My home is a mess

laurel7172

Hi all

Welcome to newbies and welcome back to oldies!

Fingers crossed for you, Kitty, and I agree with all the others who think you'll be fine. They would have taken you in if they were really worried xxx

Shattered. House pretty much gone to hell, but as it 's a hell *without* cement stored in the utility room, then I suppose you could call that progress :j. So tired I wasn't able to find the energy to complain to the plumber that I haven't had a call back, and so have been without heating for three weeks . However, after chasing on Monday, the manufacturer is coming out on Saturday (because it's a new boiler, it's a manufacturer problem, so after the plumber reported it Baxi was supposed to call ME...and when I'm that tired and the ball is in somebody else's court...I leave it there). Not good.:(

Working late, and then tutoring pretty much every night, often twice. At least other people's houses are warm . But I can't keep this up, and the sooner the SATs are over, the better. It won't ease the pressure at work, though. We WILL be seeing OFSTED again this term :eek:

My "pay myself" idea has resulted in approximately one hour of extra cleaning, largely of the kitchen cupboard doors. So that's something...even if it has taken a fortnight :rotfl:I paid the amount (after petrol and tax) I'd expect to get for an hour's tutoring into my bedroom carpet fund. At this rate....no, I'd really better not work that out

I'm getting help to fit my swishy new bathroom cabinet on Saturday :T. Unfortunately, the mirror in one of my wardrobe doors has cracked. I don't know how old the 'robes are, but the house is twenty-odd years old, and the original occupiers brought them from the house they'd had before. (I know this 'cos I'm the second owner, and the cut-down bits were left in the loft ). I think my bedroom just moved a few notches up the priority list...

charlies-aunt

Just when I thought I was getting on the top side of things... I got the call that a bed is available in hospital and at 24hrs notice, I am in for as long as its going to take to get all tests and treatments done - on the home front DH is continuing to work full time, sort out the cats & dogs, feed himself and visit me on an 70 mile round trip. . . . so I fear that home quickly going back to square one on messiness front! Although I'd rather have him as a visitor than a clean kitchen floor

Oh well, worst things happen at sea!

Emm-in-a-pickle

Evening Messies! Here I am `winding down` again, and thanks, ALL, for your posts being such a wonderful antidote to the despair I felt earlier (we got home at 9.30, OH up at 6am so I had a quick supper planned - found my little kitchen trashed/cluttered/sink full of stuff...stifled the urge to scream and throw my smelly shoes at DS...
(DGD was here after school, DS did her tea, `strangled egg` & beans, & toast, & he refilled sugar canister & spilled some...and the `hanging up cutlery set fel off windowsill into sink and got left there too...DGD`s mama came to collect so had a coffee so DS `didn`t have chance to clear up...etc...) I was very GGGRRRR.
I just got stuck in, cleared some space and did supper asap - priority for OH, and not a fuss - bacon/egg/spinach/steamed charlotte spuds & cheesy tomatoes over them. As planned. It was nice, & it was enjoyed & appreciated. Then I have to chill a bit. So I read here...Bless you all!

Snookey - I re-read your post about your bird-licking dog, and giggled again.
BB3 - it`s an awful indictment on human nature to take comfort in someone else`s kitchen being worse than mine, but I did. Sorry!

JPS - `house rewired by bodgitt & scarper` - Brilliant!! I sat here giggling like a daftie at that and it brought back memories of OUR rewiring (this was a council house then, and we hadn`t been here long enough to redecorate, and we`d just taken on fostering, ended up with 4 plus DS... we`d heard & seen from a re-wired neighbour that they put the new wiring ON TOP of whatever wall surface was there, so we decided we`d better strip the old wallpaper while we had the chance.
EVERY ROOM had at least 4 layers of ancient woodchip.We soaked and scraped, every floor was sticky and bits of woodchip got everywhere, the 2 dogs we had at the time got sticky & woody, and the kids thought it was WONDERFUL! They loved `helping`, and spread the woody sticky mess, little bare feet (not used to wearing slippers yet) had to be SCRAPED before they got into bed! We feared the social worker would remove them from this chaos, but she was delighted, said they were `thriving` in this environment!

