I love lists

I think I may have said that before, in this blog or the other one.
And just now I have a bucket load of stuff that needs doing, its getting me down. so alongside the other stuff (study, allotment, brownies, family etc) I have made a list today of the things I need to get done around the house to make me feel better.

maybe its spring approaching that's making me feel like this?

• tidy the drawers in the living room - mainly the cutlery drawer, it is out of control
• take down the last of the Birthday stuff, cards, banners, balloons etc
• the mountain pile of ironing
• send my laptop and broadband receipts to the OU to support my grant claim
• plumb in the sink into the downstairs loo (more on that later!)
• paint afore mentioned loo (the walls not the convenience!)
• scrub loo floor, probably needing white spirit to get the gunk up
• sort out coats in coats cupboard - there is a lot and I am sure there are some in there that the girls don't wear
• ditto shoe rack, and why is there a very large bag of teabags on the shoe rack?!?!
• fix the under cupboard light in the kitchen, I switched it on saturday and it went bang - frightened the life out of me!
• sort-out-the-box-of-DOOM well everyone has one!
• touch up paint work in the hallway, and re gloss the woodwork
• tidy up the ridiculous amount of books we have on the bookshelves - maybe even set a few free
  
• plant the seeds in the trays for this seasons veggies
• decorate the littlies room
• tackle my Avon boxes - especially the filing!
• bank the subs cheques from brownies and write a letter for the parents re next terms happennings
• find my wedding ring - yeah more about that later as well, sorry Mr.B it is in the house!
• tidy my sock draw (again)
• put bits in the loft that need to go in the loft!
• list my ridiculously large stash of unneeded fabric on Ebay
• buy some frames, mount wedding and school photos and hang them
• sort out, launder, iron and price up things for the NCT sale next month.

mmmmmmm thats quite some list!

now the wedding ring story. I went to clean the scout hut yesterday so I thought the safest thing to do would be to not wear my ring. I took it off and put it on top of the TV in the bedroom - but now its gone! and so has the flannel that it was on top of, so I am assuming its slipped off down the back. but to retrieve it will invlove pulling out the chest of drawers and the laundry baskets. for which I haven't had a spare childfree moment for and so it's on the list!

As for the saga of the downstairs loo - thats another story for another blog entry!

conversation with a 3 year old

'Where's Rose?'

'gone for a walk with Lee'

'Where's Lee?'

*sigh*

is she missing her sisters so much she can't concentrate - or do you think she doesnt engage her brain much?!

conversation with a 16 year old

>>>given the opportunity to go on holiday anywhere, where would you go?

>>>nowhere hot, somewhere cold

>>>how about an artic cruise?

>>>NO!

>>>too cold?

>>>no, firstly I dont like boats, and secondly I would be frightened of being hit by an ice cube!

mums advice would be to stay out of the bar then dear!

Message for Mrs. Fink

Mrs. Fink? good - just checking how the no smoking is going!

Cukoo!

O my goodness you lot are terrible!
I have had 15 visitors to this site since Saturday - and I reckon you have all popped in to see if I am sporting the latest fashion accessory of a straight jacket after the birthday weekend.

Well PAH to you - we survived! OK so we had to keep it very subdued and hardly celebrated at all - but we survived - wave the banners!

now just 1 week and 4 days until the next birthday THE TEENAGER!

Today is the 11th January

Today it is peaceful in my house, the older two children are at school, Mr.B is at a job interview, I have man flu and the smallest child is being particularly needy - but otherwise peaceful.

Tomorrow is the 12th January, it won't be as peaceful. WHY I hear you cry! two reasons

1. it's Saturday and the kids are all at home
2. It's middle child's 7th Birthday *rolls eyes*

Middle child has a very interesting outlook on life, she can only see the here and now and has little idea of the consequences of her actions, routine is important to her. So weekends are hard enough anyway - throw a Birthday in there as well and...................................................... do I need to explain?!

wish me luck (and a quick recovery from man flu - thanks Mr.B) for surviving the day, as I have another Birthday to cope with (eldest child's sweet 16 *yikes*) in exactly 2 weeks after this one!

on the ........hang on what day is it?

yeah, yeah it seemed like a fantastic idea at the time - to do one of the 12 days of Christmas each day, a mixture of educational fact interspersed with massive doses of wit. But do you have any idea how hard it is to

1. find the time over Christmas with 3 children, a demanding husband and a semi social life
2. conjure up the wit on demand
3. be bothered!

Well honesty is always the best policy isn't it?

Sales shopping has been occupying a lot of my time, I have most the Birthday presents sorted for the year, the new decorations for the tree next year (our girls each choose a new decoration for the tree every year - soon the tree will have to be the size of the one in Trafalgar square to accommodate them all!), a lovely nativity advent calender for next year (it is a little stable scene and each day you add a character to it - they are magnets - its quite cute),a new TV (32" HD ready with freeview don't ya know!) and a steam generating iron (which I have still to learn to love). probably spent far too much money, but then I have probably saved a lot of money - and really I haven't bought anything we didn't need (OK so we don't NEED a TV we could live without one, but I am not ready to face that challenge, as I do like a bit of mindless Australian soap or good old Auntie Beeb costume drama!).

But I have also decided we do spend too much money on 'stuff' so this year I am going to try very hard to cut down on that 'stuff'. wish me luck!