Top 8 Disgusting Places in Your House You Might Not Even Know About

Let's face it; No matter how wonderful we are with keeping house, there are areas we miss. Here are a few places I have discovered in horror. I challenge you to check these spots in your house! (Warning; if you are not a perfect housekeeper, you might want to grab some gloves and cleaner first!)

1. Under the sink. We often don't think to check under the sink. After all, we have our very own stash of plastic grocery bags accumulated there to keep an eye on things, right? One day, when my sink smelled especially fowl, I discovered a plastic tub full of the most disgusting liquid imaginable: putrid water with everything else I stored under the sink floating in it. Our pipe was leaking! It took forever to clean it out... and I resolved then and there to give the areas under my sink a once-over at least once a month.



2. Under the high-chair cover and car-seat cover. This seems obvious, but I have spoken to more than one shell-shocked mother who forgot about the area under the high chair cover... and was horrified to find the area they placed their baby to partake of everyday nourishment contained growing mold. Yuck!

3. Inside your toothbrush holder. There have been few times I nearly threw up during house cleaning, but the first time I cleaned out my toothbrush holder almost did me in.

4. Under your microwave. An amazing amount of food splatters, splashes and rolls under your microwave... and gets pushed farther back every time you swipe the counter in front of it with a rag.

5. The vent over your stove (and the metal hood). I did not realize the area above our stove had a mesh catch-all that needed to be cleaned and dusted... until I heard chirping noises coming from it. I never found out what live creature had chosen it for a home, but let's just say I boiled the mesh cover. I could not believe I had been preparing meals under that atrocity.

6. Doorknobs and Doorbells. Kids coming in with grimy hands, in and out of the bathroom... we should be cleaning these every day! Do I? Um... no.

7. Keyboard, mouse and mouse pad. Take a good look at your keyboard, mouse and mouse pad. Is there crud down between the keys? A hazy crust over your mouse? O.k., so they look clean. Try smelling your mouse
pad. Yep, it should cost you less than 20 bucks to replace all three. Don't even bother trying to clean them. Certain things should just be changed out.

8. The bottom of the toy box. Sticky candy, old silly-putty, wads of gum... how long has it been since you've even seen the bottom?

There's my top six... do you have any to share? And here's my dare... if every one of these places is sparkly-clean in your home, congratulations! You get Housekeeper of the Year!    

 

God's Not Dead

I've been listening to the song by the Newsboys "God's Not Dead" (By the way, when did Michael Tate from DC Talk join them? And why was I not informed? Oh yeah, I've been writing a book and raising children. Shock of my life in the Christian bookstore the other day. ANYWAYS.)
My kids love the song too. And a new movie starring Kevin Sorbo and Dean Cain is coming out by the same name. I mean, a Christian movie with Hercules and Superman? Could it be?

Judah, Levi and I were discussing the song and the lyrics. Judah had mixed up some of the words so I was explaining them to him, and then we started talking about what they meant. It was then the impact of what we were singing really hit me.

"God's not dead, He's surely alive
And He's living on the inside,
Roaring like a lion"

I said, "You know how powerful lions are? When they roar, it shakes the air. No one can miss a lion roaring. They are powerful."

Then I started thinking about the power of God. God holds the power of the wind in His hands, He controls the ocean, the forces of nature. He controls the flaming power of the sun. And guess what? He chooses to dwell inside of us. He chooses to fill us with that power.

I tend to worry about things. What if we can't pay the bills? What if I get in a car wreck and can't do laundry and the children never have clean underwear again? What if no one reads my book I just spent three years writing? What if, what if, what if?

There is a mighty Lion of Judah God and He dwells inside of me.
That is absolutely enough. End of argument.

(Official YouTube Video for "God's Not Dead" by the Newsboys)

Official trailer for the movie "God's Not Dead"
 

Queen of the Mess (To the tune of Henry the Eighth)

I'm Queen of the Mess, I am, I am,
Queen of the Mess, I am,
I cleaned juice, milk and pee from the kitchen floor,
and thought "I've cleaned up this mess before'
from every room in this house,
The living room, the bathroom and the car,
And I'm hopping in pain after stepping on Thomas the Train,
I'm Quee-ee-een, Queen,
Queen of the Mess I am!

(Second Verse, same... oh never mind.)

A Trip to Wal-Mart

You mothers of more than three children will roll your eyes and say I'm a wimp, but for me, a trip to Wal-Mart is something I must prepare for spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Most of the time, I talk myself out of it, but today it was pouring down rain and after 6 hours in the house with a 7, 5 and 2 year old I had to do something. So off we went.
The first battle was waged when my 5 year old insisted he bring his glow in the dark skull.

