Are You Looking For Me? I’m Here, Buried Under the Mountain of Laundry

Can you see me waving my dirty bra of surrender?

How many loads of laundry does your household produce in a week?

I started yesterday and am STILL working through the mountain. Now granted, I had a terrific visit with my sister & nieces. Therefore, this week the volume is higher than normal when you consider guest linens & towels for 4 extra bodies. But I also had an unexpected 3 loads due to the dreaded nighttime accident by little boy. When it’s all said & done (and hopefully it will all be done by tonight!), I will have washed 10-11 loads of laundry. Is it possible that I have that much stuff to clean?! It is possible. I think about my friends who have multiple children and marvel at their mountain of laundry cleaning skills. I think about those who have to haul their laundry to a Laundromat. I think about those who, god forbid, have to hand-wash.

This Spoiled Wifey is VERY grateful for her washing machine & dryer. I want to thank the inventor of the washing machine. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Why Do I Always Feel Like I’m Cleaning BUT Not Making Any Progress?!

I promised myself that I would not use precious preschool time to clean the house. But I also recognize that when the cleaning fairy bestows her magic upon my body, I must seize the opportunity to clean. Otherwise, I’d truly live in dirt & constant clutter. Even now with 90 minutes of cleaning, it’s maintenance (and still clutter-galore).

What did I accomplish in 90 minutes?

• Loaded the dishwasher of last night’s dinner dishes
• Hand-washed a few dishes that didn’t fit in the dishwasher
• Cleaned out the fridge
• Took out trash & recycling
• Made Hubby a smoothie & lunch
• Put away groceries that didn’t make it into cupboards last night
• Load of laundry
• Made Lunch for myself

Now I’m enjoying my lunch with the hum of the dishwasher & washing machine and the radio blasting. (And a bit of Facebook.).

But a quick glance of the watch—it’s time to pick up the kiddo from school.
ALREADY?!

This afternoon in preparation for visitors, I will go through some boxes in the guest room/basement area shoved in the corner and forgotten from the summer. This is so not exciting. When do full-time working parents fit in house-cleaning? Live in dirt & clutter-galore? Or just hire a housekeeper? I like to think my house is in constant motion since we are home so often, which requires constant cleaning. (Or it could be I’m just a terrible, lazy housekeeper without an effective cleaning routine. Hmmm…..Maybe I could use some cleaning tips. Tips, anyone?)

And I’m off to pick up that precious child who makes my choice of staying at home worthwhile (right?!).

Spoiled Wifey Is Preggo (And Very Cranky)!

Don’t get me wrong: I am thrilled to have a child. I am amazed by the gift of life.

HOWEVER, why is pregnancy so incredibly uncomfortable? In short, this SUCKS!

Yes, I am very cranky because I am tired all the time. My sleep schedule is disrupted at night either from the first-born or more likely unpleasant body symptoms.

Now in my 2^nd trimester, exhaustion, nausea and frequent bathroom trips should be waning. Nausea has not. I still get bouts. And now other symptoms are picking up speed. My skin has gone haywire which makes me self-conscious, especially since I don’t look particularly pregnant yet, just dumpy and bloated.

So I feel fat & ugly and therefore, cranky.

Summertime and the Livin' Is Easy....

Another 2 weeks have flown by….and what have I been doing? Trying to keep myself & the child sane. Seriously, it’s summertime which can only mean one thing in my book: TRAVEL!

This past week, kiddo & I drove to the Finger Lakes in New York. Every year the Mother-in-Law spends two weeks at the lake with her best friend of 40+ years. They host a reunion party for their high school friends. They visit family. They cook. They read. They lounge. And for one of the weeks, they gave me a break, helped me with kiddo and provided him the opportunity to create happy childhood memories! His favorite memory of the lake is taking the paddleboat across the lake with Gamie. My favorite memory is him telling stories with his new friends (fellow 4 & 7 yr olds) around the campfire while we made s’mores. Of course, he doesn’t remember the temper tantrum when he couldn’t go on the lake because the water was too rough. Or his whining to go home after day 2. Or anything unpleasant. I remember that all vacations with child in tow always tend to be more work that I anticipate! But we did have fun, even if it was cold & rainy most of the days we were there. (I am a wannabe Southern gal at heart. Give me 90+ degree weather, frizzy hair, and I am happy.)

We returned just in time to visit with out-of-town friends and spent a lovely day on the National Mall. We started at the Museum of Natural History, took a ride on the Carousel, got balloons, popped balloons 10 minutes later, walked to the WWII Memorial, saw the preparations for the Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” rally, and then called it a day.

With such good days as these, I will keep the grumbling about the move to a minimum. I am thankful to finally live in a place that people want to visit. I expect round 2 of visitors next month. Good times!

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.

