why should him looking after his sons for a few days seem like he's doing you a big favour??? It always does though doesn't it, and we buy into it, asking them to 'do us a favour' when the kids are theirs too! It sounds like you've really found the crux of your problem too. Just clearing up the paperwork isn't really going to keep it clear - you need an effective filing system, one that works for YOU, and is preferably so simple any male can use it too!! This is the key to many of our recurring problems - finding a solution that really works for us. We can clean up the mess till we're blue in the face, and often do, but until we figure out WHY the mess keeps happening we don't really get any closer to a cure.

Of course there's always throwing the kids and DH out on the street, but I suspect there might be a less harsh measure!

I'm considering a way I can make ironing less irksome for myself, and it involves extension cables!! I need to get the kids some freshly ironed shirts for next week (DD wore a school t-shirt this week, bless her!) and I can't really expect DH to come back to the WHOLE pile from the last... well several weeks anyway. Possibly 6. Actually, doing the ironing in front of the television is pretty obvious (if I can ever find anything to watch) but my plug sockets are all in the wrong places. I do have a spare extension though!

other than that I'm mostly just chugging along this week. Tomorrow morning's both bits of school volunteering, and I may get dragged over to my parents' house after school befo they go away for the week, since both my grandmother's birthday and Mum's 60th birthday are in the week they're away. Which just leaves me Friday. I hope to get this office rearranged before DH gets back, so the bed is gone somewhere and the desk is put together and put in place. He's got a confirmed flight on the 7th and is waitlisted on a few other flights before then.

can't believe it's Wednesday already, but then as my mother pointed out I mostly slept through Monday!

Kerri.