Precious things

 I've been sorting some of my paperwork and that's no small task!  Some things need lengthy attention, some are very easy just to sling in the bin.  Some can be scanned and stored digitally but for some things, the paper they are written on is so precious that I will never throw them away. 

I found this little purse, green but very clumsily sewn in yellow thread, and it was in my memory box.  I remember my Mother putting a few coins for the cloakroom in it and tucking it in her bag each time she went out in evening dress.  It might not look very special to you, but it was the first present I made for Mummy after I started school.  It was only after she died that I looked inside it and there I found this little note, written on a tatty piece of paper but so dear to her that she kept it for fifty years until she died eighteen years ago.  

As I go through my possessions it's wonderful to find things like this.  It makes me so grateful for a secure, loving childhood.  And it moves me to pray and thank God for the love and kindness which I have received throughout my life.  

I hope you have many little things which move you to prayer too.

That was July, what about August?

 I've been doing my report about me and to me for July so now you get the edited highlights.  Sorry about that. 

The month seems to have been dominated by the saga of the shower. although I haven't blogged much about it.  I am waiting for an assessment by an Occupational Therapist before my landlord will install a wet room but OT has quite a backlog so it could be a Very Long Wait.  I had a shower which was a little unpredictable(!) but I was prepared to tolerate it until I could get the bathroom sorted completely,  However, on 3rd July I didn't have a shower, I had a dramatic waterfall which was flooding the bathroom so I turned off the water completely and reported the problem.  My landlord had a plumber here within an hour,   The faulty shower was removed and the water supply turned on again.  For the next couple of weeks I visited friends a couple of times a week for a good shower and between times "made do".  Anyway, a shower has now been fitted but I still await the OT assessment.

The garden has been lovely this month especially as I have been getting spring onions, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes.  I am especially pleased with the potatoes which taste delicious.  What's even better is that the spuds Jack has been growing at home have been rubbish so I have been able to give him some of mine.  One up to me.

I've ventured out a little more than I have for over a year.  I went to a local café but ate outside.  I've seen my spiritual counsellor for the first time in eighteen months.  I've visited a friend in a residential home.

I've been decluttering.   Big Time.  The biggest thing to go was a freezer but my felting machine and loads of clothes and household items have also gone.  The departing clothes are particularly exciting as I have lost weight!  Yay!

And between all that excitement I've done sewing for a friend, I've got started on my Christmas cards and I've been preparing photobooks for printing.

I don't know yet what August will bring.  Card making, sewing, a few days out - they're all possibilities.  Bring it on!

Special time

 I can't begin to imagine how life is feeling in America at the moment.  It sounds frightening and, like many Brits, I'm praying for you.

In England, (it varies through the UK),  we are having a different kind of tough time at the moment as we enter a second lockdown.  Right at the beginning of the first lock down I sat down with a large coffee and a little something and I decided that I would regard it as a gift time and, for the most part, I carried that intention through. 

 It's been even harder to make that resolution the second time.  I know I'm in for a lonely few weeks.  (There's no-one I can bubble with.)  This time around I won't be able to sit in my garden so much.  There's no sense of novelty.  

On the other hand I've been here before and I have some strategies.  I've sorted quite a bit in my house so it's even nicer to be in.  I'm into a routine of telephone calls on a regular basis.  

So, once again this will be gift time - in fact this time, it will partly be a time for making gifts!  It will be a time for reflecting on all the good things I have been given - not just material things but love, determination, and inspiration (thanks Tracing Rainbows for reminding me of that one).   

Jack came on Tuesday and he won't be here again until after lockdown but he left me a little encouragement.  I've had these  storage drawer quite a long time but there were only two wheels on this particular wagon and I'd lost the other two.  Jack made a wheeled platform and fixed the drawers on so I can do some organising and decluttering,  

And as further inspiration he says that if I don't use it for that I could use the platform as a skate board.

Amazing ideas he has, does Jack!

