# I swear I should have stayed in bed today



## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

everything I try to do today turns to crud (like how I cleaned that up?)  I made coffee and somehow forgot to empty the leftover coffee from the pot -- sooooo the coffee pot spilled over 2 whole counters - in cleaning that up I dropped something and broke it - 3 cookbooks I use quite a bit that have a home on one of the counters absorbed more water than I would have ever imagined possible and are now in the oven at 200 degrees trying to dry out -- - I made a PB&J for lunch and it tastes horrible -- what the heck can you do wrong with a Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich (nothing wrong with it btw - my stomach and taste buds just do that from time to time) My arm is aching like a toothache because of the weather I am sure - and I still have to cook dinner and vacuum -- should I even bother.... 

arrrrgggghhhhh

oh I know this would be a good reason for a Kuerig right


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

*Um...just don't "burn" the cookbooks  Murphy was thinking about you today I guess...*


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

Oh, yikes!  I think you should go straight back to bed and hole up with your Kindle (properly protected, of course) until this blows over!  Take some chocolate, too, or whatever snack tastes good to you.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

(((hugs))) you should go back to bed. And yes, you need a Keurig...Just don't forget to put the cup on it before you push the start button..that can be messy.  

I had a similar day on Friday. I won't go into the gory details, but it included a backed up septic tank, very little sleep, a broken a/c, lots of cleaning, digging though the trash, a panic attack, many, many tears and at least $700 in repair bills and lost night at work (fingers crossed it's not going to be more) and a canceled Kindle DX order  .  

After all that, my mother proceeded to tell me just how messy my house is and how I should hire Merry Maids to come in and clean before my dad comes to visit in September.  (This is her first visit in about 4 years..probably the last for awhile..Love her, but we live on opposite sides of the country for a reason). And threatened to leave when I got upset with her about it (i know my house is a mess. I have a VERY full plate and housework is VERY low on my priority list..It gets done but not as quickly as it should..and with 4 kids, it only takes a couple hours to get destroyed again)

Needless to say, I went to bed after making myself a very, very large drink with lots of alcohol in it..


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

luvmy4brats said:


> (((hugs))) you should go back to bed. And yes, you need a Keurig...Just don't forget to put the cup on it before you push the start button..that can be messy.
> 
> I had a similar day on Friday. I won't go into the gory details, but it included a backed up septic tank, very little sleep, a broken a/c, lots of cleaning, digging though the trash, a panic attack, many, many tears and at least $700 in repair bills and lost night at work (fingers crossed it's not going to be more) and a canceled Kindle DX order .
> 
> ...


Oh NOOOOO'S that was the worst day ever -- I'm sure you cancelled the DX because of the $700 repair bill but dang I think you need a reward after that day -

and heck I only have a husband and he can wreck havoc with the house I can't imagine what 4 kids can do  -- tell her to take a chill pill that your house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy darn it!


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *Um...just don't "burn" the cookbooks  Murphy was thinking about you today I guess...*


I just took the books out of the oven - hoping they will dry ok and I will be able to get the pages open without too much damage - I would hate to have to replace them ...

Murphy can just take out his Kindle and stop thinking about me now - thank you very much hehehe


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

I live alone and my house can become a mess.  I have spent most of the weekend cleaning just the downstairs and my bedroom.  I think sometimes moms from past generations cannot relate to moms of today.  Sporting events, other after-school events, tons of homework, jobs, committees, etc., can suck the hours out of the day very quickly.  Who has time to make sure all of the dust bunnies are safely corralled?
Good luck with the rest of her visit.  Feel free to come around and vent whenever necessary.
deb


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

rho said:


> I just took the books out of the oven - hoping they will dry ok and I will be able to get the pages open without too much damage - I would hate to have to replace them ...
> 
> Murphy can just take out his Kindle and stop thinking about me now - thank you very much hehehe


Hope all is well now. I would just stick the wet books in front of a running fan.
Marti


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## Anju   (Nov 8, 2008)

OOPS!  I promise - thinks will get better - won't say when, but they will get better  

and yes HUGS!

luv - HUGS to you too - my opinion on housekeeping is - if you don't like my housekeeping either do it yourself or leave or be quiet!

