Day 263: Back At It

 

Today we're back to the grindstone of the whole house declutter/spring clean. Hell, we've even started a scrap bin for the family across the road because they have a pig and chickens... though mainly because that way the scraps didn't have to go in our bin.

Well anyway, it rained yesterday so I didn't do any washing... (just so you know babysitting turned out okay = the three kids were all well behaved... the dog on the other hand was a pain in the ass). Today we only have the dog, as Flit has gone to the craft market with his mum and nana.

I'm hoping today is better with the weather as I really want to finish the bedding. and possibly give Hurricane's and Graceful's lunchboxes a good scrub out so they can air out over the two-week break.

Hopefully we'll also come across the missing library book from school. Once we have everything sorted out. everyone will come to see that there is a place for everything, and everything needs to be put back into it place... just so it can be found when needed.

Wish us luck.

Day 261: Last Day of Term

 

As of after awards ceremony, Hurricane and Graceful will officially be on school holidays. Two weeks of having all three kids home 24/7... Hopefully, they can take that time to help clean up... No. I wouldn't wish that on myself, their helping is going behind us and pulling out everything we've just put away.

At least during these school holidays my niece's stuff will be going from our garage; then it's a matter of rearranging the shelves ang that will be another room done.

I need to write a smaller list of chores that have to be done before my daughter and the girls go for their weekend at the beach... Plus, Graceful also has an eisteddfod in the at some stage. Actually, I think that one is tomorrow.

The mozzies are bad again tonight. the kids were covered in red dots. At first, I had a mini panic attack that they had chicken pox or the measles... took me about ten minutes to realize they were mozzie bites. I felt like a right royal goober then.

Day 260: More Chores

Today the two older girls had speed soccer at school. Hurricane came home with a medal... their mum went to watch them. I had Monsoon and we built a big plastic storage tub (from Bunnings hardware) that the girls are going to use to store all of their outdoor toys in. Hopefully it will stop them from leaving them scattered all over the ground.

Still washing the household bedding, but with six people (six beds) that's a lot of doonas, sheets and pillowcases. Plus, all the knee rugs we had been using.

I've noticed there has been a shit-ton of mozzies in the house every night. Going to have to fix the holes in the screen doors.

I'm starting to feel worn out again. I still occasionally have my cough. It's annoying as hell, and my nose is still sore on the inside. My headache is a constant... I think I should just shut today down and go and read.

Day 259: Seasonal Swap

 

Today I sat back and advised while my daughter rearranged the girl's bedrooms. She's still trying to find the best set up for them. I did more washing... yes, I know it's all I seem to be doing. I swear to the be all and end all that I will get to the end of it all soon... Admittedly, right now I'm washing all our doonas and putting them away for the summer. Nothing better than a bed made up with nice fresh linen.

It'll soon be time to put all the winter clothing back into storage for another year... A good time to get rid of everything that we know for sure won't fit Hurricane and Monsoon. There is no use in keeping them. not when someone else can get use out of them.

I have to ask. why do we always end up with so many odd socks? Our pile at the moment is ridiculous... and by ours, I mean my daughters and the three girls. It's insane the amount we have piled on the kitchen table. I'm hoping by the time we get to the end of this declutter/spring clean that I'll find a heap of the missing matches.

Day 256: To Do List

 

For the next little bit, I have a specific to do list...

1) Swap out the drawer runners in Graceful's chest of drawers.

2) Fix board to top shelf of open wardrobe to sit trophies on.

3) Fix the rungs on the bunk beds.

4) Paint the toybox

5) Fix Graceful's bike (Front wheel and training wheels) how hard can it be?

6) Try and reattach the netting around the trampoline

8) Paint the cubbyhouse

9) Paint the outdoor/mud kitchen

10) clean out the BBQ cupboard.

If I can get all of this done by the end of October, I'll be happy. The girl's grandad is coming for Christmas, and I'd like to have everything done by then.

Day 255: Hurricane & Monsoon.

 

Tackling this room... mainly it's just toys, and three bits of furniture that has to be removed. For the size of the room, it just seems cluttered. though while cleaning, I notice we're going to have to fix the rungs on the ladder for the bunk beds. the paint has chipped off. and the bare metal is showing. I might have to buy some grey rust proofing paint and paint them. I also want to repaint the toybox as it's hideous. Mind you, we're only going to use the leftover paint from the uniform chest of drawers, pastels in green, purple, pink and blue.

I'm going to have to wash their bedding. It looks like all of the cats have been napping on them at some point in time. That and it's getting to the point where we're going to be swapping from winter to summer bedding.

