It's Saturday afternoon. I've cooked two meals already and am procrastinating on starting meal number three. I've washed 4 drainboards of dishes, done 3 of several loads of laundry, swept and washed the kitchen floor, mowed the front and back lawn, and hauled the garbage to the dump. My husband picked up all the clutter in the living room, kitchen and hallway, (now I feel compelled to vacuum and dust before the clutter migrates back) and washed the grubbiest of the walls in the kitchen and the cabinets.
I find myself sitting here contemplating the fact that Saturdays are always like this around here. I spend my days off cleaning the house. And I go back to work Monday morning feeling unrested and unrefreshed.
So, I've decided to adopt an anthem, because every time I hear it, it makes me smile. This song just speaks to me! It's Rebecca Lynn Howard's "I need a vacation". I don't know how to embed a youtube video, so I'm just copying the link for you to click on. It's a silly video compilation, so ignore the clips, just focus on the lyrics and enjoy! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj7nmXus-kE
I'm interested in hearing how other Working Outside of the Home Parents juggle the 9-5 schedule with domesticity? Cause right now, it ain't working...
4 comments:
I don't know how I would do it if I worked full time. It's difficult enough working part time (mornings). It was a LOT easier working full time when we were both working full time and had one kid in a day home. That meant that whatever state the house was in when I left for the day, that's what I came home to. A fair bit can happen in the 4 hours I'm away in the morning. I don't always have the energy to keep it as tidy as I'd like on a regular basis, but I can't imagine what we'd live like if I worked full time!
I started a laundry schedule (usually about 2 loads a day to keep on top of things) and it's helped a lot. I think I will be making a chore schedule with the couple of cleaning tasks I need to do each day, which hopefully will help.
I hope I'm not deceiving myself when I think by having more space when we move next month, I'll be able to have better, more accessible, easier storage for stuff and so things will get put away (at least by me) more regularly.
That's the key, I think! My co-workers with kids in daycare seem to have it much more together. My family is CONSTANTLY at home, so there's no reprieve unless we go on vacation.
Everything is constantly in the process of getting dirty.
Good luck with your move! I sometimes think a bigger house would help, but then I think, nah, more surface areas to clean! :)
The laundry schedule is a good idea, as is the chore list, but I abandoned both of those pretty quickly upon returning to work. Just too tired after the kids go to bed to care... plus it apparently was invisible to the other members of the family. :P
I think too that having your kids underfoot (or in this case, under Cory's feet) all day is hard on the house...the wear-and-tear is crazy. My house is an on-going downhill slide towards chaos.....
Please pick that up
Where does that go
That does not belong...
Did you put ... away....
I need a tape I can just play all day, every day,over and over again.
It is a lot of work to get my kids to clean up after themselves....almost more than me just doing it. Since I never get to play with the barbies though, I make them clean them up, just on principle.
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