Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Do You Feel Overwhelmed?

As the end of the year approaches, parents and children are pulled in many different directions for the last recital, the last lacrosse game, and the School Musical. All of these are wonderful events, but it makes for a very full calendar in May. My personal challenge is that the daily chores associated with running our home are enough to kill me. In fact, I feel like they are indeed, killing me. My temper is short and I have snapped unnecessarily. I am trying to serve our family with gladness but sometimes I feel like running and hiding!:) Do you feel this way?
Since Christmas, I have been unable to do it all. I battle laundry every day, washing 3-4 loads a day. Load # 3 is in the wash right now. I wash one child's bed in entirety per day. This means that I am always washing sheets and towels plus our uniforms and other clothes. The dishwasher was was just emptied for the second time today. I am waiting on my hubby to come home before I eat dinner, so I snuck away from serving the children dinner just so I could sit and blog for a minute:).
Our bedroom is a wreck between the clothes that need to go to Goodwill, the piles of paper I need to file, and the clothes that need to go in the attic. But when will I have time to do all that I want and need to do? I feel like I have raced from one appointment to the next, and we are not talking about racing from a mani/pedi to a massage. Yesterday I had children at school by 7:45, picked up my next carpooler, took my youngest & her friend to the grocery store, dropped them at school, and then raced to a meeting. The meeting was from 9:30-11am, and then I raced to an 11am goodbye lunch w/ a friend who is moving. I had to cut it short to drop off the groceries that had been in my car since 8am. I unloaded and put away the cold stuff and rushed to 12:30pm preschool pick up. Hennie had a friend over and then the children were home and homework and activities began. I managed to make dinner and do homework in the midst of all of that. Where in that schedule was time to put anything away or make progress on our messes? Sadly it is already time to vacuum the whole house again. I feel like I did it yesterday. How do YOU do it all?

16 comments:

Gabi said...

Oh, I am feeling THE SAME WAY!!! even down to the daily sheet washing (which is less if I remember to do the wake up when I go to bed, but I am SO tired, I often forget!) The laundry is out of control, the kitchen is a mess and I haven't been to the grocery store yet this week. The boys and I had to go to Michael's for some supplies for a 3d model J has to make for a school project, so we just went to Applebee's for dinner. It was actually SO nice to just sit for a while and enjoy our time together! Tomorrow night it is back to the complete craziness that is our life until school ends. (June 11)
I'm done now! :)

Henley on the Horn said...

TPT, I AGREE!! I am drowning over here!!!

Aundrea said...

ditto to all the above- there must be an epidemic of overworked, stressed moms going around!!!

Jessica Ryan said...

did yo see my post yesterday? Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming... just keep swimming!

Sweet Southern Prep said...

Um, wow! Guess this will be my life VERY soon. Right now I'm enjoying the slow days with two young ones. Thanks for reminding me that I need to cherish this time, before life starts to get more hectic.

I know you're ready for summer. It'll be here before you know it. Then you can finally BREATHE!!

Sherrie said...

I really don't think any of us are able to do it all. We all just need to try our best. I am feeling quite overwhelmed myself these days, with school finishing up, the boys in BB, and those end of the year concerts. I am just holding on until summer when I can relax and bit and get "caught up" on my life! Good luck.

Home of a Magnolia said...

I wrote a similar blog entry about a week ago. I was feeling overwhelmed by all of my commitments. I decided to give up everything except my son's baseball games. I'm feeling so much better this week as a result.

Blehnner said...

YES! I feel the same way all the time. But I do belive there a way, to be more organized and disciplined. What do you think of this? tp://www.archive.org/details/FamilyLi1949

And in regard to a previous post - do you prefer the standard handle or the extra long handle on the LL Bean tote???

Thanks! NN

Jo said...

Welcome to the month of May! This month is the busiest month of the year for me. It's non stop until June arrives.

Do what you need to keep your head above water and have a glass of wine {or two}! :)

Jo

Jill said...

I feel EXACTLY the same way. The laundry about kills me - and I have it all to do after working and commuting 10 hours a day. I like to feel the accomplishment of having something *all done* but most of my household chores are *in process* at best.

myletterstoemily said...

bless your heart, you can't do it all.

can you hire a high school girl to
do the sheets after school, etc?

a mother of five needs lots of help
any way she can get it.

North of 25A said...

Oh my dear girl! I know exactly what you mean! My biggest frustration is that I cannot stay up hours on end to get everything done the way I used to be able to. We can only do it one thing at a time...One day at a time.
Godspeed!

Kim said...

I've felt this way for years, and throw a kitchen reno, redecorating (pulling down old wallpaper, painting, moving lighting, etc.), getting ready for a huge graduation party and the general madness that prevails in the month of May when you have a graduating senior (and moving other kids home from college right in the middle of it)....um, yeah, you could say Mom gets a little cranky.

Laundry is the bane of my existence. I have 4 huge laundry baskets full of unmatched socks.

bevy said...

After reading your post and following comments, I'll just say ME TOO!!!

One thing that has helped is having the boys do their laundry on a specific day of the week (with the help of your Purex sheets!!!). S. has Monday and J. has W. We have just started, but I think it is working. J. is 8, like your triplets, so they could probably handle it too... maybe?

Belle (from Life of a...) said...

Our kids are almost 20 and 24 and I honestly do not know how in the world we did it. For three years when they were seven and eleven we were working and one or both of us were working on Masters Degrees. I did have a maid come in weekly so that took the cleaning pressure off, but still had homework, laundry, piano lessons, cello lessons, clogging lessons and school activities and friends around all the time. We were really tired, but also younger and more energetic.

KK said...

I so relate to what you are saying here! This is the exact reason that I am not posting on my blog or commenting or reading others. I am drowning over here and have nothing to show for it! Our Nantucket get away cannot come soon enough for me!