Spent yesterday cleaning house and realized that my previous attempts at getting my clutter-bug family to stop making a mess in their wake with going on strike are futile! I have silently waited for their "ah-ha" moment to arrive that in order to have a clean house, you need to maintain what has already been cleaned.
Yeah, right....
No more, I say, no more being silent in my quest for having them see the light... No more picking up after the typhoons of DH and DD while biting my tongue. It has come to the pivotal moment that my silent enabling ways to end and I need to be more verbal in my quest. Yep, yet another attempt to instill some semblance of change around here and I fear that I lack the gumption to follow through. I HAVE BECOME A CREATURE OF HABIT LIKE THEM and I know it!!
Yesterday was proof in the pudding, so to speak, that I need to change my ways in order to have them see the light. As I spent my day sweeping, mopping, and scrubbing every surface in sight... I became aware that my family likes to watch the cleaning magic unfold. DH was the first one I noticed watching me toil away when he came home for lunch. Now, I do not expect him to not take his midday break from working at the garage to assist me in cleaning the house and not eat his lunch, but really.... is the perpetual whining about making a tray of ice cubes really necessary? Or the half-arsed way he deals with the mail when he walks in so daunting that he cannot throw away the junk mail when the garbage can is less than two steps away? Or even moving an empty recyclable container a mere six inches into the bag set aside to collect said recyclables? Gee whiz, man! Didn't you read the memo? Couldn't you buy a clue? You know I spend my days cleaning around here, but all these added and completely unnecessary steps are killing me? Do I really need to go around the house to gather the garbage that I haul out to the curb every week, too? Do I really need to hunt for dirty clothes to wash, dry, fold, and put away for you? I really do not mind doing the work, but these extra steps to achieve the end result are really hitting my last nerve....
Well, after cleaning up the mess that DH left behind from his quick lunch visit, I got back to the tasks that I was attending to before he came home. In what felt like five minutes later, DD comes home from school. The backpack lands on the floor, in the middle where people happen to walk and proceeds to make herself a snack. Her coat gets thrown over a chair, her shoes are scattered in the path of the doorway, and she proceeds to pour herself a glass of fruit punch in the style of Tom Cruise from the movie "cocktail" and spills some of it on the just scrubbed table that I just freed from the pile of junk mail that DH could not just throw out. She watches me climb onto a chair to start wiping the dust off the ceiling fan in the kitchen, hears the microwave "ding" and she takes off with a plate of heated frozen corn, but leaves the butter and the knife on the counter for me to deal with.... Sigh, I silently work on cleaning that up (which takes a whole 30 seconds) and realized that I will probably lose another utensil that will probably take up residence in her room.... Oh joy! Then I hear laughter and weird noises from her room.... apparently, she is decompressing from her day with video chat with her friend that stayed home sick from school today. Still, no dirty dishes returned to the rightful places an hour later. I make my presence known while I scrub down the bathroom that she utilizes to find that room trashed with towels on the floor, dirty clothes spilling out into the hallway and garbage sitting on the counter. After cleaning that up, I venture off to another part of the house to clean.... the bathroom that DH, DD and myself use the shower and hear DD wander into the already cleaned bathroom upstairs. Just like the Febreeze commercial where the mom cleans up the toys to turn around and see all of the toys on the floor again.... I see all the stuff I put away in its rightful place.... scattered all over again! Drawers to the vanity left open and the freshly washed towel laying on the floor just under where it should be hanging. UGH! I silently go about to clean it up again before I venture off to mopping the downstairs bathroom floor and take all that clothes that DH and DD have left around the house to the laundry room to sort and get ready to be washed, dried and folded. A pile that needs to be folded and put away are sitting in a basket and I just shake my head and decide that I can get to it tomorrow. It was time to take the garbage to the curb and I had to start making dinner soon.
As I walk into the kitchen, I find yet another spill on the table and this one managed to leave a little on the floor...... OH THIS IS IT!!! "Oh, daughter!!!!" I shout. "Yes, mom?" she says with a timid tone in her voice, knowing I am now clinging onto the last frayed nerve. "While I happen to be placed on this Earth to take care of keeping the house clean, I would appreciate it if you STOP TRASHING THE PLACE! Between you and your father.... I will be dead from exhaustion before my next birthday. How about giving your mom a break and wipe up your spills, huh? I just mopped today and I really do not think it is necessary to keep mopping until you go back to school tomorrow to have a break from that task. I still need to forage for the dirty clothes that I know I overlooked since I cannot complete one room in one sweep. Really, I take the weekend off and this house ends up looking like I never clean around here. This is getting ridiculous!" DD looks at me with that blank stare that tells me that she is selectively listening for key words to make it look like she is actually hearing me, but I know better. DH does the same thing to me all-the-time... I know that I have my work cut out for me when she takes a paper towel and places it over the spill and walks away.... UGH!
Well, after I think I have it all under control and to a level that I can manage, I leave some stuff to deal with today, but sadly, yet again, DH decided to have a snack after dinner and leaves a trail of chip crumbs from the kitchen to the living room and has no desire to pick them up. I SNAP... "You know I love you, right?" I say as the opening to try to soften the blow. DH just looks at me, sighs and knows that I am rearing up to go into a tirade over the mess I now need to clean up again. I pull out the vacuum and hand it to him and say.... "We no longer have a dog that is willing to suck up every last crumb you happen to drop throughout the house and I believe, since the last time I checked in the mirror, I am lacking 4-legs, fur, and the desire to eat garbage off the floor to be the family pet. While I know that it is my job to maintain the inside of this house, I refuse to follow you around with a cleaning kit attached to my hip like my other neighbor. I am willing to do all the cooking, cleaning and laundry, but I really do not think it is fair that I have to scrounge around and collect the dirty clothes to wash them, or collect the dishes from all corners of the house to wash them, or redo something I already did like mopping or vacuuming just hours ago because you refuse to put your chips in something other than your hands as you walk about the house. It is just common sense and common courtesy to at least try to keep things clean around here. Most of the stuff is easy and remotely painless to do, but yet I have two of you proving to me that bending over to pick something up is far too difficult of a task for you to accomplish. Now, while you are now being required to vacuum up this mess, I have to take the garbage to the curb and obviously cannot be in two places at once, so get cracking!"
Needless to say, I got the silent treatment from my family for the rest of the evening, but at least I got to stop cleaning an hour before falling unconscious on the couch. So much for taking an hour or two to wind down with my book. Well, off to do more.... My little snap from yesterday did not sink in their thick skulls... I get to re-clean the bathrooms and the kitchen before I can tackle the laundry today.
No comments:
Post a Comment