Stairs

In a perfect life I would live in a house with one floor but with a family of 6 I don't see how that will ever be a reality. My dream is for a home with a master bedroom and laundry room on the main floor. There would be a laundry chute and the kids would continue to be responsible for getting their clothes back to their rooms. Currently we live in a duplex that consists of many stairs... I have to take 14 stairs up to get to my room and 14 stairs to get to the laundry area. That means 28 stairs to take a load down plus 14 up to the living area again, back down 14 to put in dryer, up 14 to get to main floor and back down 14 to fold...you get the idea. While this doesn't sound like much to a normal person to someone in fibro flare you might as well be asking them to run the Boston marathon. It is just that daunting some days.

With our family we have to do laundry daily or it becomes an insurmountable mountain. My kids are begrudgingly helping but unless I keep on them asking if they have put on a load, switched it over, folded it, etc it just doesn't seem to happen. The oldest 2 have their rooms down there so I really don't understand why it is such a difficult task. They can see the laundry explosion, it's impossible to miss when they are going to their rooms. I've been such a mess lately that I just haven't been nagging them about every single step. The problem with that is that the bare minimal is getting done. It seems like every other day the King is out of underwear (am I ever regretting my purging of all his ratty stuff these days) or I'm out of socks. My kids are spoiled by the grandparents and have more clothes than they know what to do with. The littles could likely go 3 weeks before they'd run out of things to wear. The olders would be left a little shorter in the bottoms department due to their constant growth spurts but they'd fare ok ignoring the laundry for at least 2 weeks.

I just don't know what to do. Lately if I push myself to do some of the simplest things I'm in worse shape than I was to begin with. Some days personal hygiene, getting supper on the table and lunches packed for the next day is all I can manage. Truth be told that is most days lately. If I have to leave the house for any reason than I'm even more exhausted. It sucks but it is what my life is right now. I really need my family to pick up the slack but it's not happening. I'm tired of being the evil mother who is constantly demanding that they do their chores. We've done lists, contracts, etc. They know what is required of them but they count on my pathetic memory and when I'm feeling like crap I think they totally take advantage of that and then do the barest minimum of their chores. I'm so tired of it. I just don't know what to do anymore. I give up. Seriously... I'm just done.

So 56 stairs later.. and I'm exhausted. That only resulted in 1 load folded, 1 load put in the dryer, 1 load in the wash and sorting.... I have about 4 loads in just jeans sitting down there, add at least 2 in towels, 3 more in colors and whites and 2 loads of delicates. I don't even want to think of all those steps.

Off to email the King and tell him to buy himself some more underwear or start entertaining the idea of going commando.