Showing posts with label tidy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tidy. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations - Faith Baldwin
Sunday, 22 April 2012
When one jumps over the edge, one is bound to land somewhere.
“When one jumps over the edge, one is bound to land somewhere.” – D. H. Lawrence
I found this quote while I was looking for something completely different. It stayed in my mind because it because it evokes an interesting image. It is self evident that a person who jumps over the edge will land somewhere, but it is not very reassuring. Most of us like a little more certainty, we need to know where we are heading. Taking a leap into the unknown is very scary but sometimes it is the right thing to do.
According to the National Trust young people are missing out on childhood adventures because they are not getting outside. In order to get children outdoors and to encourage a spirit of adventure they have come up with a list of 50 things to do before you are 11¾.
OK, I know it is a bit late for me, but it is an interesting list. I have done most of the things on the list and I had almost certainly ticked off most of them before the age of 11¾, I was a bit of a tomboy. There are a couple of things that I would add to the list. Shelling peas - and finding the occasional wriggling maggot inside. Making a den among the bales in the hay barn, that one is a lot harder these days because we don't have small bales any more, and it would almost certainly be contravene health and safety regulations.
The list led me to think of things that I should do before I get too old to manage it or too forgetful to remember it. I found all sorts of suggestions on the internet, but nothing really captured my imagination. Perhaps I have already got all the wacky, wild and weird things out of my system, or perhaps I am just plain boring. I think having Robbie in my life brings enough craziness to last a lifetime!I commented to my son that it would be fun to be an embarrassment to my children just once in my life. He gave me a long stare, raised one eyebrow and informed me that I could already tick that one off my list!
I have no great desire to travel or to achieve anything spectacular. It would be nice to have a tidy house, that has been a work in progress for the last 20 years! Perhaps I will achieve it before I die. It would be nice to be debt free, another work in progress, at least the end of the mortgage is not too many years ahead. Robbie have always talked about having a VW camper van when we are older, it would give us the freedom to go wherever the mood takes us. Knowing Robbie we would never stray far from the railway. I have always dreamed of spending a whole summer (or even longer) by the sea. Perhaps that dream will come true one day, who knows. It is nice to dream, but long as my family are happy, healthy and safe I will be content.
According to the National Trust young people are missing out on childhood adventures because they are not getting outside. In order to get children outdoors and to encourage a spirit of adventure they have come up with a list of 50 things to do before you are 11¾.
OK, I know it is a bit late for me, but it is an interesting list. I have done most of the things on the list and I had almost certainly ticked off most of them before the age of 11¾, I was a bit of a tomboy. There are a couple of things that I would add to the list. Shelling peas - and finding the occasional wriggling maggot inside. Making a den among the bales in the hay barn, that one is a lot harder these days because we don't have small bales any more, and it would almost certainly be contravene health and safety regulations.
The list led me to think of things that I should do before I get too old to manage it or too forgetful to remember it. I found all sorts of suggestions on the internet, but nothing really captured my imagination. Perhaps I have already got all the wacky, wild and weird things out of my system, or perhaps I am just plain boring. I think having Robbie in my life brings enough craziness to last a lifetime!I commented to my son that it would be fun to be an embarrassment to my children just once in my life. He gave me a long stare, raised one eyebrow and informed me that I could already tick that one off my list!
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Ready at Last
Friday was a bit of a blur, packing, getting the car ready and filling it with fuel as well as last minute shopping. By 7.30pm everything was packed, the house was a tidy as I could manage and I tucked myself into bed to get some sleep before the long drive to Cornwall. I planned to get up at 2am so I needed a very early night. I'd not heard from Robbie but Laura was on standby to pick him up if he managed to get home without incident.
The call of the bathroom woke me up at midnight and as I sleeply emerged from the bathroom Robbie came bounding up the stairs wearing some new PJ bottoms, they had Batfink on them and they were startling to say the least. I went back to bed and reluctantly got up again at 2am. Robbie was still up, he was too scared to go to be because he knew he wouldnt get up again. I had to hurry him along because he was still running on Irish time and at that speed the holiday would be over before we got there!
I packed the flasks and food for the journey, then I packed the final items into the car while Robbie downed tools and made himself a bacon sandwich (at 3am!). Finally Laura and Sam and I were ready in the car and after sitting in the car waiting for Robbie for what seemed like hours we drove off towards Cornwall. By the time we reached the end of our road everyone else was asleep and I was left with an increasingly stressy sat nav for company. I knew the best way to go and each time I ignored the sat nav I could hear the edge in her voice as she announced that she was "recalculating".
