I am overwhelmed. “Why?” you ask. Well, to start, my house is literally a pig sty. Seriously, we are living in filth. And I am frustrated that it’s so totally nasty in here. “Well, why don’t you just clean up?” you say. My answer to that is this: I don’t know how to clean with three screaming kids under my feet. I really don’t. I am a person who gets overwhelmed easily. Too much noise stresses me out. I can’t have a conversation if music is too loud. TV commercials make me feel like I need a dark, padded room to escape to. And crying kids make me crazy. I just don’t handle too many sounds meshing together very well. And for me to concentrate on a task, I need some peace and quiet. Thus, my severe issue with cleaning. I just can’t get my house cleaned with the kids around. Vacuuming is fine and I can clean the occasional bathroom. Dishes are okay, though not easy, and getting dirty laundry into the washer is pretty basic. However, getting said laundry out of the washer, into the dryer, folded and put away is not my strong suit. I blame it on the basement laundry – I don’t know what I’ll do when we live in a house with a first floor laundry. Mopping – pretty much out of the question unless I can have a few solid hours of no kids. Which leads me to this post. I don’t remember the last time I mopped my house. There-I said it. Here is a picture of what my pile of dirt looked like after sweeping the kitchen last night.
“Not too bad,” you say. Well, thanks, but the picture doesn’t do it justice – there was a crapload (pardon my french) of dirt and that was just the kitchen pile. That was not the piles from the other three rooms I swept and I didn’t even get to the bathrooms or our bedroom. Combine all the dirt in our house together and I think we could re-landscape the front yard.
What were the kids doing while I swept? Well, the older two were actually, miraculously, playing together in the basement. Although Tia ended up wetting her pants for the umpteenth time. I think she’s digressing in potty training. Landon sat in his high chair and screamed his head off as I frantically swept, feeling like crying the whole time myself. 
Lee, trying to be so helpful, got a bunch of laundry out and started folding and putting it all away. What I really wanted him to do was hold Landon so he would stop crying. But that’s the difference between men and women isn’t it? A crying baby does not phase Lee. He just tunes it out. I, however, literally feel like I’m going insane. I ended up grabbing Landon and holding him while I ran the vacuum through the house, at least getting some of that nasty dirt up off the floor. But then I couldn’t get the vaccuum back into the closet because it looked like this: So I just left it sitting in the hallway.
I ended up with a massive migraine. I think my brain was swelling in an attempt to break away from the craziness of overload. So I went to bed early with visions of dirty floors plaguing me all night long. And now I am awake, still with a headache and still with dirty floors. What will I do today? Probably go somewhere to escape the mess. Out of sight out of mind right? In other news, we’ve had tons of fun the last few days, though that’s what’s contributed to my messy house and headache. Lots of playtime at the park with friends, plus a trip to Six Flags water park for me and the big kids (so fun!), plus a trip to the Zoo yesterday, combined with Lee being out of town for the weekend makes for one tired mama. So, I’m off to start another day, but I think it shall be a little more low key because I need a break from all the fun!
I totally feel your pain. I might have been lying when I called my floor “sanitary” in my cooking post yesterday.
My solution is this: I make a list of everything that needs done for the week, which gets added to all the time. I feel better about it all though, because there are things that get crossed off the list. And I’ve just come to accept the fact that my house will not all be clean at the same time…one thing gets done, and I just have to be OK with that.
You’re not the only one feeling this way! I know that doesn’t get your floor mopped, but it hopefully makes you feel less like you’re the only one.
You poor thing. My heart goes out to you. I remember those days of vacuuming with a baby in my arms (both of my girls were afraid of the vacuum noise) and trying to stay on top of just the basics of keeping the house clean.
Do you have a trusted sitter nearby? With school out for the summer could you have a sitter come by for a couple of hours once a week to play with your littles and tend to their needs while you address the house needs? Just knowing that you had a regular scheduled time where you could get some things done might reduce the stress considerably the rest of the week.
well i feel a lot better after reading your blog, even if you don’t 🙂 i often feel the exact same way, husband wise & everything! how can anyone do it all? & if you can’t do it all, how can you deal with what doesn’t get done? these are the deep questions that plague my existence these days – glad i’m not the only one!
thanks being so honest… again!
Hey Kelli there you are, haven’t heard from you on my blog or seen a new post of your own in awhile. We all have those days that our house being dirty final hits us and we just snap. Here I thought that Cory was the only one who could tune out a crying baby, I am the same way as you I will hold Paige and vaccumm so that she will stop crying because I just can’t stand it. Cory’s response is “she is fine, a little crying isn’t going to kill her”, maybe but I can’t stand it.
If you saw my ironing rod full of clothes to be ironed, you would shreek! It has more clothes on it than our rod in our actual closet. Soooo, since I am so on top of things, I have two recommendations for ya! #1: Hire someone to clean your house…just once–to at least let you feel like you have a starting point. #2: Check out http://www.flylady.com. It has cool cleaning ideas…ways to feel like you aren’t even cleaning and ways to stay on top of things. I don’t do everything they say, but some ideas are cool! And by the way, your “dirt pile” didn’t look bad at all…especially since you have dog hair! (I could sweep every other day and my pile would be worse than that!) Thank God for floors that are the color of dirt!! Love ya! Be encouraged…it isn’t all about a clean house! 🙂
I used to get sooooo stressed and crabby about keeping the house “just so” in case someone stopped by….well, no one ever stopped by when the house was picked up, it was always when it looked like a bomb went off. So now i still get crabby at times..but oh well..I figure everyone else’s house is just as bad, if not oh well. Wait till you turn 40…it’s somewhat freeing!
I linked over and saw Becke’s page. I can sooo relate to this post!! I don’t feel like I’ll ever have a clean house. I can barely get the everyday things done, much less the deep cleaning things done.
And what’s Becke’ talking about ironing rod??? We have an iron but it’s not been hot for years!!
Hey babe, it’s ok. Remind yourself with a deep breath that this is just a season of your life and one day, you can confidently send your kids outside to play while you do what you need to do.
Here’s my suggestion which follows up with Nicole’s: Tell your kids that you have some things to do today. Set a timer and give yourself 30 minutes to accomplish one task. Space it out throughout your week. Tell the kids that while the timer is going, it’s YOUR time. (with the exception of taking care of Landon ’cause he’s a baby) Don’t let them interrupt you unless they are bleeding.
Break your chores up throughout the week so you have little accomplishments each day. Don’t try to do too much at one time-you’ll just overwhelm yourself!
I think we forget that our kids need to learn that Mommy is a person too with wants and needs and kids should respect us in that. It’s good for them to see that Mommy is trying to balance work and play just like one day, they will have to learn to balance work and play.
Regardless, you are a great mom, wife and friend no matter what your house looks like!
Love ya friend,
Tiff
When I was growing up, my mother had a wooden sign hanging in her kitchen – it said “My house is clean to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy”. I know that your house, therefore, is probably hilarious! But please remember that your floors and your laundry and your kitchen are way behind your children and husband on your priority list.
Hey there. I linked over to your blog from Becke’s, and have really enjoyed reading it. I totally agree with every word of this post. Glad to know I’m not the only one with this problem!
I know this comment is a week late, but I felt like I needed to comment. I totally know how you feel. I have a main floor laundry room – it isn’t any easier to get it down.
I get stressed out about my house – but like Nicole said, I am trying to just deal with the fact that my house will not always be clean.
I try to get some stuff done if the girls nap at the same time. Otherwise, I make a list and try to get done what I can when I have a few minutes.
Take it easy and enjoy your kids!!