Trying to Get it All In

Sometimes I wonder if we are the only people who don't seem to have enough time.

Our house is usually a wreck these days because between the baby, the pumping I have to do to feed him, the other kids and their needs, the computer, work, everything, I don't get it all done. Hubby's car has needed tires for a good two months or more, but we can't seem to get the time needed to take it to the tire shop, drop it off for the day and then return. The yard is reminiscent of a jungle; what landscaping there was has been overrun with native foliage. The kids sometimes don't get a bedtime bath because bedtime sneaks up on us. I frequently realize that dinner is in an hour...and I didn't get anything out of the freezer!The house routinely looks like a war zone and sounds like one too, with me barking orders to get the boys to pick up their messes before moving on.

And hubby and I even talk about the schedule days in advance so I know where he is going to be and what he needs to do. It's like I plan a military invasion every single day just to keep the family afloat.

Part of this is because I work weekends. He works weekdays. He gets home around 7:30 to 8 every night and leaves around 6 in the morning. When he's off, I'm at work. He has one Friday off every other week, and that one day is usually jampacked with things we must do. Or we spend it, unfortunately, driving from place to place to finish things up.

Between barn work (our horses live in a boarding barn 15 miles away, where someone has to go in the morning and night to look after them 365 days a year), caring for the kids, cooking, housework, homeschooling, swim team, pumping, feeding the baby, volunteer work online, and church obligations, there isn't a lot of free time to take care of the other things like landscaping and home decor.

It wouldn't be so bad if the boys didn't take as their mantra "Search and Destroy." If they can mess it up, they will. If I clean it, they trash it as soon as I'm not looking. If it looks interesting, they play with it. If it can be broken, they manage it. They drag in dirt and leaves and rocks and sticks every day. Just today, they built a fort in the living room/dining room, just after I'd tidied it up. I try to not get upset about this..there is worse they could be doing.

And they usually do this just as we are going somewhere or when I have something else going on. Right now, I sat down to pump and type, the baby wants to eat and sleep, the toddler took his diaper off and smeared himself with ointment, and the older two sneaked outside with some polished rocks out of the rock collection and proceeded to smash several rocks and a window. I'm chained to a chair, so it all must wait. And while it all waits, it just gets worse.

I haven't managed to even get dressed yet, and it's 1PM. Where to start...LOL