Ignoring Those Bothersome Domestic Chores

We recently decided to put in a flag stone patio under the shade tree we have in our yard. This allows us to use a large amount of stone we have sitting around and gives us a place to sit outside in the summer where we will not melt under the desert sun.

As I do with most creative projects once I get started I tend to not want to stop; and when I do, I am always looking for any available opportunity to get back to work. This has lead to a bit of a problem with the balancing of domestic chores and the current project. As you may have gathered from the fact that I am the primary care giver our lives do not follow the stereotypical road. We both share in the house hold responsibilities with equal disdain and productiveness. However, I often feel that since I am home all day I can at least have the house picked up when Erin comes home from work. I never have supper on the table and I am not one to wear an apron with ruffles, though I would if someone made me one that said smart men marry doctors in Michigan colors.

A project like the patio often turns my balancing act into something completely unbalanced, I simply ignore my house hold duties. Once I put Noah down for his nap I try to get outside as quickly as possible. I notice, on my way out the door, what a mess the kitchen is, how breakfast is still left on the table and my clean clothes are piled on the bedroom floor because I was too tired to put them away last night. Seeing all of this sends a pang of guilt and frustration through me, because I really hate a cluttered house. But, I tell myself, I have massive amounts of dirt to dig up and with the way projects go around here it will take me four times longer than I think it will. I ignore everything and go outside. When I come back in to get Noah , the mess is still there , and I wonder why the cleaning elves did not come. Being some kind of feeding time I do the bare minimum to get things ready so Noah can eat. I close the bedroom door so I do not have to look at the cloths and turn my back to the kitchen. While he is eating instead of picking up I get the pack and play and set it up in the yard so I can continue to work while Noah watches me. There is now twice the mess in the kitchen and on the table, but I have a project to work on and can not be bothered with domestic chores.

That night after Noah has gone to bed and I have finally eaten dinner I find myself cleaning up from not one meal but three,my cloths are still on the floor and there are toys strewn from one end of the living room to the other. So I spend the next hour or so picking up the house, putting away my clothes and doing the dishes. You would think that having this happen a couple times I would learn my lesson, but I do not. The irony of it all is that I spent many years working in restaurants during and after college and I know the value of picking up and doing things as you go along so you are not swamped at the end of the night. Perhaps if I got myself an apron with ruffles I would be better at getting the domestic chores done.