Small Victories

When you live in a house with six other people who may not define "clean" the same way you do, it can be a challenge.  I also have OCD which when it flares up due to stress or exhaustion, can make a small problem like a messy counter or unvacuumed floor seem like the world is crashing down on me.  It is a constant balancing act of how much mess I can tolerate without losing it.

The last few months have been stressful and well, sleep is hard to come by.  The result was a house that was seeming overwhelming.  Too many loads of laundry, rooms that I clean and clean and that keep getting messed up, and then not enough time for me to get to the rooms I wanted to clean. See, I need a space.  Just one space in the house where things are organized, orderly and peaceful, and that space usually is my bedroom.  However, since I have had Finn sleeping in our room, and Ryan works nights so he sleeps during the day, there was no time to clean up the mess that just happens with life.  Today I was exhausted after being up all night with Finn who has a cold, but I sucked it up and went upstairs while Ryan manned the kids downstairs.  I got the room scrubbed clean, changed the curtains, dusted, vacuumed and organized.  I also went into Teagan's room, rearranged and out Finn's bed in there (we will see how this pans out) so now I can keep things the way I want, and I am so very excited to be sitting in my clean, orderly space.

While I was busy upstairs, the kids and Ryan cleaned up downstairs and Ryan got my new print of NYC ready to be hung.  Now tomorrow I can do the regular maintenance that comes with a houseful, and know that when bedtime rolls around, I get to retire to a peaceful place.  I bet I will have sweet dreams tonight!