I have been trying again to catch up with my "housework"; cleaning out junk, washing dishes, wiping counter tops, sweeping the floor... You know, the stuff that we're always doing but never stays done? I still, on rare occasion, have that old dream of a perfect house; everything in its place, no cobwebs hanging in the corners, freshly swept floors, well behaved children playing happily, the aroma of freshed baked apple pie filling the house... Then I wake up and realize the sink is full of dirty dishes and my husband is out of clean socks again. Are there really women out there who have it so together that they can keep a houseful of children clean and neat and still have dinner on the table at the same time every night and a never-empty cookie jar on the counter? I was told years ago that doing housework while children are in the home is like "stringing beads without a knot in the end of the rope". I don't want my family to disappear (although that is slowly occuring) I just want the mess to go away. I want to "have my cake and eat it too".
Maybe I'm just starting to panic because school, along with winter and babysitting, is looming in the very near future...!!! "Take a deep breath... Okay, now sit down and read a good book..."
Sounds familiar. Perhaps that is why I feel a strange satisfaction in cleaning someone else's house. To me...it "stays that way" (even though it probably really doesn't).
ReplyDeleteA long time ago, in a far away place, (read: when I was young). I use to get fussy about my house never staying clean. My mom's house was always neat and orderly. I felt like such a failure. Then I realized, I was a lot happier than she was! There is no perfect world. :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes it is me that wants everything perfect and other times I just feel some outside pressure to have it that way. What I really want to do is leave it all behind and go away for the day.
ReplyDeleteyeaa... I remember the days when I would think that i would just love to leave this all behind and then reality would hit and I was still inside the same four walls. My dream was to excape to Libby,MT 'cause they had bears there and no one would follow me !!
ReplyDeleteYou're funny. I guess this is nothing new. Even King David wanted to escape.
ReplyDeleteSo I said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
Indeed, I would wander far off,
And remain in the wilderness.
Psalm 55:6-7
Your story sounds very familiar. I think the majority of women with children experience the runaround of cleaning, only to have it not be clean because someone was busy messing things up again. Pop in on someone unexpected and you'll see how things really look...not me please. Lol!
ReplyDeleteoh this post is to funny....and to familiar....LOL! I just wrote about my weekend and it involved cleaning..LOL!
ReplyDeletemaybe it is in the air.... kids going back to school and schedules getting back to a steady pace.
but my "happy" place would be alaska(in the summer).
I've known women who could do it all but they didn't have happy families. I only have the kids here two or three days a week and I can't keep everything caught up. Summer does seem to be slipping away......
ReplyDeleteOOOOOHHHHH,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are not kidding, because i think that you are important as a person , perhaps you are joking and if so: You are best when you feel OK!!!
I know so much what you mean, but think about YOU yourself also Martha....
Stay as you are, but with your rules that you are also happy, you are a person also right??
:) JoAnn
Apple has a great saying on her wall...."My house is clean enough to be healthy but messy enough to be happy." It's OK to never been done because you take the time to enjoy your family. I doubt your kids would ever remince about how tidy the kitchen was even it it was perfect all the time. They will all talk about all the fun they had growing up and the memories you are making with them. Don't worry about getting it all done, all at the same time!
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me how quickly the house gets messy and dirty. And I live alone!
ReplyDeleteWomen with kids and women with just husbands always have lots of cleaning to do! (Just wait till I have kids too!)
ReplyDelete