Its the start of a LONG short week.

How uncool is this? ( I use the word uncool, not because I'm a dork, although I know at least one reader that is giggling, but because unfair is equal to a cuss word in our house.)  This is one of those rare short weeks.  Some holidays just happen and that's that.  May's holiday seems to just make the week seem extra short even if you don't officially do anything to celebrate.  But this week has suddenly been anything but.  Heath, Malcolm, and Jeffie Jean all three left this morning for our associational children's camp.  Wow has today gone on forever.

The kids were up WAY to late last night.  We won't go into detail about the irresponsible adults that were involved, but it was far beyond reasonable for children to still be awake.  Heath got up early, got the two oldest up, and of course the ball of energy bounced right up out of her bed to join the big kids.  Paulee Rea was of course a ray of sunshine as she always is in the morning.  But we'll get to what she was later further in this post.  All the campers were out the door by eight.  Jeffie Jean had to come back into the house four or five times.  She is always so sure of herself and never afraid of anything, but she was nervous about going to camp.  At one point she was shaking.  Of course, she'll have forgotten all about that as soon as the bus and she is let loose to rule the bunkhouse.

So I then turned around and had five children looking at me, and wanting me to instruct, entertain, and direct for the rest of the day.  Ugh.  Not that I don't do this, but the older two and Heath do quite a bit each day.  The morning wasn't bad.  I had some "school" things for Heath-er to work on, and Daniel, Terry, and Paulee played, colored and entertained themselves until it was time to go to the bank and post office.  Going to the post office is a huge adventure.  Huge.  It took me nearly 15 minutes to get them all into the van, buckled in, all my stuff collected, keys found, and pulling out of the drive.  All for a 15 minute errand.  But, it broke up the morning, and put Paulee to sleep.  So off to bed she went upon our arrival home, and I finished helping Heath and got Daniel started on a new art project.  

Lunch was leftovers, thank goodness, and fairly uneventful.  But then the afternoon started.  I swear we entered some kind of time continuum and for like every 5 seconds of life, only one clicked off the clock.  Paulee got up too early for her normal time, so was off all afternoon.  Terry got into everything.  He bounced the rubber balls all over the kitchen.  They landed in the sink, on the stove, on top of the 'fridge, under the stove.  Not to mention the trucks that were being driven all over the floor and underneath me.  Heath and Daniel were allowed video game time, and were good as long as they both wanted to play the same thing.  I hate mediating arguments over what game to play.  Let's just say I usually don't.  Don't come whining to Mom, or it all gets put up.  Daniel finished his art drawing.  It's awesome.  Paulee and Terry colored on papers as well.  Heath ran around yelling and laughing.  I was thinking it was about time to start winding down for dinner and nighttime stuff, but the clock thought differently.  It was only two o'clock. TWO!  P.M.  You have got to be kidding me!

I looked outside and saw the tent that Heath put up yesterday and left up.  So it was off to the great outdoors for the four to play.  I stayed in to feed Anderson, and the others took the sleeping bags out to the tent to play and pretend.  Although these are bags that are rated for freezing weather and it was like 90 something out there.  So they were told to NOT get into them, but to lay on top of them as they imagine.  They mostly listened, and no one had a heat stroke, so I guess it worked.  By the time Anderson finished eating, burped, puked, and I changed clothes, I figured it was time to hand out popsicles and then let the kids inside.  

