Monday - washing, making bread and hooning round on a skateboard

I have 6 kids, I may have mentioned this before, but in case you missed it - I have 6 kids. So to manage to get the bare minimum of housework achieved, but not feel like I am doing it constantly I have a few systems in place.  One of these is that I was sheets on mondays. Well, the youngest three's sheets. That's enough really.  It takes two loads of our giant arse machine (7.5kg) to wash them. 

And on days like today, when the clouds insist on hovering menacingly all day, threatening rain, but not actually delivering I am on a knife edge whether to hang it out on the line to dry - and it's hot and windy too, so it's not like it won't dry! - or just give up and whack it all in the dryer. (oh! and I asked my editor friend: Dryer can be spelled (?spelt?) either way and be correct. So I can put washing in the dryer, then later empty the drier. *wicked grin* like life wasn't confusing enough huh?!

In summer, sitting here in as little clothing as I can without being indecent, melting into a pool on the floor it just seems plain wrong to use the drier.  

Nappies, delicates, and everything else!

It's weird I can handle dirty washing piling up in the rubbish bin (that's what we use, an old rubbish bin! it's just big enough!!) well, not too high piled up. And I can handle clean washing hanging out in the mountain waiting to be folded. And oh my we hit the JACKPOT earlier this year when Pandawan wanted to change jobs and offered to fold the washing! *victory dance*  *ahem* Captain and I looked at each other trying not to grin and said "sure, that would be a good job for you"   *giggle*  He did complain a bit after a week or so, when he realised how BIG a job it really is. But to his credit, he has continued to fold all the washing. He even gets a little grumpy when we tell him to leave it coz he has to go to bed, or have dinner "but I need to fold the washing!"  Gorgeous!


The other thing I do on mondays is baking bread. We decided a while back that we would start making all our own bread. Captain Awesome used to do this - kneading and all that jazz by hand - a few years back, then it just got a little to hard. We of the hundreds of offspring eat about a loaf of bread a day. Give or take....  But recently we decided to give it another go. And good fortune would have it that my parents had a breadmaker we could steal *ahem* borrow as they weren't using it. So we uplifted that and voila!  


Somehow making the bread became my job, when it had always been Captain's domain. Just to make life even harder for myself, I bake it in the oven.  The size the loaf comes out of the machine is hard to slice, and too big for lunchboxes.  That's my reasoning anyways!  But I have always been a lazy kneader, so I use the machine for that. On a good day, I can kick out 4 loaves.  Today it will be slightly less as I was out at a Playcentre trip this morning, and will be out this evening. 4 loaves is enough, mostly to keep us going all week. Yeah I hear ya, there are more than 4 days in a week - check your maths LTF!!  In fairness, there is usually some leftovers from one week to the next, and also I will often make other types of bread midweek.  yummy things like Cinnamon Swirls. with chocolate instead of raisins. Coz, honestly, who eats raisins??? 


Except weirdos and children.  And the odd housewife.  oh, sorry, you like raisins too Captain Awesome? *sigh* O.K. I will put raisins in the next batch.  *eyeroll*  sheesh. 


Cool thing that happened today that doesn't happen every monday, like the sheet washing and bread making, we went to a park that has a bike track for little kids, all painted like roads with stop signs and all.  I took a skateboard along for me, coz it's easier to catch up with kids halfway round that way than walking (see the lazy theme again!). I took Monkey for a spin on it - me kneeling him sitting inbetween my arms - and he was grinning the whoel way round. Sadly I forgot my camera, so we don't have any pics.  We later went down a big slide together and he was laughing and giggling bout that too. So I have a Speed Demon for a little one.  This should make life interesting. 


Well, more interesting than it already is. His other current love is keys. He will happily wander around with a set of keys trying to find things to put them in. Although he has as I write this my nail clippers that are on a key chain thingy, and he's loving them!!

I will leave you with the pics of our drunk paddling pool with the kids boogy boards in them. YEs my special kids try to boogy board in a paddling pool.  *facepalm*  none of them has cracked their heads open yet - so adventure on I say!!   :OD

 They do it 3 at a time sometimes too..... 

Oh yeah, and this is me the Idiot who made sure all the kids were sunscreened and forgot herself  *facepalm*   


One day I'll get my shit together.


But please, for your health, please don't hold ya breath!! ;OD