:smilielol5:

I agree with the others about decluttering. Then decluttering. Then... Yep, decluttering some more!!! This year I FINALLY got my DH on the decluttering bandwagon and for the first time in probably about 6 years, I feel like my house is manageable again. Here are two recent examples of HOW this has changed my life: 1) Last year when my family was coming for Christmas, I cleaned, organized, boxed up/hid, hauled baskets full of stuff from room to room, putting away for a MONTH before they came, then came the last minute scramble to scrub the showers, floors, wash dirty bedding. Every day I was working on getting my house ready for Christmas and to have room for all the guests to sleep, make sure the bathrooms were clean, etc. I never parked my vehicle in the garage at that house in the year that we lived there because it was full of junk. This year... My family is coming for Christmas. The day before they come, I will dust, make the sure the toilets are clean and freshen the bedding. No boxes of "miscellaneous homeless crap" to find closet space for, no laundry baskets full of "miscellaneous homeless crap" to try to find homes for AND I have parked my vehicle IN the garage every day since the day we moved in. I vowed that there would always be room for that in the garage. And the house we live in now... Is at minimum about 800 sq. ft. smaller than the house we lived in last year in storage space, alone. Actual living area is comparable, but I used to have a basement, plus crawl space, plus HUGE laundry room with built in shelving. Now, no basement or crawl space and laundry room is about 1/4 the size of the last one with a small cabinet and a few drawers. 2) Prior to the last maybe 6-8 weeks or so, I would DIE if I had unexpected company. Just die. The house was always such a bomb - it would be so embarrassing. This past Friday when we were leaving for co-op (very informal, we just rotate houses) my truck wouldn't start. At one point in time, the decision was made that if I couldn't get the truck running by X-time, we'd just move co-op to my house. While I was dealing with the truck, I had the kids do a quick pick-up in their bedrooms just in case the kids were coming to our house, while I swiped through the kitchen, quickly doing up dishes and picking up papers off the counter. That's it. I didn't even have to run and scrub the bathrooms because my sweet DH did a full scrub down of both rooms just last weekend - ceiling to floor, tubs and all. I did get the truck running, but I could have hosted last minute, without even breaking a sweat. I owe every single moment of the zen and peaceful feelings of these "events" to decluttering. Now that I have room to put things away, they get put away. Because stuff is put away, the actual CLEANING - dusting, vacuuming, toilets, sinks, showers are easy to do and get to because I don't waste all of my energy just trying to dig down to a cleared off floor, counter, etc. I'm not even done yet. Well, I'll never be completely done because our lives are not static, but I'm not even completely done the first pass through the whole house and I've already experienced tremendous gains. I owe it all to my DH (he does just as much housework as me) and decluttering.

Ah, food. My nemesis. I am seriously considering making only seven meals, the same seven meals, week in and week out from now and for the foreseeable future. Monday - spaghetti, Tuesday-tacos, etc. I will make enough for supper one night, and lunch the next day. Then the next night I'll cook enough for supper and lunch, etc. If someone doesn't like what is cooked, there will be bread, peanut butter, apples, and celery available for them to help themselves. Man grocery shopping and meal prep/planning would be SO much easier, and NO WHINING allowed. If you don't like what is cooked, you get the peanut butter out. End of story. If you eat peanut butter sandwiches and apples slices 14 meals/week, then so be it. I am so D.O.N.E. with the food battles that now we pretty much live on boxed freezer food, McDonald's, Dominoes, etc. PB sandwiches can't be worse than that as far as nutrition goes.

:grouphug: Prayers.

:iagree:

:thumbup1: Great story!

:grouphug:

Yikes, that's tough. I'd be jumping through hoops to make alternate travel arrangements, though. I'd not want my kids riding with this driver and they would not from this day forward, even if i had to rearrange my whole life to chauffeur them myself. I'd only give a reason (talk to the Dad) if I was asked.

Well, I have the whole elementary series of LOF + the whole MM shebang from the HSBC 50% sale, so 6 years??? :D DS is in first grade. However, DD is in MM 4, and I haven't started looking further ahead yet. I'll start looking when she starts MM6.

:D I knew what it meant, but honestly did not even see it. I rarely do, until someone points it out again in the actual thread. Usually I open a whole bunch of titles at once in new tabs, and by the time I actually get to the post, I don't even look at the title part anymore and just read the actual post, then decide whether or not I feel like replying. Then, I quite often only read the first few replies or first page, reply, then read the rest of the replies if I have the time or energy.

