A catastrophic cleaning event

Have you ever had one of those cleaning jobs that feels never-ending? Like cleaning vomit out of the car-seat? Or getting rid of the smell of cat urine in the carpet? We have recently had one of those events in Lohtown - a horrific mould situation in the boys' room.

It started with a little mould on the window frame, the man-hole and a nearby picture frame. I read Julie's post about "ew" cleaning and I thought "I must get around to that...". Then one morning, I pulled out a toy box to put something away and I found MOULD - lots of it. All over the box and the toys inside. I pulled out the other toy boxes and looked inside. Lots of them had mould :(

I tipped a boxful of toys into the bath and filled it up with a tea-tree solution. I scrubbed the toys with a brush. Mr Sociable helped for a while (until he got bored found other things that required his attention). I felt really pleased with myself when I had scrubbed clean a whole basketful of toys. 

At this stage, I didn't realise the enormity of the mould problem. I just kept scrubbing those toys for hours - shoulders aching, hands shriveling, children complaining that Mummy wasn't giving them any attention.

Lego drying

Giving the toys some sunshine

Then I noticed that there was mould behind the boxes, on the wall. So I removed the drawer units and cleaned the wall behind (with Mould Power - in case you were interested...). I cleaned the other walls too - which is when I noticed the mould on Mr 4's desk. I cleaned his desk (and washed all the dress-ups that were inside the drawer of his desk).

Giving everything some sun following the mould-cleaning

Then, we found the saddest thing... The mould had done permanent damage to Mr Sociable's car bed (not to mention my mummy-guilt about my son sleeping in a mouldy bed....). We threw out the bed. Mr Fun's cot and mattress were also mouldy - so we threw out the mattress & cleaned the cot. 

All up, I was scrubbing for about a week and drying out toys for a week after that (actually, some of the toys are still not dry on the inside). I never want to clean mould on this scale again! So, to prevent this cleaning horror story from happening a second time, we have resolved not to use the vapouriser any more. We have also started to open the windows every morning (yes, I confess that the room was often left dark when we went out, rather than soaking in the morning sun). Saffy cat is enjoying lying in the sunshine each morning!

The kids room is all finished now - most of the toys are back in, although some have disappeared (because they were too hard to clean or because Mummy had been waiting for a chance to get rid of them...). We bought the boys a bunk bed, which we were planning to do for Christmas. They have slept surprisingly well - Mr Fun has been sleeping better than he was in the cot and Mr Sociable has stopped coming into our room in the night (hooray!).

I'm really happy with the organisation in the boys' room now - the toys fit better into the boxes now that some of them have been thrown out. There is also more space to play now that we have packed away the cot. The boys have enjoyed playing in their clean room with clean toys. They have found lots of cool toys they had forgotten about. It's been a little like Christmas! ;)

A DIY night-light [Quick tip]

The other night, right on bed-time, we realised that the boys' lamp was broken. They like to sleep with the lamp on (it has a very low-watt globe and we leave it on all night). I needed to find a quick solution so that the kids could go to sleep.

I grabbed a glass table-lamp from IKEA that I has been lying around our house, unused. I cut some wrapping paper to size and sticky-taped it to the outside of the glass and put in a globe.

After the usual excitement that follows a change in their surroundings, the boys went to sleep by the light of their new lamp. I might eventually replace the wrapping paper with something a bit more "boyish" (Mr Sociable tells me that the paper is too girly), but I don't think I'll bother to buy a "proper" night light. This one is working well!

Big boy chairs for the dining table

I know that Mr Sociable is a bit old to still be using a booster-chair at the table. But it's so convenient! He can reach the table easily, it has sides so he doesn't wobble around in his chair and it just clips onto one of our regular dining chairs. He loves eating out - when he gets to use a "grown-up chair" and, every now and then, he asks me when he can stop using a booster chair at home.

Yesterday, some friends gave us a couple of wooden bar chairs that they no longer needed. I decided to cut the legs to the right height for Mr Sociable to use at the table. 