The call of the bathroom woke me up at midnight and as I sleeply emerged from the bathroom Robbie came bounding up the stairs wearing some new PJ bottoms, they had Batfink on them and they were startling to say the least. I went back to bed and reluctantly got up again at 2am. Robbie was still up, he was too scared to go to be because he knew he wouldnt get up again. I had to hurry him along because he was still running on Irish time and at that speed the holiday would be over before we got there!
I packed the flasks and food for the journey, then I packed the final items into the car while Robbie downed tools and made himself a bacon sandwich (at 3am!). Finally Laura and Sam and I were ready in the car and after sitting in the car waiting for Robbie for what seemed like hours we drove off towards Cornwall. By the time we reached the end of our road everyone else was asleep and I was left with an increasingly stressy sat nav for company. I knew the best way to go and each time I ignored the sat nav I could hear the edge in her voice as she announced that she was "recalculating".
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Miracles Do Happen!
I have tried everything, threats, encouragement, punishment and even bribery! Bribery works best, but even then making progress is painfully slow. No, I am not talking about trying to achieve world peace or anything like that - I am referring to the problem of getting a 14 year old to tidy his bedroom! After weeks of nagging Sam has finally rediscovered the carpet in his bedroom and by Friday it should be sorted out to my satisfaction. It feels like a miracle - maybe I could get Robbie to sort out his stuff next!
Laura got back from holiday on Monday, she had been to Greece and she looks very tanned and a bonus is that the sun light has eased her skin condition a bit. She had a really good time, but now she has to face reality and start earning some money ready for university. Why does time go so fast when you are on holiday and so slowly when you are doing things you don't like.
Laura got back from holiday on Monday, she had been to Greece and she looks very tanned and a bonus is that the sun light has eased her skin condition a bit. She had a really good time, but now she has to face reality and start earning some money ready for university. Why does time go so fast when you are on holiday and so slowly when you are doing things you don't like.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Unpacking
Why does unpacking turn into such hard work? When we got home on Saturday the girls had friends staying so I didn't start the major unpacking until late on Sunday. In theory it should be the simplest thing in the world to put everything back in the place it came from, but either I'm not very good at theory or I'm not very good at reality because the two don't match! How did that large pile of T shirts fit into that small space on the shelf in Robbie's wardrobe, and how could that huge pile of underwear possibly have come from that drawer? Putting away the clothes is the easy bit, at least they had a designated 'home' even if other things have encroached on the space. The big problem is the food, cleaning products and toiletries, they are all 'duplicates' bought for the holiday, so they don't have anywhere to go because there is already a jar of coffee in the cupboard, we already have condiments, tea bags, foil and cleaning stuff in the kitchen, and there is already shampoo, shower gel and toothpaste in the bathroom. All these things extra things have to be put somewhere and it is surprising how quickly the kitchen starts to look chaotic. Then of course there is the washing, I didn't think we had bought much washing home, but since we have got back the washing machine has been on overtime, but the pile in the laundry basket never seems to get any smaller!
Monday, 26 May 2008
A Burning Issue!
Emily sent a text to Laura to say that she had set fire to the cheese grater because someone had left it in the oven. It didn't make sense, how could she set fire to a cheese grater? I was fairly dismissive thinking oh well it is only a cheese grater, it is over 20 years old, it is no big deal. I told Laura to tell her not to worry about it, but Emily kept mentioning it and seemed very upset by the experience.
I didn't speak to Emily until last night when I got the full story. The cheese grater was the tip of the iceberg so to speak, it was the only thing that actually caught fire, but it wasn't the only item in the oven. Apparently Emily had lit the oven to preheat before cooking a meal for herself and her boyfriend. Some time later they became aware of a horrible smell of burned plastic and when she opened the oven she saw the handle of the cheese grater burning and a number of other blackened items in the oven. Apparently there were plates and saucepans in there too. She asked quite reasonably who would use an oven as a cupboard? The answer wasn't hard to deduce - Robbie!! He had tucked them away so that he could leave all the cat and guinea pig food on the worktop ready for my mum. I was too busy packing the car to notice that the things were not in their usual places, I assumed that the oven was empty and newly cleaned, just as I left it. It and all it's unexpected contents are now black and burned, that will give me something to look forward to when I get home!
I didn't speak to Emily until last night when I got the full story. The cheese grater was the tip of the iceberg so to speak, it was the only thing that actually caught fire, but it wasn't the only item in the oven. Apparently Emily had lit the oven to preheat before cooking a meal for herself and her boyfriend. Some time later they became aware of a horrible smell of burned plastic and when she opened the oven she saw the handle of the cheese grater burning and a number of other blackened items in the oven. Apparently there were plates and saucepans in there too. She asked quite reasonably who would use an oven as a cupboard? The answer wasn't hard to deduce - Robbie!! He had tucked them away so that he could leave all the cat and guinea pig food on the worktop ready for my mum. I was too busy packing the car to notice that the things were not in their usual places, I assumed that the oven was empty and newly cleaned, just as I left it. It and all it's unexpected contents are now black and burned, that will give me something to look forward to when I get home!
