My kids started school today. First grade for Piers and Kindergarten for Wallace.
It’s time to put the home front back together. Oh my goodness!!
I was gone over the weekend. I drove 8+ hours to visit my college friends. It was wonderful and worth the hassle and all that, but I am spent.
Gil kept the kids alive and happy, but seriously…the house.
I’ve also decided to cut out coffee and wine until the end of August. I should have timed it better. The lack of morning caffeine is killing me, but I need a detox.
My eating has been bad this summer and I’ve been drinking loads of coffee just to get moving in the morning. Maybe if I can’t drink coffee, I’ll actually eat something substantial. I’ve also gotten in a bad habit of mid-afternoon wine — not everyday, but a lot of days.
I shared my detox plan with a friend recently and she told me I was a control-freak and detest having to rely on anything or anyone.
That may be true, but I haven’t been sleeping well. I need to just get myself back on a schedule. I love nothing more than staying up all night and sleeping til noon. What has happened this summer is that I stay up until 1 or 2 because I need alone time after the kids go to bed. The problem is that I still have to get up around 7. I’ve been chronically exhausted all summer — especially after having guests for two weeks who stayed up all night.
There’s also work. I didn’t get much accomplished this summer, and what I did do had to happen in the evenings.
Okay, this is dragging on. The headache kicked in today. Fun times. But the good news is that I slept better last night than I have in months.
I’m going to attempt to clear my “laundry chair.” I would love to blame all the filth on Gil, but I can’t do so with a clear conscience. We’re pigs and need to do better.
How do you put your life back together after summer?
Grief Happens 
You are so brave for doing the detox thing. I can always omit the alcohol, but the caffeine…oh God help us all!!
So how do I get my life back together after summer? Sadly, I have the opposite problem. It seems that the only time that I feel I can semi manage life is during the lazy, laid back summer. I DREAD back-to-school – the morning rush, the insane and exhausting evenings filled with homework and endless projects, permission slips and the myriad of other forms to fill out, and the obligatory dance and piano lessons. I get tachycardia just writing this.
However, I can relate to the state of the house, since as you know, I recently moved. Ironically, looking at your pictures brought me a kind of strange comfort. I see that there is another house out there that is looking very similar to mine and another mom out there who is struggling to get it all back together. I love Amanda’s analogy about painting a boat while it’s at sea. That’s exactly what it’s like!
Well, my strategy for getting this house back together has been one small section at a time. It is way too overwhelming to look at the whole picture. I give myself a certain amount of time to work on an area (usually dictated by time I have available in my schedule). I make my conditions pleasant (i.e. good music, audio story, cup of tea, whatever), and I focus on just this area until I am finished. Afterwards, I revel in the accomplishment, whether it be by using the area or just standing there admiring the beauty of the order. If there is more time and energy, I might attack another small area.
The right company may also be helpful and inspiring. I was fortunate enough to have my sister visiting this past week for the sole purpose of helping me with some unpacking and organizing. It was so much easier to clear out a counter with her help than if I had been doing it on my own. I was less likely to procrastinate and less likely to deliberate on whether or not to throw something away or perpetuate the clutter while she was standing next to me. Again, this has to be the right person. Some people are just critical and discouraging.
I wish you good luck getting your house back in order. Currently, I am being a bad mommy, because my no-matter-how-late-I-let-you-go-to-bed early riser just downloaded an app onto her Kindle Fire that I did not authorize. I know this because I immediately received a notification email from Amazon The rule is that if you download an app or a game without first asking permission, I delete it from your device. I am choosing to ignore that little email, because for Pete’s sake, she is upstairs in her room with her door closed, and I am enjoying this delicious alone time. When I am ready, I will pretend I just got the email and go up there and dole out her consequence. Bad, inconsistent mommy…sigh…
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I know what you mean about the stress of back-to-school and forms and extracurricular actives. I really enjoyed the layed-back summer for about a month, but now I need some structure and balance. I called in reinforcements yesterday and hired a housekeeper. It helped me feel less overwhelmed. Now I have clean surfaces to sift through my piles. As for the coffee detox, I am struggling, but I’m sleeping better so I suppose it’s worth the headache — no pun intended. As for being a “bad, inconsistent mommy” well, we all just do what we have to do for survival. I think you’re doing great. Hope you have a few more weeks of calm before the back-to-school chaos ensues.
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My house looks like this all the time. Cleaning it with kids home is like trying to paint a boat while it’s at sea. Two weeks into our summer vacation and I’m exhausted. I only get about three hours of sleep a night, between snoring hubbie, I-need-to-pee preschooler and rise-with-the-dawn daughter. When they’re at school/nursery I usually nap mid-afternoon but, with them home, not so much! I am on a 30-day countdown to be able to get our house (and me) back together!
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That’s exactly how I feel — snoring husband, midnight risers (I’m scared, I have to pee, I need water, oh my lord, just sleep for the love of god!), crack-of-dawn risers, I am zonked! I love that we start school so early here. Three days in and I’m beginning to feel human again. Hang in there and I’ll be thinking of you in your 30-day countdown.
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Thank you! It’s nice to know I’m not alone. Most people I know just give me a lecture on how to get my kids to sleep through the night, or brag about how theirs aren’t allowed out their room until 7am. I’ve never been strong enough to be that kind of parent, much as I wish I was!
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Hey! I’m a control freak who detests having to rely on anyone!!! Haters gonna hate!
Seriously, sometimes you just have to stay up late and sometimes you have to roll up your sleeves and get to work. It’s all about the balance.
And why don’t men see clutter? It baffles me.
Sherry
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PS – love the new look.
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Thanks!
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Yep! Today’s my roll-up-my sleeves day. Gotta tackle this mess!
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