Spring cleaning, list making, or just plain procrastinating? Join us here!

[JKSLtd]

Welcome one and all, especially if you love writing a great list, then sitting back and MNing crossing everything off.

And extra welcomes to those of us who write something we've already done on the list just for the satisfaction of getting to cross it off

Go me, I did all my list by 1pm and made the chilli for tea. No kick up the arse required today.

Well done Fandango, I'm not jealous at all, oh no .

Anyone care to give me a kick up the arse to get going.

Perhaps bribery instead?

I'm having laptop probs which is driving me crazy & affecting my listing & therefore doing of jobs.

We are off camping tomorrow for 2 nights, oby local but still a mission. And it's forecast to rain. Oh well.

Meanwhile ds2 has finally, finally, done some wees in the toilet!!!!! Hooray doesn't cover it. Please let this be he breakthrough. (And our camping not spoil it)

Well done to little JKS!

Well my kick up the arse did the trick, thanks Mrs NR. I have

Put away all the clean laundry that was lying about
Piled up all the stuff to be ironed (size of small mountain)
Rehung clothes horse (looking at you DH)
Separated out 3 loads of washing
Gathered together everything in one place that needs labelled for school
Put the dinner on (I had already done the prep)
Cleared out the felt tip box and got rid of dried up ones
Sharpened pencils (now have a sore wrist )

See you later.

I always get blisters doing sharpening!

He did another wee in the loo before bed woohoo!!!

Right camping - what am I going to forget?!

Well done slattern

Jks Sleeping bags? Wetwipes? Bottles for water? Towels? Something to keep the dc quiet for an hour when they wake up at 5 am for the day?

Argh I cant get going today. Feel really sluggish. Dc just want to hang out at home, play, watch tv, colour etc. Ds isn't even dressed . It should be the ideal opportunity for me to either get some jobs done or do coursework but I sat staring at coursework without any of it going in and cba to do anything

Feeling any better Freakoid?

Yes thanks slattern. Told the dc I needed to get out of thr house NOW and went for a walk. Went to tkmaxx en route and got myself a new bra. Picked up little flowers, stones, bits of bark etc on walk and then dd made a fairy garden. I still haven't achieved much today but felt better for getting out of the house (even though the dc thought I was really mean for not letting them stay at home all day).

Think the trick will be to get up and going straight away tomorrow.

Hope your day was more productive!

I love the idea of a fairy garden.

I was at work today so nothing done. I have a lot of stuff happening outside the house at the moment and the family routine and menu planning have suffered. 3 fast food take outs this week !! I'm feeling the post fast food guilt. Hopefully things will ease up a bit.

Will post list tomorrow.

The dc are convinced the fairies have been in their garden and showed me the slug trail fairy dust to prove it

Am wondering why my house is such a state when I spend my life cleaning and tidying. I think a lot if it is that it's in dire need of redecoration but landlord won't do it and I am reluctant to spend any more money on a house I am hopefully moving out of in a year's time.

Slattern have the dcs rooms stayed organised?
I think I need another clearout, their room is a state everyday.

So we have a trofast, the steppy one, with a box each for lego, hotwheels, musical instruments/cameras/torches, beads&sewing, cars and miscellaneous stuff. Under the bunks are plastic boxes of trainset, polly pockets, marble run. Under the chest of drawers is the scalextric. Bookcase has colouring/activity books on one shelf and normal books on all others. Barbies are in a box on top. Dressing up stuff in box in my wardrobe (in their room-built in) Dds desk has a drawer for hair and other girly stuff, a drawer for pens etc and a drawer for paper. Another bookcase downstairs witg boardgames and puzzles on bottom shelf and underneath and books on others. Dollshouse also downstairs. So in theory, it's all organised, there's not a ridiculous amount for two children (apart from books) and it should all have a place. But in reality the room looks nice for about two minutes s day and I spend my life nagging at them about the sheer amount of stuff everywhere.

Any ideas??

Btw I should clarify I'm not a total ogre and I fully expect toys to be got out and played with, quite happy for lego or trainset to be built and left out for few weeks but I really struggle with the bits left everywhere. Polly pocket clothes, lego wheels, bits of paper, beads. Stuff shoved in drawers so they don't close properly, other drawers rummaged through and left open and with stuff hanging out, stuff pulled off shelves and not put back, things knocked over and left, clothes pulled off hangers and shoved into bottom of wardrobe, stuff pushed to side of room or piled on surfaces instead of being put away....

I find it really disrespectful and it makes me ragey.

So far my strategy has been to ask them to tidy up then find everything they've missed and pile it up in middle of room for them to put away properly. It diesnt seem to be working so well now and I spend an increasing amount of time shouting and nagging.

I can only sympathise - and dread Even more tiny girly bits entering this house!