As I walked outside, Paulee Rea stared yelling.  As usual.  That's her common form of communication.  I didn't really pay too much attention to her.  They were all running around barefoot because they had taken their shoes off at the tent door, and of course didn't put them back on, so when she was favoring her foot, I just figured Terry ran over it with his truck.  So I sat down on the porch, and bribed her to come to me with the popsicle.  I gave the other three their treat as Paulee hobbled over to us.  When she sat down I looked at her foot.  Oops.  She had a splinter.  OOPS!!!!!  That's no ordinary splinter!  There is something fuzzy connected to it.  WHAT?!  Oh good gravy.  That's a bee butt!  She had stepped on a bee and gotten stung.  So being the good mom I am, I sat there and made sure she got her popsicle, and that everyone knew the rules of eating them, then went inside and got the Benedryll.  Her heel was all red, and had this huge white whelp growing out from the sting and up her leg.  Just my luck.  Did I think pleasant thoughts?  Was I concerned for her well being?  What was my main worry?  "I'm going to have to load all the kids up again by myself and make an ER run without any help.  How do I get so lucky?"  Of course, she was fine, and I just was guilty of being uncaring.

Dinner finally came.  Showers and baths were given, and everyone was in bed at a normal time.  Heath just called.  Kids are doing well, although Jeffie Jean apparently has a new vocabulary word that she decided to use when she kicked a foul ball.  Great.  As usual, it's the PK that is the hoodlum.  Actually, she did use very inappropriate language, but doesn't know what she did.  Other than that, they are doing very well.  And I'm tired.  It's about time to put this Momma to bed.  And it will all start again first tomorrow when the sun comes up!

Never fear!

Dum, dum dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum, da dum da dum dum (to the tune of Superman's theme). I'm also hearing the calvery's bugle, and "Underdog! Underdog!".

My sister-in-law (OK) is coming tomorrow. Or Wednesday. Either day, I don't care. She is coming to rescue me from all the children's clothing! That's right. Darcy is going to sort all seven children's clothes, put the too small stuff into bags, organize what still fits, make lists of what they need for the rest of the summer, and cart off all the give aways when she leaves. All while I put my feet up and hold my seven week old niece. Okay, well, maybe I'll make the list. I'm getting good at that these days! Oh, as if she couldn't get any cooler, she's bringing her vacuum cleaner with her so I can finally clean everything else other than my carpets! (I'm just figuring out linking to other blogs, not my own yet, so you'll have to look back at previous posts to see what I'm talking about.)

So spring cleaning will get back into full swing this week. I'm NOT doing the happy dance, but will be thrilled once it is all done. One of these days I'll get the post up that I've started about the kids and what they want to be when they grow up. But I have to get the time to finish it. Maybe once I'm done cleaning and I'm all organized and such. Oh wait. That will be never, so we'll shoot for the end of the week.

Now I have to go untangle Paulee and Terry from the contraption they made out of trucks, dolls, strollers, blankets, and something wet. Just keep focused on the help that's coming!

More Cleaning

I'm still kicking and screaming.  I don't want to clean.  I don't want to sort through our stuff.  I don't like getting rid of my things.  I like the dust bunnies.  Well, okay, maybe not that.  But I don't want to do the work to get rid of them.  

I am so far behind the cleaning schedule.  If you have been following Simple Mom's cleaning plan, you are way ahead of me.  I'm still stuck back at the living room stage.  The plan isn't hard.  It's not like she has made cleaning up unrealistic, I just can't seem to keep up.  I often wish that I could call my sister-in-law to clean it for me.  I know I could get my other sister-in-law here and she would delve in whole heartily.  But I think that's is why my house stays in a state of clutter.  I don't do the work myself.  I always have someone else help or do it for me.  I do not appreciate the work that has been done.  So I am being determined (some may call it stubborn), and am going to do this myself.  The kids did a great job helping me de-clutter.  Of course, with nine of us in the house, it didn't stay that way long.  But it is WAY better than what it was.  There is just something about having a clean flat surface that apparently demands stuff to be deposited upon it.  Oh well.  I can have it picked up every evening now, so that's what matters.  And it is something I do every day now.  So there is a lesson learned.  

