15 Minutes

Like everyone else, I want harmony and peace in my life. I want all of my different roles in life to go well together. I want to be doing a good job at work, and at home. Instead I often feel like if I'm doing well at home, then my job suffers and if I'm doing well at work, then my home suffers. And it's been that way since I got married. If the house was clean, presents were bought and wrapped and dinner on the table, then I was behind in my grades, and probably doing lesson planning in my head on my way to work. I've always hated that I can't seem to do both things well. Now that I'm a mom, it's just one more thing that I feel like I'm not doing well enough. Apparently all of this had been weighing down on me and I was being a little snippy to my precious husband. We finally talked about what was wrong with me and I told him that I feel like I'm failing at everything. Being a teacher, I used that analogy and I told him that I feel like I'm making C's and D's in all these areas and then I proceeded to list all of my responsibilities - there's a lot when I get down to listing them. From that we decided on a course of action to help me feel less house stress. Each nigh after Micah goes to bed we set the timer for at least 15 minutes and during that time, both of us clean the house. Usually one of us does dishes and the other picks up toys, does laundry or whatever else needs to be done. I love that it's a joint effort and that it's not just me fighting the clutter battle, but the best part is feeling like we're being proactive and working as a team instead of just putting things off. And now there's way less to do on Saturdays. Josh must laugh at me because I tell him each night how happy this little tradition makes me. I miss it when he's gone and I have to do it myself. There's nothing fun about cleaning all by myself.