My mum used to get the the similarly when we were kids - we learnt to just head down & tidy up - thinking about it I think she'd take to her bed with gin lol. (We were older than my DC are now but I'm sorely tempted at times!!)

Lots on today:

Done:
Dh to work early
Breakfast & half tidy up

To do:
Dw & wm on
Some laundry put away
Some ironing?
Strip beds
Swap bath mats & towels
Find library books
General tidy
Library & park
Home for lunch & dd's nap
Ds1 on play date
Ds2's classmate coming here to play
DC tea, bath & bed
Dh home late & dinner

Yes to kids having stuff everywhere, yes to stuff not being put away, yes to nagging (and roaring!) and yes to feeling ragey!

So often I feel the need to get rid of everything and let the kids have one toy each in the manner of Victorian poor children. But then I think I would probably be considered cruel, so we keep all the crap! :o

DS's birthday yesterday, and party on Sunday. Just invited 3 families which was perfect, because only 3 presents. We got him a balance bike and DD got him an octonaut toy, my dad got him an octonaut lunch box and plate set (no toys!) and he got a tractor, some playdoh and a dressing gown. So not as much enormous plastic toys as previous years!

I had the bright idea to put oven cleaner in my oven last night, but now I have to clean it off

I spent a couple of hours thoroughly tidying and cleaning their room yesterday then showed them it, pointing out the closed drawers, the clear room edges etc. Told them that's how I expect it to look at the end of every day. Last night I had to go around picking stuff up from the edges and piling it in the middle of the room again

I think they are just really messy!

So far today I have baked butterscotch and pecan muffins and washed up. That's it. Need to put some washing on and hoover downstairs

Mrsnr I have been considering just having one toybox. With two cars, a barbie, a small polly pocket set, a couple of small lego sets

And shaving dds hair off so there's no need for bobbles, clips, creams

Two sets each of uniform and play clothes

No craft stuff (people always think oh freak doesn't like stuff so lets get the dc something to do/make- forgetting I then have to put up with the resulting piece of crap work of art)

No paper. They can have an etch a sketch or whiteboard or something.

I would probably hate it in reality

Love it! We could adopt this idea, and make it into a new child rearing technique. There would be a bit of a backlash, but lots of parents would thank us and we could make millions :o

Oven is clean (well cleaner) need to get dressed and head into town.

So far today
Two loads washed and hung out
Supermarket trip
Bday presents x 2 bought

Need to do lunch
Wash up
Hoover
Mop kitchen
Do some course work
Cook dinner
Evening routine

Phew, have finally got my laptop back working!

So, have house guests coming tomorrow-Sun, then PIL here Mon-Sat.
Spare room is a bombsite.
House is generally chaos.

Today nothing planned, maybe lunch at the airport cafe, and some food stocking up.
But mostly tidying/organising.

To Do:
Breakfast & tidy kitchen
Dw & wm on
Sort & put away any clean laundry
Find some big boxes/bags for baby clothes for MIL's refuge and store in DH's study
Clear out anything else from spare room I can
Tidy away winter clothes for DC currently on spare bed
Some food shopping (dh?)
Lunch out?
DD nap
Pool chemical check & pump on (one of those frame ones that i've not been looking after the last couple of weeks, oops)
General tidy (why bother with kids around?!)
Text friends to find out if they want cot up for their DS
Sort sleeping for their DD (in with boys?)
DC tea, bath & bed
Our dinner & bed

Also:
Find Ongoing list
Book B&B & lunch for school reunion in Oct
Check diaries with DH
Firm up plans for Dad's 70th in Oct
Plan Thomasland trip with friends
Get back on track with decluttering programme
More stuff out of loft to sort through & get rid of
Pile of baby clothes to friend (currently in car boot)
Pile of clothes to other friend
Pile of clothes recycling to shop where they pay you for it
Music Magpie pile sent off

JKS what sort of refuge does your MIL run?

Exhausted this morning. Went to bed with a banging headache after a long day yesterday and feel completely wiped out this morning. Think I need to drink more water.

Mostly today need to put away mountains of washing.

She's a trustee at a women's refuge - mostly Dv I think - often turning up with kids and nothing else :( they don't want women's clothes as storage is a problem so I give as many baby/kids clothes as poss. Also trying to supply some baby/kid equipment.

I keep not drinking enough water & getting killer headaches, we both need to be careful

Snap on the water. I think where we had that ultra hot weather before and now it's greyer and muggier I'm not realising it's still quite hot so not drinking enough.

Not sure what I need to do today

Where is she based, and does she want some toddler boys clothes? Pm me if you would prefer, but DS currently has around 20 sets of clothes! I only buy him pants and socks, but he gets so much handed down to him from friends.

I did a huge delivery to the Ipswich Womens Aid, but they were very funny about taking a second load.

Having a much needed quiet day today, although I have sorted through the clean washing, so that is ready to put away, and given the bathroom a wipe over.