I don’t know about you, but in my family, we are so busy during the week, that we have to do all the chores on the weekend, in between all the kid’s activities.
Today, I did 4 loads of laundry in between cleaning the bathroom, straightening up the living room and yelling at the kids to clean the closet out. I vacuumed the living room and dining room, swept the kitchen, swept the basement stairs, changed the cat litter and cooked a roast chicken. I made Pork Cacciatore, and Morrocan Slow Cooker Stew whilst harassing my kids to do their homework. I stripped the bed and threw the garbage out. Juan mowed the front lawn and covered the air conditioners and helped my son with physics homework. He helped me with the cooking and prep work and carved up and put away the chicken and did the dishes.
Here’s a first. I forgot to eat. Therein lies the Secret! You just have to have too much stuff to do and you’ll forget to eat.
My house always looks like a tornado went through it. For some reason, my children think the floor is a fine place to drop their coats, hats, gloves, candy wrappers, etc. When asked to pick up, they don’t seem to see the mess.
My family's inability to see clutter is my fault. I am most definitely not a neat freak. We have books and magazines and papers all over the house. We are a house of readers. I have been trying to convince my husband that if journals are over three months old, they must go out. Most medical journals are on line now, too. But with bifocals, it’s a bitch trying to read on the computer. Also, he is sentimentally attached to paper. It's the same with his New Yorker Magazines, and the Sunday NY Times Magazine and Book Review sections. We also have at least 2 new history books a week from the History Book of the Month club that he was supposed to quit, oh, about 2 years ago. We’ve run out of bookcases, and the books and journals are stacked up under our bed, alongside the bookcases, in the basement, and anywhere there is space.
I have TRIED to maintain order. I have instituted chores. Theoretically, my children are supposed to do all the housework, but lately, with Science Fair, with incredibly huge amounts of difficult homework that takes hours to complete, with Boy Scouts and basketball, my Irish Work house has fallen by the wayside. I have to do more of the chores myself now.
I am running out of time during the weekend to get everything done. Hence, I forgot to eat. Juan forgot to eat too. We realized we'd forgotten to eat when Juan asked me, "I wonder why I'm so crabby?"
I asked, “Have you eaten?”
“I’m not hungry,” was his reply.
I said, “Trust me on this, eat something!” (When he's crabby, he's either tired or hungry, and usually doesn't realize either one!)
Juan ate and realized, he was hungry. So I ate. I was hungry too but just didn’t realize it. How’s that for crazy? Most of the time I eat even if I’m NOT hungry. This is usually NOT a problem for me.
There it is. The secret of appetite suppression is to have too much stuff to do in the amount of time you have to do it!
Uh Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t tell my kids this, or they’ll make me thank them for being slobs. They might even leave more for me to do on the weekends and plead homework as a way to get out of chores.
Let’s keep this little secret between you and me.
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