Good Things

OK - For those of you interested in the continuing saga of my marriage...here goes.

After much prayer and deliberation over the last months, I decided to chat with BB about my frustration. I know that he works hard, I know that he is not trying to be doltish and insensitive, but the end result is that I am exhausted, frustrated and feel taken advantage of and for granted.

I had him work from home yesterday, and simply sit, in his office, and pay attention to what I did during the daytime.

Now, I could have been sneaky, and underhanded and tried to manipulate the situation to my advantage, but I wanted him to see what truly goes on here during the times he is at the office...so, yesterday I:

• washed, dried, folded, and put away 6 loads of laundry, including towels
• ironed his clothes (none of my "dress" stuff fits anymore, and I haven't replaced it to date)
• picked up all the "stuff" (magazines, newspapers, dishes, cups, food wrappers, books, socks, shoes, toys, dog toys, cat toys, and one lonely used Kleenex that missed the trash can) that was lying around on countertops, tabletops, and the floor
• dusted every stick of furniture, moved all nick-nacks, dusted under said nick-nacks, actually dusted said nick-nacks
• brought in the big ladder to clean my ceiling fans, change light bulbs, and get those nasty dust collection/cobwebs off my ceilings (which I do weekly - different room each time)
• scrubbed the baseboard molding and dusted the blinds in the bedrooms
• scrubbed the kids' bathroom (we've been teething, and have some resulting icky diapers)
• changed the sheets on the kids' beds
• vacuumed all the carpet in the house, including the tops and faces of the stairs to the upstairs as well as to the basement
• washed the vinyl in my utility room and the hardwood in the rest of the main floor
• trimmed the cats' and dog's nails, brushed the cats and dog (prior to vacuuming and dusting)
• put up 5 quarts of zucchini, made 2 gallons (cooked down) of tomato sauce
• baked Friendship Bread
• made sourdough bread dough
• returned 12 items to Target and did the grocery shopping
• put the kids down for their naps, changed 14 diapers, made 16 trips to the potty for Captain Chaos to attempt to go
• fed the children breakfast and lunch
• bathed the children
• fed the animals breakfast and dinner
• gathered all the trash and recycling
• made sure that the empty milk bottles were rinsed and in the box along with the check for our delivery
• watered 12 pots of mums for the giveaways for the Moms' group on Thursday
• made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, and dressing from scratch for dinner
• set the table
• emptied the dishwasher
• cleared the table, did dishes and put away leftovers
• put the children to bed

When I finally got into bed at 10pm last night, BB said how sorry he was that he was unaware of all that I did during the day, and that he would work on being more aware of things that need doing, like emptying the trash, and that he would insure that his dishes, garbage, and dirty clothes made it to the appropriate location after he used them, rather than leaving them until there was a pile.

His reasoning for leaving things: "It is more efficient to rinse all the dishes at one time, and put them in the dishwasher, than it is to rinse them as they get dirty". His reason for leaving trash and dirty clothes? About the same...grrrrrrrr

I explained that leaving things around like that not only set a bad example for the kids, but was unhealthy. Can you imagine what grows in those dishes that are sitting on his desk in his office for 4 days before I go get them? And what about leaving the newspaper on the floor where Tiny Princess can just grab it and shove it into her mouth? ICK!

When I put it that way, he sort of started to get the idea as to what I was frustrated about...

So far this morning he:

• Hung his wet towel after the shower on the towel bar
• put his workout clothes in the wash
• rinsed and loaded his breakfast dishes (which he made for himself this morning!) into the dishwasher
• brought in the milk
• put the trash can at the curb
• fed the animals breakfast
• put together 85% of his lunch while I made his sandwich
• actually provided input as to what he wanted for dinner tonight

I am please, praised him, said "Thank you" about 100 times before 8am, and am prayerfully hopeful that this will last, and become habit for him!

Pray with me, that I will continue to be the wife, mother, and woman that God would have me be, that I will grow in my strengths, and learn how to overcome my weaknesses to be nagging, short-tempered and downright mean!

Pray that I will stay healthy as we start this year of Moms' group...I've been battling a cold for 4 days now, and it has settled in my chest...