Bad Day

I have had a stonking headache all day. At this precise moment this is punctuated by Ethan whining like a flipping dog, and all because I asked him to put his jigsaw puzzle book away. Oh yes, he's right in the middle of a big whiny tantrum. Apparently he doesn't want his jigsaw and he doesn't want anything, whine whine, sob sob. I am so over it!

We tootled off to Staples this morning to get some more labels for the label printer, and while I was there I picked myself up an 84 litre Really Useful Box. I love those things! Then we tootled off to work, as I have lots of MCLOSA work that I needed to do (I've bought the bulk of the work home to do tomorrow), and then we came home via Wilkos. We needed some loo cleaner (I've got one of those Toilet Duck wands that you put the cleaning pads in) ... but I ended up buying a load of other stuff too - like I do every time I go in there. £26 later, I have loo cleaner, those new Toilet Duck things that stick on the side of the loo, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, a spray bottle (I need it for something but I can't remember what ...), and some garden stuff - gardening gloves, a new trowel and fork, a weed membrane (a bargain at £4.99) ... and some other stuff, but I can't remember what!

When we got home I transferred all (though I am sure there is some more hanging around somewhere) my yarn into the Really Useful Box - it'll keep it clean, and it is all together now instead of being in half a dozen or more different bags and things. Good job I bought such a big one though - it's crammed full (though I'm sure I can get more in ...) Now all I need to do is find somewhere to keep it - but that's the least of my worries.

We are embarking on a frantic quest to make the house better. Ethan's birthday is in just a few weeks, and we have booked him a party on The Big Red Party Bus, which comes and parks outside the house. The children get on board this converted bus (which is full of ball pits, slides, nets etc) for a two hour party, and the best thing is, all I have to do is provide the birthday cake and the party bags - everything else is taken care of. I am so relieved that I won't have the stress of shopping for party food, making it all etc etc etc. Anyway, I sorta feel that I should at least invite some of the Mum's in for coffee and cake while the kids party ... and unfortunately that means a lot of hard work between now and then. The living room really needs a good spring clean - it's not TOO bad right now, but it will still need a good couple of hours spending on it, not least of which the wooden floor needs a damn good clean. Then there's the dining room, which at the moment is unenterable, full as it is of crap and God only knows what junk. That's a two day job at least, for at least two of us. Then the kitchen, which is reasonable, but still needs a good top to bottom clean. Then the stairs and landing, again cluttered. Then the bathroom. Oh God, the bathroom. My bath has three big cracks in it, all taped up nicely with parcel tape by Sean (God, that makes us sound sooooo bad) - we have plans for a big bathroom revamp, but it's a bit difficult when the room is 1.5 x 1.2 m and there isn't really room to put a proper shower cubicle in. But it has to be done! But it's not going to get done before Ethan's birthday. Oh, and to cap things off, I think Colin's Mum might be coming down on the weekend of Ethan's birthday, which means we need to sort out the bedrooms as well.

I think I might just leave home.

Anyway, our front garden was a disgusting mess. The big flowerbed was very overgrown, and the garden itself was full of other people's rubbish that has blown/been thrown in. Sean has done most of the work this afternoon, though I helped a bit (cos of my headache, otherwise I'd have done more), and it's looking a lot more presentable now. Tomorrow (hopefully) we are going to dig the flowerbed out and hopefully get the weed membrane down. Then I want a trip to Homebase to pick up some gravel to put over the membrane, and then hopefully that will make things easier to look after. Looking at the Homebase website, I'm amazed at all the different colours of gravel etc you can get - bright pink, anyone? Anyway, much as I would love to have a bright funky colour out there, I will probably settle for a neutral muted affair in keeping with the Victorian-ness of my house.

Phew, seems that Ethan's tantrum has finally burnt itself out now, thankfully. I wish this headache would disappear though!