Tired...

 

I am sooo tired. It seems that the messes in my house belong to everyone except me.  

Some examples:

Pop cans. I have quit drinking pop; mostly quit. I have one every once in a while, but I am not the one drinking all this pop.

The bag in the recycle can holds more than the can and you can't 'waste' the bag.

When the recycle can is full

(the picture is sideways, but you get the idea)

this happens.

Half the top of the stove is covered. 

And, it continues until the stove top is covered and I can't use it at all.

I am refusing to deal with this because it is NOT MY MESS!

There have been discussions about it, but it doesn't get any better.

What you can't see on the right of the stove is the shelving unit that holds the cartons of pop. They are there so that when pop is removed from the fridge more cans can be put in. That doesn't happen very well. And, when the cartons are empty they are suppose to go to the recycle bin in the garage and more cartons are to be brought in so there is pop ready to go in the fridge. 

That doesn't happen well either.

Then, there are the counters in the kitchen. 

I don't have a lot of counter space so I am pretty frustrated by this.

The left side of the sink...

The microwave on the left has a stack of phone books that go back to 2008. 

We can't seem to throw those away because someone may have marked a number on one of the pages that we may need at some time. Then there are my husbands medications. This seems to be the easiest way for him to manage them. There are other things there he will use at some point. And, the cookies. There is always something open on that counter. I have tried putting them back into the cabinet every time I see them there, but they just end up back on the counter. I give up.

This is the right side of the sink. What isn't seen in the left of this picture is a carton of eggs. They are from our hens and I use them within 2-3 days so I know they are safe. 

Another box of goodies that keeps getting moved around when it is in the way, and then moved again. The spaghetti sauce will be used this weekend and the catsup is patiently waiting for the almost empty one on the fridge to get used up, which will happen very soon.

And, then there is the dining table. We don't eat at this table, we eat in our chairs in front of the TV.

I call this the 'Farm Office'. The only time this table is clean is during tax season. I will come home from work one day and everything except the calculator and some pencils will be gone. That lasts a few weeks before things slowly begin to pile up again.

One year I tried putting a nice table runner and candle on the middle. I have even tried removing the leaves so there is less surface space to leave things on. Neither worked. I give up.

I am not going to show you the whole house, but this is what I deal with.

I am tired of working so hard to keep this house clean and clutter free only to have it messy again in a matter of hours. I give up.

I do have my own messes. My quilting machine is set up to the right of that table. My sewing area is right in the other room, the TV room that we spend most of our time in. But, I do try to keep it contained and I do clean up at the end of the day.

And, here I sit at the computer at 9:00 on a Saturday morning, still in my pajamas. I feel overwhelmed and paralyzed by the mess. 

And, I think about the impression people who visit us must have. 

I feel like they think of ME as being lazy and not caring that my family has a clean, clutter free home.

But, I am tired. I am the only one who ever touches the dishwasher, the oven, the stove. I fix the meals, put them on plates and hand them to my husband and son. They put the dirty dishes on the counter, never in the dishwasher. They don't want to do it wrong they tell me. I tell them it doesn't matter how the dishes are in there, just put them in. They never put them away. 

My husband will do a load of his farm clothes when they get too dirty to wash with other clothes, but the rest of the laundry is on my. My son will wait until he has worn most of his clothes then bring me 2 laundry baskets that usually make at least 3 loads. I would make my son do his own laundry but the washer and dryer are in the basement and stairs and wheelchairs are not a good mix. He has to get his laundry baskets to the basement stairs and I do not fold his laundry. I make a nice neat pile and put it on his bed. Sometimes he folds and puts it away, sometimes he just wears it off the pile.

I know I am not the only person dealing with these mundane, everyday chores so ignore my complaining,  but I just needed to vent.

Now I am off to take a shower, start a load of laundry, run the dishwasher and QUILT.

I hope to finish this quilt this weekend.