Yesterday, after I took my second day dose of a steroid to help me fight this battle of what started off as a simple allergy flareup that turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis fight for a decent night's sleep, I became energized to finally get my backside in gear and reclaim a remotely cleaner home. Those 10 weeks of having DD home for summer break and my insatiable reading jag put me behind on my usual chores. I am not saying that my house was a total wreck, but it did not measure up to my neat-freakish standards. Glorious thing, those steroids are. Sure can put some serious needed energy in these lazy bones. Sadly, taking that stuff is terrible for the internal workings of a person. With DD having asthmatic tendencies, I am very aware of what steroids can do to a person. Fortunately, in both cases for DD and I, the duration of being on this stuff is minimal and random.
With all this chemical energy running through my body, as well as the lack of being able to have a solid 7 hours of restful sleep, I had a very early start to my day. No complaints about that. I had a full day of things I needed to accomplish. While I managed to achieve some serious cleaning in my home before I went into work to attend to a few clients. I managed to get the main floor of my home clean. The main floor of my home is basically a small foyer, the kitchen, the dining room and the living room. From ceiling to floor and everything in between I cleaned like it was a life or death event. Remember, I live with 2 clutter-bugs that are incapable of cleaning up after themselves. While I did manage to do surface cleaning over the summer, these rooms really needed a little more TLC in the worst way. Between DD and DH, they can sure leave a fair amount of disaster in their wake that I lacked to attend to fully over the past 10 weeks of DD's summer break. Well, today I managed to get caught up when it comes to cleaning on that floor of the house. I swept, mopped, vacuumed, dusted and steam cleaned carpets. It looked like I did not have two clutter-bugs living with me when I stopped to get showered and dressed for my few hours I was needed at work. It felt great! It was looking like a good day.
Then, while I was at work, I was working on a color service for a co-worker and was in the zone. What I mean by in the zone is being able to work efficiently while doing a little mental multitasking of other things. As I was applying hair color with weaving out pieces to put in foils for highlights, I was making a mental to-do list for at home. I focused on the fact that my to-do list is quite intricate. I list the steps to all the individual tasks as if it is something explained as a job description for a resume'. For example... Laundry: I collect all the dirty clothing around the house, I sort it, wash it, dry it, fold it, and put it away in it's respective place. Then it dawns on me... What does my family do with the laundry? Here is their descriptive list.... Pull out clothes, put them on, and leave the dirty clothes wherever they happen to land. Do you see the problem here??? I do. For the 6 steps I take, they only take 3. Does that sound like an equal divide of the situation? Nope. While I see this as being a nitpicker over small details, I noticed that there are plenty of other areas that I have been getting the short end of the stick, so to speak. I know that it is my job to keep the house clean and running smoothly, but really??... why are they not taking a more active role to attending to their personal property? How hard is it to put your dirty clothes in the laundry room's bins that sort the dark clothes from the whites and the colors? Heck, even putting the dirty clothes in the vicinity of the laundry room would be appreciated. I really do not mind sorting all that much. Or even taking the initiative to putting away their own clean clothes that I washed, dried and folded (of course, the washing and drying does come from machines... I have been allowed to have a washer and dryer. I do not wash the clothes with a rock by the river or hand them on a clothesline to dry, but in essence, I am working the machine even though I am not being the machine.). Lets talk a bit on another task.... Picking up something you dropped or spilled. Really, it is that hard to mop up your small spill on the table or floor? Is it against their human nature to pick up that piece of popcorn or corn chip off the floor and throw it away? Apparently, it is beneath them to do a small task that takes really no time at all to attend to it. While I do not complain that I wash down the table, mop the floors, vacuum the crumbs and steam clean out the spills from the carpet.... It would be nice to not have it a daily requirement of mine to tackle alone. With the thought about the crumbs on the floor, I realized that is how our German Shepherd (may she rest in peace) was overweight. Of course, not all of her weight was fat.... she was mostly muscle, but she did end up eating stuff that is not healthy for a dog.
Just realizing that fact that I do way more than I need to, I was a little frustrated nonetheless. Only to come home after work to seeing DH's crumbs from his lunch on my freshly cleaned floor, DD's garbage from her juice pouch sitting on my recently cleaned table, and dirty socks laying in the front hall that I just mopped a mere few hours ago. Suddenly, I snapped. DD's snippy tone that she gave that she would get to throwing out her garbage was the spark that started the rage that could not stop. Once DH came home, I informed him that the lack of appreciation for what I do every day is shown in their inability to try to keep what I just cleaned... clean. (Yep, I told him about his chip crumb on the floor). Of course, I could not stop with my observations of disrespect to my efforts that happened over the past 4 hours I was away from the house. I foraged forward with my gripes over socks on the floor, empty recyclable items left in the fridge, freezer or placed on the counter, the inability to throw away any garbage from wrappers to paper plates, and I even mentioned that regardless that our carpets are really in need of replacement.... he needs to keep his greasy work shoes off the carpet in the dining room. It felt good to get that off my chest. I did get an apology from DH, but I know that it was just words to shut down my tirade. Tomorrow, I will yet again go over all that I cleaned while I try to tackle even more much needed cleaning. Chances are, by the weekend, I will be tackling the lawn work, too. DH makes excuses to not take care of stuff that he claims is his responsibility, but complains that nobody does anything around that house anyway. Yep, the cleaning fairy went on strike and supposedly he does more than me... HA! I have been taking the garbage to the curb for years because DH can't pull himself away from the TV to do it for me. While in most normal domestic situations, the person that cooks has the dishes washed by the person who ate the cooking.... not in my house. I cook and do the dishes. Talk about lack of appreciation or consideration!
Today's motto: If you see your significant other looking quite frazzled and gets snappy about being disrespected.... you better listen and do something about it. It is not necessarily about what they do every day... it is those extra steps to achieve the task that could be getting him/her angry. It does not take much to try to maintain a clean environment if you participate in keeping things clean and by the act of helping.... it is the best way to show appreciation if you are unable to say it. Just something to consider..... I will admit that my little tantrum got DH to finally put his dirty socks in the laundry room this morning. Sadly, this is only a temporary thing and by next week, he will return to his old habit of leaving them in a pile by his side of the bed.
Thanks for reading and have a great day. I am striving for a better day today....
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