At What Age Should A Child Be Responsible For Their Room?

Because I have always been a glutton for punishment I have always expected certain things from the kids and been pretty cruisey on others. I only have two hard and fast rules, they are Bed Time is 8.30, unless your very little or over the age of 14 then it is 10.30- you do not come out of your room for fear of death after those times unless you have slept a good 7 hours (more preferably).That and do what I ask you to do when I ask you to do it. Cleaning bedrooms has always been in the latter rule book. I may not ask for three days because the room does not need it or I may ask several times in one day.

Lately however it seems that between Mr Cheeky and the girls' room there has been no habit of picking up after themselves, not a very good one at any rate. So I wondered to myself when I cleaned Mr Cheeky's room today Is it unreasonable to expect a three year old to keep their room clean? I have always tended to think awwwww they are still so cute and 'wittle', but I am the only one and making a rod for my own back (of this, I am aware).

The few I have asked this question to all seem to believe TWO years old is an appropriate age to be responsible for their own room. It isn't considered child labour! Who would have thunk it! I have also never been one for the bigger kids dealing with the babies in the house, though getting a drink or sandwich for toddlers has been acceptable whilst I have dealt with the babies demands,even then I felt like an evil witch, though lately I have appreciated and even asked Biggest Miss and The Man Child to play with Littlest Miss each afternoon whilst I cook dinner or finish off what ever job it is I MUST get done. So expecting my three year old to pick his crap up isn't so bad after all. By my standards, I am aware that by others it never would have been or even is a bit mean and each to their own.

Mr Cheeky's room inevitably looks like the first picture at the end of the day and it starts out like the second picture. 

When I talk to people starting out having kids I always say do your self a favour and get them to pick up after themselves it is not 'mean' to expect them to Though I have realised I have not taken my good advice... A lot of the mess in Mr Cheeky's room is clothes the toys have been culled and most 'live elsewhere'. So I am going to bite the bullet and EXPECT him to clean his room for now on.

What do you think? What age is the right age for your child? Please leave a comment (there is no captcha) and let me know how you work it. :)

The Boudoir

I have said to a few people lately that if you see a picture of our bedrooms then you can be sure that there was some tweaking ( a hell of a lot of tweaking when it comes to the bedrooms) I like to keep it real, but in a censored way. This post, for example will show you pictures of the spaces we call ‘our’ room. It does not look as nice for long, it slowly but surely descends into a chaotic mess with in a week or weekend ( which ever comes first).

I think I'll be doing up more of these collages they make our bedroom look as though it has some style about it!

What bought this on? You may be thinking. Well you know I am gonna tell you. I was going to buy a kingsize bed. But alas, I am no longer. It is very frigging depressing let me tell you! So after sulking for a little while I decided to make our room ( the sleeping quarters) into something I like. My Beloved may not like the male mannequin hanging from the brick wall he laid, using commons that I refused to let him render. Or, in fact the wig ( I have yet to put it away) I have hanging from the ‘bedhead’ made from an awesome room divider I found at a garage sale three years ago.

The 'Bedhead' is a room divider I bought for $80 dollars it is very heavy and the inside of each oval and diamond
 has a wrought iron 'flower'... I am going to put some fairy lights over it to add an real romantic feel for after dark...they can also double as a night light for the kids. We often wake up to at least one in bed with us.

So awesome the room divider/bedhead was to me, that in my rush to come home and collect it (we didn’t have a van then) with the trailer I completely ignored the fact that My Beloved was sleeping in that morning ( I promised) and drove up our driveway and behind the house towards our bedroom beeping the horn the whole way. Strangely he did not share my excitement and it took forever ( a whole cup of coffee kinda forever to get him to hook the trailer up) EVEN though I suggested he just ‘throw’ it on and I’d do the rest.

I LOVE this window, sadly when the girls were using this room the chocolate render has chipped away
 on the bottom of the wall but I have an ingenious plan for all the doorways and windows in our house
 ( An assortment of decorative and plain tiles to border and frame each doorway and window and hopefully
give off a Mexican 'vibe'.) So until then... I am also planning on planting the garden  back from the window
 getting a pathway laid between the two so we have a beautiful view AND privacy! Won't that be nice!!

