Satisfaction

I gain a sense of great satisfaction and pride when my house is clean and fresh. This hasn't been easy for me, what with my bum leg and all. Having 2 pets, 4 kids and a not-so-tidy husband I tend to feel trapped and overwhelmed. I'm actually glad my husband isn't a neat freak. I wouldn't be able to deal with that. I also have control issues with how I want things done, so I am reluctant to pass off tasks to my kids.

Anyway, yesterday a felt a burst of energy, so I vacuumed all of the downstairs floors, lifted the rugs and washed them. 1,000 feet of floor. It really needed it. I hate cleaning floors...but, the amount of pet hair floating around and dank pet smell disgusts me. Soooo...when I muster up the gumption to get these floors spic n'span, I feel great.

I've been slowly transitioning from winter clothes to summer clothes as well. I cleared my dresser drawers of turtle necks and thermals and dark tights. I wear skirts and jumpers almost exclusively. I'm totally old school about it too. I wear slips and stockings.

I dress this way for a few reasons. Its WAY comfortable. My body just isn't meant to wear jeans, plus...being kinda out of shape (but working on it!!!) I do not desire showing the world my lumps and bumps. Nothing worse than seeing an overweight woman stuffed into too tight pants. Waaaay too much information. No one finds the outline of love handles and cellulite attractive. Another reason is mad comfort! Who needs all that hard dungaree material? Another reason, my husband kinda likes the long-skirt hippie look. It works for me!

Now, where am I? Oh yes.
Okay. I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday about home-making. I've been fighting it all these years thinking...its not a REAL job. Its more like a series of tasks I need to perform in order to survive and provide a decent, safe haven for my husband and me to raise our family.

My thought is this: back in the day, June Cleavers (and now Martha Stewarts) use schedules to keep up their homes. I need to do this. I need to make home-tending and family care a priority rather than drudgery. What if: daily basic household tasks became part of the everyday routine (not including things I do everyday anyway, make my bed, dishes, cooking, etc). I'm talking vacuuming everyday instead of twice a month. Organizing a schedule for cleaning bathrooms and washing floors, laundry (I tend to do laundry EVERYDAY...I'd rather designate one day) as well as say monthly tasks (washing windows for instance) and semi-annual (cleaning of airducts, washing walls...etc.) Annual: powerwashing the house!

Anyway, the point is: not putting off for tomorrow what you can do today. Keeping daily order is easier than mounting a monthly series of overwhelming tasks. Not letting things get so out of hand that I feel confused and frustrated.