Graceful had an eisteddfod this morning, and she had dance lesson in the arvo. I have a headache today. Mainly, I think it's because Monsoon and Hurricane have been singing to me all day long on the top of their lungs. I swear to God they don't know the meaning of inside voices.

Day 254: Dang It...

 

I tried to buy a staplegun today, but they were out of stock. They told me to come back next week and try again after they get new stock in. Looks like I will have to come back next week.

I got myself a little sketch book so I can sketch out ideas of thigs I want to do/build. Like I want to build a series of screens that I can hook together to stand in front of the plastic tubs in the garage so I'm not always looking at the storage tubs. I showed my eldest sister and now she is going to get her own book and do the same thing.

You guessed it, I'm still washing. I'm doing at least 4 loads a day to get it all done. we also dropped of seven bags into the op-shop donation bin, and got them out of the house.

Day 253: Graceful's Room

 

Today while I was washing. I decided to get some empty tubs and sort out the stuff in Graceful's room. Toys in one tub, clothes in another, and crap for her mum to go through in the last tub... then I turned the desk around because it overlapped the cupboard door by about 1cm. I figured either the desk, or the door was going to get damaged. At least the room is small, so it really didn't take that long. I also picked up the surplus toys off Monsoon and Hurricane's floor. I'll tackle the room on another day.

I'm now going to figure out a way to make the top of Graceful's open wardrobe sturdier, as she wants to display all her dance trophies on there. Hers is also the chest of drawers that I need to replace the runners on... How hard can it be? I'll google it and teach myself a new trade to get the job done.

Day 252: Big Day

 

Today is grocery day, and we also got a gurney and to massive plastic storage boxes that we're doing to use. One will be to store doons in, inside the house, and the other will live on the back patio and have all the kid's toys in it. For something so simple they were so freaking hard to put together. I wasn't strong enough to clip them into place.

The septic service was today. So grateful to the man across the road for getting the grass down around the septic tank to give the waste guys access to the tank. I didn't realize just how many downed limbs there are lying around the tank. We'll have to eventually get them moved.

Really overcast today. I hope the rain holds off until after the washing is dried. I hate leaving washing hanging in the rain.

Day 251: Wardrobe Day

All the wardrobes in this house are small like this. They have a shelf up the top, and a rail just underneath. and nothing else. You wouldn't think it would take me four hours to clean one out... and yet it did. I found yet more washing. not that it was dirty per say. More that it smelled musty for being crammed in there for so long. and just by looking at the clothes I know they had been in there for years as they were mostly baby clothes. I'm just going to freshen them up before I bag them up for donation. At least I only have two wardrobes to deal with. The other one I know is mostly filled with toys and an empty set of drawers. I think I might wash all the toys that we are going to keep as well. All the soft squishy ones at least. give them a new lease on life... I started washing right away just to get it done.

 

Day 250: Downpipe Getting Fixed.

This isn't our downpipe. Ours is actually busted on the bottom where it connects into the underground pipe system that runs into our tanks. The even better news is the maintenance man brought his whipper snipper for us to use on our little hill... so we can clear the outside edge of our fence line. Better than that, my neighbour across the road came over and whipper snipped around my septic tank to make it accessible for the guy to get to it.

I wrote out a shopping list. This fortnight we are going to have to stick to the list. As we bought one of those little pruning chainsaws to cut up all the downed limbs laying all over our paddock... the second tool off our to buy list. we already got the sander to do one of the chests of drawers we are using to hold all of the school uniforms in.

 

Day 249: Happy Father's Day

 

While my daughter took the girls to their dad's place for Father's Day lunch. I cleaned everything out of the big brown bookcase in our entry hall and wiped it all out. I got rid of all the rubbish and left only two baskets for my daughter to go through. I am determined to keep this neat and tidy as it is the first thing that people see when they come into our house.

I'm thinking if I move the bookcase down a couple of inches... I'll be able to slide mum's wheelchair in between it and the wall right at the front door... making it way easier to grab when we need to put it in the car.

I also cleaned out the too coolers and stored them in the bookcase until I can finish the garage and get them on the shelves out there. but at least in the bookcase they are clean and out of the way.

Day 248: Another Job Done

 

Our chest of drawers is a little wider and has black square knobs, and our drawers are painted green for Monsoon, purple for Hurricane, pink for Graceful, and blue for Graceful--dance OR blue for all the girls swimming stuff. we have this sitting in my end of the house where the girls will be able to gran their clothes easier each morning. we turned something ugly into something really nice and useful.

