Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

The results are in

Despite being fully vaccinated for everything that it is possible to get, Ladybug has whooping cough.  It is the most awful disease I have ever encountered.  Having to stand by and watch her struggle to breathe in the midst of a coughing fit, and hoping that she is not going to pass out from lack of oxygen is horrific, especially as there is nothing I can do other than to hold her close and wait for the fit to pass.  The coughing fits are so scary for her - not being able to breathe is just the worst. There's no treatment other than time, and antibiotics to prevent her passing it on to anyone else.

We're all in quarantine as Mister Bear's colleagues both have small babies under 1 year old and we cannot risk him passing it onto the colleagues and then onto the babies.

Best intentions and all that

Despite my best intentions of blogging more regularly, I haven't.  Part of the reason has been that we have all been sick.  Mister Bear and Chickabid got off fairly lightly, but unless I am much mistaken Ladybug and I have both had whooping cough.  Ladybug has been especially sick and we've had a run of disturbed nights - much coughing, struggling to breathe and vomiting going on.  Both kids are fully immunised and up to date on their immunisations, but apparently it is not 100% effective.  Ladybug had a throat swab done last week to confirm the disgnosis and is on antibiotics to hopefully curtail the disease, but there is no real treatment.  The poor baby is *very* unwell :(

This has been the summer that wasn't, and we have had so much rain that getting the washing done has been a real battle.  I usually love this time of year as my washing is almost always up to date, but this summer has been a real problem.  Part of dealing with my "illness" is to know the trigger points and to deal with them to prevent triggering an episode.  Obviously some things are way out of my control and there is nothing I can do about that, but there are other things - like the washing - that I can do something about.  The untidier the laundry, the closer to the edge I am wavering.  It's an odd thing, I know, but that is the way it is.  As the laundry goes, so does my life.  It is not for nothing that the blog is called Chickafinty - A Life in the Laundry lol.

Chickabid has grown up so much lately.  He is absolutely my little right hand man when it comes to getting things done.  His need for his ducks to be in a row drives me insane sometimes, but it doesn help me to stay on track.  He has made great strides with reading and comprehension and I am so proud of his work habits.  He puts his head down and gets on with it, taking a huge amaount of pleasure in filling in his daily diary and ticking things off his list.  He loves to catch me out by starting his maths before the official start of school (and finishing it) so that when I tell him to do his maths he can annouce that it is already done.  We are facing the world of fractions and decimals together.  So far we are both winning :)  The real winner though is Ladybug - by the time she hits Year 5/6 maths, her mother will be well versed in it.  (I will have to be!)

 

Clean your house in just 3 minutes

Gotcha!

OK, fess up time.

You can't clean a house in 3 minutes.  Sorry.  Not possible.

But you can clean a house in just 3 minutes at a time.

If you are Born Oragnised, your house probably doesn't need cleaning, so you probably don't have to read any further.

If you are a SHE - Sidetracked Home Executive - then you absolutely need to read further.

I am a total SHE and I hate housework and I have no sense of time.

Put all those together and you pretty much get a mess.  I have been battling to "keep house" ever since I had a house to keep and that will be 17 years in November.  I have tried Flylady, Messies Anonymous, Colossal Clutter CleanUp, Declutter Club, 31 Days To Clean...basically I have tried everything.  Everything worked, but only for a little while.

I guess Flylady was the most successful in the sense that I have stuck with it for the longest.  Flylady's maxim is that you can do anything for 15 minutes at a time.  Yes, it is possible.  But with an extreme SHE, 15 minutes is waaaaaaaaaay too long.  15 minutes is plenty of time  get thoroughly distracted.  Ten minutes is too long.  Three minutes, though, seems just about right.

Three minutes puts most household tasks into perspective.  Most household tasks - the ones I out off doing - take 3 minutes or less.  String seven 3-minute periods together and a kitchen goes from disaster area to ready to greet the Queen.