My home is a mess

bearcub

Emms, it's not difficult to post a photo. Well, not when you've done it as often as I have. Another forum I'm on, we post photos a lot - mainly wildlife, but flowers and landscapes, too. Let's just say that the weather has been variable today; pouring rain and strong winds this morning, followed by blue sky and sun with a slight breeze, then heavy downpours this afternoon with hail, and the odd bit of thunder thrown in. I hate colouring my hair, and am far too vain to let if go grey, but don't want the expense of getting the hairdresser to do it.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Morning Messies!
Bearcub, I`ve barely got my head around TAKING photos (was better with the old camera with film in it) and even that was a bit hit & miss! I did get some great shots of my `bee-hotel` last year with the old camera. I have a small digital camera that I rarely use, and my mobile phone is an old bog-standard thing that I avoid using unless in emergencies. DS calls me a Luddite, and he`s not far wrong!

Messy Status Report -
Saturday was AMAZING! Stuff got done beyond my wildest dreams, and just as I`d resigned myself to nothing but the bare tick-over stuff.
Box-room - this is a tiny room that OH keeps HIS stuff in, and uses as a sort of retreat. As his stuff never ever clutters the rest of the house, and as he often enjoys a quiet hour in there with his old maps/reference books, and never takes mugs/food in there it`s a good arrangement. I don`t interfere in there at all. Yesterday OH decided he was going to `tidy` it.
Result - 2 large Mr T shopping bags full of old paperwork (work-related `hand-outs`, old junk-mail that came with RSPB or Geographic mags, old bills/receipts from before he moved in here, etc..) all gone to recycling in village paper skip. Pile of history books off floor and on shelf. Wellies (3 pairs) in neat row beside desk. Desk surface found, also several pairs of new socks found, guitar case dusted, opened, and a bit of tuning/strumming (hasn`t touched it for ages. I love being strummed at.) Windowsill cleared, dusted. Pipe & pipe baccy tin found and sampled (by OH, but I love the smell on the rare occasions he smokes a pipe) Carpet Henry`d. OH did most of the work, I was just waving a duster and making helpful suggestions.
Having `made friends` with Henry, OH was then inspired to do landing, bedroom, bathroom & bits of cobwebby ceiling.
OH said he `needed supervision` with Henry as he was worried about which nozzle/brush to use where, and which setting, and scared of blocking pipe or pulling wallpaper off, things like that. Bless.
Meanwhile, DOWNSTAIRS...
I put a shoulder of lamb in the bottom of the oven to slow-roast with some rosemary & veg, and DGD put a WM load on (towels) and Cleared/cleaned worktop space to make Pizza from scratch, prepped her toppings (inc. red chilli, black & green olives!) and mixed/kneaded the dough (packet mix). Kitchen was warm as oven was on with the lamb in it. (I did the putting in/taking out of oven bits.) Surprisingly little mess, apart from DGD`s floury T-shirt, then that went in WM with her school stuff. She hung the washing up too.
Result- a really stonking good pizza,DGD polished most of it off but we all had to have a taste, of course.
Lovely feeling all round of us all getting things done. though most of the physical effort on my part was going up & down stairs! Lamb was gorgeous, but it cooked itself really.
Today -
It`s sunny AND mild here and the first 3 daffs are just beginning to open. There`s a riot of birds on the feeders, mostly goldfinch, chaffinch & greenfinch at the moment. (It would be such a waste NOT to be looking out of the window!)
DGD is upstairs doing shower/shampoo thing now, and then it`ll be the de-dagging.....
Daftie-dog`s downstairs bed washed this am, now out on line.
I`m going to make a lamb leftovers curry in a bit, put some green cabbage and potatoes in, and let it fester gently in big casserole for later.
DS has offered to help too, after seeing how busy OH was yesterday, so I might ask him to do kitchen floor later when DGD has gone back to her mum`s.
Must also finalise our Mr T list for tomorrow, going to do a `siege` shop with OH to stock up for when I can`t drive.
Have a nice Sunday all. x

Emm-in-a-pickle

Soupdragon, just read your post. ((HUGS)) re missing tiles & tooth-filling, hope there`s no 3rd item, and that the rain keeps off till roofer has been. One of my DD`s ex`es was a roofer, and a real handyman as well. He was always wanting to be doing something, fixing something, helping a mate to build something, etc. Lovely lad, but he couldn`t just `sit` at home with her, and they split up.

bearcub

Afternoon Messies.

Wow, Emms, that some result all round! :j Sunshine does help to bring out the spring-cleaning effect, though, I think.

Here, it's rained heavily since before we got up this morning, and our back garden is now partly under water again. One good result of that, though, is that lots of birds are coming in to clear up the seed. DD2 saw 'our' song thrush yesterday, and was very impressed for someone who's not particularly into wildlife.

Had lunch in one of our favourite pubs, near the ferry terminal. Finished eating, and thought we had another half hour together, when DD's friend called to say that the ferry was unloading. Then, before DD had a chance to drink her pint, friend's husband arrived, helped drink said pint, then it was a rushed goodbye. Still, we should be seeing more of DD2 this year, with various things planned, including her bf coming over to do some work for us inside and outside the house.

alec_eiffel

Afternoon everyone,

Well, I didn't get much decorating done. I had put to the back of my brain how much I dislike it so I whined and huffed my way through it! I thought I was going to sand everything then paint but that prospect was too depressing so I sanded 3 of the doors plus the cupboard doors and painted them. I have another 2 door frames and the big sliding door to do which is quite a lot but I have to confess it looks so much better white.