I started on the living room.  I just can't seem to finish it.  It has been sorted and put away.  Heath was wonderful and went through the bookcase and we now have a box full of books to give away.  And I cleaned the blinds.  But that's it.  I still have to brush down the ceiling, the fan, somehow move the TV and clean the dust dune that has grown back there, move out all the couches, vacuum everything and dust all the frames and pictures.  Ugh.  That is usually what I like to do.  But I keep finding myself finding all kinds of other things to do.  Life is revving up right now and getting ready for the busiest summer we have ever had.  I have GOT to get this done!  And there is so much more to do.  Maybe that is what's wrong.  I think I'm being defeated before I ever begin.  Well, today is a busy day.  Life keeps going on despite me trying to shut it out so I can clean.  But tomorrow, there is nothing.  My goal is to finish the living room, bathrooms, and most of the kitchen.  I have always been a minimalist when it comes to the bathroom, and the kitchen cabinets I am actually pretty OCD.  So I'm expecting to just go into those two rooms and deep clean.  

Then we get to start the dreaded kid's rooms.  I think Nikki has the best idea.  Move the kids into different rooms.  What a great way to make sure everything is sorted, gone through, and found a purpose and place.  I doubt Heath goes for that here, who wants to take apart two different sets of bunk beds and a large full bed of the girls.  Oh well.  I'm actually looking forward to the rooms.  I am so tired of the mess.  Things don't have places anymore.  There are so many broken toys, out grown toys, and stuff they just don't want or play with anymore.  And I've decided that no child needs 20 t-shirts.  So, the clothes are going to be pared down.  The toys will have to be important to keep, and I may like going to their rooms again!  But I'm ahead of myself.  That is next weeks chore.  I don't know when my room will get done.  It's the scariest room of all.  It looks like a storage unit.  I am trying to appeal to Heath's OCD personality and get him to split the tasks with me.  I know, I know.  I said I was going to do this myself so I would be appreciative.   I'll argue the whole two becomes one on this one.  I really don't want to tackle our room.  It's just too overwhelming for me.  I need to start small, and that's like tackling Mt. Everest on your first hiking trip.

My progress isn't impressive, but I will keep trying.  You eat an elephant one bite at a time.  And maybe by the end of all this, I'll have developed new habits and changed my lifestyle of messiness.

This could get scary.

I have entered the world of spring cleaning. With a gentle nudge from my dear sister in law, I am following a plan laid out by a fellow blogger.
It's really not too difficult yet. Today our goal was to declutter all surfaces. I didn't have to clean any of them. Just throw away all the stuff that collects on anything flat. Or put it in a box for a future sale. Or just actually put the stuff away like I should have in the first place. So today I got all the extras that were sitting on top of the books put away and thrown away. The speakers, TV, and windowsill are all DVD, CD, Wii games, and book free. I realized today that I actually have an end table. I just thought the books, magazines, and dinnerware were glued together in some sort of artistic show piece. My bathroom counters are WAY bigger than I imagined. Some smart person figured out to put drawers under the counters, and if you put things in them, you have counter space! And my room is the mother load. We filled two of those commercial sized trash bags that you can fit two grown adults in with trash just from our room. Heath and I both have side tables that are functional again. The copier and table are no longer booby trapped. And I am currently writing to you from a cleared desk. I cannot begin to describe to you the condition it was in, nor the joy of seeing the surface. It's black. I'd forgotten that fact. Now, I did not declutter my kids' rooms. They have no hope. Actually, I'm going to tackle them all on the day(s) set aside specifically for them. And the top of my fridge is still in need of a clean sweep. Don't yell, I'm taking baby steps.

By the end of the day, I had three trash bags, full drawers, and no give away box. That's just sad. We were living in a garbage can! On to the next days. I'll get plenty of stuff to get rid of then. I'll be hyperventilating by that point. Pack rats have serious attachment issues.

P.S. I PROMISE Teri Lynn I will get pictures up of the befores on the kids rooms. I found the camera, charger, but no disk! Even if I have to go borrow a camera, I'll post my pictures. But I have to say, I have Casiday beat. My room is ten times worse!