This morning I walked through my kitchen and shuddered a little. I noticed caked food on the floor, hand prints all over the windows and appliances, smears all over the bar stools, incessant crumbs crunching under my feet and lightbulbs that are burned out. Not to forget the slime covering certain cupboard knobs, baseboards that need to be painted, and the plants on top of my cupboards that haven’t been dusted for eons.
And that is just the kitchen! I could elaborate describing the rest of the house but it would bore the reader and zap my energy supplies.
Apparently I went on strike…crept in this summer with my eyes wide open as child after child shattered my dream world of an ideal CLEAN living space.
In early June it hadn’t happened yet as I followed them around pointing out the troubles I saw as they gradually took over. I tried to remain calm and hopeful, even tried to work out compromises in my mind, but by the end of the month I got overtaken and pulled out the white flag. There is 1 of me and five of them and I had to surrender. I decided it is better to keep the peace and lower my standards, not to say that inside I still didn’t have an internal struggle.
I went on strike to make a point – "I can’t clean and then sit back and watch my precious efforts come unraveled anymore." And I didn’t want to freak out about it any longer sparking resentment issues in the years to come with a few certain children. It seemed to only be important to me and finally I decided that it just wasn’t worth the effort to get to enjoy it for 5 minutes!
Now that school has started the war is over and I am left here to pay penance for my silly immaturity! It might take me a full school year to reclaim what has happened around here…wish me luck!
Comments:
Magan said…
I hope you can still over look things at my house because I apparently I have surrendered too!
Wednesday, September 02, 2009 5:11:01 PM
Bruce said…
You got to be comfortable in your own house, so being Mom, you get to make the rules and teach everybody to keep things like you like them. When it comes to your personal standards of cleanliness, patience sometimes is not a virtue. Stick with your guns and slowly they will learn. Sharon taught me to be more neat and clean.
Thursday, September 03, 2009 7:00:48 PM
michelle said…
Wow-sounds familiar! If it helps, I think your home is beautiful. I keep telling myself that someday I am really going to miss all those hand prints and crumbs and sticky spots. At least it helps to think so.
Thursday, September 03, 2009 9:46:40 PM