Housewife Frustrations Part II
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
I'm trying to take a much-needed nap, but I can't sleep because my mind is racing. What time does aerobics start exactly? Did I book the sitter too early / too late? I'm thirsty. Michael will wake up in two hours, and the last time I tried to take a nap with him and couldn't sleep despite being very very tired, I wasted two hours, then ended up just plain tired and grumpy when he finally did wake up.
So I got up to do my English assignment & blog (I can't remember what I was really going to blog about)...but wait, before I got to the computer I had to turn off the TV which John left on Baby Einstein for Michael. I swear this house is Baby Einstein central. I can't get it out of my head. Believe me, there are a zillion other things I'd rather have in my head than Baby Einstein, which Michael adores, in fact he demands it or screams until he gets it. So I go to turn off the TV, then remember that I've been wanting to record the 2 or 3am airing of Oprah, but never could figure out what channel it's on (a 4-step process, thanks to the weird TV programming out here), and I don't want to be awake in the middle of the night to find out. So I head to the computer to turn it on... to find out once and for all what time Oprah is on...
While the computer boots up I go to get a snack in the kitchen but can't function in there because it's a mess, so I set out to clean something I started cleaning hours ago before I was interrupted by 3-year-old Savanna who's mastering potty-training, "I have to go potty." Everything screeches to a halt when a child announces that they have to go potty, because we want to encourage potty training without making it worse by telling them we're too busy to help them. Potty-training regression is not a good thing.
So while I'm waiting for the computer to boot, I set out to clean Michael's high chair tray that has oatmeal caked onto it (not like he ate any of it; just smeared it around his tray and decided breakfast was over), it doesn't take me long to realize that the oatmeal is going to need a good scraping. I turrn around to get a spatula, but see that I need to clean the cloth seat of his high chair too (which needs to be laundered after every single meal...think I actually do that? Ha!) So I take the cloth seat off of the high chair, take it out to the balcony to shake it off onto the balcony below us (haha, those neat freaks below us need a dose of reality) then take it to the laundry room, then realize I need to wash a whole lot of things. I throw a bunch of things in with the high chair pad...
Then I notice that the baby bag is due for a cleaning too...so I go through the contents and put them all away one at a time...sort the mail that was in there, recycle paper things, file the bank statements and ADAC crap that come in the mail too frequently (who reads that stuff anyway? But I feel compelled to file it, rather than toss it, and we don't own a shredder...) I tiptoe into the baby's room so as not to rouse him...put his shoes in the closet...thank goodness he sleeps through it. Then I realize my church bag is in the baby's room too, and I needed to put something in there too that we got in the mail, so I creep back in...well, the computer is finally booted, so here I am...but the kitchen still needs to be cleaned, and I still need something to eat, and I still have no idea what time Oprah is on in the middle of the night. I rarely get a damn thing done around here, but I'm constantly running.
OK, I just re-read the above, thankfully after cleaning the kitchen, looking up the TV schedule online (lovely AFN changed the TV Guide channel; I don't have time to search through 100+ channels to find out where they moved it, so now our TV Guide is online.) I set the VCR for Oprah. I realize how awful I sound, and then I say something about my "church bag." Well, it's people like me (hypocrites) that make other people cynical about religion. Well, I need religion, because without it, I'd be a zillion times more miserable than I already am. I need Jesus more than I need the air that I breathe. There is no such thing as a hypocrite. People who are termed as hypocrites, are really only people who want to be good, but struggle at every turn.
So I got up to do my English assignment & blog (I can't remember what I was really going to blog about)...but wait, before I got to the computer I had to turn off the TV which John left on Baby Einstein for Michael. I swear this house is Baby Einstein central. I can't get it out of my head. Believe me, there are a zillion other things I'd rather have in my head than Baby Einstein, which Michael adores, in fact he demands it or screams until he gets it. So I go to turn off the TV, then remember that I've been wanting to record the 2 or 3am airing of Oprah, but never could figure out what channel it's on (a 4-step process, thanks to the weird TV programming out here), and I don't want to be awake in the middle of the night to find out. So I head to the computer to turn it on... to find out once and for all what time Oprah is on...
While the computer boots up I go to get a snack in the kitchen but can't function in there because it's a mess, so I set out to clean something I started cleaning hours ago before I was interrupted by 3-year-old Savanna who's mastering potty-training, "I have to go potty." Everything screeches to a halt when a child announces that they have to go potty, because we want to encourage potty training without making it worse by telling them we're too busy to help them. Potty-training regression is not a good thing.
So while I'm waiting for the computer to boot, I set out to clean Michael's high chair tray that has oatmeal caked onto it (not like he ate any of it; just smeared it around his tray and decided breakfast was over), it doesn't take me long to realize that the oatmeal is going to need a good scraping. I turrn around to get a spatula, but see that I need to clean the cloth seat of his high chair too (which needs to be laundered after every single meal...think I actually do that? Ha!) So I take the cloth seat off of the high chair, take it out to the balcony to shake it off onto the balcony below us (haha, those neat freaks below us need a dose of reality) then take it to the laundry room, then realize I need to wash a whole lot of things. I throw a bunch of things in with the high chair pad...
Then I notice that the baby bag is due for a cleaning too...so I go through the contents and put them all away one at a time...sort the mail that was in there, recycle paper things, file the bank statements and ADAC crap that come in the mail too frequently (who reads that stuff anyway? But I feel compelled to file it, rather than toss it, and we don't own a shredder...) I tiptoe into the baby's room so as not to rouse him...put his shoes in the closet...thank goodness he sleeps through it. Then I realize my church bag is in the baby's room too, and I needed to put something in there too that we got in the mail, so I creep back in...well, the computer is finally booted, so here I am...but the kitchen still needs to be cleaned, and I still need something to eat, and I still have no idea what time Oprah is on in the middle of the night. I rarely get a damn thing done around here, but I'm constantly running.
OK, I just re-read the above, thankfully after cleaning the kitchen, looking up the TV schedule online (lovely AFN changed the TV Guide channel; I don't have time to search through 100+ channels to find out where they moved it, so now our TV Guide is online.) I set the VCR for Oprah. I realize how awful I sound, and then I say something about my "church bag." Well, it's people like me (hypocrites) that make other people cynical about religion. Well, I need religion, because without it, I'd be a zillion times more miserable than I already am. I need Jesus more than I need the air that I breathe. There is no such thing as a hypocrite. People who are termed as hypocrites, are really only people who want to be good, but struggle at every turn.