Nightly Routine

I just thought of a word that perfectly describes our nightly routine. Pinsetter! Don't worry I will explain why.

Anyone who has ever ventured into a bowling alley has seen a pinsetter, but one may not associate the name with its function. A pinsetter is the mechanical device that removes all of the pins and then resets a new group of ten perfectly placed pins to get ready for the next bowler. Well that's what most evenings feel like around here. We go through the day and the inevitable piles up...laundry, toys, dishes etc. After the kids go to bed we basically put the house back in order only to let everything get trashed again the next day. Put more crudely the kids knock crap over all day and in the evenings we sweep everything off and reset it for the next day. This is what it must feel like to be a pinsetter. Lather - Rinse - Repeat!

Now there is a certain tiny personal victory in getting everything put back in its place because I can't stand clutter. However it does have a tinge of "groundhog day" to it since there is seldom a day when dishes or laundry aren't done and unfortunately the children aren't quite old enough to be truly useful. Sure they can "help" so long as they are supervised, which still requires as much effort as if doing it oneself. So therein lies the conundrum...to reset it yourself or supervise those who will reset it for themselves with the knowledge that the latter option may actually take longer than the former. The answer to this question varies by day and I still haven't found the perfect solution.

So from now on I'm going to refer to our nightly sashay around the house getting everything put back in order "the pinsetter routine."