Falling Apart

I had a record. The longest I had ever kept my house clean was about 2 weeks. This time I made it 2 months. Then everything fell apart.

The dishes haven't been done right after every meal, and once or twice I went all day without doing them.

The laundry often has to be washed again because I left it in the machine too long and it smells. But it does get folded before another load is pulled out of the dryer!

The floor does not get swept everyday, and only got done today because it had to be. A friend came over with her small son, about William's age. It sorely needs mopped, especially by the table.

The carpet needs vacuumed. Like, my room. After William flooded the toilet on Wednesday, we sucked as much water out of my bedroom carpet as possible with our cleaner (Mark has quit complaining that I bought it...) and then Mark sprinkled baking powder on the wet spot to get the rest of the water out. *Tip - pour baking soda on a spill and it will pull the fluid out (like urine). Wait for it to dry, usually about 12 hours, and then vacuum it up. I did it on a Chloe-the-dog accident and it changed color to yellow when it dried, the stuff it pulled up. No stain left on the carpet! The white powder is still all over the floor, and has been spread by people walking on it.

There are stiff towels and bathroom rugs in the boys' bathroom that need washed, from the last clogging two weeks ago when Mark's family descended on us. The toys that clogged the toilet and the drain snake are still in the tub.

The rugs, a towel, bathroom scale, plunger-holder thingy, and parts of the shop-vac are in my tub from when William flushed a whole roll of toilet paper, several times, and the water was all over the bathroom, down the vent in the floor (why put a vent in the bathroom floor right by the toilet?) and seeped out into my carpet. On Wednesday. Dried toilet paper in my sink so we have been using Mark's.

A houseplant died.

What happened? Stress. The stress I was trying to avoid. The frantic cleaning for the re-inspection of the laundry room that never happened. The reunion on the heels of the mandatory cleaning. The itchy hives that I hoped weren't from my meds that spread from my arms to my legs and back before I thought to change my soap back to Dove and that took several weeks to go away. (apparently I can only use Dove, anything else makes me break out). The referral to the ENT that we weren't sure if she would see Nathan, and was taking her time deciding. Being sick. Having 14 people all sleeping in the same 3 bedroom house all weekend. Taking a couple days to relax after everything and letting all the housework that I didn't do that day snowball into a large project again. Having a slight depressive episode that leaves me not motivated at all to clean the house. (meds aren't foolproof) Staying up way to late either reading a book or blogging. (It's 1:30 am)

I can't do this to myself again! I need to get back on track! I want that peaceful feeling that happens when my house is clean. Where everyone is happy because there is a good feeling in our home. Where I don't get nervous-flustered because people other than Amanda are coming to our home. Where I don't panic because someone needs to use the bathroom and I have to ponder the pro's and con's of the mess/smell from each flooding.

Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow...