Monday, January 24, 2011

Is There Ever Enough Time?

Do you ever just feel like there is no where near enough time to get it all done?

Surely I cannot be the only one....can I???

Between work (which I'm realizing "working part time" is an oxymoron! I think I do something for work just about every day, whether it's checking my email, taking calls, working on reports, reviewing cases, it can really be non-stop....with a part-time pay check! Yeah, something's seriously wrong with that picture!), raising a toddler, being a wife, keeping up with the day to day requirements of a house hold, there just.isn't.enough.time.

In order to get a handle on the laundry, I have to devote an entire day to it. Well, that means everything else falls behind. If I neglect the laundry for a few days to catch up on other stuff, it gets outta control - fast! If I go without cleaning the kitchen after breakfast and lunch just one time, it can quickly look like a tornado touched down in the middle of my kitchen.

And other tasks that aren't part of the day to day ins and outs, like organizing the filing cabinet, cleaning up the junk, uh I mean guest room, cleaning up the garage.... You can forget about those things unless you're prepared to lose all control of the house!

I just can't ever get a handle on everything!

Could it be that between running meetings with parents, playing hide'n'seek with my 15 month old, trying to prevent dirty socks from overtaking the house, that I just don't have the energy needed.....

I will say that I am VERY blessed to have a hubby who jumps right in. He cleans bathrooms, does laundry, cooks, baths Tucker, vacuums, etc. after working all day long and driving an hour one way. Very blessed. I couldn't imagine where I (or Tucker or our house) would be without him.

And STILL we are never on top of things! How does that happen?

I have to be honest with you.... I've just given up.

When I was growing up, my Mom used to have a sign in the kitchen that read, "There will be years for cleaning and cooking, For children grow up while you're not looking."

If more time playing with Tucker means other areas suffer a little (or a lot!), then so be it. I don't want to look back and remember, "Wow, I did a fantastic job at keeping up with the house work. Wes always had a pair of clean dress socks."

I want to look back and remember Tucker's laugh when I find him hiding in his bedroom closet, the look he gets in his eye right before he knocks over the tower of blocks I built, the way he runs around doing his victory dance after a slam dunk, the way he takes in every word I say when we read his favorite books, how he attempts to 'scare' me with his toy bugs, how he loves to dance, and his sweet kisses and 'squeezes'! Those alone are enough to never do housework again!

Yes, that's what I want to remember.

In the meantime....

You know those little fairies that come and clean while you're gone or have been sleeping? You know the ones that wash, dry AND fold laundry, unload the dishwasher before the sink is full of dirty dishes patiently awaiting their turn, dust before the dust bunnies have taken up residence?

Yeah, I don't know those fairies either.... But, if you ever do meet them, PLEASE send them my way!

In the meantime, Tucker and I will be cooking in his kitchen and making balls out of play-dough on the kitchen floor!

1 comment:

Mama Perks said...

Amen sister. Thanks for this reminder as I frantically tear through my house to prepare for Baby Marshall! I couldn't agree more with the quote you shared...we know just how quickly our boys are growing up-here's to hoping we forget about the laundry and remember those silly little laughs-always! (Well not always-bc I'm sure our hubbies will request clean underwear at some point!)