Mr Fun & I did this project together today while Mr Sociable was at Prep. Mr Fun was "helping" me to saw the legs using a ruler. He looked so cute! I measured the seat height of his current chair/booster combination and measured the new chair to work out how much I would need to cut off. I measured and marked the right spot on each leg (15cm from the bottom), the sawed it off. Thankfully the metal legs already had little plastic plugs in the end of them, so I was able to use them again (ensuring that the legs wouldn't scratch the floorboards). 

The full-size bar-chair on the left, the cut-down chair on the right.

Mr Sociable thought it was very funny to try and look
silly in every photo I took. But here he is, eating dinner. 

Mr Fun really liked sitting in this chair too (and was able to climb
on/off by himself). I think I will need to cut the other chair too!

Are you a pegfectionist?

Too big - take up too much room in the peg basket

Strong, but too hard for the kids to put on and off

Kids' fingers get pinched in these (and they are old and brittle)

Too big (and they are old and brittle)

My new favourite pegs - very slim (so I can fit heaps of them in the peg
basket), always the "right way up" and easy for the kids to use. Perfect!

Do you have a favourite peg?

Do you know what your tea-towel has been doing today?

The first time I caught Mr 1 wiping his nose no my tea-towel, I was both amused and grossed out. Sadly, it wasn't the last time that happened, which always makes me wonder, "what has my tea-towel been doing today?"

Playing boo?

Wiping a child's head?

Being a superman cape?

Wiping the floor?

Being a floor cushion?

Assisting a child to slide on the floor?

Wiping a nose?

Lying, sad and abandoned, on the floor?

Returning home, with the assistance of a 1 year old?

My tea-towel provides much entertainment for Mr 1 (and you'll be pleased to know that I do wash it, A LOT!).

Do you know what your tea-towel has been doing today?

Wordless Wednesday

A great afternoon and a clean craft cupboard

What is your idea of a fun afternoon at home (without kids)? Watching TV with some chocolate? Reading a good book in the bath? Spending some time on a craft project? Cleaning out a cupboard? Yes, cleaning out a cupboard! I used to think my love of organisation was a bit unusual, until I started reading blogs written by other women who love it too (eg. Home Life Simplified, The Organised Housewife). It is so satisfying (and relaxing) to spend an afternoon cleaning out a cupboard, while catching up on some my favourite TV shows!

Our beloved BESTA unit from IKEA. The best part about it is that it's easy to hide junk.
The worst part about it is that it's easy to hide junk!

I decided to use my child-free time this afternoon to clean up the craft cupboard (Mr Sociable was at Prep and Mr Fun was asleep). I've been wanting to do it for a while & when I read this post on The Useful Box, I got excited about this project.

The finished product

I went to Bunnings and found some great containers with removable section dividers.

The sequin box

Adhesive foam shapes (we mostly use these to make cards

I removed quite a few sections in this box to fit pipe cleaners and long feathers

A deeper box for larger misc. craft items (the sections aren't removable on this one)

 Some craft items stayed in the boxes I already had and some were moved to different boxes. I finished off the afternoon going label-maker crazy & finding new homes for things that really didn't belong in the craft cupboard.

I love my label maker!

 Do you love to declutter and organise?

Taming the pantry

I've never been much of a menu-planner. I tend to buy what's on special/in season, then just decide each day what I will cook, based on the ingredients we have. To make this cooking style work, I have always had a well-stocked pantry - full of ingredients to make a wide range of dishes (eg. on any given day, you would be almost guaranteed to find long grain rice, arborio rice and brown rice; penne, fettuccine and spaghetti; red lentils and yellow lentils; coconut milk, powdered milk, evaporated milk and UHT - just in case).

