My husband and I decided we need to create an actual schedule for my life that does not revolve around his constantly rotating schedule. Having a set wake-up time and bedtime regardless of what shift he is on, set chore days regardless of whether or not he is home, and some autonomy in my routine is something we both recognize I need but both are unsure of how to acquire. These are the points of farming and Emergency Service Family living that I just haven't heard anyone talk about, but wish people would! Perhaps the burnout and divorce rates would do an about face and start declining if we talked about the embarrassing lack of clean counter space due to an ignorance of how to keep each other included in daily life without allowing the other's schedule (or lack thereof) to monopolize the time.
My husband requires rest when he comes home, and we both desire reconnection after he returns from a 24 hour shift away. BUT - depending on how chatty we are feeling... the poor chickens don't get fed til noon, the dog gets abandoned in her yard, the dishes go unwashed, the laundry unsorted, the dust gathers at alarming paces... and I promise you I DO SWEEP regularly, but mopping is another topic altogether...
I'm not burnt out, nor frustrated, nor resentful of our life. As I stood in the midst of chaos in the kitchen last night brewing a cup of chamomile tea, my husband slipped his arms around my waist and asked if I liked our life. And I honestly answered "I LOVE our life!"
I just don't know how to BALANCE everything. Pinterest says 'save your eggshells'
Ga-REAT. Where? The kitchen counters are full to capacity and so are the cupboards because I cook everything from scratch and sometimes I even prepare the scratch! (example: I render our own lard from pigs, ducks and chickens. Told you it got worse!!!) We have a compost bucket and a chicken scrap bucket that currently live on the floor next to the door of the pantry.
Now rest assured I have a plan. The plan is: Clean the closet off the carport, which will leave space to finally clean our the laundryroom and get it organized, which will give a place to put the cleaning supplies that live under the kitchen sink, which will give a new home for the eggshell bucket, the chicken scrap bucket, and the compost bucket. Which is about a week's worth of sorting, cleaning, organizing, and putting away.
Did I mention sorting and organizing is one of my weak points?
I share all this not to bemoan my lot in life or parade my weaknesses, but to bring some real life to the idyllic.
I love our life.
But its messy!!
Balancing the frugal, organic, functional, self sufficient, emergancy services, regenerative farming lifestyle... does not lend itself to 1960's idyllic housekeeping. However, please know if you stop by, I am still trying... to keep from inventing diseases... and we are still learning how to balance our indoors life with our outdoors life.