My home is a mess

mcculloch29

Emms, A!di has a picker upper on offer for £4.99 this week. I own 2, one for upstairs, one for downstairs. It is a most excellent gadget, with a magnet (brill for coins), a hooky bit and rubber grips to keep hold of things.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Mcculloch, those picker-uppers sound good, good price too! Useful things to have around, not just for folks with mobility/agility restrictions. At work I often borrow patients` `grabbers` to retrieve their stuff from under bed or behind lockers! My tongs will do for now though - just as well as I`m grounded till the next kindly offer of a shopping trip!

JPS, well done leaving the Hedgehogs a gap. There`s way too many `perfect` fences restricting their movement!

Messy Status Report-
Last night`s turkey leg was scrummy, and I have now frozen the makings of 2 more hearty meals of it, plus a bag of stock.
Also OH has washed up the `pseudo le creusot` (too heavy for me yet) and he says he`ll have muscles like mine by the time I`m back to `normal`! (Cheek! Just cos he`s skinny & I`m not!)
I made Dauphinoise potatoes last night to go with the turkey.
Never actually done this before, couldn`t be faffed with thin-slicing spuds, but I discovered that my Chinese cleaver is great for getting really thin slices, got carried away and made a huge lasagne dish full. DGD had the leftovers for breakfast!
Bins are out already for tomorrow.
(OH failed to consider today`s rubbish, so I have made several trips to the bin outside the front gate.)
I have also de-cobwebbed.
I should explain, this was only the cobweb I noticed yesterday over the front of my bee-hotels, it glinted in the sun when I sat outside yesterday. As I am normally most tolerant of cobwebs, and very pro-spider indoors, and as I feel responsible for the inmates of the bee-hotel because I caused it to be there, I think it`s only fair that I thwart the spider just this once!! Don`t want my bee-grublings walking straight into a cobweb when they emerge as bees, that would defeat the object altogether.
Man next door was out gardening - gave me a funny look as I wafted my feather duster at the house wall.....

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

DS is on the mend thanks all, was a bit concerned about him yesterday but the antibiotics seemed to have kicked in. Love the story about you dusting the outside of the house Emms, yes it must have looked a bit bonkers.

I have committed most of my Sunday to revising. DS2 has exams tomorrow and he finds it really hard to revise alone. Not sure if at 12 years old he should need my input so much but I dont mind really. A lot of the kids in his set at school have private tutors and I cant compete with that. Of course he should have done more revising during the week really but we have been really busy with other things and it was his best friends birthday yesterday.

So, off for a wander down to the greenhouse for a bit then back to the science - Acids and Particles next, happy days!

sonastin

YL - glad to hear your DS is on the mend. From my experience, chest infections often sound much more serious than they actually are... but you need to get it checked in case its that one-in-one-hundred time when its as bad as it sounds. I'm not sure I'd want to swap the pottering for revising though!

Well done to all those clearing gardens too. OH has done a fair bit in our garden this morning. Sadly got into another argument with the obnoxious neighbour but it hasn't spoiled his mood too much. Neighbour was complaining about our plans to have a tall fence all the way to the road so OH has moved a load of the spare building materials from the front of the house round to where they'll be in the neighbours view. It might be childish but I can't help feel that the neighbour is asking for it now.

While OH has been doing outside stuff, I've got a fair bit of indoors de-messying done. Last load of laundry is on its spin cycle. Unfortunately its all on maidens all over the house but at least its clean. Living room has been henried and dusted and kitchen thoroughly cleaned. Was planning bathroom next but then OH came in for a late lunch and I've well and truly run out of steam! Perhaps I'll have another cup of tea and then get back to it.

jpscloud

Emm-in-a-pickle wrote: »

Man next door was out gardening - gave me a funny look as I wafted my feather duster at the house wall.....

:rotfl: He's probably calling one of those reality shows, thinking you're a compulsive cleaning nutter! I must get a bee hotel made this year - I'm always envious when I hear about yours!

YL, glad to hear DS is feeling better.

Nice quiet day here, bit of washing, bit of hoovering, not much else :cool: Weather's gone damp and drizzly, and feels a lot colder.

Have a good week messies, I will be lurking and will try to post a bit too.

Emm-in-a-pickle

YL well done with the revising. I`m sure an interested mum is every bit as good as a private tutor when it comes to revision! Glad other DS is getting better.
Sonastin, it`s such a shame your neighbour is being like that. Do you have other neighbours, are they ok?
JPS- NO way could I be mistaken for a compulsive cleaning nutter!! Anyway, just plain nutter will do!

