Breaking Point


I've been on vacation for about a month now. It started the last week of June and lasted until yesterday. For some reason I just stopped keeping house. I got sick of ironing, tired of washing dishes, burned out on grocery shopping, fed up with answering the phone and stopped making meals. Instead, I've taking naps with Pixie, cavorting at the beach and staying up till small hours playing Scrabble with my little sister. How could something so wrong feel so right?

I put a load of laundry in the washing machine at our apartment complex over a week ago and forgot about it. Spike has been moping around the house talking about missing clothes ever since but I thought he was just being dramatic. Then on Tuesday, just to appease him I went down to the laundry room to look for the missing clothes he kept talking about and there in a mildewing pile were his dress shirts, Pixie's summer dresses and a freshly tie-dyed tee shirt that had bled all over most of the garments. Ashamed, I brought the clothes upstairs and silently presented them to Spike. Thankfully, he spared me the "I told you so." On his way out the door to work he softly let me know that the freezer had been left open all night and all our food had spoiled.

Even I have a breaking point. After surveying the damage to our frozen goods, I took a good look at the apartment for the first time in weeks. There were heaps of pots covered with molding food in the kitchen, a fly swarm around the diaper pail on the porch (I put raw turkey burgers in there and forgot about them), scores of unanswered messages piled up on the machine and my baby's hair was full of dreadlocks and jelly. With a sigh, I realized my vacation was over. I don't know what got into me - I keep hoping that this place is going to run itself and keep being proven totally wrong.

So the pendulum swings yet again. I really wish I could do the "moderation in all things" bit but I'm just not built that way. Yesterday I made my epic task list, and starting tearing through it at a frantic pace. I ironed for almost 2 hours yesterday. I'm sure I'll burn out in a while and have another bought of sloth overcome me. Isn't there a term for people like me? Oh yeah, "disgusting."

Comments

Anonymous said…
I tried to warn Adam about you before you guys got married. It was more for my benefit, I didn't want to lose my roommate, but he still wanted you. If he changes his mind, you are always welcome at my house :) We love being lazy!
Anonymous said…
I know exactly what you are talking about. I have refused to do a thing in my house and have the same mildewed pile of clothes in the washer because I am too lazy to fold the clean clothes and put them away. I am out of my normal dishes and have started using my nice ones and am out of my normal silverware and am now using my sterling silver. I just dont want to clean. I am waiting for some miracle fairy to come in and do it for me, some fantastic clean team perhaps to do all my bidding. In fact, I stopped trying just as soon as that same little sister left my house and stopped cleaning with me.
Anonymous said…
I, too, am totally over the whole cleaning bit. Every other week I make John promise that we will take turns doing the dishes after dinner so that they don't keep piling up. But at the end of the next day we both remain unresolved to change. In my mind I do them all the time, and it is his turn for a change. I guess he feels the same. So we just wait until there are none left, resort to washing individual forks or bowls for personal use, and then finally we invite people over so that we are forced to make a real effort. It's a vicious cyle.
Unknown said…
It is hard wanting to clean knowing that it is just going to get dirty in a few minutes.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said…
I agree with Jared; why fight a losing battle? This post reminds me that I also left a load in the washer and now it's probably mildewed...Eew.
Molly said…
1. I'm glad you're still blogging. It's been a while since I've visited.
2. Perhaps flylady.net could help.
3. You're not disgusting.
Anonymous said…
I'm burning with curiosity about that deleted comment. Was it it your mother in law bemoaning her son's choice of a wife? The Church Lady reminding you that cleanliness is next to godliness? Or was it some cowardly 'anonymous' poster who hadn't the courage to stand up to his/her convictions after leaving them littered about your page? Do tell!

PS, Thanks for showing Nubsy Wubsy such a grand time. I'm sure Dallas will be completely boring after surfing the LA beaches, hanging out in Hollywood, doing Chinatown, etc. Oh well; we do the best we can.
Anonymous said…
This post was accidentally sent to your brother's blog. I have resuced it and put it into its proper place:

So here's why your darling angel mother signs in as Anonymous: I feel awkward trying to post as my Black Labrador, Carmencita, Infanta Gloriosa, [who can lick my lips anytime she pleases and I lick back!] and I sure don't want to start up a third blog with all the posting I already have to keep up with. I expect my entries are obvious enough. But seriously, I want to hear about that deleted post! Did you go too far? Did you get an actual spam? What?

Oh, wait. I figured out how to use the 'other' box. Will do. xo
Carina said…
I'm glad I'm not the only schizophrenic cleaner. Ignore, ignore, ignore, spend 4 hours deep cleaning our small kitchen--half of it with a toothbrush.

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