Monday, September 19, 2011

If You Give a Mom a Mop

Every day, I am amazed at how little I get done.  Seriously. It amazes me as it seems I am always trying to get stuff done.

There are times when I go to bed so stinkin' frustrated because not only did I not manage to cross everything off my "to-do" list, I can't even find the stinkin' list anymore.

I ask myself "Self?  Where did your day go? What did you do?  Sure, you have 4 kids, you homeschool, you try to have a life. But, seriously?  The floors are still dirty?" 

Today, I decided to seriously evaluate where my time goes.  And, if I am to be honest, a bigger portion than I thought goes to the internet. Blogging (cough, cough.Ok. Reading blogs), facebook, couponing websites, and a big chunk of the big portion of internet time goes to my kids' school program. 

But, in theory, I still have plenty of time to get my other chores done.
Did you catch that? In theory. 

For example, I did try to get all my floors mopped/ vacuumed today.  We only have a one bath, three bedroom home. Shouldn't be a problem, right.
First, I try to tackle the living room.  This is what happened: 
  • Picked up all toys, shoes, clothing, DVDs and other various random articles off of the floor. 
  • Got out the broom. 
  • Got called away to help Josie find page 1 in her text book. Yes. Page ONE. 
  • On way back to living room, notice cobwebs in hallway. 
  • Search closet for duster. 
  • Spill Easter baskets full of plastic eggs. 
  • Eggs scatter everywhere. 
  • Spend 5 minutes picking up eggs and questioning why I keep them in the first place. 
  • Get asked to help Jayce with his vocab test. 
  • On way back to living room, again, notice the time. I have approx. 30 minutes until Jeven will be home. 
  • Panic. 
  • Sweep living room floor. Take cushions off couch to vac the couch. 
  • Spend 5 minutes collecting hot wheels, markers, LPS and various other objects one might find in a toy box, not a couch. 
  • Vacuum couch and corners of living room floor. 
  • Get asked to help Josie with her math. 
  • Spend 20 minutes discussing why she must do all 10 problems and not skip them. 
  • Get Jeven off school bus. 
  • Immediately try to distract Jeven from jumping on the cushionless couch. 
  • Make lunch.
  • Clean up lunch. 
  • Find something entertaining for Jeven to do. Involves paint. 
  • Put cushions back on couch. 
  • Decide sweeping is almost the same as mopping. 
  • Clean up paint Jeven has dripped down the hallway. 
  • Notice Jeven has paint in his ears. 
  • Spend 7 minutes arguing with Jeven as to why he will be taking a shower and not a bath. 
  • Help Josie with her science chart. 
  • Help Jayce with his grammar assignment. 
  • Decide Jeven must take a nap. 
  • Finish up school with big kids. 
  • Jeven awake. (JOY)
  • Jarrett home. 
  • Grocery shopping. 
  • Dinner
  • Clean up after dinner. 
  • Receive phone call friend's dad died. 
  • Call friend. 
  • Cry. 
  • Put kids to bed. 
  • Veg in front of t.v. 
  • Realize the living room floor is the only floor in the house that got any attention. 
  • Realize that is not true. I wiped the hallway with a paper towel when Jeven dripped paint down it. 
  • Realize life is short. My floors will always be dirty. I will always have cobwebs.  I will forever be fixing some sort of meal for my family.  However, I will not always have a 5 yr. old to spread paint. I am doing my kids a huge favor by schooling them at home. It's just some days, some days seem pointless and never ending at the same time.  I guess it's all about perspective.

3 comments:

  1. Great post! I sure remember those days!

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  2. I find my mind scattered now days too. I'm a list maker though and that helps. But you're right, the house will always need cleaning but our kids are only little once.

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  3. My life is like this all the time Jackie! LOL--and Roy is home all day now for the last several months due to an on the job injury so I clean up after five including the dog. My list hardly ever gets done.

    Shari

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