Housework advice....(kids mentioned)

Okay ladies I'm totally stressing here. We're having a bday party at my house Saturday for my ds. We have 3 kids. Right now my dh is working his regular job and he has a big construction project going on at our house. He doesn't even come in the house until 8:30 every night which leaves me to bathe all the kids and get them ready for bed by myself.

Not to mention:

My floors are littered with toys
Everything needs to be dusted
All the floors need to be swept and mopped
The curtains need washing
Cabinet tops need dusting
Garbage needs to be taken out

Can I do any of this stuff at all? I'm having nightmares that people are going to show up for the party and my house is going to a disaster. I'm uber embarrassed for anyone to see my house like this but dh could care less.

My MIL usually helps me in these situations but she has her ill elderly mother living with her right now.

Should I just cave and pay a cleaning lady?

Can you find another house to have the party at? With your surgery AND the construction project, your house is not a good candidate at all! If this is a family thing, they should respect that. There's way more work to it than what you mentioned. As the hostess, you'll be on your feet most of the time. And then there's the clean-up. It's too soon for you to be taking on all of this.

It's a family party for the most part but several of ds's friends and their parents are coming to and like you said there's definitely more to it than what I listed.

I have people to do everything the day of the party like serving the food and etc and everyone understands that I've had surgery and can't do much but I'm too embarrassed to let them see my house as is.

Aces if hubby is unwilling to help let him know that you will need to have hired help come in.

Your health is worth more than it will cost to have a service come in.

Best of luck to you in your recovery.

I totally agree with NDHuntress. If you can't move the location, then bring in the cleaning ladies! You're only 10 days post-op. So of all the things you listed, the only one you can really do without hurting yourself is the dusting!

In another post from a few days back, a syster related that a friend of hers was recovering from a kidney transplant. The friend's doctor told her that as far as surgeries goes, her's was one of the toughest to recover from. But not as tough as a hysterectomy! So if anyone starts giving you grief be sure to use this story as your ammo.

Too many people think a hysterectomy is just like a c-section but it's not. In a c-section they make one incision and remove something that was biologically meant to be removed. In a hysterectomy there's cutting & slicing & cauterizing & stitching because everything they took out was attached to something else in there. Plus they had to move around all those other things like your bladder & intestines etc. so they are all bruised too if they didn't get nicked in the process. Watch a video and you'll understand. And when you start telling people all this, they get real uncomfortable, especially if they're eating, and suddenly they become kinder to you!

You are way too close to your surgery date. You will probably have some setbacks if you do all that work. Get the cleaning service. I know when I do that I feel silly, watching someone else do the work while I sit there, but please, do it at least this one time for the party. Good Luck

I think finding another place for a birthday party would probably be a good idea.

If you can't do that, I'd ask the husband to bring home a reward bin. Just fill a tiny plastic storage bin with prizes. I'd give the kids a chore and let them choose a prize for being helpful. You didn't mention ages, but even little ones are usually capable of helping at least a little bit.

Or...hire a cleaning service.

Finding another place would be great. If you have the money for a cleaning lady - What are you waiting for - get her!!! I wish I had one.

Just breath it will all work out. You will either a great party or a great story!!

I just have one question - how old are your kids and why are they not helping you?

My kids are 9, 3 and 5 months. My 9 year old is pretty good about helping but he's not very good at the sweeping or mopping and the majority of my house is laminate flooring so it has to have a really good sweep and mop or it looks awful.

I would let the giant mouse handle things...or hire a cleaning lady.