I'm back

So here I am. Finally, right? The boys and the day to day hum-drum keep me busy. By the time they're in bed I don't feel like working on the computer. I am so blessed that I can stay home with my boys. I realized one day that along with the privilege of staying home being their mother it's also my job. My work is taking care of my home. I've always done the normal cleaning, cooking and laundry, etc., but I didn't have any sort of system for doing it. I just did it when it needed to be done. I didn't like that the downstairs was a mess with kids toys or a weeks worth of mail and the table was covered with dishes from dinner (or lunch or even breakfast) at the end of the day. So, I'm really trying to be better at my job. I made a schedule for myself listing something that needs to be done every day. This helps me keep on track.

Monday - Laundry (all clothing) fold and put away, Vacuum downstairs
Tuesday - Toilets and sinks/counters
Wednesday - mop, vacuum upstairs and down
Thursday - tub and shower, laundry (sheets and towels) fold and put away
Friday - vacuum downstairs, disaster cleanup, blog
Saturday - garage, cars

Every day I try to clean up the table after each meal, put the mail right in the recycling bin (it's mostly junk) and clean up the boys' toys after they go to bed. Sometimes just before Luke goes to bed I'll have him help me put toys in their toy bins. It's cute to have him help me.

I came up with this schedule about 3 weeks ago. So far I've only completed Monday and Tuesdays tasks in a row. At least I have it and I'm trying right? Although, the every day/same ol', same ol' tasks I've got the hang of...mostly :) I've got this list on my white board in my kitchen. The schedule is on one half and the other half I use for little things I need to remember to do like "call maintenance - all outlets broken in garage" or "set up Lukes Dr. appointment". Then I can see what I have to do and I just cross it off when I'm done.

My list doesn't seem too demanding. I think it would be incredibly simple to get everything done. The reason it's so hard for me to get things done is the boys. Now, I'm not complaining at all about not getting things done, I'm just expressing the difficulty I have trying to find a balance between playing with them or getting things done. They also want to be where ever I am and that makes cleaning difficult. For example, loading the dishwasher...Harrison likes to sit next to the dishwasher door when it's down and bang on it. Luke likes to take the dishes out that I put in. Laundry...The laundry room is kind of cramped. Our food storage is in there. Luke likes too take the cans out and stack them, not a bad thing to do but he tends to drop them or throw them down, that really hurts toes! Harrison follows us in there just to be with us and see whats going on. Cleaning the bathrooms with cleaning products is totally out of the question if they're awake. I don't care if I use an environmentally safe-non hazardous product, they'll still want to stick their hands in the toilet or play in the water while I clean the tub.

I do some cleaning during nap time. I try to do quiet cleaning while they're napping. I want to make sure they sleep as long as possible. Also, the last few days, I have been making dinner while they're napping in the afternoon, that way I'm not rushing once Jason gets home to get dinner ready. Sometimes while they're napping I just want to nap too! And I probably should. IN the evenings I want to spend time with Jason, so I procrastinate about the cleaning that should have been done earlier, like the toilets or tubs, and say "I'll do it tomorrow" which comes and goes without the tubs getting clean.

I'm glad there are weeks after weeks and so on and so on, so I can try to become a little better as time goes by.

My mom once told me "You can have a clean house or you can have kids". Isn't that the truth!