My Mother is Waging a War Against Dog Hair and is Currently Holding Steady

I have admitted defeat when it comes to dog hair in my home. My mother has not.

My parents arrived a few days ago and my mother, upon realizing her precious granddaughter was crawling and doubling as a sweeper, immediately issued a search and destroy order on all things on the floor, mainly the @$#%@$% dog hair. Although there is no need to search. The hair is here, there, and everywhere!

It’s not that I don’t try to engage the combatant dog hair. I do sweep, just not daily. I have recently determined that daily sweeping is necessary, but I have made peace with the fact that I will not actually sweep as required. Furthermore, I have accepted that I have dogs who shed, who I alternately love and hate, and who are part of our family dynamic and therefore cannot be “accidentally locked out”, “lost” on a walk, or advertised as “great with children”.

We deal with dog hair. We don’t wear black. We shake out everything and/or use a hair remover roller before stepping out of the house. I am trying to get into a routine of combing the dogs outside on a semi-regular basis. I have bought stock in Swifter.

Now back to my Mother. As I type this, I spy her walking around my living room, completely engrossed in her mission, once again sweeping up hair for the third time today. I do appreciate her efforts. I really do. I just don’t make the time nor have the desire to constantly sweep what I consider a losing battle. I want clean but not at the expense of my time to do other things. So I engage in battle every other day, or when I can’t stand the sight of it, or I know I have company coming over.

When will I develop the zen of cleaning? It seems a lot of older women have this calm about them when it comes to cleaning. My grandmothers, my mother, and my mother-in-law tap into their inner resolve and this unbelievable energy reserve to clean, especially when they are at my house (And seriously my house is not a pigsty. I do clean, but I won’t ever pass a white glove inspection. I follow the philosophy of “Good Enough” and “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” ). Maybe it’s an unspoken but understood job duty of motherhood. Mothers, once they are on visiting status, help out their grown children by cleaning. Hmmm….I don’t know, but I’ll take it. My workload seems lighter and life on the Home-front seems so much easier when my mother or mother-in-law visits.

However, on the flipside, my mother’s quest for cleanliness is sometimes very dangerous. She now has had two skirmishes that could have been catastrophic for the family. The latest comes on Day 1 of her visit. The whole house slumbered while she stayed up to attack the kitchen. She cleaned the stovetop and then thinking she had won went to bed. Somehow the pilot light on the gas stove went out. I woke up in the middle of the night to tend to Baby Girl and was immediately assaulted with the smell of gas. Hubby re-lit the pilot light. Crisis averted. I hate to think what would have happened if we had an undetected gas leak all night.

My Mom deserves a medal and accolades for her determination and focused concentration against the enemy. Today the battle against dog hair has been won. But tomorrow, who will admit defeat and who will stand victorious? Hair or hair-free?

Day 122 of Domestic Drudgery Bliss

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead!

The big news for today is that Osama Bin Laden is DEAD! We got ya, Sucka! It might have taken us 10 years, but we are a persistent bunch. I listened to President Obama address the nation last night.

The Daily To Do List

Gymnastics
Groceries
Flowers for Teacher Appreciation Week
Post Office
Make Mother’s Day Cards
Aerobics

The Completed To Do List & Then Some….

Gymnastics
Groceries
Flowers for Teacher Appreciation Week
Post Office
Make Mother’s Day Cards
Aerobics

I am always trying to overcome my own inertia. Once at home, I don’t leave. Today we had a late start. We made it to gymnastics class, late of course. We came home to regroup for lunch and never left, which is a normal occurrence. Instead, I..

Cleaned and de-cluttered.
Wrote thank you notes.
Washed dishes.
Vacuumed.
Laundry.
Held/Nursed the baby.
Attempted to make Mother’s Day cards with the Boy. Failed.
Made beans & sausage for dinner.

Here’s a picture of my “desk” today.

Here are pictures of my “co-workers”.

It may look like the Boy is just clutching 4 markers. HOWEVER, he informed me that he is actually General Grievous (Star Wars Clone Wars) with 4 light sabers.


Just one of my good days….(I won’t dwell on the mompreneur article I read in the
Washington Post today that made me pause and consider my choice, which I usually do on my bad “work” days, when I meet up with my college friends, every time there is change and upheaval in my life because of Hubby’s career, and hormones.)

HUMBLED & Other Snippets From My Life of Late

Yesterday I felt humbled after reading a blog post of an acquaintance. This woman lost her baby boy who was born prematurely and died on Friday. As I am dealing with the round-the-clock feedings of my healthy newborn and in my sleep deprivation, I can lose sight of the miracle before me and forget that this child (and all the required childrearing!) is exactly what I wanted. I feel terrible now for my constant complaining about the discomfort of my pregnancy; because in the end, I delivered a healthy baby girl who I love so very deeply. As a fellow mother, I grieve for this woman, with the understanding of her desire to have a healthy child to love and to hold for a lifetime and now of her loss. There are no words, just sadness.

