randomness

 whirl-ing der-vish: noun

Definition:
1. somebody working very quickly: somebody who busily does many things in quick succession.

after the past nine days of sloth, something had to be done. today i banned the wii and the computer, slipped into whirling dervish mode and have a fully clean house for the first time in over a month. that is not to say that we forever live in a pigsty, just that it hasn't ALL been done ALL at once in the same day for a very long while. i take the baby step approach to cleaning usually. i'm too wiped to do it all at once, so i do one room a day. which makes for a house that looks like it's perpetually dirty.

i started the kids out with the speech, "you're going to tell me how much you hate me, throw things around and cry anyway, so please get it out of the way now." silence. "no, really. go ahead. because i'm not listening now and i won't be listening later either, so get started. you have five minutes to get it out of your system. then, we clean." collective groan. but no tears. and no one slapped anyone else, which is a definite improvement over last time. for some reason they feel the need to slap one another whilst cleaning. motivation? *shrugs* i even made them all get dressed. strangely enough, they didn't argue about that either. i think they have finally wearied of pajama day, part nine.

the bathrooms are clean. the floors have been swept, vacuumed and mopped - even under the beds. laundry is caught up, except for the random mittens and hats that will go in with towels later tonight. the kitchen counters have been cleaned off, except one which is always a work in progress. the stairs are hairless. the sheets have been stripped, changed, cleaned, and put away. the games are back on their shelves. books are back on their shelves. dinner is in the oven. the rugs have been shaken. the dishes are done. DONE!!!!! not one sitting on the counter for later! recyclables are outside in the bin. backpacks are emptied and ready to go back to school...someday, maybe in march at this rate. even the dog bowls have been washed. i think the only thing i didn't get to is windows. i loathe washing windows anyway, so meh.

since the beginning of the year, i have been handing the kids more responsibilities. they are grumbling about it, but they have finally seen the payoff. the light went "blink" when i told them to pick up their bedroom floors so i could vacuum and it only took 20 minutes. it didn't take hours because i've been making them tidy up every day in little bits. then i gave them a break while i worked. then i asked for another small chore. it didn't even take 20 minutes. the light blinked again. the whole day went smoothly because they are now used to the fact that the little steps i've shown them make the bigger jobs feel smaller.

i have succeeded.

in other news, the snow is coming down again. schools are closed for tuesday. one of four galloped down the stairs to tell me about the snow and then wandered away. the tadmaster says he hopes he makes his flight on time tomorrow, but i know better. who the hell would want to leave sunny warm arizona and come home to frozen dirty slush??! "the county is reminding residents that it is their duty to keep sidewalks clear." not saying anything against the snow removal crews because they had a monster job, but how the sock am i supposed to clear the six-foot piles of frozen glop they deposited on my sidewalks? yeeeah-no. not getting cleared by me anytime soon.

and mileidy has discovered build-a-bear. lord help us all.