He may not even like the way I have not put one masculine item in the room. But what he WILL love about it is that there is a clutter free space to pass out into unconsciousness after his night shifts each weekend.Well, this week end for sure I can't make any promises that the room will stay like that til next weekend.

You see, where the ‘sleeping quarters’ are is what used to be our back veranda. We Ahem, My Beloved knocked the sliding door out and with the help of my brothers, father and a one time ‘boyfriend’ of my sister’s they bricked it up and wallah! We had a sleep out. Eventually we made the sleep out into two rooms. What is our bedroom was originally going to be our office, then it was to be Littlest Misses room.

I love this mirror I 'scrapbooked' it and hang anything and everything I love on it.

It is as close to split level as we can get without going underground ( wouldn’t THAT be cool?) and that small little step down coupled with the fact we took the legs off the bed base to lower the bed makes the small space seem large and spacious, the ceiling to floor windows and the fact there are only three walls also help I will admit. But we will all just pretend that the lowering of the bed did it. OK?

3 of my favourite pictures.

Peace lillies are one of the plants that are said to purify the air, though they are in here because they look puuuuuurty!

Not long after we bricked in the veranda... Miss Thinker was 3 and Miss Independent was 4.

Let's Talk About Sex.

Last night at around 11.30 we had a blackout. It came as a surprise (I mean there was a bit of rain but nothing to suggest we would lose power) and Biggest Miss and I were moving furniture, well a piece of furniture. It is not uncommon for me to move things around at any time of the day. This time was because it HAD to be moved.


 I have had the thing for years and it has sat in our 'hallway' for months and just never seems right, besides it was just a dumping ground for items that didn't need to be there. It had a printer, a red tub of books, my stamp album ( I have been looking for that) and two baskets with my 'tools' in it. I use the word tools lightly. There was eight screw drivers, none of which have ever been the right size, a hammer, a Stanley knife and a shifter ( I have never used it but My Beloved ALWAYS uses his sifter so I figure they are useful). I did find all those paint brushes I bought three weeks ago though. There was also some tiles and wood glues and a whole packet of Panadol.

Normally I'd move it myself but as most of the kids were asleep I didn't want to make any noise. I asked Biggest Miss to help me she agreed as long as it could be done in the 'Adds' she was watching a movie. Eventually the Add came on and we moved it towards the back door (it is in the skip bin now). Just as we put it down the world became dark and I mean so dark that you could poke yourself in the eye and not see your finger!

'No body move.'I said calmly as I always do when there is a black out after dark. Luckily Littlest Miss and Mr Cheeky were asleep in their beds and Miss Thinker and Miss Independent were also snoring. If they hadn't then the routine would have been to get everyone to say their names and starting from youngest to oldest we would 'collect' them into the lounge room where either Biggest Miss or The Man Child (definitely NOT a fan of the dark until the last couple of years) would have felt their way to the candle and matches stash and have a few candles lit, sat in front of a mirror of course. The night would have then been spent reading one of my many Enid Blyton books I have had since I was a kid.

Instead everyone seemed to forget that they had phones (with built in flash lights) in their hands and let me trip up down the hall ( I had yet to actually put the stuff that was on the hall table away before I moved it) to get some candles and then all the way back to find some matches. Finally when the light of the candles flickered on the ceiling and walls in the lounge my eldest two 'darlings' started to play games on their phones.

'You know,' I said 'I could get a book out.'
'Mum, we are teenagers.' Biggest Miss said in disgust and The Man Child just grunted in a not very interested way at my suggestion. Little Miss who had actually managed to fall asleep began snoring  and I was thinking that it was the perfect time to see how my biggest two babies were doing in general.

We spoke about all sorts of things and then we got on to the topic of sex. The Man Child immediately got agitated

'Oh for god sake mum! I am going to my room!'

'What?' I asked

'I do not want to have this conversation with you!'

'What? I just want you to know you can talk to me about these things that is all!'

'Yeah. Good. But I wont. EVER.'

'Ok. Just so long as you know.'

