Three quiet days

Wednesday:

Nothing exciting. Again, too hot to go out (but cool change late afternoon). We did some colouring-in, Jasmine made cupcakes, Aiden put together a Lego Darth Vader from last Christmas that turned up when we were tidying his room yesterday, we worked some more on tidying his room (nearly done), played computer games. Nice day, really.

Thursday:

The kids and I went to see the movie 'Ferdinand'. We actually wanted to see 'Murder on the Orient Express' (it's one of my favourite Agatha Christie novels - and I have them all!) but I didn't realise that they stopped daytime screenings literally yesterday. And I can't be bothered going out in the evening. I'll wait until it comes to Netflix or TV. Aiden had already seen Ferdinand as a school excursion last week but was ok with seeing it again. I thought the shops would be super busy but it wasn't too bad at all. We popped into a couple of shops while there and didn't have to battle crowds or long queues. But my sister-in-law was there later in the afternoon and said it was terrible. We bought some plastic crates for the kids to store toys in to organise their rooms.

Friday:

In the morning we did the big Christmas grocery shopping trip. I took the kids and Jasmine pushed a second trolley. I still have to pick up the turkey tomorrow but otherwise we're ready. I've been having a few treats this week (and my daily weight is reflecting that) and last night I had a candy cane. I enjoyed eating it, but my mouth reacted badly afterwards. I get this thing where if I eat too much sugar my tongue feels scratched and swollen, really sore. I don't have a big sweet tooth but I do eat stuff sometimes, but only rarely something like a candy cane that is basically five teaspoons of sugar at once. Not worth it for me in a reaction vs enjoyment balance.

This afternoon we finished tidying and organising Aiden's bedroom. You can see the floor! That was a major task, spread over three days. I hope it lasts more than 5 mins.

Staying inside

Tuesday:

We've had a few cooler (comparatively) days, but back to blazing hot today and tomorrow. We couldn't leave the house this morning waiting for tradesmen, but I don't think I would have wanted to anyway. Even going to the movies or something indoors would probably involve leaving the car outside in the sun for a while. So hard to drive when the steering wheel is burning your hands.

We'd had a minor problem with the heat pump for the pool, one corner of the touch screen wasn't responding which was annoying. The screen part was replaced this morning. Still under warranty, obviously. We haven't been using the heater lately of course, no need to in summer.

Also I had organised a Salvation Army pickup and that was this morning. Two bicycles that the kids had grown out of and a few bits of children's furniture and other things a bit heavy/big/unwieldy for me to get to a drop off centre. Tim and I put it all in front of the garage this morning and later in the day it all disappeared. I assume it was the Salvos! If they knocked I didn't hear. But they had a list of what I wanted to donate so it was probably obvious that this cluster of items was for them.

I made an gaffe over it though. Two years ago when we moved here, Tim's cousin gave us a house-warming present that didn't suit my personal taste. On the weekend I put it next to the door to remember to put it out for the Salvos, still in the original box. And that cousin came over for dinner on Sunday night. They didn't say anything and I only realised after they had gone that it was a bit obvious I had never used it and was getting rid of it. I hope they weren't offended. I think they are too sensible to be bothered. Not everyone likes the same things. My sister-in-law has been known to give something back to be exchanged, and I didn't mind at all. I'd rather she had something she liked (or in that case was cookware that didn't fit her small oven).

We still have a lot of things to get rid of, but not worthy of passing on, and I have organised a council pickup in January. The garage is already looking much emptier.

Another cleanup project was started today, Aiden's bedroom. He has a small bedroom and a lot of stuff. He is given more and more things every birthday and Christmas, and we don't cull much of the old stuff. A lot of it is great, for instance for his birthday he got a big remote-control boat (used in the pool when no-one is swimming) and a couple of build-your-own-robot things. Lots of fun, but they are bulky items that take up a lot of shelf space. Today we cleared half the floor and the top of his chest of drawers. A good start. I need to buy some boxes for his Lego. He has accumulated a huge amount over the years and it's currently in a couple of really big plastic boxes that he can't lift or move. I think several smaller ones would be better to make them accessible. He's not as keen on Lego as he used to be though. In a few years we can pass it on to the younger kids in the family.

We swam later in the afternoon when the sun was less burny.

Here is Grumpy the blue-tongue, looking bad-tempered as usual.

 And Draco the water dragon.

 He went behind the big pot, climbed up, and is peeking at me from over the rim.

Getting the house ready for sale

Thursday:

We had the real estate agent visit tonight to sign up for him selling our house, so I spent the entire day flat out cleaning. I had already packed pretty much all the things we can live without for a couple of months, but I still had the things we are keeping unpacked to tidy away, and all the floors to vacuum etc. I had the whole house sparkling. And guess what? He didn't even look around! He'd been here six months ago when we first talked about moving and remembered it well enough for tonight's purposes, and he'll visit during the day one time soon to have another look around.... arg! Oh well, with three open houses a week I guess I'll have to keep the house clean all the time for the next six weeks anyway. (Bugger!) But my legs are so tired and my knee is aching and I feel like I spent the whole day cleaning for nothing.

But on the up side, we negotiated all the details with the agent and the house will be on the market in a couple of weeks. As I said to Tim today, I feel like I'm trying to juggle three kittens and a chainsaw. I have to co-ordinate building reports with getting final little repairs done and professional photos taken and lawyers and real estate agents and some have to be finalised before other things. But it is all coming together.

And I got a pretty good housework workout today.

Up and cleaning

Monday:

I woke up feeling much better today. It's so nice to feel well again! It is a glorious day outside, too, but unfortunately I haven't had time to go out into it. After four days of me mooching around doing nothing, on top of the usual mess of this house, it was a pigsty. And dad and his partner are visiting this afternoon! So I've basically spent the whole day cleaning. The kids were a big help, and as it was a public holiday Tim stayed home until lunchtime and did lots. Then he went into work because he has so much to do this week. I also got to do the shopping which means we have food in the house again. Yay!

It's been lovely having my family home again. It was lonely without them on the weekend. I do work from home so I'm alone part of each day but I'm used to the kids getting home from school and of course Tim being here in the evening. It's different when they're away a whole weekend. I feel better just having them here. And having a clean house helps too.

... (later) It is going to be a long few days. When dad was leaving his place this morning (at least six hours away) he said he was going to be here for afternoon tea. So I had some fruit and biscuits laid out and restrained the children and waited and waited and let the kids eat a bit and waited some more and got very hungry then dad called and said they were resting at their hotel and wouldn't be here until dinner. Sigh. And he doesn't know if he's going to be here for dinner tomorrow or not, depending on if his brother wants him to go there so I had to plan a flexible menu that could expand to a couple of extra people or not, as needed. And I'm really not very flexible about this stuff. I am a planner. I like to know what is coming up. To the best of my knowledge he'll be here most of Wednesday to come to Floriade with us and see the flowers.

...  (later) They came for dinner and Trivial Pursuit and bedtime stories for the children. It's been a tiring day for someone just up from their sickbed. Ok, that is exaggerating a little. Sick-chair in front of the TV. Not that there was much on TV. I read a lot. But ... whatever I was saying. Bedtime.