BEHIND AGAIN....OR STILL....

I don't multitask well. Don't get me wrong. I DO multitask. I have to. I'm a mom. But, I do not do it well. That is why I started staying home with my kids. I was not a good mommy AND teacher at the same time. That wasn't fair to ANY of my children.

I have read (parts) of a book on home organization.It is a great book...the parts I have read are good, anyway. The book has described my "clutter" style as "The Perfectionist."

Hmmmmm.....perfectionist. You wouldn't know it to look at me. But I know this is true because it basically states that I can easily be crippled by the fact that I can't do everything, correctly, NOW! That is the thing. NOW!

It starts something like this:

Tomorrow, I will clean house. (Keep in mind that my house isn't so large. It is quite possible to clean the entire house in one day, but my task breakdown looks something like this:)

Tomorrow, I will start on the kitchen first. I always feel so much better when my kitchen is cleaned. I start and my #4 needs (wants) a "biderman" (vitamin.) Because I don't want him digging through the cabinets, and because I don't mind him taking a vitamin C, I go to get him a chewable. The boys' bathroom STINKS! SO, after the vitamin dispersal, I decide to clean the bathroom real quick.

I go and get my favorite toxic cleaning supplies. As I start to wipe down floors and baseboards, I realize that the little boys' hamper is full and clean undies might be in need. I haul the hamper to the laundry area where I find a few baskets of clean clothes and some of dirty clothes. OK....might as well get laundry going because I don't have to stand there while the machines are washing.

I go to my bathroom to get my hamper, noting that the rugs could use some cleaning, so I pick those up, as well. As I open the wash, I see that my sweet hubby, now gone for another 7 days, has kindly started a load....I just hope he JUST started it. I start to transfer that laundry to the dryer.....which is full. I go to unload that but it would fill, to overflowing, one of the baskets already full of clean clothes. *sigh*

I hall the clothes into the living room to sit and "learn" at the hand of one of my favorite cooking celebrities. As I am about to fold clothes, I note that the floor is a bit too crumby for my liking. I leave the clothes, go to get the vacuum cleaner to vacuum the floor. The shoes that are in the way need to be picked up. They are mine, and they don't fit into my shoe area, so I take them to hubby's closet to hang on his rack.

I see there are a few clean clothes on my hope chest so I gather those to take to the laundry basket. I return to the closet to get some hangers for the hanging clothes. Seeing a hanger that has been shoved under the bed, I bend to retrieve it....seeing some dust that needs to be sucked from under the bed.....SOOOOO, off to get the vacuum (since abandoned in the living room, chord still tightly wound) and come to vacuum in the bedroom. Before I can do that, I need to pick up the 1 or 2 or 8 things that are scattered on the floor.

As I am picking these items up (and know that there is a 90% chance it is going to be on MY side of the bed and it is going to be a book) I decide to organize these books into stacks of when I will read them. (Yes.....stacks.) While I am stacking, I am checking due dates. I check out so many books that each late day, at a quarter a day, costs me 1/2 gallon of CFAST*.

Since I have 10 days before the due date, and am on book 2 of 8 I have checked out, I decide to read a chapter. I flop across the bed, only to feel "crunchies" that have been left by the aforementioned child. I go to strip the sheets....haul them to the wash, only to realize that the washer is still full because the dryer is full.....because the baskets are full.....because the laundry hasn't been folded....because the floor needs to be vacuumed....*sigh* YOU SEE?

SO....what do I do? We go to WM to look at Christmas stuff, by a CFAST*, pick up the kids, have frozen convenience foods for dinner, get them down, sleep under a comforter only and vow that TOMORROW, I will clean the house.

NOW.....here is the REAL problem.

THIS schedule ONLY works when DH is on a tour. When he is home, he jacks up the whole thing. Don't misunderstand. I love my hubby with a passion. I miss him every second he is gone. I don't sleep well when he is away. No, when he is home, NOTHING......and I mean NOTHING gets done.

What is a person to do?

Well, I will say that I'm about to eat some cheap burritos with ketchup, watch Ina Garten on The Network and contemplate my situation......I can't forget, though, that I have to return some movies to Blockbuster, go get a few items at the store, check out the Christmas section in WM, go get a CFAST*, pick up the kids, come home, eat corny dogs or something wonderful, do homework, study JBQ, get the kids bathed, put them down, vacuum the floor (finally), pull out a basket of laundry to fold, then, probably sit and work on my Holiday Notebook.

Life is sweet! Don't sweat the small stuff. I promise.... nobody is wearing dirty undies....today.

*Chick-fil-A Sweet Tea

ETA: In all fairness to my hubby, I need to clarify. NOTHING gets done by me. Meaning that my planned housework goes unaddressed when he is home. This was his response:

"BTW, what do you mean NOTHING gets done when I'm home. On Thursday, I took the AC apart and inspected it for mold (it was clean BTW), cleaned out all the attic vents around the entire house, poisoned ants and picked up outside trash. All while you were taking a nap."