Baby Steps

I started out in my relationship with my hubby VERY immature. I have no idea why I was so naive and selfish, but I was.
He was/is such a blessing to me, I am embarrassed to admit how awful I was towards him. He took me on lovely vacations to all sorts of beautiful places, but I got mad at him for neglecting to read my mind and do or say something I thought he should. Yeeks! He worked long and hard hours at work, bought me wonderful presents for birthdays and holidays, but I got mad at him for not being home enough. Sigh! The list goes on and on. No, he's not at all perfect - far from it. But aren't we all? Well, back then I was even farther from it. Luckily, God showed me the error of my ways before we ended up divorced.
I "found" the best book (besides the Bible) that any woman could read, and with God's help, I turned my life around. I did a complete 180 degree turn from what I was. Of course, my life up until then had been one long ride down a slippery slope, and in turning around I discovered it's quite a trek back up to where I should be. But I'm getting there.
My husband has no idea about any of this. He only knows he got to the point of hating me, and then suddenly I started to act differently, and now he's crazy about me. Am I weird not to share any of this with him? Perhaps, but that's just my style. I figure it's good enough if he's happy with me. He doesn't have to know what an effort I put into it. After all, how many women would relate the details of her beauty regimen to her husband? (Actually, I don't currently have one. This in one more thing I need to work on, I guess. So, I really have no idea. Do women share such details?)

So, I'm taking it one step at a time. At the moment, I am concentrating on my housekeeping skills and parenting skills. My house used to be a colossal wreck 24/7. Now, I am beginning to get it under control. My dishes are done regularly. My kitchen is generally clean, though the cabinets are disorganized and the floor needs some stickers removed with alcohol. My livingroom is clean, but for some reason, I'm never happy with it. I think it needs decorating. I have nothing decorative in it at all. The bedrooms are all clean except for my dresser and the boys' closet. (My sewing & art stuff is in there and needs a good home.) The only real problem areas are..
The laundry (which just needs to be kept up better),
The bathrooms (which could use a good scrubbing. They're not disgusting. They're just not as clean as I'd like them to be.)
and The Chinchilla room (which has become the de facto storage room for items with no permanent home. It also needs to be vacuumed like you wouldn't believe.)

I've been trying to train my boys to be more like their father and less like me (naturally lazy slob) by giving them daily chores to do, and rewarding them at the end of the week with a small toy. My 4 year old makes his bed, picks up toys, movies and games, gathers the stray dishes from around the house, cleans (read: scrubs) the coffee table and waters the plants. My 2 year old makes his bed, gathers the stray laundry, throws out any pieces of trash laying around, picks up toys and books and feeds the cats. It seemed like a lot the first day, but after that, they seemed to appreciate the effort it takes to keep the house clean, and have been keeping things from getting too messy to begin with. It's funny. They're actually excited to do their chores most days, and the toys they get to choose from at the end of the week are just little things, like a cup of Play-Doh, a sheet of stickers or a Matchbox car, so I know it's not the prospect of the toy that's making them want to do them. I'm very pleased with both of them. I'm a proud Mama!