Tidiness

I have a new insight into Grandma Mickey. I have discovered, upon welcoming the fifth child into our family, that the ONLY way to keep things reasonably tidy (and by this I mean, "waist deep instead of neck deep") is to be in a constant mode of picking up after people. This is the first line of defense, and the only effective one. The second line of defense is to teach the children to pick up after themselves, but considering their ages and the fact that they are human beings this is a very weak strategy and only minimally lessens the havoc.
I came to this realization because we had guests last weekend, had a visit from the social worker this weekend, are having guests at the end of this weekend, and Mom is dropping by twice this week on her way to and from Ohio to visit Ella (oh, and Ben and Julie). So I would like the house to be presentable. This has been on my mind for a couple of days now, so I have had an eye toward getting the house clean and keeping it that way. As I was cleaning my room today (which I have to admit is by far the messiest), I would pause every minute or so to put an errant toy in its place or call a child to come put away its underwear, etc.--and I realized that I was acting exactly like Grandma Mickey. Exactly. And that is when I realized that she also had five kids (I never really thought about it before), and at some point they must have been young, and--judging from the way they are now--she must have been picking up after them all the time, just like I have to do. Like she still does, if you have ever noticed. This gave me pause, as well it should--I do not want to be neurotic. So if you come to visit and you notice it is not as tidy around here as it might be at your house, it is because I am practicing for when my children are all grown up and have left the house and I become normal again.