Strike Updates

MARCH 11

Broke the unexpected news: Mom is on strike!
Bruce divvies out the housework amongst the kids.

MARCH 12
The drains all backed up while I was out playing with my sister.

MARCH 14
A facebook friend asked how the strike was going. I hadn't intended to post it on facebook, but now the whole world knows about my tantrum. ;-)

MARCH 15
Aaaaahhhh! Nobody's done laundry since the basement flooded! What a smell! Tomorrow I will buy Oxy-Clean and Febreeze.

MARCH 16
I had a bad day—mostly at Walmart when I didn't want to be. While dinner was cooking this evening, I took pictures of the messy house. I intended to look at them with Bruce and ask him to make the kids do their stuff better. Bruce didn't know this. He told the kids I was taking pictures to post on my blog—it was very effective. The kitchen looked amazingly great last night!

MARCH 17
I'm making St. Patrick's Day cupcakes. Since the kitchen was fairly clean, a lot of the mess today was mine. This gave me an excuse to do some clean up (like washing the sink and countertop). What a relief to do it myself and know it's done well!
Shhhh. Don't tell my family!

MARCH 19
Oh, this makes me tired. Being in a messy house makes me tired.
The kids are cleaning up every day, but still only once a day. That would be OK if the mess didn't keep reappearing.
Very tired.

MARCH 25
The kids did a phenomenal job cleaning up while I was running errands today! But once I get home, they let things slide. Like I'm going to pick up the slack for the rest of the day . . . which I am not.

MARCH 27
The house is such a mess today. This morning I woke up before everyone else and thought I'd at least clean up the kitchen. But I didn't. Where is the line?
I felt humiliated when Bro. Epperson (a man with nine children, a wife who teaches school, and quite a clean house) came with his son to collect fast offerings. Dirty kitchen with stuff piled all over the table; the dishwasher hanging open and full of dirty dishes; the floor obviously not swept in days; toys and games all over the living room; overflowing laundry hampers all over the living room . . .
Am I the only one who sees and feels this?