A Clean Joy

My "wet joy" post was about cleanliness and happens several times a week but today's clean joy happens just once a fortnight and hadn't happened for a whole month before today.

It's the visit of Annie-the-home-enhancer.  I can't do all my own cleaning now (disability) and Annie's visits are very welcome.  They are eagerly anticipated for several days.  They prompt me to do some much-needed tidying up.  I don't clean before my cleaner comes but tidying is a different matter.  If Annie has to tidy my stuff I have to find where she's put it and I untidy the place in searching so it's self preservation!

Then Annie comes and dusts and polishes, sweeps and mops and generally makes the wonderful.  Employing her takes a little financial juggling but it's well worth it.  

And the aftermath is fantastic!  Every second Thursday I can relax better, I can find things and do things.  My home is just so delightful.  There are many things I can't do for myself now (I wish I could) and I am just so grateful for Annie.

And I know that I haven't got to rush around tidying up for another thirteen days.

Semi Finished Project (and an Ooops!)

Amy came but did she have anywhere to sleep?

If she'd come just a month earlier the answer would have been a resounding NO!!!  That was definitely A Project.

By the time she came I'd used a rich mix of decluttering, dash-and-stash and disguising stuff and she was met with 

But I have to be honest, dash-and-stash had been quite important so quite a bit had to go back so it now looks like this.

There's still a lot of stuff but each of those boxes contains a single UnFinished Object so I can now finish a few and maybe have the room looking a bit more like when Amy came than how it looked before she said she was coming.

My apologies if you have also read this post on my other blog. I put it there by mistake but it is really proper to this blog.  

Sixteen days

Amy, my friend from Dorset, will be here in sixteen days for a four day break so I've got to get ready!

You may remember The Project which I started earlier in the month but sad to say I haven't done much of it.  Anyway I got stuck in yesterday and thought I had better report back.

Quite apart from making space for Amy to sleep I want to sort out some of my UnFinished Objects to make it a little easier to actually finish them.  So far I've found some Advent bunting, clothes hangers to be covered and used as presents and a crochet blanket.  My hope is that on sunny summer days I'll be able to feel very busy when I sit on my swing all afternoon!

I've also tried to introduce a little order into my home-made cards.  Finished ones tend to get tossed into a box and I can never find a suitable one when I need one so the stash just grows.  I've now utilised some Amazon packaging to create folders for Birthdays, Christmas, Thank you, Sympathy and so on.  I'll see if that helps.

I've sorted quite a bit to list on EBay - competition prizes, craft materials etc and will get them listed.  That's a time consuming business and lower priority than finding space for Amy to sleep!

I'm hoping to get back in there today and I might take a few photos.  Then again I might not. 

Happy decluttering!

While I was sorting my playroom I found a couple of "extra" presents which I had bought at Christmas.  I'd bought four originally but two had not been needed.

But what joy these amaryllis have brought me!  At first I thought they weren't going to do anything but suddenly both really sprang into life and here are the results.

I think I like the second one better: it's less showy but more unusual.  Both are looking good in my sitting room.  

Other people have amaryllis at Christmas.  I'm different!

A project

I've got a project!  I needed something to help me break out of my lethargy and it's arrived.  My friend Amy, who lives in Dorset, will be visiting me in June.  I'm feeling excited already.

The lethargy will definitely have to go.  This is the room she will be sleeping in.  Or not if I don't do something about it.  

I keep telling myself that I managed to sort the playroom so I can sort this one too.

I've definitely got a project.

Marching Out and Anticipating April

March has been quite a good month here.

I've been beavering away at my playroom and it is now safe to start on the start-at-one-corner-and-do-it-bit-by-bit tidying.  I had to do the move-it-all-out-and-get-a-bit-radical routine first or I could have had a serious fall!  Anyway, here's the before  and today pictures.

I walked a lot more in March than I did in February but not as much as January so I'm hoping to concentrate on that a bit more this month.  I'm also trying some gentle exercises, some chair based, to improve my flexibility. 

