Day #95 - Day #100 (Sunday - Friday) (What a week!)

Last week was chaotic, to say the least.

I started my Martha-inspired fall cleaning regime. Yikes!!! Thanks to a week with temps in the high 40s plus rain every day, it was hard to get my depressed rear end in gear.

Sunday was spent at football (somehow, we managed to WIN our quarter-final game) and it was cold and crappy the entire game. Uggh... Then it was home to cook dinner (homemade chicken noodle soup - very good but the kids weren't into it), try to clean the house (impossible with all 4 kids AND Patrick home), then to church for my monthly board of trustees meeting. I managed to drag my tired butt home and collapsed on the couch.

Monday was the first "real" day of the cleaning regime because when Patrick and the kids are all home, the house just doesn't stay clean. Oh, but the day started off with Amelia's first school disappointment - they were supposed to go apple picking but someone at the school bus office didn't record the right date (she put down the 21st instead of the 12th.) So, since they didn't have transportation, the trip was postponed until Wednesday. The look of sheer disappointment on the kids' faces was too much. I actually broke down in the car. The kids were so looking forward to their first "big kid" thing - field trips - and to have it canceled the morning of because someone had "dyslexic fingers", it was too sad. So, to make it up to her, I made Amelia her favorite lunch (bologna on white bread with mayo, cheddar Goldfish crackers on the side, and a glass of chocolate milk with a "bendy" straw) when we got home. Then it was quick clean-up time.

Tuesday was just gross. Patrick has been drinking tea for a little while now... which is odd. He's usually a "pot of coffee every morning" type of guy. Why wasn't he making coffee? Better yet, why was he running out some mornings and buying cups of coffee instead of using his $100+ coffee maker and his $40 coffee grinder? And don't get me started on the cost of his specialty Kona beans. Well, I decided to do a little "work" and see what was wrong. Turns out, he didn't clean out the coffee maker last time he used it and there was BLACK MOLD growing on the old, used coffee grinds. EWWW!!! I guess I couldn't smell anything because the coffee grinds kind of work as a deodorant. Either way, as a non-coffee drinker and a Martha warrior, I was beyond disgusted. So, I spent a good part of the day scrubbing the carafe, the coffee grinds basket, and the whole interior of the coffee maker. Amazing how well baking soda, hot water, and distilled white vinegar work! Then I took straight vinegar and ran 2 full cycles on the "clean" mode. The first round produced taupe colored vinegar (gross) but the second round was clear. Then I ran regular water through a couple of times, to make sure the vinegar was gone. All in all, I used a GALLON of vinegar on cleaning this thing. Best part is when he came home and I told him what I did, he said thanks but that I didn't need to do that because he was either going to do it himself or buy a new coffee maker. WTF? This maker is fine (gross but fine), it's fairly new, and it was expensive. As we're on a tight budget, I couldn't see spending $100 or more on a new one when this one would be fine after a proper cleaning. Oy!!!

Wednesday, Amelia had her field trip finally! She was beyond excited when the bus arrived to pick them up at school at 8:30am. I was so happy for these kids! They all brought home apples they picked and Amelia was more than happy to tell me about all the things she saw (including an apple washing machine and a refrigerated storage room that was the size of the main floor of our house.) We did some grocery shopping that afternoon, and I cleaned out the pantry. Also, I gave a ton of leftovers to my bachelor nephew. Gotta make sure he eats something other than ramen noodles. Ha, ha.

Thursday was fairly easy. Kids all got up on time and made the bus (except for Amelia, who doesn't get a school bus so I drive her.) No one complained about anything. And they only partially destroyed the house when they came home. I managed to get about 50% of the windows cleaned, I cleaned the oven, and cleaned Maura's and Amelia's bath tub toys with a 50/50 solution of distilled white vinegar and water. For dinner, I took the leftover chicken soup, added a jar of chicken gravy, and made mini pot pies with refrigerated dough. Patrick and I were the only ones to eat them and that just makes me sad. I love pot pies, they're the perfect cold weather dinner. And individual ones were cute, damnit! But no one wanted to humor Mom.

Friday, the kids were off from school because of a "staff development day." It was, also, the day of the high school's homecoming parade and football game. If it wasn't raining and cold, we would have been there. Instead, we ordered in pizza and hung out at home. I, of course, spent the day on damage control, trying to limit the amount of destruction that 4 kids, home from school on a rainy day, can accomplish.

By the end of the day on Friday, the house was a mess. *sigh* One of these days, I'll be allowed to have a clean house. I'm just dreading, thinking it will be the day Amelia goes off to college.

Oh well...

Mary