Last night, I lay awake feeling restless and hot and cranky and worried. I go through this from time to time, and it's usually due to feeling out of control about work and household matters. In fact, now that I think about it, this usually hits at about this time every summer.
Roger and Caroline are both home from school, which means that I'm spending time doing different things, my usual routine of getting my work done is thrown out of whack, and I feel like I fall behind in everything.
It's not that I have a particularly effective routine for housework and legal work. But somehow, each weekday I manage to get some of both done. So, I may not have an immaculate house (hah. like never.) but at least I keep the clutter to a manageable mess.
And you know those catch-all places in the house where stuff just gathers, resting on its way to being put away or thrown out or given to Salvation Army or otherwise sorted? We have a big counter/shelf area in the upstairs hallway, just outside of my office and across from the laundry room. When that area is clear (displaying an assortment of family photos) I feel calm and in relative control. When it's a mess -- heaped with laundry to be foldeded and put away, papers from Caroline's backpack that she refuses to toss yet will never look at again, unmatched socks, and the like -- it wears on me. Well, that's not true. I can ignore it to the point of not even SEEING it for weeks. And then suddenly it BUGS me.
So, I've decided I'm doing a bit of tidying/sorting/throwing out every day. Like that Fly Lady thing where you go around for 15 minutes. This morning's chore (which was an hour, really) was clearing off that shelf.
And I DO feel better, actually. So this afternoon I will work, and maybe that means that tonight after dinner I can watch a movie with Roger, or sew, even.
Tomorrow I'm tackling Caroline's room. This can only happen when she is out of the house, as she resists all efforts to weed out out-grown toys, books and clothes.
Clearly, I'll need to rest up for that.
I feel the exact same way! I hate that cranky feeling. Good for you for making progress. Hooray! Summer is a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI remember well how I used to feel each June - so out of sorts and then I would feel guilty for resenting the loss of my time!!
ReplyDeleteOh Diane - how i sympathise - its exactly the same in our house and you're absolutely right - clearing the one place that drives you completely wild is a real tonic - must say the battle with the kids to do their bit does pay off eventually, if you can stand the confrontation on the way (which incidentally never really comes to an end) but we do try - it's just one great big juggling game!
ReplyDeleteI do the Flylady thing everyday after work for the first 15 minutes I'm home. Problem is, I'm cleaning up 99% of what belongs to everyone else and I'd like them to adopt the Flylady routine!
ReplyDeleteI think we all suffer from the same thing-loss of personal time. I can probably go into my 22-year-old son's room and find stuff from high school. It's like a bomb site in there. Routine is much more important to me than I realize-until it gets screwed up-then I have the same panic-like symptoms.
ReplyDeleteIt is the soltice you know. It will pass tomorrow.
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