Why I quit the dishwasher…. Controversial, I know!

Our kitchens are full of those shiny, whizzing, pluggable wonders that have been marketed as "saviours", "time-savers", "kitchen wonders" …. but I have had it with one of them! I believe relegating it to the background has been the key to reclaiming my kitchen and getting on with my life (extreme, much???)…. I have canned the dishwasher. No, I haven't unplugged the monstrosity and thrown it to the scrap heap (yet!) but I have, for a while at least, decommissioned it.

Why? Because the very thing that was meant to save me time was actually making me busier.

You see, dishwasher stacking is a science. I believe their are PhD's awarded in innovations in Dishwasher Stacking…. so every time the little Freckles tried to load the dishwasher, they inevitably would stack things too close, too far apart, not rinse them or just leave them on the bench. Then I would have to re-stack the dishwasher, if I caught it before it went on, otherwise it would go on and then not be washed properly so I would have to re-wash the unwashed dishes….. Just how I love to spend my day!

So here is the picture. Wake up, get out of bed, put porridge on for the kids, race around trying to wake them all up (one needs to be woken numerous times as I think teenage hood has hit this Freckle at 9!), dish up said porridge, start unpacking the dishes from the night before, baby starts to cry so get up baby and get her breakfast, kids have in this time left their porridge bowls on the bench starting to dry out, I continue to unpack the dishwasher, world war 3 erupts in the bathroom, I go and negotiate peace talks and repatriation conditions, continue to unpack the dishwasher, Freckle #4 tells me that he can't possibly dress himself because he doesn't know how to count backwards from 100 and he needs to work that out and can't do both so could I please help him so he can keep counting, I acquiesce and help Freckle #4 get dressed, I finish unpacking the dishwasher at the same time that Baby Freckle finishes her breakfast (complete with porridge smeared all over her high chair), I clean her up whilst the porridge bowls continue to dry out, I look at the time and realise we have to go in 5 minutes so run around wildly dressing the baby, wiping faces (one slipped through this morning), getting every Freckle to check their "What to take to School Today" Charts, putting on my makeup and then get everyone in the car and off to school.

MEANWHILE…. While I am gone….. the porridge, still sitting in the bowls, turns into a substance that is only known to geologists and parents that is called porridge-glomerate - a mineral like substance that is resistant to removal by anything other than a pick axe or diamond saw. So, when I get home, I pull out my diamond blade and begin chipping off the bits of porridge from the bench and the plates. Honestly, I cry out in my distress, this has to stop!

And stop it has. Now, Freckles their own bowls, plates, luchboxes, you name it! I put the warm water in the sink, they wash dry and put away when they are finished. I do the baby and myself and bliss! No hard porridge to chip away at when I get home from school run…..

The success of this breakfast trial has continued to the afternoons and evenings… each Freckle brings their plates and cutlery to the sink, washes dries and puts away! No charts needed for this one… each is responsible for their own and I do believe the stroke of genius is the drying and putting away. Voila, no dishwasher to unpack!

Confession: I still do use the dishwasher sometimes. For my dishes or for the cooking things at dinner… but no more than once a day. 

Now, what to do with all the extra time I have on my hands…. I may just blog about it ;)

Enjoy your dishes, be they porridge free or not,

Felicity xx

Medicine: Chart that is 3am, exhausted and crying baby on the hip proof... well, almost!

Hello, Freckle followers. Another exhausting week of highs and lows in the Freckle household.

There have been tantrums, vomits, ridiculous nappies (YOU KNOW THE ONES.... EEWWW!), late for schools, birthday parties and trips to the ER. All just another week really!

