How do you do it?

I realized today that there is not, nor will there be, enough time in a day.  As I hurried to get myself and Ethan dressed and out the door for the day, I took a look around my messy house and thought, "I'm going to clean house tonight."  But, even I can admit it - that's a total joke.

We (Michael, Ethan and I) hit the road at 7:30am (although we always try for earlier), and don't step foot back through the doors of our home until roughly 7pm, maybe 6:30pm on a great day.  That includes work, working out, and the pick-up/drop-off of Ethan.  I've been trying to get better at using my crockpot so that dinner is at least hot and ready when we get home.  If not, dinner is usually served around 7:30/8pm.  Wow.  That feels so late when I type it out.  Then it's bath, teeth, book, prayers and bed time for Ethan - no later than 9pm, but always aiming for earlier.  Then, I finally get to park my ass on the couch and play catch-up with Michael.  After some quality time, I usually piddle and Michael either works out or plays on Xbox (we were watching The League until it ran out on Netflix.  Need something new...).  We usually curl up into bed at around 10/11pm.  Literally, I always wonder how did we get to bed so late, but reading the above kind of says it all.

I write this out because at one point I thought I could not squeeze one more thing into my day - including a work-out.  Now, I look forward to leaving my 9-5 to work up a sweat.  I feel so much better when I leave the gym, and I feel like I'm a better person to my family - even on the "bad" days.  I enjoy a clean, tidy house more than most people, and it's taken a little getting used to to see my house in such a disarray so much of the time.  The last time I did a deep clean of the house, I found myself laughing at this thought: "The only bad thing about cleaning house is that it restarts the countdown to the next time you need to clean it."  Isn't that the damn truth!  Houses do not stay clean, even when you do "simple maintenance" (as Michael would call it).  And, when you have kids you can pretty much forget about it.  Moms who keep a sparkling house with small children must not have any hobbies, or they pay dearly for a fabulous housekeeper (whose number they should pass to me).

Oh, and weekends, you say?  I guess I could... But, lately, our Saturdays have been reserved for family trips to the Farmer's Market, taking turns working out, and then trying to cram in whatever we have been invited to that night (usually means finding a babysitter - which I've become not fond of since it seems like we have something EVERY.SINGLE.WEEKEND).  I'm looking forward to some Saturday nights at home soon.  Maybe then I'll clean the house.  You know, for real.  Maybe. ;)