Has the Dust Settled? Just Enough for me to Realize I Need to Purge!

The dust is settling from the moving whirlwind. Each day, we become a bit more familiar and comfortable with our new surroundings. I will be in explore mode for quite some time. At least I am having fun now that I have the lay of the land in my head (and an ever-so-handy GPS to avert crisis. Seriously, how did people navigate without one? I cannot fathom!)

We are mostly unpacked but still have work to do to find a place for all our belongings. Unfortunately, I think that means most of it will find its way to the attic. Which makes me think that really it’s time to PURGE. I have such a problem with letting go. I am not a hoarder per se (although my husband may beg to differ.). But perhaps I have the same hoard tendencies. My stuff holds memories. I remember who gave it to me and/or where I got it. Remembering makes me feel good. I fear throwing it away because I have a horrible memory. I rewrite my history all the time. And I don’t want to lose that loving feeling. Or sometimes I just feel practical holding onto it, as in I “might” need it one day.

What are some of the things that I “might” need one day?

• Baby Stuff (crib, clothes, toys, practically everything!)

We have been moving all the baby stuff for years now. I’m holding out that another baby is in our immediate future (next 2 years or so!). I’m not sure why I kept all the boy’s clothes because clothes are probably the easiest to replace. Yet you know Murphy’s Law: Since I have carted these clothes around all these years (5 totes and counting), I will have a girl (Yes, please!). Or a boy but not during the same season (summer baby, no if I can avoid it!) and thus will not be able to use the clothes.

• A tote FULL of old T-shirts from junior high, high school & college

I have every INTENTION of making my very own T-shirt quilt. That is what I tell my husband every time I see him eye the tote. He has only pointed out once, maybe twice, that I still do not know how to sew nor have I ever bothered to learn on the shiny-new-still-in-the-box sewing machine that we received as a wedding gift. (I have been a spoiled wifey for quite some time.) Seriously, would I actually pay someone to sew the quilt for me? Highly unlikely. Hmmm…I’m thinking it’s time to say bye-bye.


• Work Awards from 2004

Who cares that I was Civilian of the Quarter at my workcenter 6 years ago? I don’t! So safe to say that nobody else does either. If that is my crowning achievement to date, then I am more boring than I thought! And a bit pathetic that a quarterly award would be an esteem booster for me. (Note: If the award was the Spoiled Wifey of the Year Award, I’d consider keeping it, just because it would have to be something snarky from my Hubby!) Toss!

Whew! I’m feeling better already!

MOVING & GOOD-BYE

3 moves in 3 years….you’d think it would get easier. It doesn’t.

I am getting to an age where I’m becoming less flexible handling the stresses of moving gracefully, particularly the leaving, the good-byes.

The optimistic among us say it comes with the territory of being a military spouse. Deal with it. “What a fantastic opportunity to have friends all over the world!”

Oh, I deal with it. I consider myself a fairly optimistic person, too [subjective assessment]. But moving still sucks!

I don’t want to have friends all over the world. I want to have friends that I can pal around with right now, the here and now. If I must move, which I must, I want my friends to move with me!

Unrealistic? Uh, yes, I know this. I am also called Spoiled Wifey for a reason…..Thank you very much!

When I know that I am living a touch-and-go lifestyle, I can either jump right in the game or watch from the sidelines. Watching from the sidelines is much safer, especially emotionally.

But this year, I jumped right in.

I have made several great friends, both military and non-military. I reconnected with friends from high school. I have my rituals and routines. I have my caffeine pow wow at the Tipping Point every Thursday at 10:30am. We have only been meeting up since March, but the group has seen its fair share of drama, exasperations, joys, idiosyncrasies, and most importantly, laughs in the past 3 months. I daresay, those who meet up regularly, will miss this routine the most.

And what has started me on my downward emotional spiral of negativity is the goodbyes and the hugs and the promises to keep in touch (we won’t really, maybe a bit better now that there is Facebook) that I keep having to do this week. I just said goodbye to my Latin Dance class group. Shake those hips, Ladies! Shake those hips!

Graduation will be bittersweet. We celebrate the accomplishment but it also means we all scatter to the four winds.

Recognizing that we will need more oompf to get us through the no-kidding last coffee hurrah (the last 3 coffees have supposedly been the last), we are meeting for cocktails instead. I think I will need several stiff drinks to lessen the pain of saying good-bye, for the anxiety of change, and realizing that this experiment may never repeat itself. Ladies, and I know you know who you are, I will miss you more than I can adequately express.

I will, however, NOT cry over cocktails or get overly emotional and sentimental on Thursday. Trust me, it will not happen. Primarily, once the floodgates open, we all know it can’t end well…..

So I put on my happy face, do what I must (and I’d rather not say what that may be), and say good-bye.

GOOD-BYE, MONTGOMERY!!