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Revenge! 27.07.07
I am so cross with Robbie. He arrived home a little earlier than usual yesterday and without any discussion he decided that he was going to go up and have a good sort out in the bedroom. I must confess that it needed it, we both have the hoarding gene, but Robbie feels the need to sleep within reach of everything that matters to him, railway books, piles of train magazines, crates and boxes of model trains, assorted DVD's, his beloved 7inch vinyl record collection and stacks of CD's. His extensive and sometimes alarming tie collection regularly bursts out of the wardrobe and 'decorates' the bedroom and the scene is not complete without a couple of randomly placed pairs of Dr Marten boots to fall over. So you see there is always plenty of scope for a sort out - and I haven't confessed to my clutter yet!
Robbie was missing for most of the evening and when I was finally allowed to go to bed I noticed that the ties had been recaptured and I didn't fall over anything so he had clearly made an impact on the room. I noticed that the ever present clutter on his side of the bed seemed to have been dusted and reorganised, but it had not diminished in quantity. I didn't think much about it because I was making plans to tidy my stuff and move the furniture around on Saturday while Robbie is out playing trains.
This morning I went downstairs and found two bin bags ready to go out to the black bin. I became suspicious when I noticed my scarf poking out of the bin bag and I questioned Robbie closely, he said the bag contained only his stuff and odd socks. I said that I would check it after he had go to work to make sure nothing of mine had accidentally crept into the bag. The sneaky little devil swiped the bag when I wasn't looking and took it out to the bin, and just to deter me from retrieving it he put the yucky bag from the kitchen bin on top of it. He should have known I am made of sterner stuff!, I recovered the bag and took it back into the house to sort through it. He had thrown away my new scarf and glove set, two other pairs of new gloves, a perfectly good and fairly new duvet cover, one of my leather purses, a selection of brand new packs of embellishments (used for scrapbooking), a glue gun, a magic stone that Sam collected for me, a pile of my family history magazines, and a variety of smaller things. Yes, there were some of his old clothes but there were no railway magazines or any other clutter belonging to him! I was furious. He felt it was OK to do that, but he goes mad if I throw one of his limp lefty daily papers away when it is days out of date!
Having attempted to reason with him and getting nothing resembling an apology I am calming myself with thoughts of cruel and unusual punishment! He is rather fond of his vast array of shirts, I wonder how he would feel if they all had a sleeve missing! Or perhaps his precious model deltic could accidentally drown in the washing up bowl. Maybe it would be unkind to switch his face cream with 'deep heat' but I am enjoying the thought!
Robbie was missing for most of the evening and when I was finally allowed to go to bed I noticed that the ties had been recaptured and I didn't fall over anything so he had clearly made an impact on the room. I noticed that the ever present clutter on his side of the bed seemed to have been dusted and reorganised, but it had not diminished in quantity. I didn't think much about it because I was making plans to tidy my stuff and move the furniture around on Saturday while Robbie is out playing trains.
This morning I went downstairs and found two bin bags ready to go out to the black bin. I became suspicious when I noticed my scarf poking out of the bin bag and I questioned Robbie closely, he said the bag contained only his stuff and odd socks. I said that I would check it after he had go to work to make sure nothing of mine had accidentally crept into the bag. The sneaky little devil swiped the bag when I wasn't looking and took it out to the bin, and just to deter me from retrieving it he put the yucky bag from the kitchen bin on top of it. He should have known I am made of sterner stuff!, I recovered the bag and took it back into the house to sort through it. He had thrown away my new scarf and glove set, two other pairs of new gloves, a perfectly good and fairly new duvet cover, one of my leather purses, a selection of brand new packs of embellishments (used for scrapbooking), a glue gun, a magic stone that Sam collected for me, a pile of my family history magazines, and a variety of smaller things. Yes, there were some of his old clothes but there were no railway magazines or any other clutter belonging to him! I was furious. He felt it was OK to do that, but he goes mad if I throw one of his limp lefty daily papers away when it is days out of date!
Having attempted to reason with him and getting nothing resembling an apology I am calming myself with thoughts of cruel and unusual punishment! He is rather fond of his vast array of shirts, I wonder how he would feel if they all had a sleeve missing! Or perhaps his precious model deltic could accidentally drown in the washing up bowl. Maybe it would be unkind to switch his face cream with 'deep heat' but I am enjoying the thought!
