One step forward, four steps back

I'm feeling a bit discouraged today. Lately I've been noticing that no matter what I do around the house, it never gets any cleaner. If I vacuum, ten minutes later someone drops crackers on the floor and crushes them for fun. If I scrub the tile floor, it's like an invitation to spill something sticky and then walk through it, leaving little sticky footprints. If I pick up a few things off the floor, someone will come along and throw twice as much stuff down. I am surrounded by four little people who seem intent on thwarting my every move.

I read a couple of blogs written by women who constantly mention how important it is to keep a clean house. Ladies, I would love for you to come clean my house. I dare you. One grownup against four boys is never going to win.

And before you tell me I should make them clean up their own messes, I do. It just takes them forever. Unless it's something dangerous to the baby, I don't rush to pick up after them. And I'm even teaching the baby to pick up his messes. The problem is that they mess up at ten times the speed of clean. I spend about six hours a day in the schoolroom (a small room on the first floor of our house), teaching the two older boys one at a time. When I emerge, it often looks as though we've had a small, localized twister. I mean, just imagine what three little boys with no immediate supervision are capable of. At that point, it's usually time for me to start dinner, so the mess sits. Then Hubby comes home and everything is still a wreck because the kids know I can't make sure they're cleaning if I'm trying to make dinner. And of course, while I'm cooking, the baby is running around behind me taking the trash out of the trash can and throwing video tapes off the shelves.

If anyone has some words of wisdom, please share. I am so tired of the house being messier after I clean than it was before I started. I am sick of walking out of a room I've just cleaned and into a room that has been destroyed while I was busy. I'd like just once to be able to invite people over without a sense of dread because I know the futility of having the house look decent for them.

And if you say Flylady, I will hunt you down and punch you in your sink-shining arm.