The housing market has definitely rebounded and that can be seen quite easily from the window of my office at my house. There’s new construction and already built houses being sold. It’s wonderful to see.

Lately, I’ve become a bit interested in some of the houses that are currently for sale in my neighborhood. I’ve taken to the web to find out about these houses, to see how much they’re selling for and what the insides look like. What I’m finding is quite shocking especially considering the fact that we’re a neighborhood of houses for families, people with children much like us.

A lot of these families have working moms, but the majority are stay-at-home moms, like me, which leads me to wonder what exactly am I doing wrong with the up keep of our house? I imagine that some of these homes are “done up” to look good in the pictures, but I really think these other moms are just doing a more kick butt job than me.

I see pictures of houses that have children living in them, with fancy furniture, sparkling floors, beautiful paint schemes and designer bedrooms. They’re bright, non-cluttered, airy, and inviting. I look at our house and I see Romper Room on crack. We have toys everywhere, a hardwood floor that constantly stays dirty (even if I mop it everyday, which I do), walls and doors that are scuffed, stains on furniture and handprints on windows, the refrigerator, the cabinets, basically anywhere Davey can touch.

My husband and I look at our family room and sigh on a regular basis. He said to me last week, “do you remember when we had nice things?”

Me: “Nope. It seems like it’s been so long ago and that we’re living in a constant state of squalor.”

My husband: “Maybe one day we can become grown-ups again and have a nice house.”

Me: “Probably not for 18 plus years.”

We’ve actually already picked out the new paint schemes, the new furniture, the potential remodeling of the house, knocking down walls, and adding on new rooms. I just wonder if we’ll ever get to the point of having the nice house again.

Are we the only ones living in a perpetual state of disorder and chaos?