Kitty - I love the way you stay cheerful in adversity. Pity about the sewing machine, but don`t give up hun - somewhere there`s a sewing machine with your name on it. I don`t sew now (time & space issues - sounds like an Einstein thing) but still think fondly of 2 old treadles and an industrial straight-stitch....
Gillybean - at least you have the excuse `baby-brain`!

Rosie - `washed the walls around the bin so ALL THE FOOD RICOCHET MARKS HAVE GONE`. Wonderful stuff, reading your post makes a down-hearted Messy feel whole again! I`m delighted to hear your back trouble is resolved, but do be careful with yourself, ok? And what do I do with `high` jobs? I either ignore them for half a decade as you have, or occasionally climb dangerously (generally only if I get very cross about something) and get STUCK, and have to be helped down...
Well done you though, you`ve every right to be pleased with yourself!!

It`s dark now, so can`t see out of LR window that I cleaned (we aren`t overlooked at the back so rarely close curtains) but the window is like a mirror now, I`m still chuffed to bits about doing it yesterday. It`s heartening, makes me feel like reclaiming another bit of CLEAN patch in this house. Not sure what it will be yet, so much to choose from!! But I will strike another blow here tomorrow, because I know it will make me feel better when I do.
Goodnight All, God Bless.xx
Drags self & Daftie-dog off to bed...

YORKSHIRELASS

rosie383 wrote: »

BTW, it was scary standing on the ladder to do it, even though I was just a few steps up, but I hated it. What do you lot stand on to do 'high' jobs?

Me too, in fact I dont really admit this to anyone but I hate standing on stepladders. Just have to grit my teeth and get on with it. Doesnt help that when I was painting the kitchen ceiling last year I forgot I was standing on the ladders and stepped backwards. Sounds funny now but it wasnt at the time!

Laurel - no wonder you are shattered! Personally I cant believe people pay for extra tuition to get their kids through their SATS. For goodness sake do they really think it matters that much? When their kids are going for job interviews are their potential employers going to care what they got in their SATS when they were 11? My boys is going on a school trip tomorrow for 6 days and lots of parents havent allowed their kids to go because its too near SATS. Dont get me wrong - I want him to do well in his SATS but there is a big world out there waiting for him and education is only part of it.

On the messiness front - we get a new carpet tomorrow for DS1s bedroom. This is sooo exciting - first new carpet in 10 years. The rest of the house is a bombsite, but still.

rosie383

Hi Messies.

Was cross with myself as I had to go back into town to get some bits that I ran out of and needed. I was only there yesterday and I begrudge paying the busfare back home again twice in a week!
I MUST sit down and do a proper mealplan as I have full freezer and cupboards.
Today I'm going to pull out the shoe cupboard in the porch and clean behind it. I know it will be full of cobwebs and some mould spots cos it's a wee bit damp out there.
I am on the kids' backs now constantly about picking up after themselves, especially the 13 yr old. I'm damned if I'm gonna let her just trash her room after me getting it spotless. Now, instead of ignoring it until it's awful, I go in after she has gone to school, put stuff in a pile in the middle of the floor that she must put away, and tidy some wee bits up myself. I know I should leave her to do it all, but it just ends up as a complete tip.
Yorkshirelass congrats on the new carpet. Amazing how much clutter you realise is in a room when you have to literally move every thing out of it to get a carpet down. We did the kids' room , and ours on the same day. Got it over with quickly, but stupid too, as we had to move all the furniture downstairs as the whole of upstairs had to be clear at the same time.Ah well, you live and learn!

kittywight

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

The rest of the house is a bombsite

ill join you in that

dropped ds off at school and went drs and around town, came home and thought " no way" lol .... so im just sitting here on the laptop and watching real housewives of orange county

its just not happening today, i am not cleaning!!

in my defence i have a chicken in the oven going to do a mini weekday roast for dinner tonight

i will have to do some dishes though, ive run the water ........ just need to do them ... maybe ill just do plates and knives & forks for us to eat tonight and leave the rest til tommorow

:rotfl::rotfl:

tbh think im getting depressed again ... im ok, just nervous about this arm thing so now ive found another illness had a major freak out last night, made an appointment with the nurse for next week, but im sure ill be fine and im just imagining it

xx

sonastin

Kitty - don't blame you having a day off. Enough to worry about as it is. But don't let your day off turn into an obsessing-about-health day. Make it more productive - day time TV is a much better option for focussing the mind :rotfl:

Laurel - no wonder you're worn out. Don't let ofsted get to you. I know that's easier said than done but at the end of the day, if you were left alone to do the job they paid you to do, you'd be able to do a much better job of it! Constant monitoring, testing and criticism has rarely if ever produced a more effective workforce

Emm - :eek: Still, one day you might not have to clear up after him. No idea when that might be but one day...


