22 Foxhole East 12 August 2016 at 12:55PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in Mortgage-Free Wannabe 2.7K replies 317.8K views

Ellie78

I don't know how you keep your cool, I'd have banished them to live in the shed!    Another good reason I'm child-free! 

apple_muncher

But they are back to school tomorrow, no?

f0xh0les

It was getting pretty close to 'Get thee to the shed!!'  I must say - the most upsetting bit was that DS1 did not help putting up his new bed- he was supposed to put it up himself, it was 10 screws in total, but he never bothered. So after a week I did, and he just  stood there, and when I very annoyedly said 'This is not a spectator sport y'know!',  he just walked off downstairs.  How very dare I?  Grrr, I blame the parents.  They  all have developed a new level of laziness since lockdown started.  I found his mattress topper that I laundered during the school holidays that he could not be bothered to put back on his mattress! Shoved under his bed! 

Yes they are back at school tomorrow.  So their survival is guaranteed - DH is doing a happy dance.  He is shocked at how little they are willing to do.  Their attitude stinks.   DS1 starts his PPEs (them wot used to be called mocks) on Monday which I hope will light a fire under him.   I am at my wits end, and at the limit of my patience with them today,  well, all week really.

8 week term til they break at Xmas.    I am all for cancelling it, but dh has started buying them presents already (prime day). They deserve a satsuma and a rock.

badmemory

Don't get angry get even!  If they boomerang back after uni which they will because they aren't stupid & know which side their bread is buttered you can fund more than one new roof at their expense.  Gold bath taps anyone?  So console yourself with figuring out how much keep you can charge them, after all their mother deserves nothing less than being kept in the lap of luxury.  Obviously I went wrong somewhere! - but then I only have one.

f0xh0les

I think the older ones think they are hard done by if the smaller ones get something they do not.  Why do I have to do  ..... if ..... does not have to do it? Honestly, they have no concept of helping out any more.  It seems to have fallen off somewhere along the way.

So the purchase of the new cooker is so that they have no excuse other than 'I am a lazy so and so'.

I want each of the older ones to cook one evening meal a week - don't care if it is just something on toast. As long as it is something everyone will eat. Even if it is oven chips.  Once they have to do it for themselves they will realise.  Plus they will have to tell me what ingredients they want, so a bit of forward planning.  They think food magically appears on the table to interrupt their valuable sleeping time.   I blame the parents.

kerri_gt

A friends mum used to scoop everything that wasn't in its place into a black bin liner if my friend and siblings hadn't tidied their rooms after 3 times of asking, they then had a week to earn the bag back before it either went to the chairty shop (where they could try and buy their items back) or the bin. Obviously she secretly spared anything hugely sentimental but other things went that way to show she meant business. 
I'm sure reminding the older ones they've each had x years more than the younger ones will go in one ear and out the other.
I am channelling my inner fox today, trying to get lots of little DIY jobs done whilst on a day off. Cracks that have mysteriously appeared since i last decorated,  ones that have come back due to some badly installed plasterboard (which would be terribly messy and expensive to remedy properly for what it is) and addressing bits that need decorating after the new windows and door have been put in. So currently running about the house with sandpaper and filler whilst murdering Adele, Tiffany,  and whatever eclectic mix appears on my ipod.

f0xh0les

Now, after managing a whole One and a Half days at school, DS1 is off self-isolating for 14 days as one of his form has a confirmed positive test.  They took a test last night and had the result at lunchtime, but had been in close proximity to DS1 twice, so the school is running around pulling the tutor group out of all their various lessons and sending them home.

The first day back one of the yr 7 groups was sent home for isolation.  Now, they have all been off for the last 9 days, so they must have been in contact at form time yesterday. How flippin' irresponsible is that? 

Middle floor cleaned, hoovered, mopped, disinfected, beds stripped and remade,  mirrors shined and bathrooms sparkling.   I had just pulled the pittas out of the toaster and put them on a plate for me and dh to have lunch,  sat down,  reached for the salad, when the phone pinged and I had to go get him. Poor things were shoved out the door, in the rain, stood on the steps waiting for parents to pick them up.  Like soggy cats, they were.

So the ground floor will be cleaned over this afternoon and tomorrow.  I have my lists, I am keeping away from shops,  I have a scary amount of laundry, and an unexpected lunch guest  for a fortnight.

I have decided I am going to use the divan bed frames as planters.  If I strip them down and cut them in half, they will make a good size sturdy flower bed with the addition of a few bits of the nasty pine B&Q floorboard pulled up from the bay window reconstruction and a bit of wood preserver.  Waste not want not eh? It is a plan anyway.  But first ...the cleaning!

the_cross_rabbit

like your upcycling planter idea.
CRx 

f0xh0les

Well it is basically a wooden rectangular frame, so if I cut it in half, and provide the 'fourth wall' and plank it, then it is most of a wooden box ready made and just needs plastic lining and wood preserving.  Saves taking it to the tip anyway!  I can use our spare wheelie bin as a compost bin over winter, and shove some tall bulbs in it for the front of the house, as the bay window is about 6 feet above street level. Will also be a place to shove a pole bird feeder in.   Full of ideas, me.

kerri_gt

Brilliant idea about the planter F0xh0les
my little diy tidy up resulted in me pulling a switch off the wall today to remove oodles of paint from where prev residents clearly didn't bother, skewered my thumb on a screw in the process and have decided some nicw shiny chrome switches would look fab instead. OH agrees and whilst not a job i plan to do myself, i am sure i could but i would like someone qualified to do it properly...or at least blame if it isn't,  I'll get the switches for when we have anything else done.
You saying about the extra lunch guest made me think about the kids who need free school meals who get sent home under the same circumstances