busy days and a model mother

This past week has been pretty busy at our house. We've all had to be places one day or another, and it's been my job a few hours most of them to try to keep order in the house.... I have had a good chance to see my housekeeping shortcomings! If the boys are kept in line, the house is tidy but not like Mom would have kept it. Maybe there's plenty of laundry left in the laundry room, or only some of the dishes are done. Or, if the house is clean and kept up, then I find out the boys have been up to something they shouldn't have been up to! Mom, you have a big job! I hope I get better at this as the summer goes on. I'm blessed with a wonderful mother who manages to keep the house clean, the laundry done, the boys in line, and get everyone where they need to be, and she does it while making me feel very happy to be here :-). She's still my best friend, and we talk and laugh constantly. I love being in the kitchen with her, cooking and talking and listening to music. The boys are fun to be around (mostly, haha, they are twelve and sixteen!) and a change from living in a building full of girls. It's nice to be with lots of girls, but after growing up with these boys, I'm glad to have them back for a while. They're funnier and less dramatic than a dorm hall ;-) and they have sooo much energy!
Anyway, I've happily still managed to ride Charise again, have fun cooking in the kitchen while Mom is gone and testing my improvising skills (fun!), and finish a book. I read Gene Stratton-Porter's The Keeper of the Bees, which was wonderful :) I love anything by her. I love old-fashioned books so much! They're full of simple, good lives that are very refreshing to me to read.
Tomorrow I work until two, and then it's time to work on dinner and birthday plans, etc. I think it will be a fun day :) I will try tomorrow to work on being a domestic goddess... but you know, I always like the barn too much to truly be a domestic goddess, so maybe I'll just try for being helpful :-)