World of Teenagers: Quote of the Week

"After this I am NEVER doing another load of laundry again for the rest of my life!" --Ender, upon being asked to help sort his dirty clothes in order to wash them.

An open letter to an inspiring friend--

Dear Fawndear,

I am happy and excited for you and all your progress toward your clutter-free goals!
I feel compelled to confess, though, that your ability to ignore clutter when doing the things you love and enjoy with your family has inspired me for many, many years.
I am the complete opposite regarding clutter. I was so obsessive about having a neat and clean house that I spent many a wasted day cleaning, picking up and doing laundry FIRST, and the enjoying myself by spending time with the kids SECOND, never happened. By the time I was done with all the things I had to do FIRST, SECOND became baths and bedtime, and if I was LUCKY, at least one of the kids would be awake long enough for me to read a chapter of a book with that one and then go off to bed myself.
Having been inspired by you, I now enjoy entire days of kid and mama time doing projects, reading, baking, watching movies and on and on, without a worry about the state of the house. And we are ALL the better for it.

In the long run I think a balance between spotlessly clean and hopelessly cluttered is the ideal, and I believe I have FINALLY found a path that will eventually get me there, however, I honestly never would have been able to do it without your example.

Thank you!

~The Mama Cayman aka Susan:)