I've revived my other blog with the aim of keeping myself to the financial straight and narrow and I've smashed my target of living below my means by £400.  I'm aiming for savings of £5000 by the end of the year. 

So, now to look forward to April.  Church-wise I shall be busy especially around Easter.  Auntie Hettie will be 94 this month so we are having a small tea party for her.  I've got several meals out with friends.  I shall do a lot more at the playroom and I want a few days out as well.

Bring it on!

Everything takes longer than it did!

Before I started

I've hinted at my Vision 2020 project a couple of times so here's what it's about.  I've often heard the phrase 2020 Vision, meaning perfect sight but I decided that I would go wonky on this one. I don't want perfection!   It just seemed to me that I would like to improve my life in various areas before 2020 gets here.  There are plenty of areas (financial, social, health etc) which I could improve so I've chosen just a few.

All my life I have fought a rising tide of clutter and I don't see that changing anytime soon.  I have too many hobbies, too many interests, too much memorabilia to be a minimalist.  And that's not really what I want anyway.  What I need is safety to avoid falls.  What I want is to have things in a state where I can find them, sorted to inspire me to create.  If I can't find things when I want them I might as well not have them.  

I decided that the place to start would be my playroom.    There are unfiled papers, uncompleted projects, things which I have dumped until I have time to put them away, just STUFF!  I thought it would take four or five hours but already it's taken nearly eleven and the end is nowhere near in sight. 

Maybe Vision 2020 will take until the end of 2020!

What a month!

I can't remember when I last had such a roller coaster of a month!  

My dear friend Amy came to stay for a few days early in the month and as always we hardly stopped talking!  We went to The Deep, the wonderful marine aquarium in Hull and as always I was mesmerised by the creatures which inhabit our oceans.  I just love watching fish!  I took loads of photographs but they were uniformly awful so you won't be seeing any of them.  We also had a day at a spa which was wonderful.

I had seven meet-ups for coffee or lunch.  I think everyone is trying to get  meet-ups accomplished before December!  Most of my friends will be spending December supporting their grandchildren at school plays and carol services, acting as taxi drivers, or as elves for Santa so early socialising with friends is essential if it's going to happen at all.

I had my annual visit to Donna Nook to see the seals.  It is the most amazing sight.  I never tire of seeing this mammalian maternity site.

The bathroom floor has been replaced, not good while it was happening but it now looks much better.  

I've managed to get rid of quite a bit of "stuff" including a recliner chair so the house feels as though it has lost weight.  Plenty more still to go, though.

As I reported yesterday, I published my Kindle book. 

The month has, however, ended badly.  An old friend's son phoned to tell me his mother's life will soon be over.  At one time we were very close and our friendship was still important.  I set out to visit her (it's at least a two hour drive) but about ten minutes from home I was in a road traffic accident.  Not my fault and no-one was hurt but I'm a bit shaky.  And I feel very sad as I won't see my friend again.

Marching on!

As I said in my last post February was fun but March looks likely to bring mayhem!

The floor in my kitchen has been giving rise to anxiety for quite a while and it's due to be sorted on 16th March.  I'm not really sure what to expect as everyone with whom I have spoken has given me different information and everyone says that s/he is right!  I am definitely pig in the middle.

Anyway, I need to make the best of a bad job so I'm going to get the kitchen emptied before they come and take the opportunity to spring clean.  I hate disruption in my kitchen.  GRRRRRR!

Circulating smellies

Last night I went to a charity "do" and like all charity events it involved a raffle.  I've organised many such events myself and I know that a request for raffle prizes is the cue for a rifle through last year's unwanted Christmas presents.  The stationery which looks great in the pack (but not so good with a letter written on it), the whisky marmalade (where the whisky ruins the marmalade and the marmalade ruins the whisky) and the lavishly packaged smellies are handed in with sighs of relief that at last the donor has got rid of them.  I know that's how it is; I've been the raffle organiser, I've been the recipient of unwanted presents and doubtless I've been the donor of other unwanted presents.  And far, far worse I've been the person carrying those "treasures" home again.

