I cannot do everything. ugh. I hate admitting that. I like to pretend that I wear this SuperMom cape that leaps mountains with a single bound, but really, I’m just sort of skirting around them.
Hey, guess what? I’m human. I can’t spin the world on my pinky. I can’t be a working mother & desperate housewife all at the same time. (also, sometimes I fart. it’s a true story, but don’t tell Nate) I cannot be full-time at everything I do. No matter how hard I resist that fact. The other Type-A OCD folks reading this are nodding their heads. They know what it’s like to be unable to say “no,” to place boundaries & limits on yourself.
Something has to give. I feel stretched to the max. But what can you give up when you love all of it AND all of it is a priority?
- motherhood
- marriage
- career work
- blog, aka “me” time
- housework
- life in general
It’s just…TIME. TIME IS THE ENEMY, PEOPLE. Seriously, BAD IDEA to only put 24 hours in a day. Who did that? Ben Franklin, was it you? We’re going to HAVE WORDS.
oh, it was you, God? Never mind then. 24 hors is PERFECT. ::awkward pause::
Here’s where I’m struggling this week. ALWAYS struggling – how to fit it all in.
I’ve tried outsourcing my housekeeping. For a few weeks, it was glorious. Then they got lazy. They broke a vase, didn’t clean the desk, stove, & stole my sedatives.
side note in case said housekeepers are reading: YOU STOLE TWO PILLS. When there were only 3 1/2 in there. You should have taken the entire bottle so I would have been all I’M THE IDIOT THAT LOSES PRESCRIPTIONS. Not to mention, that’s only enough to put you out for like, 8 hours MAX.
Not a great experience. I just don’t feel comfortable handing strangers a key to my house & leaving them there for hours while I’m at work. & I hated forking over the cash for something I am still physically capable of doing myself. So that convenience flew right out the window, but it also leaves me with a dirty house – do I sacrifice weekend time to clean in one swoop, or do I sacrifice time in the evenings to clean slowly? Nate helps, of course, but he needs a break after work, too.
Do I take one room at a time per day? One task per day? I pondered this when I was pregnant, wondering how it would all pan out. & I STILL DON’T HAVE IT FIGURED OUT.
Maybe I need to give Fly Lady another chance. But honestly? She stresses me out. Rules about shining your sink?! I just need to get the damn dishes OUT OF THE SINK first. In my head, it works out perfectly – we get home, we play with Harrison & put him to bed. That actually happen per routine every night. Where it falls apart is AFTER Harry is in bed – typically, we grab a quick microwave-heated dinner, then I sit down to blog while Nate peruses his golf boards in quiet happiness. I should plow through a cleaning task, a load of laundry, & work in the yard. I should go for a run & cook a nutritious dinner & make baby food. But I don’t. I collapse at my desk, trying to unwind for an hour before it’s time to get ready for bed & tussle with the husband.
& honestly, I feel like if I cram in all the things I “should” do, then I really will become a desperate housewife who does nothing but work & keep house with no sense of self or individual hobby. (because unfortunately, working out is so not a hobby or “me time.” that’s like saying going to the dentist is “me time.”)
Note to self: make dental appointment.
So, what works for you?
I know I’ve asked this before. But I’m going to keep asking & keep trying different things until they work.
Do you clean in one swoop on the weekends? Does your husband help or does he watch the baby while you clean? If he helps, what do you do with the baby?
Or do you clean here & there on the weekdays with specific tasks? Or specific rooms assigned? I’m kind of thinking of doing one room per night.
Or MAYBE (& this is where I spin off into a thousand different directions, so stay with me), I create a very specific weekday schedule.
Monday: Harry, dinner, bathrooms, laundry.
Tuesday: Harry, dinner, workout, NO BLOG, dust/mop downstairs.
Wednesday: Harry, dinner, kitchen, blog.
Thursday: Harry, dinner, PPD Support group, wee blogging.
Friday: Harry, work out, Date Night In with Nate, NO BLOG. NO HOUSEWORK.
& then clean the rest & garden & yard work on Saturday? ::sigh:: I don’t know. I do know, however, that Tuesday & Friday nights are officially becoming NO BLOG nights. No blogging, no answering emails. The blog is to me what Nate’s golf boards are to him – relaxing, a wind-down. But I’m going to have to give it up on an every night basis to do what needs to be done. & that’s a good thing.
Also, has anyone kept a big cooler in their trunk for cold goods so you can grocery shop on your lunch break? Does that work, or do people think you’re hiding a body?
Almost seven months in, & I am nowhere near figuring out this whole mom-schedule thing.
