A very creepy one - as if the world knows what I SHOULD be doing.

Today is National Clean out your Refrigerator Day.

So I could ignore it, given that I'm not in the US.

But..

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Labels: housework

Have I ever mentioned that my husband is a pretty handy bloke to have around? Probably. It's the main reason I married him. (Kidding... mostly...) It's not just bike repairs and maintenance that he's good at. He'll turn his hand to most things if he has the time for it (it's not rocket science, apparently..) and more often than not he'll come up trumps.

So he pulled apart the non-working vacuum cleaner yesterday (look, I even got a picture of it for you). Apparently he didn't do much to it other than clean some brushes in the motor or some damn thing. He put it back together again, and she works like a bought one.

[He's also pulled apart the toilet cistern (which is leaking) and is, at this minute, off to the hardware store to buy new bits. A man on a mission this weekend - the first we've had at home with nothing on for what feels like all year.]

Me - I have no excuse now not to vacuum... other than my stupid niggly back and general dislike for that job. (But truly, is there anyone out there who actually likes vacuuming? - I suppose pushing it around the open spaces isn't so bad. What really gets to me is having to bend down to get behind and under furniture, and to pick things up to vacuum underneath them. (House needs decluttering? Oh yes.) Then my back starts aching, and combined right now with a left knee that doesn't quite want to bend completely, and you'll understand why I'm sitting here writing about hating vacuuming - and cleaning in general - instead of getting stuck into it...)

However. It's time for Action. This week has to be Official Spring Cleaning/Job Finishing week. Spurred on by my parents arriving to stay a few nights next weekend (though heaven knows, they must be used to me by now..).. and a general self-loathing about my ongoing procrastination in regard to cleaning and the few 'jobs' that I have to do - it's a kick up the backside delivered to self. A call to arms.

Apart from the general overall need to clean the whole house from top to bottom, Mr Fixit keeps badgering me about the curtains I need to hem. They have only been up for a few... years... ... I don't know why he keeps going on about them.

* Note to self and advice to anyone contemplating curtain-making: Never ever hang unhemmed curtains with the idea that you are going to 'let them drop'.

Labels: housework

I was so going to vacuum today. The house needs vacuuming like you wouldn't believe. Oh boy.

So what setback might you throw up for a procrastinating, dysfunctional housewife (still recovering from a sore knee - still can't bend it completely, so crouching down low is.. inconvenient...) when she has finally located the vacuum cleaner floor brush attachment she's been looking for all week, and she finally gets her arse into gear and off the computer, and sets it all up and starts to vacuum?

You make the vacuum cleaner go PFFFFTT that's what.

As in.. (5 seconds into using it) *labouring sound, funny smell, turn off quickly.. can't turn back on again* kind of PFFFFTT.

I swear we've only had this vacuum cleaner a few years. Four at the most. How long should vacuum cleaners last? And what am I going to do now? Try and get it fixed? Buy a new one? (Visitors next weekend... don't have long to do anything about it either...)

Not to mention we've just bought a new washing machine and all.

The great gods of electrical appliances are up there havin' a larf.

Labels: aarrrgghhh, housework

That line from some cleaning product commercial has been haunting me all day. (I can't find it online - but the gist is that this woman with a new baby gets unexpected visitors, and one asks to use the bathroom before she is even in the front door - but of course her bathroom passes the stickybeak test because she uses *some* brand of cleaner.) The shame of it is that I had a few hours notice of a friend calling in, and yet I still didn't manage to deal with the state of my bathroom. This is what happens when you leave the kitchen in such a mess that it takes an hour or so to get on top of the washing up that's been left 'till tomorrow' and to sweep the floor and chuck a heap of stuff (sportsbags, shopping bags, etc etc) out of sight into the Cupboard Under The Stairs.

So the answer isn't a positive one; the only good thing was that I had managed to flush it after my dear children couldn't manage to. Yet again. [Sheesh! - but that is the topic for another blog time and blog whinge!] The toilet was big-time due for a clean, as was the vanity. The bath which never gets used is full of dust and stuff, as are the corners of the room overdue for a vacuum. The friend didn't stay long, but needed to use the loo. Oh dear. Sprung.

I have very bad priorities when it comes to my domesticity. It says a lot about my current 'social' life, where I don't tend to invite people around because I am ashamed of my house. But here I am, sitting here, blogging about my dirty house and how pathetic I am - instead of getting off my bum and cleaning it. I am a bad, bad housewife.

Mind you, I am not overly obsessive about the hygiene/cleanliness thing for more than just laziness. I don't like using a lot of chemicals because I don't think they are good for us or the environment, and I don't go overboard on the anti-bacterial products because I believe their overuse is contributing to the building up of resistance of bacteria, and a general decline in antibodies. So my loo will never be blue. I would just like to find myself a slightly more ... acceptable... status quo.

