Household diary

The blog address of this blog is householddiary because I started it way back when I had the Dumb Ox blog. I wanted a separate blog where I could just journal daily stuff, like learning and housekeeping. Then I started having technical glitches at the other site and I am really stupid and impatient with that kind of thing, so I just gave up and moved over here.

Anyway, summer is the time I really try to deep clean my house and get some semblance of organization going because once September rolls around and outside activities and classes start up, I am too distracted to really focus on the house other than maintenance and a few seasonal cleanings.

Starting today Sean and Becky are at their music camp every morning from 9:30 to 1. This goes on for three weeks, so I am going to use this time to declutter and organize. I'd love to do a deep clean of all the kitchen cabinets and drawers as well as my closet which is absolutely horrible (as is every corner in my room and both dresser tops.) And I have the ever present problem of organizing my books in the study and elsewhere. I also want to declutter and reorganize the basement. This would be especially great to do with Becky gone in the a.m. because she does not want me to ever give anything away. And on top of all this we plan to repaint the bedrooms.

Today was just the first day. I am using that thought to comfort myself on how little I got done and how little energy I had to do it! After getting back from dropping Sean and Becky off, I did declutter the family room which was horrendous. I asked Will to clean up the dvd/cd area under the wide screen. Josh mowed part of the lawn (we have a big lawn) and loaded the dishwasher for me. That was his contribution to chores today. I also decluttered the front hall marble top. That was all I got done before I had to go pick Sean and Becky up again.

The little thing I am most proud of is that I washed down the mantel of the fireplace. I don't think it has ever been washed since it was painted 6 years ago. There were fingerprints, etc all over it. I got one of those Magic Eraser things and got it really clean, except for the big green candle that I guess should have been sitting on a plate. Now there is a green circle on the mantel that won't come off! Grrr. But if I keep that candle right there, everything else looks clean. I also cleaned all the fingerprints off the door that goes to the mudroom.

This afternoon I had to take Josh over to his friend's house who lives 25 minutes away. That took awhile. But I did finally unpack all of our stuff from the beach and I've put away a load of laundry, have another in the dryer and a third in the washer. I made Sean and Becky help with that.

Hannah's friend, Katie, offered to come over and help me. She's been cleaning out her own house at her father's request (though, her mother who is a packrat is resenting the whole deal; they are working against her will!). I on the other hand, fully acknowledge my own dysfunction and would absolutely love to have Katie help me! So I need to call her and arrange that.

One thing that will really help me get more in the spirit of things is getting the trash out. Our housesitter while we were at the beach turned out to be a dud. He never took the trash to the curb! So I have two very full trashbins that won't hold another trashbag and smell terrible! Then because we've had birthdays and such this weekend, plus just the normal trash a family of 7 makes, I have four more bags indoors waiting to go out. If I don't put the bags in the bins the crows come and spread it all over the street. I am really mad at our housesitter for falling down on the job! But trash is tomorrow morning so all that will be well soon!

So I am going to chronicle my housekeeping stuff over the next three weeks. Should be pretty boring!