And that's just how it was last night.  I won this pretty parcel and I know I will never use it.  I like plain toiletries and lavender with cassis isn't a pong I want to have around me.  I'm trying to declutter my house so this package will not be finding a resting place in my home.

Instead it will be going to Romania.  A local charity takes all sorts of things from blankets to bubble bath and my smellies will be going out there.  I could have sent them to Women's Aid, or SallyAnn, both of which I understand would receive them gratefully.

And I've written a memo to self - don't give expensively packaged smellies as presents.

Horses for courses

If you read Flylady.net you will know that CHAOS is Can't Have Anybody Over Syndrome and I have it BIG Time!  I need the best part of a month's warning of visitors.

However, it's a characteristic which I have learned to live with and indeed to exploit.  Ever since I had my first truly independent home I have invited people to come for meals becuase that's the best way I know of making myself do some tidying up.

When I lived in a vicarage it wasn't too much of a problem - there were enough rooms just to shove the clutter behind closed doors but in my current "bijou" residence it's rather more of a challenge and a challenge which I take on rather less frequently.

But this Sunday I have no services to take and so I have four guests coming for lunch, that's one very elderly aunt, two cousins and the wife of a cousin who is also a great friend.  So, for the past couple of weeks (yes seriously) I have been directing my attention to Getting The House In Order (it deserves capitals).

And today the truly wonderful Jack has been again.  Not only is Jack a gardener he is a wonderful friend and he is very well house trained.  Just to make matters even more complicated I had to conduct a funeral today so all I could do in my own house was to direct operations.  Jack has altered a couple of cupboards in the kitchen, moved the fridge and freezer and cleaned the floor, cleaned the kitchen, moved my sewing stuff from the sewing/dining room, cleaned the sewing/dining room, vacuumed most places AND he has shifted about a ton of gravel, dug over my veg patch, dug up the remaining potatoes and the ravaged brassicas and consumed four pots of tea.  All that in five hours.

I was exhausted just watching him but tomorrow I will get everything ready for Sunday - actually I've got most of the food in the freezer already.

And Jack said he'd rather do what he had done today four times over than conduct a funeral.

Definitely horses for courses.

Hallelujah!

I've found the fabric for Bobo's trousers!   A project for next week!

Return to the House of Horror

Small confession - I'm writing this post in an attempt to keep myself motivated.  No discouraging comments PLEASE!

Well, yesterday I did quite a bit of clearing.  Well, it felt like a lot of clearing but the pictures don't tell quite the same story.  Twenty four hours between  the first two.  I know I've worked hard but no-one coming to my home would believe it!

 You could also see the difference a day made in the other photographs as well.






I've made the second of these two pictures a bit bigger because if you look very closely at the chair you will see that Bobo is sitting on it, wearing his new red sweater.  What you can't see is that he still has no trousers as I still haven't found the fabric.

I may be some time.

Humdrum

I’ve been reading other people’s blogs for ages, long before I bit the bullet and had a go myself.  What held me back was that I felt that my life was too dull, too humdrum.  I’m not clever enough to be witty, I’m not inventive enough to live for a week on a £5, I spend 99% of my life alone.  The list goes on and on.

But it is the humdrum and the everyday which allows the exciting things to happen.  I read a lot of frugality blogs and the most wonderful entries are when the blogger can do something as a result of their frugality over days, month, sometimes years of frugality.  Creative blogs sometimes mask the time spent learning a skill to the point of being confident enough to show it off.

And today I have to face something very humdrum.  These are two photographs which I have just taken of my sitting room.  It doesn’t usually look like this but I am sorting my dining/sewing/spare bed room.  Decluttering and sorting must be the dullest job out but until I do this, sewing is going to be hard work, entertaining friends for a meal difficult and I might as well forget the idea of inviting anyone to stay.

So today I must start on this mammoth task.

Because I haven’t told you the real reason for needing to sort it

I can’t find the fabric for Bobo’s trousers!