For two weeks I have been doing everything I didn't have time to do when I was in school. Being little miss perfect when I get home from work. One day I even put the children's names on their lunches. Which I prepared for them. Myself. With my own two hands. Madness took over, insanity reigned. Every afternoon was an endless abyss of chores and cleaning. I must sweep. I must mop. I must disinfect, killing 99.9% of bacteria. I must wash. I must fold....... Don't misunderstand me, I LIKED it. One could even say that I loved it.
I was proving to myself that the slob I had become over the last three years was not who I really was. The person that would come home and sit on the couch like a lump of clay was not me. Not anymore. A new(old) me had emerged. One that would work all day and keep this dog-gone house absolutely spotless. NO DIRT....EVER,EVER AGAIN!!!!! NO DIRTY CLOTHES-EVER, EVER AGAIN!!!!. Never again would I be embarrassed to have company because of the shape my house was in. Never would I have the humiliation of having to keep doors closed when family members would visit. I would be proud to have anyone go in any room of my house any day, any time.
So it's been flowing like that until yesterday. Yesterday I woke up tired. I got to work and drank two cups of coffee. Nothing. A Coke at lunch. Still nothing.Still.Tired. After lunch I took an allergy pill. Surely that would perk me up a little. Nope, nothing, zero. I drank another Coke. Still.Nothing. In fact, I started to feel more tired. I still felt tired when I got home yesterday. Keri had gone over to a friend's house and Melissa was still at work. I sat on the couch. And did nothing. Absolutely, positively, NOTHING. I couldn't do anything. I didn't have the energy. Melissa comes home and asks if I made dinner. Are you kidding me?! I KNOW you are kidding me. Does it LOOK like I made dinner? No, I am sitting on the couch doing nothing. Do I look like your personal chef? Is my name Chef Boy-ar-dee? I think not.
So that's what I did yesterday. Nothing. It was marvelous. It felt great. See, the good thing about keeping the chores up is, that if I want to have a day to do nothing, that's fine. What I learned from this extremely educational situation is that I can go, and go, and go, but just like that bunny, I will eventually burn out. (That bunny does burn out eventually doesn't he?)
I need to find a healthy balance. I think it will take some practice. Just to be clear, the girls do help. Melissa washes all her own laundry, keeps her room clean, cleans her bathroom, and generally is very good about not making messes. Keri I must continually supervise, or nothing would get done. There some things that only a Mom can do right. We all know it. Even if we don't want to admit it. I would not at this point have Keri mopping floors and such. She does help with dusting and things like that.
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8 comments:
Oooh, your kids HELP. Wow!!!! I have to basically have a tantrum to get my 9yo daughter to help, even though if she doesn't help, she gets no allowance.
Congrats on being done with school! My DH just finished his grad degree after almost five years, and it's amazing. We actually may get to see each other now once in awhile. :)
Thanks for coming by my blog the other day. :) I'll be back here, too.
My youngest does very grudgingly. There is usually a pained expression on her face when I ask her to do something. Of course, she doesn't refuse but I can always tell she is not happy. I tried taking my 9 yr old's allowance. Ha! What a joke, she could care less.
Oh good lord. Getting my kids to do anything requires an act of Congress (and well, we know how they're doing). We don't do allowances yet. We're still working on some sort of a chore chart that seems fair for a 7 year old and a 3 year old. Even the twins will put toys in a bucket for me for crying out loud.
Congrats on school. I am STILL burned out from going to law school (and I graduated 11 years ago) so the thought of ever going back makes me shudder.
I have to supervise Hubby, too. I spend twice the time it would have taken me to do everything myself because I have to constantly “remind” him to finish the chore. He’ll takeout the trash, but not replace the trash bag. He’ll do the dishes, but forget to get the dishes off the table and only put whatever is in the sink in the dishwasher. Or my personal favorite, he’ll use the last paper towel to clean the kitchen counter and he’ll get the new roll out of the pantry, but he puts it on the counter next to the paper towel holder instead of ON IT!
Thanks for coming by - - I’ll definitely be back!
Matron here. The blog post you commented on was about a class full of 18 year olds. I also teach in a special adult program. Guess what I prefer? Those adult students are rock stars. My own mother hauled her single-parent self across the state to return to school with three children, 9 and under. It's heroic.
Big huge congratulations!!!!! There are no funny blog posts about my adult students, because they're way too responsible (usually :-).
Wowie, you made me tired just reading that. Ok so your not in Cali. You are young and obviously full of energy, and I hope you give your body some good veggies ( carrot juice rocks) besides all the caffiene. I know, now I sound like a grandma, I hear it all the time. The thing about cleaning is that it always always always get's dirty again. Getting kids to do their part? Right now a clean room is a prerequisite to having the car keys. I don't cook every night either. Everybody should know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.
nobody can possibly keep up that type of thing constantly.
BALANCE!
Getting your kids to help is a great idea, although you are right, there are some things only Mom can do. And, to my great disappointment, my kids (6,10,11) don't do everything JUST like I would do it. :) Oh well.
You deserve a break after all that cleaning!
Thanks for coming by and commenting!
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