I also have a tendency to buy multiples of everything when they are on special & to have a spare of each open item, ready for when it runs out (eg. spare tomato sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, mayonnaise, flour, sugar - you get the idea!). Sometimes buying multiples (that are not on the shopping list) results in this:

 

Then, a few months ago, I realised how many mums actually menu plan for the week & shop accordingly (eg The Useful Box, The Organised Housewife, Passionate Homemaking). I thought it was a bit restrictive - especially since I prefer to experiment with food than to closely follow recipes. But I gave it a go & I have really found it useful. I have actually found we actually have more variety this way - as I can see on the calendar what meals we have had over the past few weeks & try to do different things (I can also keep track of how many red meat, white meat, fish & vego meals we eat, to ensure balance across the week). I still buy whatever is on special - sometimes I go with a few dinner options in mind, sometimes I make up the week's menu based on what we have.

Meal-planning calendar - on the fridge

But, with a menu written for the week, I really don't need to keep 8 tins of tomatoes "just in case", or 5 packets of lasange sheets! (I found Glorya's post about "Just in Case" helpful in thinking about this!) So now it's time to tame the pantry! Over the coming weeks, I want to menu plan based on the things in my pantry/freezer - using up all the excess stuff that has been lying around. I started tonight with a chicken & mushroom risotto* (using the arborio rice & stock that have been in the pantry for ages....).

Although my pantry shelves are already pretty organised (everything is categorised - eg all tinned vegies together, legumes together, sauces together, pasta together etc) I'm hoping that in a few weeks, my pantry shelves will be a lot emptier! Maybe I could even move some of the boxes off the floor! ;)

Pantry (9/2/12)

* This is the recipe I used as a base - with substantial modifications. I deleted the butter and halved the oil. I doubled the mushrooms and added frozen peas (maybe 1/2-1 cup). I substituted the thyme for about half a cup of fresh parsley. I substituted tasty cheese for the parmesan. I used sweet white wine instead of dry (because that's what was open - and I prefer drinking that while I am cooking...). I used chicken mince instead of thigh & I actually cooked it all in one pot - ie. I didn't fry the chicken & mushrooms separately before adding it to the rice mixture.

The truth about Lohtown...

People often comment that I am so organised... But, in the interests of honesty, I would like to share a secret with you - my life is a constant fight against chaos. Not Get Smart Kaos - although that would be much cooler - but the messy "I can't walk across the garage floor" or "I can't find my keys so we can't go to playgroup" kind of chaos (you may remember post about being Perfectly Imperfect?).

I like to use our garage as a play area in wet weather. Unfortunately, the garage also seems to be the collection point for all of the stuff that is waiting to be relocated to somewhere else. As a result, walking across the garage to the freezer can be a hazardous experience - resulting in bruised ankles, broken toys and much frustration!

One day last week, I decided to have a garage clean out. Check out the before/after pics:

Before

After

Finally got around to installing a rack on the wall for Mr Sociable's bike

The problem is, I know that in a month's time it will look just the same as before. What is it that ensures my life with little people is so messy and a little chaotic? Why is it that I can't seem to finish putting things away before I get distracted again??

I think it has something to do with this... "Mummy, can I have a drink?", "Mum! Can you please help me?", "Mum! He's touching the bins!" and this... playgroup, bible study, swimming lessons, washing, cooking, cleaning, playing with kids, rest time, grocery shopping and this... nappy changing, table-wiping, vacuuming, reading books, putting toys away, chasing the escaping toddler...

No matter how much I crave to be organised and neat, I suspect things are going to be a little disorganised for a few more years yet! Which can be hard, because I really do love order (my clothes are categorised in my wardrobe, our Christian book collection recently got alphabetised, our pantry goods are all grouped by type, our linen press is grouped and labelled, etc).

This is my favourite part of the pantry

Grouped by type - fish together, milks together, tomatoes together, etc

Labels in the linen press - these have actually been great when I've
got others (mum or Franky) to help with putting away the washing

I love to declutter, to give/throw things away, to reorganise things to make life more efficient. Hence the battle - Lohtown tends towards chaos, while I tenaciously try to implement systems and order. The good news is that one day my kids will go to school & I will again have a clean house. But, until then, I'm trying to value relationships over organisation, time spent with kids over time spent cleaning. You probably wouldn't notice the mess if you came to my house (my living area is generally pretty tidy), but, rest assured that if you went exploring behind the closed doors, you would find a little bit of chaos ;)