Overwhelmed and exhausted

This has been one of those days. I’ve been up since 3:30am (this morning – hahaha) because I just could not go back to sleep. My nose & throat were both irritated, and in retrospect I maybe should have taken some more NyQuil (as I WILL do tonight). Now everything was going fine until I actually left the house. I got mad, I didn’t restrain my potty mouth, and I wanted to punch someone in the ear the majority of the morning. As I calmed down, I saw that I shouldn’t even have gotten mad to begin with.

Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. Proverbs 10:19 NLT

We talked about that verse just last night in Bible study. It took me almost no time at all to blow it. sigh At least I took my own advice and confessed my fail to the other ladies from that Bible study. Progress. 😉

So I was thinking on the way to work this morning about a question I answered last night (which is the title of this post) about spreading yourself too thin. My job is a 40 hour a week job, but with an hour lunch and 1.5 to 2 hour round trip commute. Now that the hubby is working a 40 hour week also, and on an opposite shift, I am back in the hotseat for cooking & cleaning. That’s on top of yardwork, and half the grocery shopping. Add in a couple of Bible studies during the week, and a couple of runs, and I find myself low on time. Plus, we have a bunch of half-done projects, plus a ton that need to be done. Oh, and I want a garden and some chickens, and with our land layout and a boggy yard, I’m looking at raised beds, and chickens need a coop. I have a BUNCH of stuff I need to clean out and throw away. Oh, yeah, and I still have to spend time with my husband and my kids, and pay our bills on time (I had a fail last month and forgot one), and pay my mom’s bills on time. And laundry…always laundry…

I can’t do it all. I’ve tried, and I am steadily getting more overwhelmed and more exhausted. Not so much physically exhausted, but mentally and emotionally I’m struggling.

But I have a plan.

My house is cluttered and nasty. Whenever I start thinking about cleaning, I get overwhelmed with where to start, and end up just keeping the dishes, countertops, stovetop clean. But mainly the dishes and countertops. Since I am already doing that, that’s the room I am going to start with and give it a good top to bottom and in the cabinets and corners cleaning. Then the bathrooms, and just go room by room until it’s maintainable. Unfortunately for the kids, they are going to get some additional chores….inside and out.

And this all may fail and I’ll just have a nasty house and trashy yard. lol

22 Responses to 'Overwhelmed and exhausted'

  1. Petra says:

    I need to let you read that book… it covers strategies for getting your house easier to maintain. You can get it when you come pick up your cats….. 😉

    • DragonLady says:

      Um, I am not picking up any of your 1000 cats. In fact, I have one that is real close to going to your house to be “taken care of” like Chili gets taken care of. Only I won’t bring her back, and then you’ll have 2000 cats. lol

      Is that one of the books you have listed on Goodreads?

  2. MacBros says:

    I was going to say, you have two kids that are old enough to do a lot of that stuff now for you.

    Or you can stage (or actually have) a mental breakdown and they’ll feel bad and start doing your house and yard work for you.

    Or, you could hire a dashing hunk like myself as a handyman. :whistle:

  3. Lucy says:

    Been there done that. When we moved into this house it was easy to keep it clean, it was new. Now 13 years later, it is very well lived in. Several years ago I fell into a pretty bad depression and totally let it go. My mother in law came in a few times and cleaned for me and made my family understand that I was not the only peroson living in this house and should not be the only one cleaning it. I worked full time then. The house has since been “cleaner” than it was (I still have a room that has a trail to the tanning bed). But I have also been off all semester and have pretty much done it all. I am afraid that when I start back to school it is going to downhill again. I hope my family is ready for the little psycho rants that are sure to come this summer. I guess having said all that, what I really wanted to say is that you are not the only person living there!!! Make your family understand that:)I know my family seems to forget after a couple of weeks and then I have to go all 3C’s on them (crazy, crying and cussing) but they get the picture. Sorry this reply wasn’t much help :/

    • DragonLady says:

      Ours was nasty when we moved in. Jimbo was doing pretty good about keeping it clean until the last couple of years. I would say 50% of the problem is clutter. 40% is because the kids have never been consistently made to pick up after themselves or really do much of anything. Chad finally conceded to mowing after I finally conceded to letting him on the riding mower. That’s a whole crazy post in itself. 😉

  4. Petra says:

    Does that question mean that you think I’m aware of what books I’ve posted on goodreads? It’s a white book with some colorful boxes on the cover. Does that help? lol

    As for kids – mine don’t get their allowance unless they keep their area of the house clean. We switch up areas every week or two. And the busier (or more pregnant) I am, the bigger their chore list. They have specific things they have to do and times it has to be done. It really helps in keeping the house livable (even though I do have to put blinders on at times since they only are capable of seeing about 20% of the dirt that I see… But to be fair, I see about 50% more dirt than the average person)…

    • DragonLady says:

      You only have 3 listed! ROFL! Living Organized?