My DD is getting something similar, except it'll be specifically scrapbooking stuff...and about 1000 photos to scrapbook. We already have all the other art & craft stuff. This is also similar to an idea I have floating around for DD. Her own tools and wood for a project - in this case a cat house/scratching post for the kitties. ETA: I forgot to add my memorable gift. The whole Trixie Belden collection. A huge box with SO many books!!! I was in heaven! Unfortunately, Mom lent my collection to a friend of hers for her daughter after I was done with them, and I only got about 5 of them back. :(

I have a DD who is similar. She will play with same age peers... for a bit. However, she'd much rather hang with the adults OR the 2-3 year old crowd and play with them. She really doesn't have a whole lot in common with kids her age.

This. You also don't have any backstory. Was the kid in the seat and throwing a screaming fit first? How about walking beside and grabbing every.single.thing. off the shelves while she tried to shop, then threw a screaming fit when she decided to corral him in the seat, etc. I'm too busy trying to parent my own kids to pass judgment on what is, or is not acceptable behavior of other parents and their children. Even if I have the *thought*, it's really not my place to say anything about it. ETA: It seems I am also blind to JAWM. I don't like being told what to do, apparently. :tongue_smilie: If I think back to all of the JAWM posts I've posted on, it's almost like a personal dare for me to be contrary to the OP.

I've been wondering about this, too.

I ended up trading my 32 to DD for her 8 because she filled that up in no time at all. I didn't need all that room for what I use it for. The 32 is pretty big. She has 12 movies, probably about 30 (or more, I didn't feel like counting) apps/games plus a huge number of videos and photos that she has taken with the camera, plus her music - probably 5 or 6 albums - Chipmunks, BTR, Victorious, etc. When it gets full, then it's time to either delete or upload some of her personal photos and videos to the computer.

I remember the PS grumps. They were tired and hungry when they got home from school. It was especially noticeable when DS was still home with me. He'd be so excited that his Sissy was FINALLY home from school to play, but she was miserable to him because she just wanted to be left alone to decompress. Once he started school, they'd both come home grumpy and hungry - then they'd really fight. Now, they still have grumpy times and fighting times but not nearly as often and it's usually my fault. I've been distracted, we've had a long day, or we stayed up too late/got up too early for whatever reason.

DD and I are much more literal thinkers. My guys are so quick to make a "play on words" that I wouldn't even notice unless they pointed them out. They're good to have around for some giggles, that's for sure. :p

And we have the SchoolHouse Rock DVD's here. Some days that IS English class. It's called "that time of the month" when Mom barely has the energy to get out of bed, let alone teach anything. DVDs, Netflix, Apps, and audiobooks make wonderful "substitute" teachers. SOTW on CD, SchoolHouse Rock, Magic School Bus DVDs, Song School Latin DVD, The Happy Scientist and Beakman's World, a little verbal/mental math drill, plus Splash Math or Rocket Math on the Ipad/Ipod, silent reading or having kids read a page to me, Audible or Lit2Go audiobooks and I'm covered for 2-3 days when my energy is beyond low - and the older I get, the worse that time seems to get as far as energy drain. I'm ALL about multi-media on those days.

Tonight in the truck, the kids were asking about something. I can't even remember what now. Anyway, my answer to the question was No. DS pipes up. "Mom, I'm in the Christmas spirit, so instead of saying No when I need to say it, I'm going to Say No! No! No! instead of Ho! Ho! Ho!" His quick wit amazes me sometimes - definitely gets that from his Dad. :coolgleamA:

I LOVE the whipped frosting. I can handle a little bit of buttercream, but in general, it's way too sweet. Whipped, I can eat by the truckload! :drool:

I'd take him to an optometrist, not just a pediatrician. Your DH needs to be helping you. He is 50% responsible for those 4 children YOU are chasing after, feeding, cleaning up after, raising, and training all day, every day. 50%. Sure, he "brings home the bacon", so that is 10-20% of his input. He still has another 30-40% to be doing at home - the hands on, nitty gritty stuff. He can help cook some meals on the weekends to last through the week. He can come home and pick up/vacuum the spilled popcorn. He can wash dishes. He can toss a load of laundry in, etc. I do agree that you've got to treat school like a paying job. Yes, you happen to be doing at home, and have your youngers there with you, but when you're doing school, then you need to concentrate on school (aside from baby/toddler disruptions like food/potty - other messes can [mostly] wait). Maybe by moving school out of the house, and into the car or library for a few hours each week so the distractions are not as "in your face". Ultimately, the choice and decision is yours, but your DS does not sound happy to be in school - and you don't sound happy to have him there. If it were me, I wouldn't wait for my DH to okay it based on my "performance" and I'd demand that he start "performing" better, myself.

:grouphug:

I've tried to read that thread a few times, but can never seem to get through it. I remember reading the first post on that thread before there were any replies to it and just thinking "Wow. Huh. Someone is unhappy." then closing that window. I did not ever dream that it would turn into the epic adventure in online forumdom that it did.

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray: Thank you!!!