'Stop talking about it!' he said and went and sat at the dining table. Biggest Miss and I continued chatting for a bit then she pulled out her phone and played a game. I sat on the lounge not far from either of them remembering all the black outs we'd had in the past from summer storms and how we'd spent that time listening to stories. When the power finally came on an hour later they went to bed and I tidied the hall, but only because My Beloved would be home before the sun came up and I was pretty sure he didn't want to trip up over everything whilst trying to get to bed, other wise I'd have left it till the morning.

We Won The Lotto... Kinda

We were rather excited around our house this morning, well I was.  We managed to send the kids off on time to catch the bus. I also discovered that I still had a chance at winning the lotto! Here in Q.L.D some lucky bastard has won 29.7 or is it 27.9 million dollars! I don't really care too much which amount it is who ever has won that is RICH! Rich I tells ya! And I was kinda hoping it was me.

Naturally many other people in Queensland bought a ticket so the chances were slim, but not as slim as they were before the rest of the country was ruled out. I know four people in Queensland didn't win. Two messaged me after the draw last night to inform me and to find out if I too had lucked out.

'Hey,' My sister in law messaged. 'Did you win?'

'Probably not.'

'Me neither.'

'Ad isn't home til late and he has the ticket. So I coulda!'

'Wouldn't it be great?'

'It would be awesome!!'

Then I forgot about it til this morning when I came back in from the bus stop.

'Someone in Queensland has won.' My Beloved told me. 'They don't know who or where.'

'It is probably us.' I said 'I know I have won it.'

You see every year for about 10 years I pick the winner of the Melbourne Cup, except 3 years ago.. I think the problem was I actually put a bet down on it. If I had have done what I do normally and tell My Beloved the name of the horse that happens 'to take my fancy' the morning of the cup and ask him to put five dollars on it (he never does and it always wins) I would have picked Green Moon, the name alone would have sold me.

I know absolutely NOTHING about horses, horse racing or betting so it is a fluke every time. This year I was focused on winning the 100 million dollar OZ lotto and I did not even check the horses names and colours in the lift out the paper provides. I just went about folding clothes. I didn't even watch the race, even though I had 'glammed' up for the occasion...

I ended up rearranging our bedroom and I found these.

I rang My Beloved to remind him to buy a ticket. He was driving taxis and I knew he would be busy, I wanted to make sure he got a ticket. the conversation was very short.

'Hey babe!'

'Hello darl, listen I have a wheelchair ring back in five OK.'

' Just get a lotto ticket. I am going to win this thing. OK bye!'

It was much later I received messages questioning if I'd won. I started to wonder and then imagine. It was not until just before lunch today My Beloved checked the ticket.

'We won....' he mumbled (something else that I didn't hear) to me from the lounge room whilst I stood in the bedroom on the other side of the house.

'We what?' I said as I walked into the hall.

'We got four numbers, it isn't anything but...'

'Oh my god!! I knew it! I said it. Didn't I ? Huh? Huh?'

'It isn't anything big, we were one number away on every number...'

'Oh who cares we won the bloody lotto baby!' I laughed

Yes, perhaps it was only $21.10 but we won the lotto. That was what I said I would be doing yesterday, all of last week. Congrats to those who won a share in the $100 million!!

Clothing Capers

Photo source

'Hey, did I get you at bad time?' my friend Missy said to me after I finally found my phone that had been ringing all morning.

'Not unless you consider folding a large pile of clothes a bad time.' I answered

'How big, we talking?' she asked

'Not that big, not by large family standards.' I joked

'Is it spilling out over its self?'

'Nah.'

'Then man up and do it!' she laughed. 'You should see mine, I can't see my couch any more. Thats my job today too.'

Missy has seven kids too and we have been friends since high school. When one of us has had enough we call the other and bemoan what ever it is that is driving us insane. Today she was calling me to bemoan 10 kg of baby potatoes she did not need or want and suggested I come get them. I told her I couldn't, not today.

 I had planned on buying us a new bed, a king size, today but with two school kids home I decided there was no way I was taking four children bed shopping. I told her that I'd be in tomorrow and would be more than pleased to grab some potatoes then. So she demanded I made sure I got them first thing and after a little 'my child is doing this' conversation we hung up and I had managed to fold half the pile. Then I folded the rest. I did not put it away however... I should have. Instead I went through a couple of bags of clothes my mother had given me for My Beloved.

