I spent much of the morning in Katrina's room, helping her rearrange some of the furniture and cleaning everything. It looks so nice in there. So open and uncluttered. I find that I keep wandering away from what I am supposed to be doing back in there - just to sit in the ONLY clean room in the house. It's just nice and peaceful.
This is my kitchen when it is picked up and clean. (at least it is clean by my (fairly low) standards) This is how I LIKE it and how I WANT it to be!
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| I finally took a picture one day after I got the kitchen clean - so I would have evidence that it DID get done! |
I remember all too clearly, one particular day, a few months ago, when I worked my tail off ALL DAY long. When I went to bed (exhausted) that night, EVERY ROOM in the house was picked up, vacuumed or mopped, toilets clean, windows washed, etc... The whole house,
all at one time - WAS CLEAN! I was THRILLED!
The very next day???????????
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| here's the kitchen - in all it's messiness |
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| the front room: complete with jackets, broom, mop, vacuum, cushions off chair, and some kind of leaf concoction all over the floor... |
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| entry way/stairs - kids backpacks, 1/2 eaten apple, balloon, poster board from school project... |
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| main bath... a book, shoes, a coat, sink full of water with rocks soaking in it, water all over counter and floor, hairbrush, towel on sink... |
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| Trina's room - MESS |
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| Kitchen floor - mess |
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I have more pictures, one of every room in the house, in fact. EVERY ROOM (literally) in the house had stuff on the floor. I was so so SO frustrated. I took pictures to prove that is isn't just that I NEVER EVER clean... it's the fact that no matter how much good I accomplish - my four darling children - whom I love dearly (sometimes I just don't like them very much) can UNDO it WAY faster than I can EVER keep up!
OK - thanks for listening to me gripe. I think I'll go back into Katrina's room to get myself centered again, then pick another room to tackle before it's time to make dinner. Maybe tonight I can go to bed with TWO clean rooms!
P.S. (added at bedtime.) Katrina's room is still clean (with a small effort after 2 of her friends came over to play this afternoon, one of whom is the dress up queen), front room and stairs are done, and kitchen is about 98% done. Not too shabby for as hopeless as I was feeling
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5 comments:
Oh my goodness. Those pictures really tell a story, don't they?
The only time I ever heard my mom swear was one time when she was lecturing us about how we weren't ever cleaning up after ourselves and she was "d***" tired of it.
After seeing this, I can see a little of where she was coming from.
(As it turned out, she shocked herself so much by swearing that she stopped mid-lecture and went upstairs, and we got off scott free that time.)
make sure your kids do lots of chores! I find that most people don't expect a lot from kids because they are young, but they can do so much, and picking up after themselves is HUGE... Meliah cleans our bathroom every Saturday and tidy's it at least once a week. She is great at it.
My latest endeavor is having the kids push their chair in after supper! Lost cause so far!
Jeri, I feel for you. And with you. Daily. It is infuriating the way even good kids, whom we love more than anything, can cause even the most saintly of mothers to swear. :-)
Just out of curiosity, do you have a chore system for your kids that isn't working? I'm thinking about changing mine to a "zone system," where each kid is responsible for a room or zone each week, that has to be cleaned up each day before dinner, or maybe before bed. I'm not holding my breath that this will work, but it's about time to try something new at our house.
By the way, I think it's awesome that you took these before and after pictures! I'm sure it's small consolation now, but think of how much fun it will be to pull these pictures out when your adult children are frustrated with how messy your grandchildren are. :-)
You are not alone ...
Just tie a rope around your waist so you can always find your way back to a central location when the piles get too high. :)
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