First of all, let me say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!” for all of your encouraging comments yesterday. Yes, I did beg for them, and I feel a tiny bit guilty about that, but I am mostly just incredibly energized by them. It helps so much to know that I am not the only one out there who struggles to keep my home out of chaos. Out in the world of “normal” people, I’m often scared to share these struggles because of the many times when I have, and have been met with looks of horror. It helps so much to be able to share here, and be accepted so warmly by my community of readers.
Ok, enough lovey-dovey la-la stuff.
Today I:
Made bed. (If you can really call it that, I’m sure I’ll explain in an upcoming post.)
Emptied dishwasher.
Swept kitchen.
Cleaned up kitchen.
Did a general pick up.
And since it’s Tuesday, I cleaned bathrooms. I’m still struggling with exhaustion, so I had planned to just do the bare minimum. I didn’t have the option of not doing anything, since it is, after all, Tuesday. But alas, when I got started, I ended up doing more than I had planned and my shower door that used to be a full-inch-thicker-than-necessary due to soap scum is now finally starting to look close to normal. I’m really excited about that.
Last night I:
Put out clothes for the boys.
Started the dishwasher.
I didn’t make lunches last night since I got in late from rehearsal, and my husband had been assigned the task of writing an article for the local paper, which of course meant that I got to edit it, so I spent my evening doing that. Getting it to exactly 600 words was interesting.
So where does the Dr. Pepper Sippy Cup come in?
My daughter and I have eaten our lunch out in the backyard for the past two days. The weather has finally been beautiful. Yesterday, I used one of the many fund-raiser cups that my husband gets talked into buying. It’s an insulated one, but it doesn’t seem to be right for hot drinks to me, and so it rarely gets used. But it turned out to be perfect for taking my drink outside. Spill-proof, shatter-proof, and with a lid that closes to keep from getting teeny-tiny petals in it that the neighbor’s tree is shedding like crazy.
So today, while I was making lunch, I felt sad because I wished I could use it again since it had been so perfect yesterday. Then what should my wandering eyes land upon? THE CUP. IN THE CABINET. CLEAN!!!!
Yes, it was an automatic assumption that it would be dirty. Pre-blog, I would have been right to assume that it was dirty . . . for at least a week.
But instead, due to my daily-checklist-item/habit of running the dishwasher every single night and emptying it every single morning, it was sitting there, clean-as-can-be, in my cabinet.
So I used it. And now it’s back in the dishwasher, waiting to be washed again tonight and ready for tomorrow. Go me!
Yay! Go you! Washing dishes everynight is a challenge for me as well. Handwashing my 10-month-old son's bottles and food containers everday don't help a whole lot, either. You have motivated me to wash dishes tonight 🙂
I am so lucky because my in-laws love to drop in unexpectedly. There have been several times they popped in and my house was filthy. I was embarrassed but I just realized there was nothing I could do about it. I thought to myself if they don’t want to see my house as a pigsty then they should give me a little warning before coming over.
The most embarrassed I have ever been about the state of my house was when I came home early from work one day and my sister-in-law is DOING MY DISHES!! My husband was home and she had come to visit him. Even more embarrassing was that my husband was playing on the computer while she did the dishes.
I love finding ‘surprises’ like that. 😉
I know my comment comes a liiiiittle late, but I am working my way through your blog. I can’t say that I identify with absolutely everything you’ve shared but I CAN say that I identify with the VAST majority of the way your mind works. 🙂 At this point, with three kids 5 and under, my biggest struggle is having the energy to ‘do my checklist’ every day. And, yes, I do have my own version of a daily checklist. 🙂 Helps sooooo much to keep me on track and help me get back ON track when I get lost and overwhelmed in all the daily tasks. Anyway. I feel like I have found a friend in you here on your blog. 🙂 Keep on keeping on!
I’ve enjoyed having my favorite mug available for me daily as well. I used to alternate between 3 mugs, and I knew things were getting bad when I had to search for a 4th one. Now I’m realizing I don’t need to have as much stuff if what I do have (dishes & clothes) are clean all the time. 🙂 I haven’t been brave enough to donate my less favorite mugs yet though. I guess these routines are still too new for that kind of permanence.