This morning I've painted two small picture frames white and we're going to hang them on the landing when we're done. They're currently just propped up on a chair so it'll be good to get them out of the way.

DH did one coat of preservative on the compost bin to-be, if I brave the cold I'll stick another on today. Oh, the big thing is that I fixed the showerknob! It had fallen off and was adding to the depressing feel of the grim bathroom. The fitting is right near the wall so I had to dig out one of those screwdrivers from a Christmas cracker and it just about fit. Hooray!

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies.
Bearcub, apart from the rushed goodbyes it sounds like you and your DD2 really enjoyed her visit. It`s lovely that you have more frequent visits to look forward to as well.

Alec E, I`d got the impression somehow that you liked decorating, dunno why! Well done on the shower knob, too.

Well, we did our mega-shop at Mr T`s today. 2 trolleys, me leaning on one with the light stuff in, OH grappling to steer the other with heavy stuff... now all safely stashed in caravan of Doom and in spare room of Doom, we`re both pooped now, but it`s a load off my mind that there`ll be less need for shopping for quite a while after my op. AND as OH has done most of the lugging stuff around when we got home, he`ll have more idea where to find things. He hasn`t had a clue till recently, but that`s more my fault than his.
The bit of de-cluttering I did before I got laid up has paid off, even though I`ve now gone and filled up some of the space that I cleared, it`s a lot more organised now.
On the Down side, we`ve spent a lot - but on the Up side we`d have spent buying the same stuff anyway in the next few months, and now won`t have to, AND - because I did my homework yesterday (MySupermarket to check offers/prices, and used several vouchers before they expired) we made a total saving, between multi-buys/vouchers/offers, of £28.79.
OH is really impressed - he honestly had No Idea about any of this before!
So here we are doing the mutual appreciation thing - him being proud of my savvy shopping, and realising and appreciating what I`d been doing by myself for ages - and me being really grateful that he`s been such a Cherub, and not whinged or muttered about me being so reliant on his help because I couldn`t do this on my own now (though I used to quite happily).
Apart from slow-roasting some belly-pork for tonight I think we`ve both done quite enough for today! We still have a nice fresh cauli from last week`s visit to farmshop, and we got some new potatoes (offer!) from Mr T`s so no peeling. It will be packet stuffing mix & `cheat`s gravy` though, with no apologies. Sodditt. I don`t think there`ll be any complaints, either.

alec_eiffel

Packet stuffing mix... you mean there's something other than that and frozen stuffing balls. Folk out there don't really make their down do you. Do you? Wow.

In terms of decorating, I love it when it's finished, I love coming up with ideas and picking all the stuff I want to have in the house, but when it comes down to the boring stuff that involves getting dirty and all that I hate it! I've done a bit more today, if I carry on like this it should be done by the end of the week. Emphasis on "if I carry on like this". Ha!

Enjoy the rest of your mutual appreciation society, it's a lovely thing.

bearcub

Afternoon Messies.

Alec e, what a shame that you didn't get as much decorating done as you intended, but at least you did a fair amount. I hate decorating myself, not so much because of the actual doing of it or the mess, but because of the upheaval. Still, at least in this house, we no longer have to have wallpaper, good because OH hates wallpapering. The walls in most of the rooms are in good condition, although the lounge still has some textured stuff on it in places. don't know why they didn't finish the job prperly. The last time we decorated, we just painted over it. Now, since DD2's bf is a plasterer, he's going to come over, steam off the old paper, and skim or re-plaster where necessary. He's also going to re-point the back of the house, as previous owners have chipped bits out, and drilled holes in so many places.

Emms, I love the fact that you and your OH have a newly found respect for each other! And such great planning ahead :T. I admit neither of us are too good at planning too much ahead but, since there are only the two of us, and we have three freezers, we can usually get by. Yes, thanks, we had a lovely time with DD.

YORKSHIRELASS

Wow thats a productive day Emms. I seem to be slipping a bit with the tidying and decluttering. Need to make some lists. I have gathered together a load of things to donate to a local jumble sale then not got around to dropping them off so they are sitting on the landing. I am terrible at doing this - must find out tomorrow if its not too late!

Hubby has pressure washed the paths and patio. Our back garden is a mud bath, literally. There is hardly any grass left on what was the lawn. The culprits are the kids who will play footie for hours and we do stop them but then I give in to them pestering. Suppose I should be glad they are outside but the mud gets trampled everywhere and I get so sick of trying to keep the utility room floor clean. Every year our lawn somehow recovers by summer but this year it is a real mess.

Ah, Hellebores, one of my favourites - and one of the few things that look decent in our front garden at the moment!

My poor doggie has been ill most of the weekend with sickness and diarrhea. I was very worried about him, so much so that I didnt sleep at all last night!! Sounds a bit bonkers but if you have a pet I am sure you will understand. Thankfully he has made a miraculous recovery and is bouncing around like a puppy now. I am very glad but very tired!

Very cold and grey here, is it going to be spring soon? Longing for some sunshine for more than a couple of hours! Oh and the washing just keeps piling up, even used the tumbler yesterday.

Right, off to make DS do some homework and get him into the bath.

jpscloud

Wow Emm, well done on that amazing de-messying!

I called about the blood test, and apparently my hormone levels are normal! Grr. I can only imagine that I had a sort of blip and now it's settled down again. Things have gone back to "normal" lately, no more strange wobbly days so far thank goodness.

Spring is in the air, and not long to go til Easter hols!

Hope everyone is well, take care messies!