My MIL is coming in August and I am already trying to not stress out about it!


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Housekeeping has never been high on my list either, but I improved my little place a lot through flylady.net.  Highly recommend.  Got rid of a lot of stuff last year.  I live alone, so I never thought it really mattered that much (I'm clean but had so many piles of books around -- I'm a piler).


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

yep, the DX was cancelled because of repair bills and the possibility we'll have to replace the family room carpet. We replaced sections of the padding and one section of carpet yesterday. Hopefully it's enough.

I'll be the first to admit my house usually looks like a bomb went off in the center of it. I just didn't need her to point it out to me quite the way she did. 4 kids, 5 cats, 2 dogs, and husband and I working opposite shifts? Sometimes, housework is the last thing on my list.



drenee said:


> I live alone and my house can become a mess. I have spent most of the weekend cleaning just the downstairs and my bedroom. I think sometimes moms from past generations cannot relate to moms of today. *Sporting events, other after-school events, tons of homework, jobs, committees, etc., can suck the hours out of the day very quickly.* Who has time to make sure all of the dust bunnies are safely corralled?
> Good luck with the rest of her visit. Feel free to come around and vent whenever necessary.
> deb


Then add in KindleBoards.... This place definitely has higher priority than folding & putting away laundry.

rho, I hope your books are ok.


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## Tippy (Dec 8, 2008)

Hugs to Luv and Rho.  Tomorrow will be better.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Rho,
I know how a bad day can get worse.  Hopefully yours stopped there.
I agree with hugs all around.  The good news is that if tomorrow is a normal day, it should look fabulous.

Luv,
My Sweet Wife and I have the agreement that living in a home is more important than cleaning it.
Cleaning has its place and someday we will get caught up - hopefully before I go to meet my maker.
But we have a lot to DO right now.  And our kids are grown and gone (well they never really go).
With the ages yours are (I remember the picture) you are lucky if you aren't losing ground to cleaning each day.
If your house is "presentable" I would applaud you.
And you can refer you mother to me for my opinion any time you want.

Just sayin.......


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

geoffthomas said:


> Rho,
> I know how a bad day can get worse. Hopefully yours stopped there.
> I agree with hugs all around. The good news is that if tomorrow is a normal day, it should look fabulous.
> 
> ...


*Ditto on what Geoff said 

My mom will always tell me to leave the mess and in a way she's got it right...I don't want my kid to have memories of mom always cleaning instead of watching her grow and have fun. I want to have fun with my kid, to do the things I wasn't allowed to do during my missed childhood. I think, IMO, that those are way better memories.

Plus Luv...not only do you have all that on your plate, but you're also educating your kids. I'm amazed, and I bow down to you, how you handle all of that. If I didn't have my health issues, I highly doubt that I'd be able to keep up with half of your "to do" list 

BTW...love reading the "just sayin..." Geoff. I'd probably be lost if you ever left it off *


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

rho said:


> I just took the books out of the oven - hoping they will dry ok and I will be able to get the pages open without too much damage - I would hate to have to replace them ...
> 
> Murphy can just take out his Kindle and stop thinking about me now - thank you very much hehehe


*I would think that the pages would just be crinkled, being that there wasn't any sugar or stickiness involved...just a thought.*


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

mlewis78 said:


> Housekeeping has never been high on my list either, but I improved my little place a lot through flylady.net. Highly recommend. Got rid of a lot of stuff last year. I live alone, so I never thought it really mattered that much (I'm clean but had so many piles of books around -- I'm a piler).


I've been doing a modified version of flylady - I have a problem with getting ticked off at DH for all his stuff around - seriously I have a metal gun safe in my living room - 9 boxes of stuff from a sale he has to put away - you can't see my couch for his stuff -- should I go on --- and Flylady says just let it go and pick it up --- I CAN'T pick it up for one it is too heavy and 2 he has specific spots for it to go in the basement till the next show season --

Plus pretty much nothing has been done since November 4th when I broke my arm - I'm including vacuuming, swiffer, dusting in that nothing -- I am slowly doing things but it is slow .... oh well .... I will just plug along doing my 15 minutes at a time 

somehow I hit send by mistake -- I wanted to add I am a piler too - neat piles but lots and lots of them


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

Here you go Luv.







