Monday's Motivation: Ariana!

I have been suffering from insomnia since we got here. I think it has to do with the crummy mattress. If nothing else gets me back to Tucson and the heat, it will be that bed. So school days get me. I get to sleep around midnight, toss and turn all night, then have to start my day. I get the kids out the door and pretty much want to crawl back into bed. Today was no different. But I really need to work on my laziness, and besides we did absolutely *nothing* yesterday. By "we" I mean me. Shawn made 3 meals for which the children and I were grateful. Eggs for breakfast with bacon, grilled panini's for lunch, and Spaghetti with his homemade sauce and sausage for dinner. YUM! The kids did stuff too. They made messes. Took a bath in the giant tub since we are having some plumbing issues involving water and electricity in their bathroom, and made the most disgusting grime ring I've ever seen. Ewwwww. Then they made some more messes and went to bed.

So when I got up this morning and saw this:






and this:







I knew I couldn't just go back to bed.

You may be wondering why on earth I'm sharing pictures of my mess on the net...and I'll tell you. Because Ariana does it! I read her blog all the time (Please don't think I'm a stalker!) but her "realness" shines through and she posts her before and after shots of her house and it makes me feel a little better and it motivates me to clean. So I thought I'd copy her here and maybe someone else might feel a little push to get off the computer and pick up the mess. :) (Or not, but it motivated me a ton to get some "after" shots!)

Besides, I never got around to posting "lived in" photo's of the house, so this is a good motivator to get that done too.

You should check out Ariana's blog, she has three darling kiddos, a messy house she has to clean often (because she has three kids), she is honest, refreshing and she writes well and takes great photographs! Enjoy. I have a link in the column to the right if you want to check it out. You won't be disappointed!

So anyway, here are the after pics! I feel so happy when I look at them, plus it makes me feel a sense of accomplishment that I didn't go back to bed or sit on my booty all day when I really, really wanted to do nothing else!

Ahhh...hello pretty kitchen. You look lovely! (You are not truly lovely because you have a very poor design, but you are shiny and clean and pretty on the outside) Reminds me of a button Shawn bought once, it said "Nice face, shame about the brain". Kind of how we feel about this kitchen.













Hello clean, vacuumed living room!