 

 

Finally I gave in, since I really couldn't think of a reason why he couldn't take it.

 

 

We reached Wal-Mart. I had a few strategies. I told the kids we would look at toys last,

 if they were good. I also offered them bribes of candy. What can I say?

Wal-Mart weakens my parental resolve. The idea of dealing with a screaming, flailing child in

 public is my deepest fear. I have had to experience my deepest fear many times.

 

Yes, if you look close you will see my daughter is wearing an

"Angry Bud" hat, and my son has full-sleeve Spider Man tattoos.

 

On our way in, we passed another frazzled mom with even more children in her basket.

Her frenzied eyes pled with me as if to say, "Don't do it to yourself! Do not go in there!"

 

I found myself repeating myself every two seconds. "Judah, get behind the basket so we

 don't take up the whole aisle. Celise, stop making 'Angry Bud' noises. "Levi,

pick up that skull and don't drop it again!" (Oh yeah, that was my reason!)

 

For the most part, the children were good and they got to visit the toy aisle.

I found it hilarious that I had the only children on the aisle. The other customers were middle aged men, feverishly reading the backs of Lego boxes and examining Hot Wheels packages.

Celise was not entertained by the Legos. Here's an action shot of her whipping around the Angry Bud hat.

 

So we survived to live another day. I am please to announce I only broke

 into public song twice... one was the Ninjago Lego theme song.

Getting Ready for Church

We rarely get to church. Not because we are heathens, I have been a Christian most of my life and love God with all my heart. No, because of the general difficulty that comes with preparing a 2, 5 and 7 year old for the big day. Even though the churches we generally visit have relaxed policies on clothing and it is socially acceptable to wear jeans, people will notice if said jeans have large holes in the knees. Not that I really care what people think, but, well, no one wants a visit from CPS.
After an hour of searching for matching socks, I resigned myself; that wasn't going to happen for everyone. I allowed my son to wear flip-flops instead. I put diapers, wipes, juice boxes and an extra outfit in a bag. I endured a screaming fit form my two year old daughter who has decided any outfit with elastic touching her body shall not be worn. At last, everyone was dressed and ready.
My son got up from watching t.v. to go to his room. "Mom, I'm getting my super suit!"
I gave him a mom look, meant to instill fear and terror. "No you are not." I said in a tone normally reserved for cable salespeople.
He quickly sat back down. "I'll wear it tomorrow."
At last everyone was lined up and ready to go out the door. Everyone matched and had shoes on their feet. Everyone's hair was combed and shining. I could almost hear the angels singing in the heavens.
Then my daughter made a face and pointed to her diaper. "Poop, Mama."

I know God understands if I'm late. 

Walking On Water

As many of you know, last year my husband, Jacob was diagnosed with a stomach condition called Gastroparesis. This condition was a side effect from gallbladder surgery and means that the stomach has trouble processing certain foods. So any food at any time could make hime sick for days. He was unable to work for the entire last year, and I found myself juggling children, chores, doctor visits, and four work-from-home jobs. The amazing thing was this; God provided for everything! We never went hungry, all medical bills were covered, and every bill was paid. It was a stressful time, but God kept us. And I stressed through the whole thing. "Would he ever go back to work?" "What should I be doing?" "Am I doing enough?" "Are we making good choices?" In the end, I scrambled for no reason; God provided all our needs. Jacob learned how to cope with a new diet and we moved on.
After two months of work without missing a day, Jacob suffured another attack earlier this week. I went into full-blown panic mode. What will we do? What if he doesn't go back to work? What if he gets fired?
He has missed three days of work, and these are all possibilities. I picked up my Bible this afternoon, and it opened to John 6 where Jesus feeds the 5000.

"When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do." John 6:5
Jesus already knew what he was going to do, he just wanted to see if Philip trusted him. We all know the end, he found five loaves and two fishes and there was enough for the crowd.

Right after this, the dsciples go out to sea and there is a storm. They are afraid. Jesus walks out on the water and they call out to him. He calms the storm.
What gets me here is these discples just saw an amazing miracle. Jesus fed the 5000 with a tiny amount of food! They know he's amazing! And yet they forget what just happened and get afraid when a storm blows in!
It is so easy to forget what Jesus has done for us when a new stress arises. May God remind us of His provision and miracles He has done in our lives, over and over again.