Monday, June 6, 2011

Parenting is an exercise in endurance

Theagnosticswife asks:

That’s true right? I know I’m not the only one who stays up too late, has cranky, loud children, cat vomit in the floor on occasion (seriously annoying) and wrinkled clothes(that spray de-wrinkler works great by the way.) Am I?


It's not just you.

If there's one thing that parenting has taught us, it's how to know when it's time to cut our losses. Our house is very neat... right now. It's not as clean as we'd like, but it's very neat. That's because we had people over for Firstborn's (ongoing) birthday parties on Friday night, Sunday afternoon, and this morning. It's also because the messy stuff has been shoved into unlikely locations (like the back bedroom) and hidden behind closed doors. It's also because a significant portion of my week's vacation was devoted to cleaning, straightening, and fixing things.

(The rest of my vacation was devoted to bad horror flicks and being a pirate in an old PS2 video game.)

But give us a week or two, and we'll resume the slow surrender to entropy.

I stay up late - though I try not to stay up too late - because it's the only way I can get my own projects done. It's also the only way I can get reasonably uninterruped down-time. But it can become a vicious cycle, since a lot of the projects I'd like to work on during me-time (anything to do with writing, mainly) all-but-require me to be well rested. Otherwise, working on those projects becomes an exercise in frustration.

Trying to get everything done with kids in the house is the sort of balancing act that makes juggling chainsaws, while riding a unicycle, on a tightrope, with a lightshow blazing around you... look positively uncomplicated.

4 comments:

  1. I'm giggling. You should see the AH's "computer room" seriously it's a hazard, but I've given up on that room it's his to junk up and he does and excellent job at that!

    The door stays closed when he's not home and the kids love to go in there because it's a free for all. Oh you want to take an old computer apart, have at it cut the wires, take all the screws out. They love it! Me not so much.

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  2. I am at war against clutter in my house. I am also waging battles on the yard, job, and writing fronts.

    Things do not look good.

    Send help.

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  3. The AH gets a "computer room"? I'm jealous. I get a "computer corner" - where, last night, I found that Secondborn had pushed or pulled my keyboard off its spot on the desk. I'd love to have something with an actual door. Even a closet would do.

    @ Andy - in keeping with the best practices of U.S. foreign policy and our current stance in The War On Clutter, I'm green-lighting the seal team incursion. Unfortunately, I don't have access to Navy SEALS, so you'll have to make do with genuine seals. The barking and clapping and balancing-things-on-their-noses should give you a powerful advantage in morale, if nothing else.

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  4. Wow... Sounds like the story of my life. Right down to stepping in a sticky, cold, wet pile of cat yack. I now recommend people only get a long-haired cat if they really enjoy picking up insidious-looking hairballs, and stepping in them in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom.

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