I, Single Mom, just won the handyman challenge.

So I'm not good with handyman stuff. I don't even own a screwdriver. I have to boys, 6 and 9, a 4 month old dog and a full time managing job. Every other weekend my boys are at my ex-husbands, and I have some time to get my house thoroughly cleaned, the laundry baskets all emptied out and myself back to zero. Because I'm so online, I guess you could say, every day from 5 am to 9.30 pm, keeping eye on and taking care of my kids, doing sales budgets, handling clients and staff, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and cooking etc, I really need every other weekend offline. For me. Mainly to enjoy the silence and spending time just... Being.I've had an endless row of appointments, trips, arrangements, gatherings and social stuff to attend, and not been aware of how it's bundled up. Usually I say no to stuff, if it's not important enough, to be able to reset and recharge my batteries. For some reason though, there's been far, far too much the last 4-5 weeks and I'm just way way over my limit. I've needed the downtime for too long without getting it, and I'm breaking under it. Didn't realize how bad it'd gotten, until I felt yesterday like I couldn't breathe down into my stomach, felt like I was drowning, suffocating from an endless row of housework I never really get to the bottom of, since I haven't had my weekends offline to get it properly done. I didn't even get to really forming the sentences in my head, as I'm running from room to room, trying to do something, anything, to make this place look like a home.My mom felt something was off, and came by with my brother, with everything to BBQ. My brother lit it, she cooked and gave me a glass of wine. And as I tried to tell her how I felt, I realized I feel like I can't breathe from ... Just all of it. Feel like a press on my chest, loosening a bit as I sat weeping, and forming my thoughts to sentences, and realizing just how important it is for me to prioritize the downtime. I need it, to function in my life. I need it to reset and recharge.Clearing the kitchen after... The dishwasher showed an error message. Just fucking awesome. Not having a dishwasher with two boys and a full-time job? Bad. Really bad.I decided I'd deal with today. I called the company, as I bought a service 5 yr thingy, me being shit at handyman tasks. They said I had to check a few different things, the pipes leading the water away etc. It took my all to not get impolite, because how am I supposed to know which pipe is which? T'was the whole point of buying the service thing!After crying from the sheer frustration of it all, I got the filter out, rinsed it, didn't work. The I googled, and managed to manually drain the water, get a latch open into the pump and fish out a piece of broken glass with a pair of tweezers. Closed it, and now it's actually running a cycle without stopping.Normally I don't weep. Normally Ive got this single mom shit down, and loving it. But some days... It's hard, hard, hard. But then you fix a dishwasher, and feel like the king of the world. My reward? A shower, cause I smell of dirty dishwasher water, and pizza for dinner from Italian restaurant we love. Yep. Thanks for reading guys, I needed to vent. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2uxYgSb