Shaming myself and those who live with me

How often have I complained about the state of my house on this blog? A dozen times? A hundred is probably more likely. I tend to blame my kids, but really whose fault is that my kids are lazy asses? Totally mine. I did not set chores upon my oldest early enough. I am not strict enough. And, quite honestly, I hate cleaning myself. Well, that's not entirely true. I like it when it's done. I like the results of cleaning.

Anyway, with it being spring break this week I decided that the kids and I were going to do a little (or a lot) of spring cleaning. So on Sunday before work I went through the house taking "before" pictures. Posting them on the blog ensures me that I will make sure you all see the "after". I don't really want to be known as the messiest blogger in the kingdom.

This is the kids room in the basement. I do have pictures of the rest of it (all my crap thrown everywhere) but this is Liam's focus for this week. In this picture he and his friend are on the Wii, totally ignoring the mess surrounding them.

In this room, there are 3 bookcases and the white desk. Yesterday, Liam sorted out the 3 bookcases and went through the rubbermaid containers. He threw away quite a bit and found half a dozen dishes. He'll finish it up tomorrow and then on the weekend William will move around the furniture so they have a bit more Wii-playing space.


This is my closet. It was so bad I could no longer walk in to it and instead of hanging clothes I was just putting them on the dresser. I cleared out the floor space yesterday, and got rid of a laundry basket full of clothes we no longer wear. I then took advantage of William's lack of clothes and gave myself a bit more space by moving some mine over to his side. I managed to throw away a giant black garabage bag of stuff and a large blue bag of recycling.


I still have to do the top shelves.



I told Taylor and Liam awhile ago that I would no longer clean their bathroom and that betwen them they could each clean it once a week. Apparently, they haven't bothered but at least I have proof that they are brushing their teeth.



Taylor cleaned the bathroom Sunday evening and after being sent up a second time to finish it properly by William I would say she did a pretty good job. The one thing she forgot to do is empty the garabage. I'm still waiting.


Liam's room. The floor is cleaned up, but he still has a lot to do.

Taylor's room. You've seen a picture almost exactly like this one before. I'll have to find that link so you can see that it has only gotten worse. She spent almost all day up there but I don't see much of a difference. She knows that her room has to be clean by Thursday otherwise she is missing out on going to a movie with a bunch of friends, including the boy she likes.


I put her laundry here for her to put away. This is probably about 3 piles worth, just gethering there. Waiting.


The closet floor. Sigh. You see where she gets it from, no?


I really have no excuse for why the girls room got so messy. I like to say that it is because I do the majority of my cleaning when Sophie is napping but what about the other hours in the day? This is a really bad example of the room, it has never been this bad before. There are toys everywhere, 2 baskets of laundry, clean laundry all over the bed and a basket of clothes that no longer fit Sophie. This room is all done, Sophie no longer will fall asleep on her own (what the fuck is up with that by the way!?) so when I got home from work on Sunday night I spent 2 hours up there and now it is quite lovely and just needs us to paint and get Sophie into a bed rather than the crib. My girls are growing up.







So there you are. A glimpse into my very messy house. See, I'm not lying in that tagline up at the top of the blog there. On Friday, I am going to a bloggers breakfast and/or lunch with some
of my favourite ladies and then in the evening I will show the "after" pictures. Though I did forget to take pictures of the before in my scrapbooking area. Take my word for it, it was worse than my closet and the girls room. Though not as bad as Taylor's.