At least, right now, my kitchen is more presentable than usual - and I can even see more bench than usual. I am psyching up for another new battle to keep that clear. This battle is one that consumes much of my energy; perhaps if I could win the bench war, I'd have more time to think about other parts of this wretched house.


On the exercise front, not much has gone according to plan this week. I had intended to ride my bike on Tuesday, but had to call a raincheck on that due to my knee. Yesterday, buoyed from a successful massage, and no more knee pain, I was in the car and headed to the personal trainer/weights class where I intended to concentrate on upper body, when I got a call from the school - my youngest had a tummy ache. Bye bye weights class. ( I detoured into the school, picked her up and took her home. She was in quite a state, but after a some panadol and a sleep she felt ok...)

I was supposed to have tennis today, but that got called off last night - the other team forfeiting due to illness. Not such a bad thing as it turns out, as Zoe got the tummy ache a bit again in the middle of the night, and joined me in bed. (Lucky the Daddy was away, so there was plenty of room for her to slide in and for us both to sleep.) In the morning she had a bit of a temp, so, no school for her today, leaving me just thankful I don't have to juggle work commitments and unwell children.

But it has all meant no exercise for this self-confessed exercise junkie wannabe. Tomorrow. Something. I hope. Depends on the kid. Meanwhile I suppose I could be using the time to clean that bloody bathroom - amongst all the other household delights that need to be dealt with.

See ya.

Labels: housework, introspection

I've had a surprisingly good start to the day.

No dramas getting kids up for school. All kids ready for school in heaps of time! (Anyone would think they'd had a boring week last week and couldn't wait to get there!)

I said to Zoe, "Do you want to ride?" and she said "Um, I don't know", and I could see us spiralling out of control into the 'Maybe Tomorrow' scenario, so I said "Right. Let's do it. I'll get your bike out." And I did! And we rode. Go us! Go me! Another "first" box to tick - Zoe riding her bike to school! And I didn't feel too bad for a 4.6km jaunt to start the day either.

According to Trace's Theory (the one about endorphins), these feelings of virtuosity over the whole Zoe/bike thing, PLUS awakening those exercise endorphins BEFORE getting on the computer SHOULD have me zipping all over the house today in a positive-minded, positive-action cleaning frenzy. Exercise Endorphins are the battery charge I need. I think. And OK, well, frenzy is probably a huge exaggeration. If I can achieve what normal people do on a daily basis without going on and on and on and on about it, it will be an achievement.

It has worked to a point. So far I've rediscovered the kitchen bench (under all the crap that incessantly hangs about all over it), unloaded and begun reloading the dishwasher, and I'm just about to hang the last load of washing to hang out. I'm psyching up to attack some area of the house - I probably should wage war on the dust bunnies (they are real! I've seen them! they are in my house!) - but I'm not sure how long I'll last before I have to go put myself on charge again. The danger is I'll spend so long agonising over what, where, how I should activate these endorphins, that I'll wind down ever so slowly, like those bunnies in the ads that don't use Duracell or Energizer (depending on which country you've seen the ads aired in!)

~~
By 1.30 pm I've done a bit of vacuuming and, hey! I cleaned up the computer desk - which was so thick with dust it required vacuuming too. (My tired old comedic excuse 'I thought dust was a protective covering' just doesn't cut it, really) I tossed out a lot of crap that was lying around on it. Crap that even crossed Marc's desk-mess boundary; he had got to the point where he huffed and puffed and chucked things around in disgust if he ever had to get on this computer. He should notice. (If I can keep it this way till he gets home tomorrow.) He should even be mildly impressed.

I've also cleaned the inside of the microwave, and cleaned the leadlight windows on the front door and side panel. The door is still filthy, but at least the glass bit looks clean.

My biggest problem is that while I clean something, I only have to turn my head and I see a kazillion other things that need to be cleaned, sorted through, dejunked - to the point that it does my head in, and I feel like collapsing in a 'woe is me' heap.

Only an hour till I have to ride back to school to meet Zoe, so I had better get back to it. Haven't 'endorphinised' myself again yet.. I feel as if a 45 minute recharge will prevent me from achieving more - despite the fact that I've spent at least that long eating lunch and drinking a coffee while reading blogs. I need a logic rewiring.

Labels: bike riding, daily, endorphins, go me, housework

Cleaning has never been a strong point with me. If you've managed to wade through more than a few of my blog posts you will certainly have picked that up by now. Right now, though, I am beyond the whingeing and whining stage. I am genuinely freaked out about myself.

Is there an Inability to Clean disease? Or more likely, is there a Cleaning gene? And if so, is there something defective with mine? Could it be one of those recessive gene manifestations, or is mine missing altogether?

