Charlie blew his nose on my curtains

Charlie blew his nose on my curtains. He also blew his nose on his shirt, my shirt, and 2 bath towels. It isn't that he has an aversion to kleenex. He actually often says, "I nee a tissue." It is just that he loves blowing his nose more than he loves tissues so wherever, whenever he is, he just blows! So, I have some extra laundry this week. Or maybe I need to stop thinking of situations like this as "extra"ordinary circumstances. I mean, last week it was "extra laundry" because someone wet the bed. The day before it was "extra dishes" because I let the kids cook the dinner. Another day it was "extra" work for me because the kids played in the beans and rice all day. I'm beginning to realize these instances are not "extra" at all. They are our normal. They are our everyday. Perhaps it is this way with a lot of things in life. If what we think of as "extra" or going the "extra" mile can become our normal, then what a more fulfilled, more meaningful life we could lead. If my kids see donating their saved up charity $ from allowance as a normal act, not as a big extraordinary act, then giving can become a normal part of their lives. If I can see helping out the school or church or man on the corner as a normal act, then I will find bigger even more meaningful things to become my extraordinary acts. And at home, if I begin to see "extra" laundry and dishes and "extra" time spent with the kids as my norm, as my "how it is supposed to be as a stay-at-home mom", then how many piddly arguments could I be avoiding with my husband and bad moods could I be avoiding for myself. After all, life is not June Cleaver and the Waltons. Life is kids blowing their noses on your curtains, forgetting to flush the toilet, and wetting the bed. The sooner this becomes a mom's norm, the sooner she will be happy. Thank you God for my "normal" extraordinary life. And thank you for letting me share it with some friends who just happened to stop in tonight on one of our "normal" yet extraordinary evenings of home construction, homework, quick dinner, smelly kids getting home from soccer, tired kids being crabby and a mom who never had a chance to put a bra on today.