Domestically challenged

The dark side of staying at home for me is most definitely cleaning. With two working parents, we were all out of the house for 40 hours a week, so there just wasn't as much opportunity to make a mess. With the help of a wonderful cleaner who came in every two weeks, the house remained relatively tidy.

Husband and I made a deal upon marriage that he would do laundry and I would do dishes/cooking/grocery shopping. This isn't as unbalanced as it may seem since my "cooking" isn't exactly gourmet. But that's a topic for another day. Suffice it to say that there is food on the table every night and no one is withering away. I also have an extremely tall husband who is quite particular about his clothes, so it really just worked.

Well, after adding two kids and with me staying home, it only made sense that I should pitch in with the laundry. Luckily so far the only clothes I've ruined have been my own -- like the beautiful 100% wool cardigan that now fits Big A. :-(

The cleaning duties on the other hand have been my nemisis. For now, we've kept our cleaning person - I would rather give up electricity frankly. But the in-between upkeep has become quite monumental. It seems that as soon as one area is cleaned, the kids come through and dirty it again. And with more time in the house, the play areas have literally stretched from the family room and basement playroom to every room in the house. I now have a slide in my "formal" living room, a Tinkerbell kids table/craft station in my dining room and two kid-sized recliners smack in the middle of my family room. Even my bedroom has turned into a playroom, as the girls sometimes play in there while I get ready in the morning. Yes, my house is pretty much Romper Room at this point.

I always assumed that house upkeep should be part of the deal with staying at home, but the reality of that pretty much sucks. Big A no longer naps, so the 30 minutes of "quiet time" I can get out of her, I'd like to take a break. After all, why clean up when it will look just as messy within a few hours and probably to my husband, like it was never cleaned in the first place? The beauty of a cleaning person is that the whole house is actually clean at the same time. This would never happen otherwise.

Unfortunately, my cleaning person is on an extended vacation at the moment. And honestly, it makes me want to cry. Which is why I'm blogging instead of doing what I should be doing...cleaning. Ugh.