And for you Rho.


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

oh Kathy those were great


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

rho said:


> oh Kathy those were great


Glad you enjoyed. Sorry about your bad day. Nothing worse than starting it out bad first thing in the morning.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

So sorry y'all are having bad days.

Parents! Can't live with 'em, wouldn't be here without 'em....

Ice cream for everyone!


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

RHO, hope your day gets better. I really hate having those days. Oh and PBJ? Well there has been times when I've made that and wondered what the heck is wrong with the peanut butter. A few days later it will taste just fine..  go figure. Hope things get better.

Luv, I 'used' to live several states away from my parents. My brother and I moved to WA from CA. Well he went and had kids so after about 7 years up here blissfully on my own, they moved up to WA  . I do have to say for the most part its been ok but some days  I think I should pack up and move to CA! 

Oh and whenever I visit someones house that isn't all that clean and they have children and start apologizing. I just remind them that children are more important than a clean house and I don't really notice. Besides, I'm single and can barely keep up on my cleaning  !!

theresam


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## Dori (Oct 28, 2008)

mlewis78 said:


> I improved my little place a lot through flylady.net. Highly recommend.


So sorry about the problems you folks. I too am a flybaby and it helps to keep my little home in order (most of the time). Her simple no nonsense approach to house keeping is quite helpful.


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

rho said:


> oh I know this would be a good reason for a Kuerig right


That was my thought exactly as I was reading your post!! Hope your cookbooks are OK and the rest of your day went better.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I have no clue what flybaby is and I am not even going to look. I absolutely loathe and detest housecleaning. It puts me in a horrible mood instantly. I don't understand how people do it for a living.

But I do make my bed every morning and have since I was 8 years old.

L


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

Another wonderful thing about Mexico - MAIDS!  and you really need to hire them to help with their economy, and they are so affordable it is ridiculous.  You have to be careful to not overpay them which would really mess up the system.


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Leslie said:


> I have no clue what flybaby is and I am not even going to look. I absolutely loathe and detest housecleaning. It puts me in a horrible mood instantly. I don't understand how people do it for a living.
> 
> But I do make my bed every morning and have since I was 8 years old.
> 
> L


*My mother in-law is a neat freak to the point that when we were down visiting her and my mom, she chose to stay home and clean instead of coming out and spending time with her granddaughter that she sees at most 3 times a year. I still scratch my head at that one *


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

My sister-in-law (dear brother's second wife) is both a neat freak and control freak.  She is also very judgmental.


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

mlewis78 said:


> My sister-in-law (dear brother's second wife) is both a neat freak and control freak. She is also very judgmental.


oh I had an ex-SIL like that -- can you see the joy in my print when I type EX


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

luvmy4brats said:


> After all that, my mother proceeded to tell me just how messy my house is and how I should hire Merry Maids to come in and clean before my dad comes to visit in September. (This is her first visit in about 4 years..probably the last for awhile..Love her, but we live on opposite sides of the country for a reason). And threatened to leave when I got upset with her about it (i know my house is a mess. I have a VERY full plate and housework is VERY low on my priority list..It gets done but not as quickly as it should..and with 4 kids, it only takes a couple hours to get destroyed again)
> 
> Needless to say, I went to bed after making myself a very, very large drink with lots of alcohol in it..


I've stressed my wife out. Her parents are going to be here on Tuesday (it's been two years since we've seen them) to visit and to attend our son's HS graduation in a week. Our house is a complete and utter disaster area right now. It's my fault. I ordered replacement windows (every window in the main floor) and a replacement front door for our house a month ago. The windows came in on Wednesday and the installers started in on Thursday. In the interim I thought it would be a good time to dismantle our bedroom by ripping the carpet out and painting it. The windows did get installed, well except for the trim on the inside of the house and the trim on the outside of the house. Unfortunately the colored trim for around the windows on the outside of the house won't be here till late tomorrow. I still have to finish painting our closet and around the door tomorrow and touch up the paint around the windows and then reinstall all our window coverings once the inside trim goes up. And oh put all our books back on the bookshelves in our room.

