Tuesday 9 June 2009

Some laundry, a hammer, and tears

Cor this is really a washed out picture..full of characters that make up Miss Dunnit's year group and shots taken on Leaver's Day again. She actually leaves on Thursday after the last exam (History). A small party is in the offing; I share the school run and we're going to have a muted celebration; Mrs SchoolRunChum has another daughter at the school, so it's not all over for her just yet! I shan't miss the icy wintery journies; those country roads are bad for my stress levels in freezing temperatures, but in fine weather, really, it's the most glorious journey. I shall delve into my photo archives and see if I can share it with you. I'm sounding quite sentimental aren't I? Well you see, this morning, I thought I'd get a steal on the chores and squash in a couple of those housekeeping jobs that you have to do because you've put them off for so long they're actually becoming annoying. Oh yes, those of you who clean and maintain properly, regularly and possibly as followers of the flylady really ought to look away now. No pictures though, I have a little pride! Anyway, at the risk of exposing too much detail about the private life of an average middle aged couple, here I go: Mr Dunnit works in jeans, and T Shirts and sweatshirts embroidered with the company name; these are kept seperate from everyday clothes for reasons that suit us both, actually. For me, it's easier to pile them all in the same place (they're in the right hand drawer of the divan bed, on his side). For him, staggering around at Ohmygod o,clock every morning, having them literally at his feet is an advantage; getting dressed in the dark never throws up any embarrasments. Still with me? Our bedroom is now in the extension which is now 3 years old for goodness sake. And when we moved the bed, the cheapskate chipboard base of a drawer popped out at the back. You guessed it; the right hand drawer, on his side. So almost every morning for the past three years, the poor man has tugged the drawer open and slammed it shut. And woken or at the least, disturbed me. Now I know he could have mended it in a jiffy, but these are the sort of jobs that get put off around here. The sort that you just know will lead to other jobs that all have to be finished before the first, simple job can be completed. Oh yes. So this morning, I was putting away laundry. Tugged open the drawer and decided today was the day. I've had enough, at last! It was much heavier than I anticipated, considering it only holds a couple of dozen tops and some manky jeans at any time. And the reason for that is why it's taken me 2 hours of this morning to mend the drawer. All of Miss Dunnit's Primary school papers were in there. Art, projects, home/school diaries, reading records, SATS results, reports...oh, everything. It's been a happy but quite tearful morning! And there was stacks of stuff, which I must say has now been weeded a bit..a sample of art and stuff from each year. Flicking through the home-school diaries is such a revelation - shows me for the amateur first time parent I was, and the tolerance and goodwill of each teacher in turn really shines out from those pages; at each stage, her teachers have had nothing but Miss Dunnit's personal success at heart; a vocation, that. If you're a teacher reading this, thanks for going into teaching; truly you touch more than one life forever - my daughter's for sure, but ours too; we couldn't possibly have turned out this fantastic creature without your help. And the drawer? As predicted, it took some persauding with a hammer and of course, a bit of duct tape for surety, but overall, it was a five minute job. Now I should log off and go to the chores I was going to do. But, there's always tomorrow!

8 comments:

Angie said...

Oh you do make me smile as i picture your anticks. I have to admit to a drawer whose front half fell off every time I put towels away .... it was like it for 2 years until my DD lost her cool when she put the towels away.
I also identify with sorting something that contains memories or diaries etc.... job would take 15 mins if there were nothing there to muse over but now it takes atleast 2 hours even if you have someone shouting "what are you doing up there?"

Love the LO by the way. xx

Anne said...

Oh god love you. I've had a bit of a day and as a teacher, that was a lovely thing to read! Going through all that stuff must have been fab - I'm making end of year books with my class at the moment and it's amazing looking back at what they've done - and that was only from September!

Lyn said...

Isn't it amazing what we forget we have and where, and a real treasure of a find for you that one day I may experience for myself. You see, I know where weverything like that is. It's in the loft. And so is everything else and, one day, but not any day soon, one day, my loft will be as tidy as the rest of the house. Yeah, right!

However, a little Flybaby tip for Mr Dunnit - always put your clothes out ready the night before - preferably somewhere other than the bedroom. My very own FlyHubby has done this for a while now - even though we travel to work together, just cos he chooses to get up at dark o'clock doesn't mean he had better wake me - or else!!!!! Six o'clock is quite early enough for me, thank you very much, when I stagger out of bed with my eyes shut .... and reach for the clothes waiting for the day!

Jay said...

Oh yes, I can relate to the drawer situation. Lilly's drawers (yes, all of them) fall out everytime she goes near them. This is probably the reason all her clothes are in a pile on the floor instead of in the drawers. I wish I had a handy Mr Dunnit, Mr Pilot-man is not so keen on DIY!

Jo Power said...

Most people in my house expect me to get up and sort out there clothes and if I don't I get "MUM!" so I have to go and fix things. I can relate to Jay both my children hang their clothes on the floor to cries of the draw wont shut or the draw is broken when in fact if they folded the neat pile of washing (folded and ironed when given to them) they wouldn't have a problem.
Thank you for the laugh. xx

Kerry said...

Teachers are underappreciated. I wouldn't ever be able to have the patience to do their job without losing it big style.

Glen said...

You have a way with words Julia. I enjoy reading your blog and after the bedside drawer saga, I don't even want to think DIY! It just doesn't even have a place in 'his' vocabulary! So why do I have a hammer? I'll leave that to your imagination! Well done you for tackling the drawer.

Carmen said...

Oh this made me chuckle. And teachers are up there with nurses for me. Total awe and admiration. Our daughters teachers have all been absolute stars.