Oscar the Couch

I am the first one to admit that my house keeping skills aren't top notch anymore. I used to be the every Saturday morning for four hours cleaner, right down to wiping down the base boards and trim work on my hands and knees (Yes I would knock out the whole house every Saturday morning and I was fast and efficient). Obviously this was eight years ago before I had a human being that relied on me 24/7.  The problem is that the need to have a clean house all the time never really came back.


Now my goals have become simpler. If I keep up with the dishes and laundry everyday, I feel like I'm treading water. I'm lucky to wipe down a counter one day and scrub a toilet another day.  I've probably become more efficient, but I don't get that big satisfaction out of the whole house being clean at once.

At this point, you're probably thinking I have a really messy and dirty house (on occasion if you stop by on an off day this might be true...). Actually the major deep cleaning occurs when the season changes for me now. It kicks off when I have to switch out the girls clothes (get rid of the too small clothes, bring up the stored clothes from the basement, you know the routine). This is also about the same time when I freak out and clear out the clutter in the bedrooms. Two of my children have a tendency to hoard or store things in improper places (FOOD DOES NOT BELONG IN THE BEDROOM AND THERE IS NO TRASH CAN UNDER THE BED!)

I digress, my point today was supposed to be about the living room. Spring is here. On my agenda today was to move the furniture and vacuum. The couch is pretty heavy so I don't move it too much. For the last eight years, it has survived daily jumping, beating and stabbings (Lazy Boy is well constructed). I believe not too many couches would've made it. I even fear to get a new couch at this time considering my children are still young and rambunctious. Now this doesn't mean the couch doesn't have it's down falls. After using my whole body weight to shove the couch away from the wall, I discovered our object eating couch consumed quite a bit this season.

Not one, but two Nintendo DS stylists
Loads of popcorn (I'm glad we don't have mice in our house)
Tons of hair clips, pony tail holders, head bands.
Missing pens, tons of pencils
A missing mini flashlight the girls have been fighting over who lost
A library book (great now we don't owe any money)
$1.62 in change (More than I get out of the wash)
Small little missing pieces to toys
1 puzzle piece

What's under your couch?