 You see, dad and My Beloved have always been the same size. But Dad has been 'eating properly' and has lost 50kg ( well done dad!) which means My Beloved gets them. The denim cut off shorts aside (Yes!! Apparently when dad was young, at  some point in fashion history, men could wear denim cut offs with out their preferences being questioned. I am not sure when this was, but I am assured it was.) there were some nice things.

 My Beloved shares a very similar taste in clothing EVEN the bright Hawaiian shirts. *shudders and rocks back and forth* that my father seems to so fond of. I would have hidden them, but I know My Beloved likes them so I was kind and left them out. He ended up with 5 suit jackets, 7 dress shirts, 9 pairs of jeans about twenty other smart casual shirts and some work shirts and shorts that will save me from buying My Beloved any more board shorts. He has wrecked so many pairs while working with cement both when we did the concrete edging and at home that he is wearing football shorts, whether he wants too or not damn it!The work shirts have the sleeves cut and the neck cut and are so funny to imagine My Beloved wearing that there was no way they were not staying, besides, he wrecks his T-shirts with cement.

 As I was hanging these things up I looked at the medium size (for a large family) pile of folded clothes and thought 'I really should put that away.' But life goes on and kids need things and I put it off. After walking in to find a shirt for myself to wear after spilling tea on my singlet ( Thanks Mr Cheeky!) my elbow knocked the pile and half of it fell over. I watched it fall and just walked away. 'I'll do that when the kids are in  bed I told myself. I haven't. I'll do it in the morning and this time I WILL put it away as soon as I am done.... because there is a new load on the line waiting to be brought in and folded tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Crazy Is As Crazy Does

Yesterday we gave someone, I will call them Tracey and Bruce ( because that is their names),  a hand. It was not a life saving kind of hand just a little something we could do to help.  Then we picked up our 'outdoor table' and we returned home and went about our day. We decided to have an outdoor movie night. We dragged the big extra TV onto the veranda.We actually have 6 TVs in the house not including the one on the wall in the lounge room only 2 are hooked up, they used to all be working in each bedroom. But I don't like a TV in every room it does not exactly encourage togetherness. My Beloved had even suggested that one for the bathroom was a good idea, until he saw my face, then acted as though he was joking... he wasn't.

He  told me last week he was thinking about bringing the large TV on to the veranda for summer movie nights. I'd told him he was not! The idea was suggested again yesterday and I said OK lets do it. After all it was his last night home after a week off work and first Friday night off in, he claims a year, but I say year maybe even 2 not including the Christmas break of course. So he set it up and then decided to take Misses Thinker, Independent, Little Miss and Mr Cheeky with him to have a swim at their nan's and then get a movie and pick the take out they wanted for tea. The Man Child and Biggest Miss have gone for the whole weekend and I commented to My Beloved about how it feels like we only have 5 children.  'I know!' he said. 'We're nearly there!' and laughed.

They finally arrived home at 7.30 and I was just starting to get to the 'Call the hospital and police for accidents' stage of worrying when they pulled up and we settled in to watch  Mirror Mirror in the front yard.

We were watching the movie when we saw lights from a car come up the driveway and I stared into the darkness, where I could make out two figures. I stared until I realised who was there and was pleasantly surprised (and I am not just saying that because they might read this ;p ).It was Tracey and Bruce. They had come to give us a thank you gift of chocolates and a bottle of rum. It was such a wonderfully kind thing to do and My Beloved looked at me confused. ('I only rolled a bit of wood off my trailer.' he said to me later We had helped Tracey drop something back to her place that morning with our trailer and My Beloved did not seem to understand why he needed a thank you of such a wonderful thing as rum. He also was so shocked at such 'thoughtful people'.) After establishing that they could not stay due to sleeping children in their car I seemed to take that as an invitation to  drag poor Tracey through my house out to the back to show her the back yard.

Movie is on and everyone is ready for a double movie 'marathon'.

