kid!  How can she even DREAM of going on strike?!?"  Well, add to that our little Puppy-Dearest, and there's your answer!  Between having to STILL clean up her puddles & etc, I am having to play with her, and hold her every other minute.  Sheesh!  You'd think she's an infant!!!  And it blows my mind since Mini-Me's the one who BEGGED for her, yet if given the choice Willow always will come to me....and frankly, my dear, Mini-Me doesn't give a hoot!  Her feelings aren't hurt in the least.  Matter of fact, Puppy-Dearest has been banished from the Kingdom of Mini, and it has even passed Mini-Me's lips that she sometimes wished she hadn't asked for the Willow.  (What the what?!?  After all the time & money invested in this canine?!?  Oh, it's soooo not that easy, Miss Thang!)  Now, to Puppy-Dearest, add Lady Hula and Sir Linus to the equation, and I'm just about soccer & tennis-balled out daily!  They need to be fed & their water refreshed twice daily, not to mention buku exercise, that's for sure.  But it does put a time crunch on my newly acquired TLC series habit.  And you can add to THAT...Rodney the Rooster.  Yes, even the ROOSTER thinks he needs to play and have social time and get my undivided attention.  So, count 'em: Me + 1 husband + 1 daughter + 1 puppy + 2 wish-they-were-but-aren't-puppies-anymore + 1 rooster = Me and 6 "kids" to care for. (The cats take care of themselves, so they don't count...unless they're hungry.)

Also, you must know, my brain's been back in Activities Committee mode, since I got a request from the gal in charge of our Stake's Masquerade Ball this Friday!  Woot woot!  I've never met her before but somehow she's been directed to call me for help.  (Totally cool & flattered at that!  Time to dust off the skillz...)  So I've been trying to get contests and prizes and whatnot lined-up....plus, remember that Mr LKP got me hooked on NetFlix on our Wii...and more specifically Cake Boss on NetFlix on our Wii!  So I've been distracted enough to still remain more stubborn over the house....that is until yesterday!

(Not gonna lie, in the midst of all this I HAVE gotten some great photos of a lovely sunrise, some gorgeous noon-day sunshine, and the lil' critters in the past few days.  Every so often I've gotta take a breather, go outside to enjoy the lovely autumn sun, and snap the shutter for a while.  It's cheaper than therapy!)

"Fill my dark skies....Make me see the light...Life is fine so bring in the sunshine!..."  -Mercy River

Those lovely autumn leaves against that blue, blue sky had me mesmerized!

(Lil' Critters have such larger-than-life personalities and they're addicting!)

I couldn't take it anymore, so I scrubbed the toilet (I can't stand it when hard water stains & mildew try and move in!)....so I scrubbed it SEVERAL times, and guess what?!?  I won THAT battle!

I then cleaned the mirrors...

...trashed out the old shower curtain liner and replaced it with a new one and washed the fabric shower curtain...

...scrubbed the sink... resumed the laundry project by getting all the laundry sorted back into their happy little piles...

...and I even swept up the tracked in dirt from tending to the critters (....but I am still being stubborn about the dishes.  That is going to be a certain 13 year old's #1 priority when she gets home from volleyball tonight...because she needs to "get this" lesson, and because I have laundry to finish + the stake details to wrap up + mr LKP's & my costumes to complete [since we've got the ball on Friday, and some friends' Halloween party on Saturday night] + I'll be helping another friend run a parks & rec volleyball clinic Saturday morning!  Phew!  I'm soooo thinking thank goodness I don't have to teach in any classes this week at church).

Today I will continue with my epic laundry miracle...I may finally trash the highly attractive fly strips (that I usually hide when my Visiting Teacher comes to visit), since it's now a couple degrees above freezing in the mornings and I'm pretty sure the majority of our 2010 fly issues are behind us.

...And hopefully I'll get my new curved shower curtain rod installed (thanks Tauna for the inspiration!)....If all were to go well, including the ribbons & certificates for the costume contest, perhaps I can at least prep my kitchen cabinets for their pending facelift (Can't afford the grand re-do I'm dreaming of quite yet, therefore I invested in a gallon of Valspar's "Ultra White" and some new pull hardware....and maybe with the replacement faucet  we finally bellied up to the bar for, it'll start to feel like a palace!  Then from there I'm hoping to catch the bug and take that facelift mentality into the bathroom so I can rid it of that hideous green paint job going on in there!  Too dark for such a small space...::pouting::... chances are though that I'll find myself in front of Cake Boss, indulging on ice cream instead.  We shall see won't we?).

Ugh!  I just threw up a little in my mouth.  Poor color choice first owners, 2 owners before us!

Ooh, and I know you know how much I love autumn and getting all decorated.  That's the fun part.  Staying decorated I despise!  Why?  I hate to dust.  I have to do it, but I hate it.  So I've been avoiding that duty lately as well.  And I may or may not continue to avoid it today!  ;)

I know they say cleanliness is next to Godliness, but there you have it, the nitty-gritty AND grimy!  So is the life of a budding ranch-wife, right? And besides I'm still in my Godliness training phase!  (It'll be next to Godliness soon enough, don't call the health department on us.)

Not gonna lie, there have been days when I read of one of my favorite role models, The Pioneer Woman, and think "Wow, self!  I wish we were as established.  Wish I was able to send my family off to tend cattle, while I hovered over my cookbook, photography, homeschooling, interior design of my lodge, & book-in-progress."  Then I have to remember that PW is PW, and I'm me... that her ranching operation was already established before she married into that family... AND that is their sole living!  That's what her cowboy DOES, period.  My cowboy drives heavy-haulin' semi-trucks & wrangles HUMONGOUS pieces of equipment all over the Pacific Northwest most hours out of the week.  Mr LKP's lucky to get a day to the ranch, let alone myself, with his schedule of work, his church calling, helping & serving others, and making it to as much of Mini-Me's school & extracurricular stuff as he can!  He's my real hero, of that there is no doubt.

After wallowing in the "Why wasn't this place better off than when I left it?" thoughts, and really processing it all a bit more, I feel a little better about the pace in which we're going at this ranch, and our lives in general.  So, I'm good with the greasy hair, happily-re-sorted laundry piles (borderline OCD much), the critter-tending, the instilling good ethics of hard work & responsibility in our daughter again & again, enjoying some Cake Boss, playing volleyball once a week, and uploading my photos here.  I guess I just need to remind myself of this fact more often.



P.S. 
My desk is going into convulsions due to the load it is currently bearing....oodles & oodles of ideas, and corrected homework, and Halloween supplies can really weigh a desk down!  I really gotta get to that pronto....but then again, I'm only halfway through season two of Cake Boss (and we didn't start with season one)!

P.P.S.
Also in Mr LKP's defense, he DID give the lawn a nice crew-cut INSTEAD of going out for Opening Day last Saturday....and the dog house is finally MOSTLY done....but his Camporee gear is still out on the deck from 2 months ago (amongst other paraphernalia that might get put away between now & the Armageddon-but don't hold your breath).

Not sure when I should remind him that Rodney needs a proper, insulated hen house for his still-promised harem, not to mention for winter....or when I should remind him to blow out the sprinklers in the pasture & yard....or the fact he only has a few more days left in deer season....

There it is, the uglies...and the silver lining in it all.  

Now I'm off to do some Masquerade Ball crafting (M, you sicko!  Love ya!) ...wish me luck!

Happy Thursday, and if you're feeling up to it, join the fun and link up to Jen's post here!