Aaaah, summer! The time of fun and spontaneity. Two of my favorite things, and two of the things that got me in this mess.
Oh well. I’d rather be a fun slob than a boring normal person.
Last week, one section of my brain was rejoicing that we would have a nice normal week again, giving us two weeks of the Summer of Clean before VBS, the week for which I have no hope of any type of cleaning schedule.
Another section of my brain knew that we were planning to go to an amusement park one day this week, and that we were having friends come to visit and spend the night tonight. For some reason, the two sections failed to communicate with one another. Once they finally did, I felt panic and immediately assumed that all was lost, and the entire summer’s momentum was going right down the toilet.
Yes, I’m a little dramatic.
But I calmed myself down, and decided that I would re-adjust . . . yet again.
Monday became Laundry and Bathroom Day. I decided that I would do the laundry and the kids would do the bathrooms. They did help with sorting last night, but today I’ve been doing the laundry without their help.
I also did the kitchen on my own, asking for help from the ones who finished their bathrooms first.
I think that my no-big-productions philosophy for this summer helped. I haven’t made a big deal about how “things are going to be different around here” like I did last year. No big teary-eyed, frizzy-haired speeches. Since I’ve just been saying, “Ok, it’s time to sweep/clean bathrooms/vacuum/mop/whatever,” I didn’t feel like I was going back on my word to not have them help with laundry. I hope it’s also teaching them that adjustments do have to be made to any plan in order for it to be successful.
This morning, there was a nice feeling of working together to get ready for guests. They’re excited about their friends coming over, and so a little extra attention needs to be paid to the house, but it isn’t a mad-dash to make up for having let things go for so long.
I hate the disconnect from knowing that two things are happening, even reminding others of their existence but not snapping to the timing/ramifications.
I’ve found you before school was out, managed to get things cleaned up significantly at school with your inspiration. Became very sick, lost mojo, got some back and created a lot more work for the garbage man over the summer. Loving the area that is cleaner (not totally finished, of course ). School is back in session and I’m struggling to get everything done. All of your ‘training’ has not gone by the wayside… but the first week was exhausting and, speaking to a lot of my co-workers, we just came home, showered and collapsed.
Thank you for your inspiration through honest, humorous, insightful reflections. I wasn’t this huge a slob before and would like to get back to the previous state or even less, truth be told.
So, within a year, you have gone from your son saying “they keep a much cleaner house than we do” and panicking at the mere THOUGHT of visitors to your kids enjoying getting the house ready for visitors because you’ve laid the foundations. That is a groundbreaking change!!! This really gives me hope. 😊