Can't Have It All
I've been feeling like a wimp since I started working full-time. I've been so tired lately. I'm tired at work. I'm tired at home. I don't want to do anything other than lay on the couch. Don't want to make supper. Don't want to do dishes. Don't want to chase after Abby. All I can think is that lots of women work full-time and raise kids - what's wrong with me? Then I was talking to my mom about this and telling her about how I've been feeling. My mom said she doesn't know how moms who work full time can do it. That made me feel better. Maybe all those moms have housekeepers, or really dirty houses. Or just tired all the time. As for me and my house - it's still a mess.
So that was the plan for today. Mark was going ice fishing which would give me an opportunity to vacuum, wash the dishes, wash the floors, wipe down the window sills, clean the bathtub, and the toilet and put away all the loose paper that have been piling up. Yep, that was the plan. Instead, Abby and I went along with Mark to my friend's house at the lake and her husband and friend went fishing with Mark and we hung put. I had a great time. And you know what? The house is still a mess. Guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow!
Comments
Cleaning your house while you have young children is like shovelling the sidewalk in the middle of a blizzard
and
You have a lifetime to work (clean) but children are only young once.
Also, I stay at home and my house is seldom clean. When she is older, Abby will not remember whether you had a perfect house or not, she will remember the special times that you had with her (like today)
And, if it is still important to you, I have found that trying to do just 10-15 minutes a day tends to keep the house semi-decent (especially if you can get your husband to throw in 10-15 min as well)
That being said, I've also had many difficult moments of wondering how my mother in law did it (full time job and two boys), comparing myself to other moms in a wide variety of settings, feeling bad about the different messes in our house, and then feeling too tired to do anything about it at all AND for extended periods of time. And it all boiled to a point where I realized that it's just not that important to have it spic-and-span ALL the time. We live in our house, it's not a show house.
For that matter, I'm glad to hear you went out and had a good time. The cleaning will get done, but those moments are uniquely their own and happen those ways only once.
AND... you don't have to be supermom--talk to the hubby about your feelings and see if he can help in other ways, try cleaning in little spurts like Tanya suggested (I know we never do ALL of the house cleaning on one day--one major thing gets done every so often so that it cycles around), and then maybe learn to be okay with a less-than-stellar house because it is just more important to be soaking in life rather than scrubbing it. =)