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Friday, January 26, 2007

Reconciling Myself

I often feel at war within myself. No, it's not some spiritual awareness problem. It's more like feeling like there are two parts of me. Two parts that it's hard to reconcile. I was thinking about it the whole time I was picking up the kid's toys last night. There is the ultra organized part of me that has all the toys in separate bins according to what type (i.e. wooden trains in one bin, cars in another, take-a-long Thomas in another, Wooden blocks, foam blocks, you get the point) and there is the super lazy part of me that has every surface above Lily's reach stacked at least 3 inches thick with stuff and the dishes overflowing from the sink. There is the [slightly] germaphobic side of me (stop laughing Jay, I'm not that bad) and the side of me that doesn't get around to wiping the table down for days (maybe even weeks) at a time. There is a part of me that has wants a place for everything and everything in it's place and yet dusting, not so much and making the bed? Why, I'm just going to get in it again and mess it up. I know some of you are jumping out of your skin right now, sorry. It's not just cleaning either. There is the part of me that wants to raise grateful, well balanced children and the part of me that wants to buy them everything and make them happy all the time. There is a huge part of me that HATES to look or sound stupid and yet I still write as I think, no drafts, no trying to organize my paragraphs the way they tried to teach me in English class and the closest I get to proofreading is spell check. Part of me thinks with two kids under 3 there is not enough time in the day to do all I want to do and the other part wonders why I am blogging instead of cleaning the bathroom. So how do I reconcile the lazy and the wanna be clean, healthy, do-the-right-thing side of me? I don't know, but for starters maybe I should go change the stinky diaper I smell. ::sigh::

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't mean to freak you out, but you just described your mother.

For the record: I can manage to be what I want to be for short bursts, but so far, it doesn't last. Keep trying, I think it's worth it.

Love you!

Anonymous said...

I say you do what you can, one thing at a time, with the kids at the top of the priority list. If you are really determined to get things "in order" in a way that is manageable for you to maintain on a daily basis, you can't tackle it all at once or it's too overwhelming... I think all of us with kids just have to concede that some days the dishes AREN'T going to get done and the living room is going to be trashed with toys some days.

Personally? I try to keep at least a small routine where some chores get done on a daily basis... beds are made every morning, one day I clean the bathrooms, another day, I clean the kitchen... and I vacuum regularly. As far as anything else is concerned, it's a tossup whether or not it gets done. Especially lately... lysol wipes are my friend. ;) And frankly? I fear for even my basic routine once we bring home Baby Too.

Anonymous said...

Well said. I'm right there with ya.

Anonymous said...

Sing it sister! Maybe this is life with kids? I hope that if you come up with a solution, that you share it with us...'cause I could use some help too.

I, like Erin, try to do a chore a day. Clean a bathroom. Dust. Wash the floor (yes, just once a week). My house is never 100% clean at a given moment, but I also have to spend time with the kids and cook supper, etc. And have some "mommy time".

And I just buy my kids whatever they want anyways. I get nothing, they get everything. This is what parenthood is, isn't it?

Periwinkle Jen said...

I tried that chore a day thing. I even made myself a nice organized weekly calendar. I didn't stick to it though. I think I need to do a new one and take in to consideration what days we have outside activities. I've also been thinking of making a weekly check list so if I'm feeling really motivated one day I can have the rest of the week off:-) I'm trying to figure out how to reward myself when I finish because if I don't I'm sure it too will fall by the wayside. Maybe if I do finish I get to order dinner on Friday.