      I don’t give them an allowance. James does, but they do feed and water the dogs and cats and take out the trash when we look at the schedule and tell whichever one it is their turn because heaven forbid they take the initiative to look at the schedule themselves. There is a discipline problem in our house, and a lot of it is self-disciple….and not just the kids… :sigh:

  5. Petra says:

    That sounds right. 🙂

    I’m currently reading a book about raising teenagers. So far it has only talked about where the parents’ heart is and how you can’t expect kids to do things you aren’t doing. It’s a good one. I don’t know the name of that book either. lol Is it one of the 3 books I have listed? 🙂 lol

    Hey! I’m pregnant, ok?! I have zero memory!! I have alarms set reminding me to EAT.

    • DragonLady says:

      BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! No, your other 2 are Real Marriage and Explicit Gospel. LOL

      I have never forgotten to eat…that’s pretty bad…

  6. I love it – Petra may kill you for your first comment. I agree, I spread myself to thin and I have even gained back an hour a day from a shorter babysitter commute. I still somehow need more time – or less time on the couch? I don’t know where it all goes 🙂

    • DragonLady says:

      I am surprised she has let that go. I even dropped a similar comment in a FB status. LOL

      I know I can kill time just by sitting and zoning out. It’s a problem, but I got a good start on some cleaning over the weekend. 🙂

  7. Danny Poole says:

    Simple rule for making the kids keep the house clean. “No work, no eat. No wash, no clean clothes. No vacuum, no TV. No cooperation, no car. The answer to ‘Is the house clean?’ is the same answer to whatever you just asked me.” First week is the roughest. Good Luck, we’re all counting on you! :salute:

    • DragonLady says:

      I actually got no argument from either of them this weekend when I told them to do something. Well, Jamie wouldn’t help me unload the trash from the truck, but that’s my fault for letting her know the bottom bag in the bin was maggoty. 😉

  8. teeni says:

    I think most of us have been there at one time or another. It really is difficult to maintain a clean home when both adults in the household work full-time. I’m glad you thought to add some chores to your kids as they are old enough to do it and it will help them when they have their own places too. I am still battling this all the time too though. One thing I did realize is that most of the problem is clutter. By the time you pick up all the clutter, who has energy to actually clean? So my mission this spring has been to de-clutter. I have been bringing things to good will, consigning things at a local consignment shop and asking around to people I know if they can use certain things. I love kitchen gadgets and realized I have way too many of them. So I am only keeping ones that that I can’t do without and if something that one gadget does can be accomplished with a different gadget, then I can’t keep both. It is really helping a LOT. I still have a ways to go, but it really is getting easier now. So don’t give up, just find better ways, and don’t be too hard on yourself. Anyone who would judge you for not having an immaculate home with all that you DO accomplish – well their opinion doesn’t mean much. Besides, they aren’t perfect either. 😉

    • DragonLady says:

      The de-hoarding will take me a while. I am starting to see the emotional involvement behind some of what I keep, and so it’s like breaking up in a way. Oh, that just sounded crazy. LOL Oh, well, it’s a challenge. 😉

      One of my friends did see my stairs up close and personal and I was cringing inside, but thankfully I was all drugged up at the time so I didn’t try to tackle her when I saw her headed over there with her daughter to see the kitty. And her mother-in-law has seen my house waaaayyyyy worse. lol

      • teeni says:

        I know – it is hard to break up with some things. LOL. I started doing something new for that too though. For instance, my hubby had a lovely ceramic bunny dish that his aunt made for him when he was a baby. But it is of no use to us now because we have no children to pass it on to and too many nieces and nephews to choose one of them to give it to so for things like that, we now take a photo of it and give it to good will. Now we always have it (as a photo) but never have to dust it, LOL, but it went to a good home.

        • DragonLady says:

          I made some stuff in my shop classes in college that all I have now is photos of them. But that is actually a good idea. At least for the stuff that has any use (decorative or practical). 😉

  9. teeni says:

    Adding you to my blogroll!

  10. Petra says:

    Not gonna lie – the word ‘maggoty’ would have caused me to be defiant as well. lol

    • DragonLady says:

      It was almost as gross as finding the mummified baby mice. I didn’t even try to force her. Lesson learned: wear gloves when emptying the bin outside for a trash run. :puke: