Yes, new life outside of the military. New house in a new state. New rules.
Clean, company ready house.
I will admit that my house keeping skills have declined in the last few
years. It is now a rule. No one chore belongs to any one person. I am responsible for making sure the house is
clean every day and assigning chores fairly.
It has been tuff. Unpacking boxes
and keeping the house clean? That is a
hard one but so far I have managed. I
have to be on the kids constantly to pick up after themselves.
My fault. I dropped
the ball at our last house and let the rules slide. Now it is my butt on the line. He comes home and finds the house not company
ready and the paddle meets my backside.
And not just the public areas either.
The pantry and all bedrooms will stay ready for anyone to come by and
tour the house. Yikes.
And if that rule isn’t bad enough there is another new
rule. I can’t even yell at the kids
without cause. Ok. I know yelling does no good. But it is so easy to get frustrated with all
these boxes and the kids not picking up anything! Apparently yelling is not lady like and
Dragon married a lady not a bar fly. Dragon
has not established what “good cause” is.
So, when is it allowed? I know one thing. I don’t want to find out when it isn’t
allowed. That means I am getting
punished. This sounds like one of those trial and error rules or maybe a “don’t ever
do it” thing.
I see a spanking in my future. Probably very soon. We are all tired and cranky. It is so easy to let the house go just a
little. It is even easier to get
frustrated with the kids and yell out of turn.
Oh crap. I am in for
it now.
Before you know it you will be in the routine... hang in there!
ReplyDeleteone day at a time. We started school work today too. That takes a huge chunk of the day.
DeleteI can't imagine unpacking AND keeping the house "company ready"!!
ReplyDeleteAs for the yelling thing...take a deep breathe, call them really close, and talk very softly. I tell my kidlets exactly what they are going to do without whining or cry OR I will put the lot of them in time out. My soft voice gets action MUCH faster than my yelling ever did. (And it might keep you out of trouble)
Good luck!
Kate
lol with almost everything still in boxes it isn't too bad. Now the garage is a disaster area! I try to quiet voice first. It doesn't always work.
DeleteGood luck in dealing with boxes and the kids. Hope you can work it all out.
ReplyDeleteAnd Kate has some good advice about dealing with the kidlets.
FD
It will work out one way or another. Love the "kidlets" comment. They are a bunch of little piglets for sure!
DeleteThat sounds like an awful lot on your plate, but perhaps it will inspire you to get through this chaotic time. Good luck!
ReplyDelete(has he ever spent a day at home with the kids and kept the house presentable at all times, and without raising his voice? Just wondering....)
Sara
It is but the new rules are helping. They keep me grounded and busy. I don't have time to be depressed or overwhelmed! That is a good thing.
DeleteDragon stayed home with the kids one weekend years ago. I flew across the country to go to my brothers wedding. Since then he has a much better appreciation for what I do every day!
Hopefully the kids are back in school soon so that should help some. I don't know how old your children are but set up a system which allows them to earn an allowance by doing chores. That might help some.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Kate about the kiddies. The kids just tune you out if you are yelling. However, the quieter your voice the more they have to stop and listen to what you are saying. It works honest.
lol I home school! More work for mom. The good news is that we are starting to get into a healthy routine.
DeleteI am working on setting up a system of rewards for the kids. That should help a lot.
I agree with Kate. Company-ready really isn't possible while there are still boxes to unpack, unless they're hidden away somewhere in an 'okay to hide boxes here without getting spanked' place.
ReplyDeleteRight now I don't care if they see the boxes. Everybody I know, knows we just got our stuff. I'm not too worried about it.
DeleteOUch, that sounds pretty tricky. Stay on top of those kids I guess.
ReplyDeleteHeh...I like what Sara said. Has he tried this himself?
The good news is that Dragon works long hours right now. He left the house at 6 am and didn't home until after 8 pm today. That left me plenty of time to get school work done, the house clean and a section of grass cut.
DeleteSounds like he's set some lofty goals for you. Like Sara and Susie I found myself wondering how he would do at following these new rules.
ReplyDeleteLOL he would fall on his face. He thinks I am a saint for all I do every day. With a string of deployments, I let the depression and stress get to me. Depression took over and I let the house go with it. Yippee. That life is behind us now! But civilian life has its own stressors, I am finding out. I think this is his way to make sure I don't get that way again.
DeleteI am trying to keep a company ready house too... probably the threat of a paddling is what I need too!!
ReplyDeleteI just needed a little incentive to get things back up to standard. I hate having to stop people at the door.
Delete