05/15/2012

I don't really have three things tonight.  I was very stressed out today.  I am not sure why.  Every once in a while I get super-stressed out over little things.  Today it was my boys not getting all their work done, and the house being disorganized.  In general my house is OK.  It's fairly organized, fairly picked up.  Just don't look too close.  :-)  But when I do look close, I get more and more anxious.  The computer table in the playroom, for example, has a bunch of random stuff on it.  Little toys, papers, legos, CD's, stuff like that.  The table in my room has books, papers, scout stuff, piles of music, and fabric piled on it.  My computer desk right now has got cups, cameras, a little first aid kit, an apple core, a half-eaten can of apricots, a couple of books, you get the picture.  I'll find random socks lying around, unmatched shoes, drawings, stuffed animals, and the like stashed here and there.  Every one of these displaced items laying around start to wear on my nerves, until I finally snap at the rolled up socks (unmatched, of course) I find under the table. 
I spend SO MANY HOURS of my life picking up and putting away little things like this.  My husband and kids are pretty good about doing the broad-strokes of picking up, but they are not quite as good about actually finishing the job.
I am considering taking a week and ONLY putting away things that are my direct responsibility.  The house would be absolutely chaotic at the end of it.  Could my nerves take it?  I think it might be the only way to get these boys (big and small) to see the mess that they leave behind. Because that is most of it-- I believe they really don't see the mess!  Things look fine to them-- when the biggest bulk of the mess is cleaned up, they really don't see the rest. 
I will try not to let myself get so on edge tomorrow.