So rarely these days are my thoughts linear, complex or deep. While I wouldn’t describe myself as a scatterbrain, I definitely do display a mind that jumps around. Really, my life is lived in snippets. So in the last two days, here are a few snippets from my “exciting” life as a stay-at-home mom/domestic household manager/domestic goddess:

· Spice Rack Clean-Up – Of all the pressing projects that Hubby could do while on family leave (taxes, life insurance updates, yard work to name a few), he decides that he must clean up our spice collection. I woke up today to find him happily going through our assortment of spices. For how long are spices good, potent and fragrant for cooking? No matter as I didn’t waste any brain power on his pet project.

· My son’s Oxy-Clean statement – I now have definitive proof that my child watched too much TV during my pregnancy. After being instructed to eat his snow cone in the dining room rather than the living room for easy cleanup of inevitable spills, he informs us that if he were to stain the rug, “we just need to get Oxy-Clean because it works on tough stains.” I’m pretty sure that’s a direct quote from the commercial. What makes this so funny to me is that he believes it so sincerely that it makes the delivery of the statement so precious.

· Dinner Duty Made Easy – We have been very fortunate to have friends who have made our lives easier by preparing and delivering dinner for us during the newborn stage. Much thanks and love to all my friends who have taken time out of their busy and hectic lives to make my busy and hectic life a little more manageable! Besides meeting our precious baby girl, we have been able to catch up with a few friends.

· Perfect Baby Girl with Mixed Up Days & Nights Garners Mega-Attention in Baby Sling – I braved the Commissary today with both kids in tow. The shopping trip took forever! However, my son was extremely helpful and patient. Little girl just slept, oblivious to all. I think the trip took a long time because I couldn’t walk more than 10 feet without someone stopping to admire my Precious bundle. Of course, I’m thrilled but also a bit leery.

· Clean house = constant motion – I think the only way to have a clean, clutter-free house is to be in constant motion. Frankly, I just don’t have the energy. Today I cleaned the master bedroom. Our son had an accident in our bed last night. The bed had been stripped but not remade (Hubby & child relocated to another bed in the house.). So I emptied the laundry hamper and hauled the dirty clothes and the soiled sheets downstairs to start laundry. I cleaned up the mattress with baking soda and remade the bed. I emptied the trash. I de-cluttered, taking all the children’s books that have migrated into our room back to the child’s room. I hung up clothes. And then it was time for a feeding. *sigh* and then there was the kitchen, bathroom, living room….

While I’d love to share more snippets, Precious Bundle is demanding that I hold her 24-7. Life is Good.

I’m Avoiding Housework This Afternoon….and Now This Post Has Turned into a Rant That Spoiled Wifey Doesn’t Feel Spoiled in DC….

But really avoiding housework is an EVERYDAY occurence. My house gets embarrassingly dirty, to the point that I can’t stand it and the thought of unexpected visitors seeing the effect of my laziness motivates me to clean. Of course, I now have triple the workload which makes cleaning so incredibly labor-intensive. Specifically, I am avoiding the dishes from last night, the week of laundry growing exponentially downstairs, the little boy’s bathroom (true filth, why is aiming so difficult?!) and once again sweeping the mounds of dog hair. I feel like I just swept but my time sensor for cleaning is broken. It feels like it was yesterday but it might just as easily have been last week. Either way, there is visible hair which needs to be removed. *sigh*

To top it all off, today is napping weather. It rained hard earlier in the morning and has been overcast and dreary ever since. I got Little Man to nap easily this afternoon. I thought I’d follow suit, but for some reason I am all worked up today. So blogging it is.

Today I learned that if heavy rain is in the forecast, I probably should plan to stay at home. Or at least not leave Arlington. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning at 0900 in Bethesda, Maryland, a mere 9 miles away. I never made it. Even after trying 2 different routes. Finally after 45 minutes and still sitting in traffic in Virginia, I gave up. I cancelled my appointment and rescheduled for another day. Listening to the traffic report just confirmed my decision, too. Radio announcers advised those who could telecommute to do so.

Now I definitely do not feel like Spoiled Wifey living here in the DC/NoVa area. Granted it’s only been 6 weeks and I am still trying to adjust to the rhythm & nuances of this area, but this move has been the most challenging to date. Everything is challenging. I get aggravated easily. There are too many people. Too many choices. Too fast-paced. Too many waiting lists. Just too, too, too! Give me back my middle-sized suburbia town where I can get everywhere I need to be within 20 minutes. I’d really like to see my friends in Alexandria without having to leave 45 minutes before our meeting time. It’s just tiring me out. Maybe too much thinking about details that shouldn’t enter the equation: What route? What’s the traffic? What time do I need to leave to get there reasonably on time? And essentially every time, I’m late, very late. I’m aggravated, very aggravated.

I just want to breeze on through, get somewhere on time without feeling frazzled, and then maybe I’d feel spoiled once again.