; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'UA-6252405-9'); In the Mommy Trenches: Unpacking and Purging - Oh Such Fun

Friday, May 7, 2010

Unpacking and Purging - Oh Such Fun

It has been a very busy week.  What with wrapping up my business, celebrating O's 3rd birthday last weekend, doing reviews and still trying to keep up with the every day tasks, I've barely room to breathe never mind post.  I feel terrible that I hadn't even posted anything special for O's birthday.

We did have a lovely time with my family and K's parents coming over Sunday afternoon.  It was the first time my brother and his family had been to our new house since they live over an hour away now so we were cleaning like mad the whole weekend.  I don't know why but it's important to me to have a spotless house when company comes.  I always feel embarrassed and then have to shrug it off when I get surprise visits.  Not that my house is that bad in between company, it's just full of the usual kid clutter and you just know your mother is going to pop by the day you procrastinated on loading the dishwasher and mopping the floors. 

It was a really nice afternoon.  One of the plus factors was that when my brother saw how bad our backyard is, he offered his small bobcat or digger (for the life of me I can no longer recall what the darn thing is called) and he has a guy who can run it for us.  All we will have to pay for is the guy to do it.  This way we can get all the stumps out, rocks out and the land levelled in one day.  My husband just about cried.  He had been feeling a lot of pressure to get the backyard done and knew it was going to be a lot of back-breaking labour. So as you can imagine his relief was major. Especially since we didn't even have to ask. 

Then we have the pressure of getting the rest of our stuff out of our friend's house.  They are doing their renovations soon and need the space.  It's probably a good thing because it's so easy to put it off without a deadline.  This way we have to deal with it.  I cannot believe the amount of crap we have.  I just found a set of beautiful cobalt blue glasses that my brother had given to me over 15 years ago, that I had packed and forgotten all about.  I loved those glasses.  They are no longer a complete set but they are still beautiful.  It reminds me that I have a set of 4 cobalt blue champagne flutes packed away somewhere.  It's amazing how you forget what you have.  It's almost like Christmas unpacking these things.

It's hard to believe that it's May and I'm still unpacking.  You would not believe how hard it is to unpack with the kids.  You would think at this age that they wouldn't need so much supervision.  Yesterday, I had just pulled in a box to go through when I heard screaming from outside.  J had thrown a rock at O and hit him in the head.  Yup, in the head.  You could tell she felt instantly bad and perhaps didn't really mean to hit him but O had a nice lump on his head already forming.  Half an hour later, snuggling a tearful O in my arms, applying ice to his bruise and supervising J's time-out and it was almost time to start making their lunch.  So much for unpacking.

Then I have to get motivated because unpacking a box means finding a place for it and right now, we are seriously having storage issues.  I don't even have a place for things like linens or the kid's crafts.  Like I said, I've got too much stuff.  Mainly we need to get shelving etc but there's really no money for it.  As it is we're tryhing to survive on one jug of milk for the rest of the weekend so we don't have to go grocery shopping.  With Tim Horton's renovating right in the plaza that my husband's store is in, it's gotten so bad that our sales are way down over last year.  So... it's tighten our belts time.  I really need to get back on track with menu planning and buying in bulk to cut down costs.  I just know when I buy big packs of meat that I don't like having to stop and separate it all into separate bags for serving portions.  By the time I'm done shopping and drive home and put the groceries away, I've pretty much had it with groceries.  And when hubby says he'll do it... don't count on it.  I had to stick a pack of legs in the freezer because we were getting to their best before date and I didn't have time to do it myself. 

I know I have money from my business selling but until we've got all the bills paid, I'm a little reluctant touching the money.  Besides, if we start using the money for everyday expenses it will be gone in a flash. There's just not that much of it.  As it is, I am sure the inlaws probably think we made a killing selling the business because they keep telling me how wonderful it must be for me and sooooo nice that I don't have to work anymore and it will take the pressure off poor K cause he's a man and it was hard for him to look after the children in the evenings by himself, men aren't cut out that way after all.  Yup that's what she told me. Like it was somehow my fault that K was losing it with the kids all the time because he could not manage the two hours between me leaving for work and them going to bed.  Not that K isn't good with the kids.  There is no one better to make sure they get fed and bathed etc but with all the other stress in his life he wasn't handling the general chaos that kids throw at you very well.  Besides that's a whole nother tangent there.

Once we've gotten everything sorted though, I am hoping to have one giant garage sale and it will feel oh so go to be able to open up our garage door without being embarrased. *L*


So what stupid things has your mother-in-law said to you?

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