No, seriously, Baby Freckle has been quite sick, in fact she is the one that has had two trips to the ER where the beautiful hospital doctors take one look at my singing, playing delight of a child and tell me that she is fine! But, she wastn't like that 2 hours ago, I say calmly. But, she has hardly eaten in two weeks, I tell them slightly agitated. But, her nappies smell like there is a dead animal inside her. Doesn't this warrant exploratory surgery, a helicopter trip to the capital, a team of gastroenterologists???? They smile, nod and tell me she will be fine. She has gastro. Could take another week or two or three before she is back to normal. Anyway, enough of my sleep deprived ramblings. We have been sent home with anti-nausea medication and been told to use Panadol and Nurofen for the pain. Poor little Freckle!

So, in the minutes that I have between ANOTHER load of washing and changing another sloppy nappy I have devised this little beauty! Sanity saver for me... I have been using something similar for year that I would scratch on a piece of paper but here it is looking all pretty!

Get it here!

I have designed it with space at the top for your Child's name... may seem silly but if you have more than one child and you have ever had them sick at the same time you will know how confusing it can be to remember who has had what, when! Then there is a space for you to write the dosage that you give the child, save having to remember how much they weigh and look up the back of the box when they are crying. I have done the chart with four spaces for Panadol and 3 for Nurofen. I am no pharmacist but I know that this is the maximum in 24 hours that a child can have. Once again, saves having to remember how much of which medicine you have given them. Most of the time, of course, you wouldn't be doubling up the Panadol and Nurofen but I have had to many times as my boys seem to have fevers that don't budge just with Panadol. 

Here is how it has looked for Baby Freckle over the last little bit:

I am hoping that this week brings an end to the sickness in our household, and I hope no dreaded bug have made their way into yours.

Felicity x

Dog Duty (and pet chart!)

So following from my foster fail with the RSPCA and my fast growing family that now consists of Mr & Mrs Freckle, 5 little Freckles and now 2 dog Freckles (as well as Budgie Freckle and Frecklefish) it was well and truly time to take the dog by the proverbial collar and create a dog-management system.

Previous to this looking after the dog(s) was a job that I tried my best to share around but it usually ended up being mainly myself and the oldest Freckle (who is the most dog-enthused) doing all the dog care. So here is what we did:

1. Family meeting: The Freckles sat down and had a frank chat about who was shouldering most of the doggy duty and who was getting away with very little. We all decided that we love our dogs and want them to have a happy life and that none of us like it when the baby Freckle picks up dog poo and squishes it between her fingers running delightedly to the others squealing "Doggy Play-Doh", "Ooo, stinky Play-Doh!".... yes, not one of my finest parenting moments, that one!

2. We needed a system so that we could all share the responsibility of the dogs.

3. We could all be involved but some of the jobs were more suited to older Freckles i.e. baby Freckle was not so good at walking over-excited Beagle.

So first, I developed this chart ("Pet Roster" so you can use it too):

It has a space for playing with the dogs (help the littlest Freckles feel a bit of ownership and learn some responsibility), walking the dogs (we do this in teams of 2, one of the older Freckles with a middle sized Freckle), poo duty and feeding (also involves putting on the coats - usually I help with this as it is a bit tricky for the kids).

You can download the chart for free here.

I went to my newly re-designed K-Mart for the coolest shopping experience around found this bargain:

Isn't it cool? And only $12... bargain.... I can feel a laundry makeover coming on (watch this space)!!! Also bought this mat, have since discovered that the mat is useless as it moves around all over the place, but hey... it looks good!

And look, magic! The Bits and Bobs is gone and it becomes, Dog Stuff. Thank you Pinterest!

Complete with all the bits and bobs (hmmm....) that the little Freckles need to look after their Furry Freckly Friends:

Also added a container (previous Tupperware Host Gift that I have never used for it's intended purpose) for Poo Duty, containing nappy sacks (what an amazing invention!) and  baby wipes for accidents (inevitable). So now our little Dog Station looks like this:

So what do the little Freckles think?

One is so happy that she can share the burden and joys of pet ownership.... One not so happy as he was first up on Poo Duty.

For other organisational ideas and inspiration check out felicityjd.com/footstepsandfreckles and have a look... keep coming back as I am adding a little more every week.

Until next time,

Felicity x