I have always suspected there was something hereditary in it - my mother was never an obsessive housekeeper.. and my father is an accumulator of Stuff. (Bring on the nature/nurture debate - and anything else I can blame on my childhood!) But, no, she was never this bad. And as my sister is doing more than a fair job of keeping her house in shape it can't all be down to some deficiency in our upbringing. (She did marry a guy who I believe has classic OCD though, which may have had some impact.)

But, seriously. HELP! What is wrong with me? I can't clean. Well, I try, but my attempts are feeble. I am crap at it. I avoid it. And I'm getting worse. I am at the point where I am wondering if it is a genuine medical condition or disability - like adult onset diabetes. Or a symptom of some other sinister condition.

The biggest indicator that it might be a genetic thing is that through three pregnancies, I never ever got that 'nesting' thing that is generally accepted for mothers to have with the impending arrival of a baby. Never got it. Ever. I always felt a bit deficient somehow because of it, although my babies never seemed to have suffered unduly from my lack of obsessively spring cleaning the house whilst 39 weeks pregnant. (Except that now I can see genetics in action, as they all display similar symptoms.)

Yes, I feel sure I have always had it, but as a mild case, which has not really affected my ability to cope in every day life. Right now, however, I am having an acute attack which is manifesting itself in a paralysis to do with anything 'cleaning'. The state of the house is spiralling out of control here, and while I am fully aware of it, I feel incapable of acting upon it.

Perhaps it is an addiction (they can be genetic too can't they?) That is if there is such a thing as an addiction for not doing something.

My questions are,whether disease, or genetic condition: Is it treatable? Is there medication for it? Or perhaps a behavioural programme (a 12 step plan?).. ?? Whatever it is, I need help.

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This afternoon: A very slow 6 km ride with Zoe, where I do believe we 'turned the corner' in regard to her bike riding confidence. We rode all the way to her school and back, as well as round the block here a couple of times. So now we have Plans!! To ride to school! And home again! I will ride with her, and meet her at the school gate at the end of school. Huzzah!!

The bike fits in the car, so no excuses for getting up nearly 4 hours earlier than I have been to ride in sub-10 degree temperature. It WILL feel great once I am there and riding.

Labels: housework

When the highlight of your day is being chuffed that there is blue sky and sunshine, so that you can hang out multiple loads of washing, it qualifies as being desperately... something....

Maybe there's a bit of the housewife in me after all.

I'm even more chuffed that the forecast is for 'fine' tomorrow as well, as I have the 3 sets of sheets from the kids beds to do still! (Not admitting how long it has been since their beds were changed.) Plus numerous other items of clothing that I will discover need washing before we go away - netball gear that has been stuffed away somewhere for instance. (Just wondering where a particular long sleeve shirt is and what state it is in...) The most annoying thing is getting through to the girls that they need to look a bit like they are going to do some packing tonight. So that tomorrow night isn't diabolical! The eldest works on the 'why do today what you can put off doing till 5 minutes before you leave' principle, so I'm fighting off just a bit of frustration - a trade-off for the fact that I don't actually need to pack her stuff for her like some parents of her team-mates do. I believe in making them responsible for their own stuff as early as possible. Normal holiday trips I wouldn't care so much, but with this representative team sport bizzo, you can't afford to leave something important behind.

Morning spent washing and squelching out to the line. A quick making of a 'plate' of food for an in-school time dance for Zoe this afternoon, which I only found out about over dinner last night. (Bit of creative thinking and googling, and I whizzed up some puff pastry vegemite and cheese scrolls, and then dropped them off at school.)

A quick trip into town, with a list of items to get: new dressing gown for eldest, clasps for middlest who is making 'friendship' bracelets in their team colour for everyone in her rep team, and a new watchband for husband. Something for dinner even. (Dinner decisions are on a day to day basis at the moment.) Home and then back out to parent-teacher meeting. Home and then back out soon at 6.00 to drop middlest and friend at school disco - after supervising them doing the icing for a slice Alison made last night.

And still more washing tomorrow. I'm yet to figure out how so much can accumulate for a family of five in such a short time. Sometimes it seems like it is all that I ever do - and that's with a washing machine! Still, hanging out the washing to dry on a sunny day is one of the few household chores that I actually kind of enjoy. I love the freshness of clothes and linen dried out in the fresh air, and I really am grateful for the climate and air quality that we have here. Mid-winter, (and stupidly our clothesline gets more shade in the winter because of trees blocking a bit of the northerly sun) and all of that is dry tonight, bar the waistbands of a couple of pairs of jeans.

The downside of bringing in all that fresh, clean washing is that I now have to sort it. And iron some of it. Bummer. My housewifeliness certainly doesn't run to enjoying that.

Labels: daily, housework