Monday, January 27, 2014

Cabin Fever


Being a stay at home mom during the winter is a hard thing to be. I have found myself wasting my day with doing a whole lot of nothings. Heating our 150 year old house is kind of hard to do and pricey too, so some days Ollie and I stay in our warm Pajamas, sweats or on the couch under blankets. So those days turn into lazy days reading books, doing puzzles, coloring or watching TV.

The TV doesn't really work for Ollie because he only watches a few movies and for only a few minutes and it is not a good thing for me because I tend to watch too much of it. Once it's turned on it's hard to turn it off. I have this thing that if I start watching movies that have sequels or a TV show, I want to watch the whole series. But I turn it on because I hate my house too quiet or I am bored. It's a hard, deep rut for me to fall into, and it's harder and deeper in the winter.

Being outside is a great way to destract Oliver and me, to get fresh air and to exercise. It motivates me to be better and to fill my day with somethings rather then nothings. When it is winter it is hard to be outside with sicknesses, bad weather and being just plain cold! And a lot of the indoor places to go to cost money, so we find ourselves at home most of the time.

My husband and I only have one car and so we share. During the summer this is quite easy because we usually walk when we can and drive only when we need to, making the car available more often. Corey works about a mile from our home and a park and the library are just a few blocks away. But these close places seem much much farther away when it's 20 degrees outside or worse. So driving the car is done for all needs, big or small. 

Our cabin fevers are burning quite hot and our activities are dwindling fast. I have found myself being affected by a depression that is brought on by doing too much of nothing but have no ideas of what I should do. My poor Ollie has a lot of energy and is getting sick of the same old things. Please share what you do during these winter months that keep you sane and your children happy!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

The Dreaded Chore

I have mentioned before that I am a stay at home mom. My day is full of tending to my son, cleaning the house and other such things and love it! But I have something that I hate to do, I do everything else before doing this one thing. I am sure that you guys have one too?! Mine is the dreaded DISHES!

The last place we lived had a dishwasher and it was so easy to just load it through out the day, run it after dinner and unload it in the morning. Making it very convenient to keep the kitchen clean.  Here we do not have the same luxury. I feel like I have to wash dishes all day to keep the kitchen clean. Or let the dishes build through out the day and wash them all after dinner which always takes so long. Lately I have found myself putting them off more and more and letting them build. 

So I do all sorts of things trying to procrastinate doing them (like blogging). I even now like folding laundry more then dishes and would do that all day to not wash dishes. When all else is done or when the counter is getting to cluttered with dishes, I then head into the kitchen to clean in there. I stack up the dishes, clean off the counters, wash the stove, sweep and mop all before I delve into the dishes. 

I don't know why I hate doing them so much and I wish I could just get over it and do them everyday and not let them build up little by little. I love cooking and even more so when the kitchen is clean. Which of course cooking makes more dirty dishes. It's a viscous cycle that I know I can't escape.  I need to come up with some type of routine or some way to stay more on top of them. The next place we live will have a dishwasher!