The girls had swimming lessons this morning and then Graceful had her solo dance lesson in the afternoon. Hurricane and Monsoon stayed with me and helped me wash and tidy the back patio.

Day 245: I Made it Out of Bed Today

 

I made it out of bed today. with the little bit of energy I had, I decided to get the washing done. who knows when this influenza A is going to knock me on my arse again.

I forced myself to eat because I know that by not eating, I would only stay sick for longer.

To relax today I found the headlice comb I use on the cats and started brushing out their winter coats for summer. get all the loose fur out before they start getting too hot... I find it a nice and relaxing job to do.

I swapped out my bedding because it smelled funky after being so ill and laying in bed for those few days.

Day 243: Just Why?

 

Why is it when you have a cough your armpits hurt? Hell, even your butt hurts. I know it from clenching from trying not to cough and tightening everything up...but man am I sore.

I had a phone meeting today, that I couldn't even make it through. Thankfully the poor lady took pity on me and fixed my problem for me. I taste blood, but I'm not coughing up any. though I blew my nose and it was like I had a blood nose... TMI I know. It just weirds me the hell out. The doctor says it's just Influenza A making another go around. Yay me... I guess I'm lucky that way.

In good news, the real estate is coming out to fix our broken downpipe and our septic is going to be serviced over the next week. Means I'll have to try and get a bit more whipper snipping done. Unless I can get someone to do it for me. I really need to buy a brush cutter. My little whipper snipper just doesn't cut through the thicker strands of grass. Brilliant for everything else. But there is a lot of the thick stuff here.

Day 241: Still Resting

 

The kids are at swimming this morning, I decided to take it easy for another day. It's a tad windy here today... so, my ear is hurting like a bitch every time I walk outside. I just decided the best thing would be is if I stayed inside all day. The outside chores can wait for a whole other day.

trying to be productive I attempted to clean my room but got sidetracked by my kindle. When Monsoon got home, she decided to watch TV in my room until she got bored and went to play with Hurricane and Graceful in the trampoline.

Day 239: Another Slow Day

 

Mum had to go for her dental appointment today. So, I killed two birds with one stone and made sure I dropped a load of stuff into the donation bins for the op-shop... 5 bags gone.

I came home and put on some pasta sauce. I made enough so we can freeze it in batches for future uses. Easier that way.

The pantry is annoying me, so I rearranged it again, and hopefully for the last time. I hate not being able to find things when I need them. I also hate it when people just shove things in and don't place them in their correct spots, and then they wonder why I get cranky at them.

I also managed to wash mum's bedding before I had to sit down and rest for the afternoon,

Day 236: Slow Kind of Day

 

Started doing Graceful's bedroom. had to stop. made a quick trip to the cheap shop to buy organisational things like baskets etc to be able to put stuff in. She needs to have her life separated into four parts:

1) School

2) Dance

3) Jui Jitsu

4) Home

So, she needs to be able to access her uniforms for each with ease, and her normal clothes can't be mixed in. for a seven-year-old she is very pedantic. She likes things done a certain way. Poor kid gets it from me. It's only going to get worse with age...

Day 235: Massive Headache Today...But I...

 

We caught up on the washing today. That's the first thing that slides when you are sick all the time... and when there are three adults and three kids in the house. the washing builds up fast. Some of it was just washing stuff to be donated to the op-shop.

The guy across the road came and picked up the two not working washing machines... his dad scraps them. It saved us having to move them.

My daughter locked herself in her room and did her assignment to become a teacher's aide. I had all three girls. They were more a hinderance then a help. It seemed like every five minutes they were coming to me asking for something to eat because they were starving. Even the three cats seemed to follow me around all day and be underfoot whenever I tried to get anything done. If I sat down, I either had Monsoon or one of the cats on my lap.

I just had to suck it all up and try and get shit done.

Day 234: The Sun is Out

 

The sun is once more shining; the kids have all gone to swimming lessons. So, I'm getting more of the washing done. well as much as I can. ended up having visitors (the girl's dad and his partner). So, I had to gasbag to them for a bit until my daughter got home from the shops and I could get stuck back into doing the chores I had on my list for the day.

One week we're complaining that we don't have enough stuff towels, blankets and linens etc... I swear to God since I've been decluttering the house I have been finding them everywhere. The linen cupboard is full, and we are searching for new places to store them all. Might have to think about buying a big storage box or something similar.

We can't get rid of them as they come in real handy when any of the kids are sick and we have to swap out bedding in a hurry. last time that happened we were struggling to find anything. Who knew they were just hiding away in the kid's closets.