My Name is Mud

Unfortunately, we just missed the cut-off for planting grass at our new house. Our landscaper didn't want to risk our newly planted grass dying in the hot and dry summer weather which was soon to be upon us.  We agreed to play it safe and wait until after August 15th to plant.  This decision left us with greater peace of mind about our new lawn's future, but also left us with a LOT of weeds and mud.  LOTS of mud.  As I look outside today for the second day in a row at the rain, and think back to our 4th of July gathering when it RAINED... it makes me a little bitter about the lack of grass and 'hot and dry weather'.  These weeds are growing JUST FINE. Hmph.  

I had my first experience scrubbing carpet on Saturday afternoon after one of the kids opened the sliding glass door and accidentally let in a wet dog, complete with mud-covered paws.  Everyone turned in unison and inhaled the same "AgHHH!" as we watched the dog scamper across the entire width of the room, leaving a trail of brown dog prints on the light colored carpet.  Luckily two guests, who happened to be dog owners, were much quicker to react then I was. They hustled over to the bar for wet rags and started blotting, while I sat, frozen and staring at the mess, thinking to myself how lucky it was that Ben had to run to the gas station and didn't see this little 'incident'.  Someone must have retrieved the dog as well, but I kind of missed that part too.  haha  Thanks again M & B for helping me clean up the mess!  It was spotless by the time Ben returned - whew!!! :-) 

Scrubbing carpet is one thing, but scrubbing concrete is not exactly the thing I pictured myself doing on a Sunday afternoon - but that's exactly what was going on here. During Saturday's get-together, the kids (5 total) went outside to play with strict instructions to STAY ON THE CONCRETE. Right.  In no time at all, they had mud tracked all over the patio, the sidewalk and the driveway - I'm talking COVERED.  Even the kids were covered.  I was plenty peeved at the kids for not following directions, but I wasn't too bent out of shape about the tracked mud, as I figured the rain would probably just wash it all away. HA! The next morning, when the sun was shining, I could see all the brown baked mud smeared everywhere.  Hence, the scrubbing.

Monday, as I was trying to get my crew out the door for a park outing, the mud monster (which is turning out to be ME) struck again.  I had to dash inside for one forgotten thing (of course), and when I emerged 20 seconds later, Jacob had driven a ride on toy through the mud and up on to the freshly scrubbed concrete, leaving those beautiful mud markings once again.  Aggghhhh!  I have to admit I may have overreacted a little by grabbing the toy and forcefully chucking it off the concrete into the mud, causing the steering wheel to pop off (I didn't mean for that to happen!), but seriously, a girl can only take so much in three days!  

After I got the kids strapped in the car, I took an extra moment to sit back in the driver's seat and prep myself to really enjoy the short trip to town - a trip with the kids physically restrained away from any MUD!   

PLEASE QUIT RAINING!!!!