9/8/09

Knowing When to do a Half Way Job

If you're a mother, then you know what it's like to be overwhelmed. You know what it's like be on your feet every waking minute of the day, moving, sweating, exerting precious energy only to take a last glance at he house before locking the doors and turning out lights to see... that nothing really seemed to get done.

There are days when doing a half way job on the house brings a lot of relief. Think! Instead of tackling that whole bathroom, couldn't you just clean the mirror and sink?
The tub may not need to be cleaned as much as your toddler needs to be held. Throw the towel in and leave the tub.

Motherhood has it's seasons. There are seasons for volunteering for PTA, seasons to organize your house and entertain guests, and seasons to slap the friends welcome sign on the door and hold your head high when that friend walks into your pile of laundry on the couch and building blocks on the floor.
I spout on and on about cleaning and routines around here like my house rivals the Queen of Clean. If ya'll feel overwhelmed about not being Henrietta Homemaker then breathe and examine your season.
If you have small children, take a good look in the mirror. Recall when your last full night of sleep was... double check the bags under your eyes. You don't have to do it all. Just shine the mirror and look at your beautiful self and do a half way job until your season changes.
This message brought to you by a mother of 6 in her pre-holiday season, volunteering too much, house is a disaster, laundry is running down the stairs season of overwhelmed. Tomorrow I'm taking a half day off!

You can catch me over at Blissfully domestic today!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

A timely reminder on my almost-littlest one's first day at school :)

Ozgur said...

This could not come in a better time.Yesterday I spent all day cleaning the whole house while my toddler was bored and making more mess around the house because of lack of stimulation.
I now understand that the house will get dirty again and clean and then dirty again but these precious times of my daughter won`t...So I am taking whole day off today!

Unknown said...

I call those type of days "a lick and a promise day". I hit it a lick and promise to do better next time. You deserve a day off--enjoy it!

southerninspiration said...

So true because experience tells me that those days are not long enough, even though at the time, they feel like they will NEVER end!!! You will have plenty of time later to keep a spotless house (if that's what you want to do, just saying) because before long they will be going away to college and living their own lives......sigh.

Suzanne

Love the Decor! said...

Great advice especially to mommies with young children.

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

THANK YOU!!!! :) I only have 2 little girls, but I do feel overwhelmed sometimes, esp. when I see other bloggers (or "real life" friends) whose homes look like they belong in a magazine. I'm going to give myself some slack. :)

Renee said...

Thank You! Love the post.

janet said...

You are absolutely right, I am a mother of three teens and I had to teach myself many years ago about taking that break. Our dustbunnies will always be there but our children will grow up and be gone way sooner than we think. We just sent our oldest off to college and it just seemed like yesterday when she was a baby.
hugs
janet

Bonita said...

This is a great post! Small children or not, sometimes doing a little is what is needed instead of doing a full blown job. It has taken me many years to learn this because the little perfectionist in me thinks that if you can't do it all perfectly, why bother doing anything? Yet, I'm intentionally practicing the art of doing what I can and letting the rest go and I find that I'm more at peace and my house is actually cleaner!

 
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