This is gonna be different...

I usually close my eyes to housework. Somehow I've managed to train myself not to see that it needs doing. Until it gets to the point where I simply cannot ignore it anymore. This is a far cry from being a teenager and living at home. My room was tidy and before I had the carpet put in, I recall dragging the furniture out to the hall so I could vacuum and mop properly.

A lot has changed!

So, it's around 8.00pm and I walk into the kitchen and discover Jerome playing with a huge dust bunny. Mostly made up of his own fur mind you. Does he do this deliberately - throw his fur around to mark the house as his? It would not surprise me.

But this did! Holee! MOTH's guests arrive tomorrow at sparrow fart and THE PLACE IS A PIGSTY! Did I mention that I hate housework? The vacuum and I are not friends either. The Kirby man came to us once. Talk to him I said, I don't touch that stuff. I'm not tall by any stretch of the imagination and even with the pipe at full extention, I still have to bend my back to use the cleaner. There are chips of paint out of the corners where I never fail to get caught. They don't call it a barrel cleaner for nothing, I always manage to get it to barrel roll at least once.

So in the space of an hour and a half I had the main areas of the house vacuumed, the dusting done, the shower and bathtub cleaned, the vanity cleared of my stuff and cleaned and the kitchen and bathroom floor mopped. Oh, and towels replaced *is proud*. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTH! He already gets coffee in bed every day, and he'd been given his present last weekend so nothing special this morning except an early rise so he could get to the airport by 7.20am to collect his guests. 

Still haven't managed to hem those jeans. They are dress jeans, not blue denim. But even the blue denim ones he likes to have chopped off to the right length. Usually I make him do those.

He drops me off at work on the way ... and the gate is still closed! Uh oh. Ok, so I am a bit earlier than usual but hey! That's no excuse. MOTH drives me round the long way - I can still get to my office, just not through our normal gate. I find out later the gardener doesn't work on Wednesdays so the site manager has to open them. 

Home to meet Eva, Mike Snr, and Mike Jnr. She's nice, Snr is quiet and ... dorky. Jnr is ... well, a 6yo boy. Been a long time since I've had anything to do with one of those. This is going to be interesting. Jnr calls me Aunty. Roast lamb for dinner tonight. MOTH is cooking.

MOTH drives them to Dreamworld the next day. They pay for his way in. Bus home, and I walk in the front door. MOTH tells me they've only just arrived home themselves. His feet and back are killing him but they seemed to have had a good day.

Shopping night. MOTH told me she keeps Jnr well in hand, but not this time. Or is that me and she's just not keeping him as in hand as I might like? He's not mine so I feel I can't take him to task properly about his behaviour, but I do set him to task helping me find things. It keeps him occupied and Eva and Snr tell me it's the first time he seems to be enjoying shopping. *i'm glad someone is!*

Eva and Snr have gone to sit down, Jnr is still with us. We get to the checkout and Jnr is bothering me so I send him to find his parents. I can see them sitting on one of the seats. I'm packing things into the trolley and MOTH says ... Uh oh. I have to make a quick trip home. You what? Home. I have to go home. I've left my wallet at home ... in the bag I asked him if he needed before we left *rolls eyes*. I get to stand at the checkout and wait for him to come back. 

Eva and the boys have something planned for Friday night and we leave straight after I finish work. They have a pass to see Ripley's Believe It or Not. I've gone past, but never visited. I'm excited at the prospect of doing something different, yet at the same time not as I like to come home and crash on Friday night. I fall asleep in the car. It's on Cavill Avenue and MOTH assures me he knows where it is. Turns out he was ... not correct ... and we are a little lost. I sigh and look it up on the phone. Not far enough south. He drops us off and we wait for him to park the car and come back. We're outside some eateries and Eva buys everyone Subway. 

Eva wants to buy souvenirs but we aren't sure where to find a store. We wander a little, the weather is cool but not totally freezing, the clubs are going full bore. We find markets on the beach and spend time wandering along the foreshore looking at stalls. Eventually they tire of this and we head to Ripley's. 

They pay our way in *yay* and off we go. There are some great things to look at but Jnr is very loud. VERY loud. I shush him several times, my patience is wearing very thin. I will add some photos in an update. 

Home for them today. The flight out is 6.30am so we are up at 4.00am. The airport has changed a lot since I was there last! Drop them off with lots of hugs and back home to bed. 

Later, MOTH lays on the floor to watch Robson Green's extreme fishing while I hemmed the jeans. Soon enough, he's snoring. He didn't surface again till nearly 4.00pm. He must have been tired!

Out to dinner tonight. This is what MOTH needed the jeans for. We had booked a table earlier in the week, but some of the old folk read reviews about the place and decided they wanted to change the venue. They chose Thai, but Stan told them he didn't eat Thai and wasn't going. Back to the original choice and see how it goes.

It went really really well. The only complaint from the table was Stan - he had bangers and mash and the skins on the bangers were a bit tough. Dinner was served within 25 mins of placing the order. Everyone who had steak thought it was perfect. Even Wombat *who wanted to change the venue* was raving. Home by 9.30pm. 

He was still in a good mood the next morning when we all met up again. Amazing. 

Jerome spent the day meowing. The. Whole Day. Ok, slight exaggeration. He spent the morning meowing. Constantly. I patted him. I played with him. I feed him and still he called. Eventually he wore himself out and fell asleep on MOTH's couch. Thank heavens!

Another pair of jeans need's mending. Not sure how to do this one as the waistband is falling off. The only thing keeping it on is the belt loop and some safety pins. I can't machine it - that means unpicking the belt loop and trying to sew it back in place. Ummm no, how many layers of denim is that?? I try to back stitch it. Nope, the needle breaks. And it wasn't a tiny embroidery needle either. I find a way and spend a pleasant couple of hours listening to Jerome and hemming jeans. Not!