I am having House Frustration. This is my list:
- Hang yellow candle holder – need Phillip
- Finish painting near ceiling
- Finish painting hallway – buy new roller
- Fix curtain rod – ask P for help
- Take all hallway boxes, ladders, drills downstairs – need Phillip
- Fill vase with paper flowers/tissue paper branches/SOMETHING
- Frame red/aqua print - buy red frame
- Pillow for rocking chair - FIND pillow
- Paint bedroom Sharkey Gray - need Phillip
- Paint P’s dresser white -
- Find end-of-bed bench
- Hang kid pictures on hallway wall
- Recover dining room chairs - find fabric
FOR NOW this is my list. The frustration stems, I think, from needing Phillip to do most of this stuff with me. Or at least start me in the right direction. I was able to paint the dining room by myself because it's a smaller room, but our bedroom, for example, has REALLY high ceilings. And to reach those I have to cart around a VERY heavy ladder. And move all the furniture. Etc. (Phillip is very excited about this, btw.)
And everything else requires spending more money than I want to spend, or I can't even find the thing I want to spend money on in the first place. So I spend a lot of time hunched in front of this here laptop PLOTTING my house escapades, but not exactly doing anything about them. And while I do this the dishes and laundry pile up and then I get mad about THAT, but whose fault is that, exactly? WOE.
A lot of this is driven by the fact that I'm having a party in about a week and a half and I know my house won't be PERFECT, in the sense that I have it all redecorated and remodeled in my head and need it to look that way NOW, but I want it to look BETTER.
It also just occurred to me that I will need to stick a new baby somewhere in a few months and also dress this baby and change her somewhere and right now my entire bedroom is lost under a fine layer of cast off clothes... oh I am starting to feel panicky.
In the meantime, I want to recover my chairs in this:
but it's not UPHOLSTERY fabric so I'm thinking it won't work. That said, all the upholstery fabric I see is yuck yuck yuck. (And dudes, that embed feature on Pinterest? How cool is that! That would have made my old Style Lush posts SO EASY!)
I like this fabric because it would pull the yellow from the living and dining rooms, and the red and aqua from the kitchen - the dining room is right in the middle of the living room and kitchen. Also I think it's kinda bright and happy. And a far cry better from the filthy cream/sage plaid on my chairs right now.
I don't know you guys... I just sit here thinking: paint the entry way! Recarpet the living room! Hardwoods in the dining room! Spray paint the picture frames white! Gray sectional! Move red couch to breakfast room! Find prints for kitchen! Show Phillip the kitchen remodel pictures! Hang pictures! Find new duvet cover! Paint dresser! And... yeah. I am still just SITTING HERE when I'm done thinking all of that and feeling PREGNANT and POINTLESS and unable to do more than make a list. I mean, I vacuumed yesterday AND cleaned a toilet and I was pretty darn proud of THAT. I can't exactly haul a dresser into the garage and paint it too. BAH.
And now, to talk about something completely different...
A few days ago I was noticing that my latest blog post at Parenting (the complainy one, not the Chinese culture fret one) had a few more comments/hits than I was expecting. That usually means the editors linked to it on the Facebook page and against all better judgment, I trotted over to the Facebook page to see what the General Commenting Public had to say. I have to tell you this is normally a very bad idea. There is a WHOLE WORLD of people missing a sense of humor (I KNOW) and it's just better if I act like they don't exist.
BUT ANYWAY. I went over there and thank goodness there was only ONE humorless commenter (telling me I should seek therapy before I "go all Casey Anthony" on my kids - SNORT!). But what DID surprise me were the people thanking or lauding me, really, for "saying what they feel". Like, they are afraid to say things like that, or feel guilty or whatever. HMMMM.
First of all, it was a REALLY STUPID written-in-five-oh-crap-I-better-write-something-quick-minutes post, and, like nearly everything I write, not to be taken too seriously. Entertainment value, people! Second of all, I do not GET feeling ashamed or guilty or needing to act like you don't ever get frustrated about the constant chatter or constant butt wiping or constant fighting or constant mess. It's weird, because I am ALL ABOUT making sure everyone thinks I am Pleasingly Perfect In Every Way, but parenting? Most days I can't fake it let alone achieve it. So why not own it? EVERYBODY'S IN YOUR BOAT!
Some of you have said stuff about me being honest or whatever and it's always nice to get a compliment, but it makes me wonder: are other people lying? Or do they just never talk about it? Like, I just don't KNOW any moms who don't complain about their kids or use hyperbole when they've had a bad day. Isn't that NORMAL? Sure there are moms with real problems and I don't want to make light of those, but most of us just need bedtime to get here ASAP. Right?
But it appears a lot of moms (at least ones who comment on Facebook pages) feel like they can't say those things, even if they're just being funny and venting and getting stuff off their chests. I can't stand it when commenters take my stuff super literally over there because COME ON! Who hasn't wanted to compose a "children for sale" Craigslist ad? I promise not to take you seriously. I promise to get what you're saying. I promise not to make you feel like a bad mom for venting about your day. I promise to say, "ME TOO, SISTA."
SIGH OF ANNOYANCE!
You want to feel like a great mom? MY kids are eating Cocoa Puffs for dinner and watching that godawful purple dinosaur at the same time. There you go. My gift to you. Happy Friday.