I assured her that I would get it all done before her parents showed up.

I am so screwed, lol.


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

Forster said:


> I assured her that I would get it all done before her parents showed up.
> 
> I am so screwed, lol.


Oh MY! Good luck


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

rho said:


> Oh MY! Good luck


I'll need it. Bad news is I only have tomorrow to get finished what I can as I volunteered to go to the airport to pick them up. Airport is 2 hours away.


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## Sailor (Nov 1, 2008)

Answer: I swear I should have stayed in bed today!

Question: What does Sailor say to herself every morning when she gets up?

I have those kinds of days everyday!

Sailor


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Forster said:


> I've stressed my wife out.
> I assured her that I would get it all done before her parents showed up.
> I am so screwed, lol.


Maybe you can encourage the attitude of "look mom and dad, my DH is working so hard to make our home nicer, isn't that wonderful?"

It's worth a try, anyway... 

(Good luck!)


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

sailor said:


> Answer: I swear I should have stayed in bed today!
> 
> Question: What does Sailor say to herself every morning when she gets up?
> 
> ...


I had those kinds of days every day when I worked the day shift. I worked nights from 2003- early 2009. I used to say to myself during my day work: "why didn't I just call in sick?" and I almost never called in sick, because it got me into trouble with one of the people I worked for. I am so dreading finding another job (as I'm unemployed now), because there isn't anything available for nights in my line of work now . . . but there may be if I do temp work for a while.


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## KimmyA (Dec 11, 2008)

It's good to know I'm not the only one with a less than perfect house. I hate straightening one room, go clean a second room, and come back to the first room to find that the kids have toys everywhere. I only have 2. Well, if you count DH, I have 3 kids.  

We've bought some furniture recently so moving things around has made the messy house worse. DH decided to invite friends over for the weekend so I've spent each night of last week trying to get the house presentable for guests. I'm sick to death of house cleaning and I'm still not finished. The worse part is we live in a really old house. They didn't believe in closets back then so storage space is non existant. You have to be piler just to have somewhere to put things.


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

KimmyA said:


> The worse part is we live in a really old house. They didn't believe in closets back then so storage space is non existant. You have to be piler just to have somewhere to put things.


I hear you on the closet thing, this is our master bedroom's closet. However the cool thing about old houses is sometimes you find really nice floors under the carpet. We had bright red carpet in this room before I pulled it out on Thursday.



















Here's my living room that I have to clean and straighten up today. I found nice hardwood floors under the ugly baby blue carpet when I tore it out a few years ago.


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Forster said:


> I am so screwed, lol.


*Yes you are but I'm sure it'll be beautiful when it's all done 

May the force be with you! *


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## KimmyA (Dec 11, 2008)

Forster, that's exactly what our closet looks like. The closet in the other bedroom is even smaller. There are two closets in our hall but one is about 2' wide. The other, maybe 3' wide. And that's it. No more closets. 

We pulled up our living room carpet a few years ago. We found two layers of linoleum, then very nice hardwood underneath.  

Good luck getting everything done by tomorrow!


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

25 years ago I pulled the carpet up from our "older" house in Dallas, looking to find hardwood floors and found

ta da


concrete!

sealed it and painted it - throw rugs, no more carpet, much happier, then years later put flooring in, helped sell the house when we retired, so it was worth it.


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## robertlc (May 10, 2009)

My grandmother used to say "I don't keep my house, my house keeps me."

I've adopted that philosophy about trying to keep the house as clean and neat as a museum. It can't be done right now.

