We are in full blown, sell-this-house-before-the-tax-credit-ends mode over here. To say the least, it’s stressful, overwhelming, and just a bit sad. We’ve been in the house for almost six years. Six long and wonderful years. We conceived our son here. We’ve raised him for the past two years here. We became a family here.

For the last three weeks we’ve painted rooms, replaced light fixtures, fixed wooden window blinds. Organized our life, and thrown out half of it. We’ve cleaned. Or Lord have we cleaned. All for the official unveiling of our house to the Realtor, and soon to potential buyers. It’s been an exercise of reducing, limiting, organizing and prioritizing. What is more important, these 16 partially color pictures of Elmo (most of the coloring done by me) or a tidy fridge? The fridge wins.

But it’s also been an exercise in reducing the clutter in our lives, not just our material possessions. Realizing that sometimes, to move forward in life, you have to let some things go. It’s almost always sad to see these things go, but in the end, it’s necessary to move on, to grow and to forget. As a stay-at-home mom, I tend to want to do it all, go to each and every playgroup, gathering, outing and craft event. I want to participate in everything. Be everywhere. Not let anyone down. And of course look good while doing it all.

Tossing bits and pieces of my life in the trash has me a little sentimental and reflective. It’s made me realize that I’ve collected a lot in my life, and a lot of it has gathered dust. I’d like to change that. To focus more on what is important. To do what only I can do. And to do it with all of my heart and soul.

My goals in life are changing, for the better. I need to focus more on the kiddo. Teaching him. Guiding him. Loving him. Giving him my full attention instead of a million thoughts pulling me in a million directions. I’m not going to worry about missing a playdate, because of the possibility that a mom and her kid may be there, and I’d really like to get to know them better. Some days, it’s just better to stay at home, to recharge your body, heart and soul, than to just push and push until you melt into a pile of mush at the end of the day. Plus, during those days at home, some pretty mean chocolate chip cookies are made.

So here’s to new beginnings. To a new, simplified, stay-at-home-mom happiness.

How would you change your life, your priorities, if you were going through a major cleaning?

It has been a crazy roller coaster ride these last few weeks. After months of going back and forth, trying to settle into our new one-income lifestyle and debating over the perils of selling a house right now, we’ve finally decided. We are selling out house! Phew, it feels good to get that off my chest. I’m pretty sure that by putting it out there, we’ll have much luck selling our house quickly, for the price we want. Right? That’s they way it works, isn’t it?

Anywhoo, I won’t bore you with all of the nitty gritty details of getting the house ready to sell. The weekends of painting, replacing and fixing. All of these small things that we didn’t bother to update before, but now that we’re ready to leave the house, it’s somehow vital that it be done. There’s some backwards logic in there someplace.

Anywhoo (yes, again), we’ve gone over budget this month. It was bound to happen, with our 15,000 trips to Menards and The Home Depot. Two cans of paint, three light fixtures, miscellaneous parts, shelves, and maybe a Blizzard or two (hey, you have to stay energized). Oh yes, we have gone over budget.

No big deal, we just cut back over the next few weeks and we’ll be back on track. I figured out a creative way to stretch our food budget for another week (I may have gone a little overboard this week anyway). We’re digging into our freezer, and living out of our pantry for the next week. It will be a good exercise for us, and well, our freezer could stand to be cleaned out. I’m pretty sure that we have food growing ice castles in there.

But again, I digress. With all of the budget cuts and restraints that came up, I’m feeling those green eyes of envy lurking around every corner. Softly whispering in my ear, look at that happy couple out for a date night. Tapping me on the shoulder, look at that woman’s sassy new purse. Then just plain yelling at me, LOOK, LOOK, LOOK an iPhone!!! And You. Can’t. Have. Them. Green eyes, you can be a total “B” sometimes.

Yes, I’m going through a time full of envy. It’s something that I haven’t really encountered since I’ve been a SAHM. We just kind of made the adjustment of going from two incomes to one. The biggest challenge was not being able to save much. Other than that, I was so thrilled to be at home that I didn’t care about the rest. And now, all of a sudden, I do care. I want that date night. I want that purse. I WANT THAT IPHONE. I want. I want. I want. But I can’t have them. I hate being told that I can’t. I’m kind of like a toddler that way. Tantrums and all (can’t you just see it?).

I’m dealing, I guess. The kiddo and I are staying close to home for a while, less money spent on gas, less temptation, less chance for green eyes to find me. We’re finding activities at home to keep us entertained (baking anyone?), using the library even more (love, love, love their selection of Elmo videos). Focusing on the things that we do have: a healthy family, food in the pantry, a roof over our heads and two cuddly pugs to keep us company on those quite nights at home.

We’re keeping those green eyes at bay, but every once in a while they sneak back in. How do you deal with the green eyes?