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Morning Madness 02.03.07
This morning was a mixture of sadness and frustration. Emily was getting ready to go to the funeral of her special friend Charles. She chose to go with her friends rather than me, I'm sure she was right, but I feel so inadequate to support her. She bought a nice purple top to wear, it was his favourite colour. I can't imagine how his family are finding the strength to cope.
Laura headed to school with all her art coursework, it has to be handed in for marking. She has worked very hard on it and I think it is good, but I can tell she is anxious about it. She sets herself very high standards and she is more critical of herself than is good for her.
Mornings with Sam are never easy, but this week has been increasingly challenging. Yesterday he made cookies with Laura and his school trousers ended up covered in cookie dough. As usual I got his clean clothes ready last night and set them out ready for him. This morning a 'Tasmanian Devil' with wild hair appeared in the lounge apparently dressed and ready for school. On closer inspection he was wearing yesterday's clothes and when required to go back and start again he produced a tantrum that even Robbie couldn't emulate. It seemed almost as if his speech and movement had been flicked to fast forward.
When he was eventually washed and dressed to my satisfaction we encountered another problem. Sam absolutely refuses to have school dinners, it has nothing to do with the 'magic finger' payment system, it is about his unwillingness to queue. I really struggle with crowds and I actively avoid busy places, so I have some sympathy with Sam, but I suspect this is another aspect of his autistic syndrome disorder. I really don't know how to help him, but I want to help him overcome the problem, otherwise his life will be really restricted.
I dropped him off looking relatively neat and tidy, but he will emerge from school this afternoon looking as if he has been dragged through a hedge backwards. Why do some people always look clean and neat while others couldn't look smart for more than five minutes if their life depended on it?
Laura headed to school with all her art coursework, it has to be handed in for marking. She has worked very hard on it and I think it is good, but I can tell she is anxious about it. She sets herself very high standards and she is more critical of herself than is good for her.
Mornings with Sam are never easy, but this week has been increasingly challenging. Yesterday he made cookies with Laura and his school trousers ended up covered in cookie dough. As usual I got his clean clothes ready last night and set them out ready for him. This morning a 'Tasmanian Devil' with wild hair appeared in the lounge apparently dressed and ready for school. On closer inspection he was wearing yesterday's clothes and when required to go back and start again he produced a tantrum that even Robbie couldn't emulate. It seemed almost as if his speech and movement had been flicked to fast forward.
When he was eventually washed and dressed to my satisfaction we encountered another problem. Sam absolutely refuses to have school dinners, it has nothing to do with the 'magic finger' payment system, it is about his unwillingness to queue. I really struggle with crowds and I actively avoid busy places, so I have some sympathy with Sam, but I suspect this is another aspect of his autistic syndrome disorder. I really don't know how to help him, but I want to help him overcome the problem, otherwise his life will be really restricted.
I dropped him off looking relatively neat and tidy, but he will emerge from school this afternoon looking as if he has been dragged through a hedge backwards. Why do some people always look clean and neat while others couldn't look smart for more than five minutes if their life depended on it?
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
The Many Faces of Sam
Looking back on diary entries for 2004 I came across the following. Some things don't change, I still struggle to get Sam to achieve even a basic level of tidiness. He still has a thing about gadgets too, I hope yo find the pictures of the many faces of Sam entertaining.
This morning Sam was eating his cornflakes with chopsticks, I should have known better than to ask why. He claimed he was trying to make his life more interesting – he certainly created more laundry! I was apparently cruel to Sam by forcing him to pick up his rubbish from the lounge floor. He informed me that he wishes he was a mutant so that he could clone himself a million times because he is tired of being my slave 24/7. Well, if he thinks he is a slave I must think of a few more jobs for him!
Sam had been invited to a party this afternoon, he went off to get changed and came back looking like the man from the milk tray advert. I don't understand why he is so fond of that tight black polo neck jumper, he says he looks good in it and it reminds him of James Bond. He insisted on wearing it to the party.
This morning Sam was eating his cornflakes with chopsticks, I should have known better than to ask why. He claimed he was trying to make his life more interesting – he certainly created more laundry! I was apparently cruel to Sam by forcing him to pick up his rubbish from the lounge floor. He informed me that he wishes he was a mutant so that he could clone himself a million times because he is tired of being my slave 24/7. Well, if he thinks he is a slave I must think of a few more jobs for him!
Sam had been invited to a party this afternoon, he went off to get changed and came back looking like the man from the milk tray advert. I don't understand why he is so fond of that tight black polo neck jumper, he says he looks good in it and it reminds him of James Bond. He insisted on wearing it to the party.
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