Thanksgiving Break Rundown

I had a few goals for Thanksgiving Break.  They looked something like this:

1. Finish paper, group project, and speech for class.

2. Spend time with family and friends.

3. Clean the house top to bottom.

4. Catch up on laundry.

5. Go Christmas shopping.

Any guess on which one of these did not get accomplished?

Here's how I did:

Shopping - check.  This should have been goal #1.  Mom and I went for roughly 10 hours on Monday, and my hubby and I logged about 12 hours on Black Friday.  Christmas shopping is nearly done.  The biggest hold-up is whether or not we are getting something live for the 5 yo.  I cannot believe I am even considering it.

Spend time with family - check.  Two family Thanksgivings   +   Two afternoons of hanging out with friends  = One very happy me!

Catch up on laundry - check.  Although that will change in a matter of hours, and I will be starting all over again.

Finish paper, group project, and speech for class - semi-check.  The paper is the only thing that was due this week, and it is done.  The project and speech are due on Wednesday and I am making good progress.

Surprise, Surprise....the house is not clean from top to bottom.  In my defense, I had Wednesday completely blocked off for this monumental task.  No plans, nowhere to go.  I was planning to fly into hyper-focus cleaning mode.  At 9:00 in the morning I got a text that went something like this - "The weather is beautiful today.  Do you want to get your family pics taken?" 

I have been trying to figure out how to get this done for months.  I had pretty much given up since the weather has turned cold and we have been so busy that my husband and I hardly remember what each other looks like. 

I called my husband to make sure he could get off early, said "Yes!" to pictures, and began the flurry of trying to figure out how to pull together outfits, showers for everyone, getting myself ready, and not wanting to kill anyone in the process.  Some people love the picture planning part. I HATE it.  As in despise.  Loathe.  Abhor. 

Not one inch of the house got cleaned.  Instead, it looked like our closets threw up all over the living room. 

However, the whole day was worth it once we arrived for pictures.  We had a great time laughing together while one friend was busy taking pics and another friend was busy making my kids look cute and smile.

I'd trade this for a clean house any day.