Naturally (for us) the out door light was inoperable (even though it was on  every night this week) and in almost complete darkness I showed Tracey around whilst My Beloved and Bruce did what ever it is men do when they are away from their wives for five minutes, grin happily I imagine!) Soon I realised that perhaps it was time to shut up (something I am not particularly good at) and eventually we let them leave. Though I am sure the drive down our driveway was just as terrifying as the trip up it was...the driveway too, seems 'inoperable' at times. Yes, I know impassable is a better word for that sentence, but I don't care!

Littlest Miss thought the movie night was the most exciting thing to ever had happened in her life and squealed all bug eyed for ten minutes whilst jumping up and down. She was more entertaining then the movie for us.

After mentioning how kind and unnecessary the gifts were and how thoughtful both Tracey and Bruce were My Beloved said

'I hope they don't think we are crazy.'

'Err why would they think that?' I asked 'Well,I can see why people would think that about me in general but why this particular time?'

'Because we are watching a movie in the yard on a windy night.' he said.

'Well, when you put it like that it does sound a little crazy, but don't worry they have 7 kids as well, they'll get  it.'

'Yes, but it might seem REALLY crazy!'

'Ok. So having a pizza and movie night in the yard at your own home for free is insanity, but driving out of your way and paying to sit either in your car or on the grass and buying food to watch a movie at a drive in is not? Now lets put The Lorax on. It is getting late.'

I wonder how he will react when people come to visit us one day after I have painted a section of our back yard wall white and buy a projector to play movies on hot summer nights?

THANK YOU BRUCE & TRACEY!

It was a fun night. My only regret is that Mr Cheeky slept through it ( on the day bed all rugged up and warm) and I did not make popcorn... or choc tops. But thanks to our visitors we had chocolates (after I took the good ones out of course!! ;)

The Back-yard-again…

Because I opened my big mouth on the My7LittleAustralians facebook page and said I’d post about the HUGE cable spool I bought for my outdoor area yesterday, I thought I had better do it! Obviously the ‘internet police’, from the ‘you said you would post’ division won’t be rocking up to take me away if I don’t, but I figure with a few new readers to the blog, I may as well! (Hello if you are a new reader by the way, as dismissive as I may have just sounded then I am really glad that anyone would want to read the ‘ramblings of my mind’ as My Beloved calls this blog. He is surprised even family wants to read it!)

As you may be aware My Beloved and I have been owner building our home for a while now… about 12 years in fact. We do things and then do more things, then we knock those things down or modify them and then find our selves doing even more things. Don’t feel sorry for us though, we usually enjoy it. There was however, a three year period when we did not. We hated it even and did not do too much beside the lawn mowing and even then it was left a little too long between cuts.

But we are back into the swing and this week the back yard has been the focus of our efforts. My Beloved has been sweating from sun up to sun down, on this… his week off from work. The idea of shiny, smooth, plastic or glass is not my idea of nice. I say the 'look' I am attempting to achieve is 'Funky Junky' mixed with 'Adobe'  but it could also be called 'raw'. Yesterday was the day we picked up the huge cable wheel I found at the tip. So the first element of the 'junky' had arrived.  I am rather tired so instead of actually writing how it all went down. I’ll show you. I forgot to take pictures at the 'putting it on the trailer' stage. Everybody now… ‘You’re terrible Muriel!’.

Tie it down tight boys! We don't need that rolling off the trailer.

Come on Guys!!
( No children consume Ice Coffee in this family but,
 they do play with the icy cold bottles on a hot morning.)

I'm driving!!

PUSH!!!

Is this where you want it?
(umm it actually isn't...)

  

Watch your toes.

A small section done, no colour yet but it will have!

One umbrella option.

So not an great picture selection but it should give you a small idea of what is going on. When you consider that as of Tuesday there was only a small area with pavers, the whole area is 13m x6m give or take ameter or so  and the rest was dirt it is actually quite a transformation, but we still have a long way to go! I 'll post more about the pavers and the bases of the outdoor kitchen ( though others may prefer the term BBQ area) another time.I have to start thinking of colour... I just do not know what colour yet... hmmmmmmmm.