OH and I are at odds over the state of the house again. I don't know if it is just me being too sensitive or if the implied criticism in his tone is intended as criticism. The reality is that I have absolutely no desire to be a domestic goddess. There is more to life than a clean house. And if I have to be responsible for keeping it clean while he's doing the building work, I'm gonna do it in my own time and in my own way!

Latest battle ground is dishcloths of all things :eek:. I prefer cloth cloths that can be put in the washing machine. He prefers sponges which would be OK except 1) I don't like them, 2) he throws them out each week and gets a new one and 3) I do the shopping and pay for it. So not only does he expect me to put up with something I don't like, but it puts up my grocery bill and adds to the time I've got to spend in the SM too. Maybe not a lot but as they say "every little helps";)
And the main reason we're having this row today... the washing machine was moved last week for "a couple of days" and its still not plumbed back in. I agree that the cloths are grotty at the moment but its because I can't wash them. Or the clothes. Or bedding. Or towels. If he complains he hasn't got any clean pants tonight I think murder might be committed :mad:

Sorry for the ginormous rant again. It does help being able to vent here so that I don't let fly at OH with all the little tiny niggles that probably aren't worth mentioning except they do get blown out of all proportion when his digs start getting to me.

rosie383

Sonastin You have my sympathy. I was cleaning the bathroom the other day and managed to accidentally dislodge the mirror from the wall.i had to ask dh to help get it back up as it is dead heavy. Job done, but then he noticed how dusty the high glass shelves were, made some very pointed remarks and proceeded to clean them himself. I was pee'd off, as that was what I was about to do, as I was giving the bathroom it's first really good clean for ages. Of course, he didn't believe me. GGGRRRRRR!
I have both cloths for surfaces, and sponge jobs for dishes and cleaning. You can buy a pack of 20 in the pound shop, so even if he uses a new one every week (I'm doing the same now), it only costs you just over £2 per year. Not too much. I know every penny counts, but if you are chucking em each week, don't pay any more than that. I would be crazy if I bought expensive ones then saw them going in the bin.

rosie383

BTW, does anyone else do like me?
After several days of really thorough cleaning and decluttering, I have been having a lazy day. No motivation at all, maybe because the place is cleaner looking than it's been for a while, and I CBA!
All I have done today are the dishes, dinner prepped, wee bit of shopping, washing load on airers, and a wee tidy round.
Just gonna hoover floor quickly and that's it til I get little one from school.
I feel guilty, but can't decide what really needs doing IYKWIM, so I've done nowt!

miasnanny

You may find this a useful *star buy* I have Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and countless other irritations. I struggle with most house cleaning jobs. My son bought me a handheld steamer with a flexible nozzle which I use for EVERYTHING. I can't get my fingers into corners and nooks and crannies but the steamer blows it all out. DH uses it to clean the windows and paintwork, also the oven, hob, sink, freshen up curtains, shower screen, cupboard doors, inside cupboards, in fact it is the most used kitchen gadget we own. We leave it in the utility where it can be filled and plugged in, the cable is long enough to reach right through the kitchen. It takes no time at all to do things that would have taken an age, also no chemicals, and squeeky clean.

Argoose has one that is reasonably priced and tough enough to get years of use from.


I remember well being a fultime working Mum and as somebody mentioned multitasking is the key. While waiting for the kettle to boil load or empty the D/W, fold washing, wipedown a worktop, sort a drawer, its amazing how much you can do while the kettle boils that can really make an impact and make you feel virtuous.:A When you go to the fridge check a shelf's contents, the number of times in a day that we go to the fridge by the end of the day you have an orderly fridge. I think the problem is that we all try to do too much in one go and we either get bored with the task or tire ourselves out. These days things have to be done in really little bits or delegated to the long suffering DH but between us we muddle through.