Where are your shoes?

This whole mom/wife business is tough for me. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being home 24/7 with my kids. Every once in a while there are these wonderful days that I pat myself on the back and give myself props. The house is clean(ish), dinner is made, and we had a fun outing. Today is not one of them.

At 11:30 I realize we can't see the floor to the playroom, again, it's almost naptime and I will need to get lunch ready but didn't I just finish up breakfast?? I need flylady to email me reminders to make sure my shoes are on (first thing in the morning per her system), my laundry is flowing, to remember to figure out what's for dinner and to give me a daily cleaning task. A highpoint this morning was getting a call from my friendly AmVets volunteer (the same lady always calls us) and notified me they are making the rounds in our neighborhood on friday and would we have anything. Of course! So at least I don't have to run to goodwill now.

As I was unloading/loading the dishwasher, it dawned on me that I never had a role model for this. And looking at the bigger picture, I never had one at all for being the woman I am today. My mom didn't go to university and worked full time. So here I am today, a college graduate who had a pretty rockin' career but is now a full time stay at home mom. No one every taught me how to deal with college courses, juggle working part time, pay bills on time and still have money to eat and get gas. No one taught me how to wash dishes properly or how to mop a floor or how to plan meals or be home all day with small children without going crazy. I am everything my mom wasn't. I'm not saying that either one is better, I just realize that I was totally unprepared for my life.

I actually remember my step mom getting on my case because I used cold water to wash some dishes when I was staying at my dad's. She thought I was being lazy and defiant, like if I did a crappy job I wouldn't ever have to do them again. That really was a great idea, but I wasn't that clever at 10 or whatever age I was. It was more that no one had ever been around to notice I used cold water. My mom worked full time and I just needed stuff done by the time she got home. Apparently the cold water worked well enough to fool my mom that the dishes were clean. I also go reeeally good at using Windex. Like in Big Fat Greek Wedding, I used Windex for everything. It was a great at making things look nice and shiny. It also killed ants and large flying insects.

As for major cleaning, my mom was fortunate enough to have a housekeeper come every other week (but we had to clean up for her since my mom didn't want her to see the house a mess. huh??) So I never saw any "house hold management system" if you will in the works. I wasn't ever in the kitchen learning how to prepare meals, or helping make out a grocery list.

Martha Stewart I ain't, but can I even get close? Maybe flylady can help me. At least she's around to remind me to get my shoes on.