I love that feeling too. It’s like when I come downstairs in the morning and the kitchen is clean. It’s like oh yeah I cleaned yesterday and it’s still nice YAY! When you looked at the cabinet was the door hanging open? LOL.
I laughed a lot at this post, because it’s true. Even though I’ve been doing my dishes regularly (for almost 8 weeks now!!), it’s still a little bit of a surprising feeling to realize “oh wow, I can make more iced tea. The pitcher is already clean…” and “Oh wow, I don’t need to wash out the pan before I use it to make dinner???”. It’s amazing how just that little bit of work really can just make the whole day better but having what you want ready to use.
I just want to say that I came across your blog by accident, don’t ask me how I don’t know. But have to say I’m glad I did.Let me tell you a little bit about myself, I’ve been married for 38 yrs, and have 3 grown children and 6 grandkids. I ‘ve been living with depression for 25 yrs. It was really bad. I’m not exactley sure when it started or how it started as I said I was really sick, sleeping for 23hrs out of 24. I’m doing better except my house is as you say a pigsty, knowing this doesn’t help. I was at my wits end trying and failing, you see I’m a crocheter,sewer,painter I have my hands in just about everything, as I have to keep my hands busy. But a knock on the door sends me into terror I have actually slumped down on the couch so people would think I wasn’t home,scarey I’ve been trying to get things decluttered but was having problems keeping it up, I would wear myself out and I’m really really good at being able to talk myself out of everything ;excuses yes I know them all, don’t feel like it, to tired, what does it matter, why can’t I do this, there must be something wrong with me, I actually couldn’t function and the stress of it all makes me sick, and there I go off on a rant and bashing myself. I did manage to go thru my kitchen, every drawer and cabinet last month took out a lot of stuff but did it help No. and then I’m back to why can’t I do this. I actually have 2 rooms you can not get into at all, but is still out in the open ,oh horror. make that 3 rooms I just remembered another, rats. My children seem to think I need a dumpster and just start chucking, oh my gosh talk about stressing what if they throw out something I need, but to rationalize that or maybe justify I know somewhere in a box is stuff on my geneology, that is important to me. I’t scares me to death. I would take pics but don’t know how, I’m technecly challenged too.I do like the idea of no keep box but that thought scares me. But I’m trudging on, I have made a small amount of progress. I’m up to 122 boxes of stuff out of the house, my problem is I love all my stuff and it is really hard for me to let go, even though I know I need to do this, but as you said my mind doesn’t work that way. And then I went through a buying stage my desk area would be a lot cleaner if I had a new desk. duh, it didn’t work. I didn’t like my old sofa so I told myself if I had a new one things would be different I could finally get it together, and it would be perfect. I don’t know where my reasoning comes from . scratch that I have no reasoning. I’m going to leave this post as is for now, it’s 1:30 in the morning and time to go to bed.Sorry for some of the spelling I know some words are wrong just can’t make my brain see the right spelling, it’s late.
Wendy, I really hope you are feeling better. I used to have to sleep all the time, and it’s a horrible way to live. It looks easy to other people because you’re just sleeping, but in the hours you’re awake you feel under pressure to do all the things you perceive that “normal” people do or that you used to do before the onset of perpetual fatigue. I was eventually diagnosed as bipolar 2. That made zero sense to me since the depression seemed rather unipolar, but I guess it was the right diagnosis because I became functional again with the medicine the doctor prescribed. Don’t give up trying to find help. It took years for me to find a doctor who understood my condition and knew what to do about it. Good luck!
Wendy, I don’t know if you will get notified of this response over a year later, but if you do, go out or do something to celebrate! 122 boxes is AMAZING! Even if you lost steam and haven’t done much since. It’s okay to pay yourself on the back even if there seems to be no end in sight. That doesn’t make you any less deserving of praise.
*pat
I am so proud of myself for a similar reason today! Yesterday I put some BBQ in the crockpot before church and before I pulled out meat for dinner I cleaned, dried, and put away the crockpot! It usually stays on the counter for weeks until I finally convince myself to soak it for a couple days and clean it.
I feel like I have made so much progress but one of our boys told me he doesn’t like being the dirty house last night. So I guess I’ve got a lot more to do even though I am encouraged he is not yet. Both boys and my husband have seen enough though that they are helping keep things clean!