To clean or not to clean...

I remember years ago one of my sisters-in-law telling me that while she had a handle on the housework, I spent more time with my children.  Now, I realize that she meant well, but it really was a back-handed compliment.  You're going to tell me that she was saying a nice thing, but when your house looks like my house, you'd understand what's rattling around in my own head.  Just can't keep up, now that school is in session.  Dang.  At this juncture in time and space, I just can't keep up.

This same sister-in-law has a daughter-in-law who's a persnickety housekeeper as well (like her MIL, not me).  She's just beginning to homeschool their 7 year old, and was telling me when we saw them recently, that she was all about keeping the house in tip-top shape even with the new schedule.  Plus with them having two other small children, younger than the 7 year old, she expects to keep up.

I say more power to her.  Don't call me when your head explodes.

Why are we so demanding of ourselves, and so hard to please at the same time?  To my tidy husband's credit, he never berates me for a messy house. I guess he privately/mentally crosses off a checklist of what's going on here on a daily basis, and is cutting me some slack.  Don't get me wrong---we're not actually living in squalor, just not to the level of cleanliness that I aspire to.  That is, when I'm aspiring.

In other news, the kids go to visit my mom tomorrow afternoon.  This will be after we grocery shop for the meal they'll eat there.  A small grocery trip, but it's things like that that make me nuts.  Just one more thing.  I think I'm just tired of the 'just one more' part of life.  But the break from noise and conversation will be mighty welcome.