I will however try to do some of the FlyLady's tips.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Forster, your wood floor looks a lot like mine.  I even have the wood through the kitchen area.  Mine hasn't been finished in many, many years.  I'm in a rental.  When people move out of apartments in my building, the management spends a lot of time renovating, including sanding and refinishing the floors.  The noise and odors are a nuisance.  I think that's a big selling point in the re-rentals.  Unfortunately, many people here love their wood floors so much that they put no area rugs in and the noise and vibrations are horrible.  The building is from about 1890 with very thin floors and walls.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I feel your pain for all of you that have in-law/cleaning "issues".  When we moved back to our home town 16 years ago, we purchased the house my husband grew up in from his mother.  It is a lovely, big house.  We, at her request, remodeled the 1500 square ft basement into a complete apartment for her; however, she still feels the entire house is hers.  She heads up the stairs calling out "knock, knock" and comes on in without waiting for a response (that has put a damper on many a romantic moment), DH is now her personal "honey do-er" (today she called him at work to see if he could come home and fix her tv, he had some time and did so - the tv had gotten unplugged when she was moving the stand to vacuum), I often come home to find her cooking in my kitchen so she can leave something for us for dinner (not cooking in her own full kitchen and inviting us down or offering to share - even if I have something already cooking in crockpot or thawing to cook when I get home), or cleaning something because "I know you just haven't had the time to get to it" (full implication is "you only think you already cleaned this, it isn't the way I would have done it", goes into our bedroom to search for laundry so she can do a full load if she just has a few things, etc...She is truly a wonderful woman and has done more for us in the 31 years we have been married than I could even begin to list, But living with her  MAKES ME CRAZY!!! (okay venting over).  Hope everyone's day has improved and getting out of bed tomorrow will be more joyful!

BTW we have a 30 x 40 living room with a 100% wool carpet that has been here since 1960.  We recently discovered underneath this teal-blue carpet are hand-pegged oak floors, but MIL is too horrified by the thought we might pull up the "expensive" carpet that muffles the sound of us walking over her apartment that it isn't worth the grief she would give us to expose the wood.  I am pretty sure when she goes to Florida for 4 months this winter something HORRIBLE is going to happen to the carpet that will necessitate its removal!


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

It helps when in-laws live far away.


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

mlewis78 said:


> It helps when in-laws live far away.


So far away that we can only afford ONE ticket !


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Anju No. 469 said:


> So far away that we can only afford ONE ticket !


Thank heavens my parents don't come out at the same time. (Someone has to stay home with their dogs and they won't hire a dog sitter or ask a neighbor) I honestly would not be able to handle it.

Thank you all for your kind words and support. It helps...So does Xanax .


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Ah, better living through pharmaceuticals .  At least you know it is only for a while and she/he/they will be leaving - I'm stuck.  Oh well, most days I handle it just fine and like having MIL around - its just when she does wear me down, she REALLY wears me down .  Keep on keeping on!


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

crebel said:


> Ah, better living through pharmaceuticals . At least you know it is only for a while and she/he/they will be leaving - I'm stuck. Oh well, most days I handle it just fine and like having MIL around - its just when she does wear me down, she REALLY wears me down . Keep on keeping on!


Several years ago we offered to convert our garage into a room for my parents to move into. It was in a fit of insanity that the offer was made. I'm thanking my lucky stars that they declined.


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

mlewis78 said:


> It helps when in-laws live far away.


*Mine lives 652 miles away... *


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

chynared21 said:


> *Mine lives 652 miles away... *


Mine live 1,850 miles away. 

Course it's canceled out cause my folks live in the same town.

And yeah I'm in the doghouse right now, window trim didn't show up like it was supposed to so the house is still a mess.


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## chynared21 (Oct 28, 2008)

Forster said:


> Mine live 1,850 miles away.
> 
> Course it's canceled out cause my folks live in the same town.
> 
> And yeah I'm in the doghouse right now, window trim didn't show up like it was supposed to so the house is still a mess.


*Throw a giant sheet over everything and call it "art."

My mom also lives 652 miles away...2 blocks from the in-laws *


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## rho (Feb 12, 2009)

Forster said:


> And yeah I'm in the doghouse right now, window trim didn't show up like it was supposed to so the house is still a mess.


want me to send you pictures of my house -- no matter how bad it is you will be a hero in her eyes that it isn't as bad as mine


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