Friday, January 28, 2011

Getting IT together

We have three children. And a puppy. Thankfully, the dog is the least of my concerns... Bella is a sweet girl who always waits to do her business outside, keeps my kitchen and dining room floors immaculate, loves playing around and shimmies herself under our bed when she's done with the kids' natural rough-housing. When she emerges from her hiding place, she leaps onto my husband's or my lap, puts her front paws around our necks and nuzzles us all over. With William, she actually tries to sneak in gnawing on his goatee. It's cute. Like I said, she doesn't make any more work for me, a stark contrast to my first expectations.

But the children? Ohhhhhh- those children. It's a good thing they're adorable. I know how to do all kinds of things because of their mischief- namely, Grayson's mischief. You know how our parents always told us, as children, that they hope we have children just like us? Grayson is that child. x6! He has a rather impressive list of misdeeds... fortunately, the nearly 3-year phase of flushing miscellaneous items down the toilet has ended. This Mama has had her fair share of removing the toilet from its base and snaking, hooking or just plain STABBING things out of the sharp curve at the top.

The very first time, I was horrified. I will never forget the first "haul" of goods from the toilet... a mini Disney princess Barbie, 2 child-sized toothbrushes, a skeleton key, a wad of cotton balls and a Thomas train engine. I am very much a DIY-er and knew that this would probably be an ongoing issue. Thank goodness for Youtube tutorials! I learned how to shut off the water supply line, flush/plunge/soak up all the water I could out of the tank and bowl, disconnect the water supply line, remove the flange bolts and lift the entire toilet *straight up* and gently set it into the tub, how to remove all the disgusting wax ring gunk from the base and bottom of the toilet, dig out all the items and reset and connect it all back together. I've done this dozens of times... so much so that I could probably win a Nascar-style toilet removal/replacement race. I have no hesitation anymore.

Grayson just has peculiar (ie boy-like) ideas. His sisters love to knock over his block towers. What did he do to resolve this issue?

Yes- that IS a block tower with peanut butter adhesive. <sigh> What can I say? The boy loves his peanut butter...


 My hands weren't full- they were overflowing!

Fortunately, he's past all of that now. Mostly. Our youngest child, a girl, soaked up a lot of "inspiration" from Grayson. But they still get into things and make messes. I can never seem to keep more than one floor tidy at a time anymore. As much as I want to sew and dabble in whatever my ideas are at that moment, I'm always sucked into an endless whirl of cleaning. And let's not get into the laundry issue... I stopped folding years ago. With as much as they pull their things out and put them back in, there's no point. I divide the clean laundry into a stack for each person, then divide those into socks/underwear, jammies, tops and bottoms and hope they all fit when I shove them in! lol

But I really need a way to get IT together. IT being, of course, that even balance of providing a clean home, wholesome meals and clean clothes while making time to read to the children, bake with them, teach them to be responsible for their home and belongings - did I mention that I also watch a 2.5 year-old boy during the school year as well? - take trips out and about and still... make time for what I need. Alone.

So I've made a schedule and postage-taped it, with every edge sealed down, on the front of the fridge so I can't tear it off in frustration. ;)


It's hilarious, isn't it? But it's my goal... and even if I substitute activities, ignore them all together or can't keep up, I can look - at any given time - and know what needs to be done. I can catch up or call the day a wash and do better tomorrow. I know what I need to do to keep the house, meals, children and husband TOGETHER enough to give me the freedom to do what I need for me.

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I did fail, however, in making time to water my plants. This is how to dry herbs, Mariel-style.
No matter how much I try, I can't keep any plants alive in this house. Well, except for the plant that hangs over our kitchen sink... that sucker's been alive for a year and a half, shockingly, and I've periodically checked to remind myself that it isn't actually silk. lol

(It's the one hanging behind my head, on the day that I accidentally killed the lobsters before cooking them.)


 Thank God that He takes care of my outside garden and makes it fruitful, despite my [admittedly rare] interference.

4 comments:

  1. HA! It really is... not that I stick to it strictly or anything. ;) It's kind of like a recipe- I can stick to the important ingredients and the method but if I don't have *everything* on the list or want something a little different, I can fudge it. It's been about a week and it IS working, thus far. :D

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  2. I didn't know you had a blog! After the day outlined in that schedule, I'd be ready for bed by 7:30 myself. heh.

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  3. I started it at the end of last summer but I wasn't really feeling it... kind of lost about where to go with it. Now? I just need an outlet and it'll go where it goes. Obviously. :P

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  4. It, it, it, it... I'm definitely ready for bed now. lol

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