Messy Status Report-
I`ve just stopped for a snack (apricot Stilton & digestives. Nice) as I`ve been quite busy in the kitchen today.
Tetris- literally!
I had one cluttered Corner of Doom, it contained a stainless steel thing somewhere between mini-shelving and a paper rack. I suspect it was designed as the latter. I found it at a car boot years ago, and it got into that corner and housed lots of smaller jars, small boxes of obscure curry mixes, and other stuff...but then other stuff got sat in front of it, and it became less accessible, so the stuff in the corner less used, then forgotten.
Been meaning to sort it for ages..Some stuff still in date has been salvaged, some has been chucked. But I`ve literally had to slide stuff along the worktop out of the way in order to get near enough to it, rather than lifting stuff. This really is Tetris!
I`ve decanted the oil out of the deep fryer ladle by ladle, and cleaned all that. It`s going into the empty corner soon.
Stardrops currently working it`s magic on worktop corner while I take a break. `Twas severely manky there.
Draining board is full of stuff that got moved out of the way plus the fryer basket and inner bowl thing.
Must go finish the job before I run out of steam!

YORKSHIRELASS

Oh Sonastin I really know how much of a pain neighbours can be. My In-Laws had awful neighbours who complained about everything and were just generally really horrible to live next to. I have seen my Mum-in-law in tears more than once over it but they have moved now thank goodness.

Emm, sounds like you are making good progress. I hate those kind of jobs that have to get more messy before it can get straightened out. Well I worked this morning and have just had a lovely walk with the dog so I really shouldnt sit down now or that will be it.

Need to decide to do with the washing thats just finished, quite blowy but looks like rain. I guess if I could get it out for an hour that would dry it quite a bit.

bearcub

Evening Messies.

Emms, I'm pleased that your outing to Mr M's was 'wonderful'. How we take these things for granted, huh? I can imagine your neighbour must have thought you a bit 'odd', dusting the outside of the house. Your poor cat, all neglected and having food dropped on her. Good to hear you're making progress healthwise. It sounds, too, as if your enforced break from paid work is having a handy knock-on effect.

YL, pleased to hear your DS is a lot better now. Your DS2 is still very young, and it can do no harm at all for you to help him. At least you know he is revising.

Sonastin, sorry to hear your neighbour continues to be a pain, but I suspect (didn't you say he was fairly recently widowed?) he's looking for anything to keep his mind occupied. It doesn't help him or you and your OH, of course. Our elderly neighbour, now in a residential home, asked us to not have a high fence when we replaced the broken one. She told us that, before our predecessors put in a high fence, she could see across to the fort on the hill on the outskirts of the village. Er, no, impossible from where we are. She was one of the first residents in the road, though, so she may have been able to see the fort before all the bungalows in the cul-de-sac were built in the 70s.

Not done any de-messying apart from washing. It's been SO good to get washing dried outside. I've been doing some more gardening again today, so now the back looks pretty good. Still making cards, but sorting materials as I go along. I'm hoping I'll be able to pass on some of the excess at the craft club.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
Well done wih the washing, Bearcub & YL.
I managed to get some done yesterday & line dried too.
(lightweight fleece blankets, fed & unloaded WM with the `grabbers` & hung them one at a time -the line is quite low when the prop isn`t pushing it up.)
I also completely cleared another drawer in the kitchen.
The one full of `useful` junk.
I didn`t know we had so many old bent knives, mis-shaped spoons, odd chopsticks (!), rusty bottle-openers, wrecked screwdrivers, skewer-type tent pegs (mostly bent)...
I suspect that these have been used, or kept for use over the years for prising lids off things like paint tins. An amazing collection considering how little painting & decorating goes on here!!!
Also, a load of rust-marked clothes pegs, hot water bottle stoppers, birthday candle-holders, 2 broken whisks, a gormed-up padlock sans keys, and a few electrical plugs in bits.
And a garlic press. I never use one, I splat garlic with my Chinese cleaver, less faff and much more fun!
I now have a completely empty drawer, and am loathe to put anything in it!
I found some frozen pollock steaks, some leeky mash leftover and a lump of cheese in the freezer, and made a fish pie for tea. (I put a few prawns (yuck) in one side for OH, then couldn`t remember which side they were on so we ended up swopping plates!)
As it was such a nice day yesterday, and everyone seemed to be outdoors more, I got chatting to Mrs next-door (the newer ones.) Finally `bit the bullet` and asked her in for a coffee - a first in nearly 12 months! We`ve chatted over the fence, and in the road when coming and going, but I`ve never asked her in because I though the place was too Messy!
I thought at least now I have a bit of an excuse. I`m SO glad I did, she`s really nice, not one of the `eyes everywhere` noticing stuff...and not one of the`sit there for hours` sort either. She fell in love with my old Daftie-dog, and tickled and stroked her despite the old-doggy aroma, and I`ve told her to come and help herself to apple twigs for her chinchillas....
I also took the opportunity to explain why I was waving my long-handled duster at the back wall of the house the other day de-cobwebbing the bee hotels!

Today I`ve done very little so far. Dry day but no sunshine yet to get me going.
Thawing a lump of brisket, and found some frozen yorkies..
Need to rummage/decide what to wear for my follow-up appt at hospital on Friday. I`m 3 weeks post-op tomorrow, so hopefully not too long before I can drive again. And visit pub - but not at the same time, of course...
(Need to get `permission` from consultant OH says!)
Drags self off for a clothes rummage....

bearcub

Afternoon Messies.

Emms, aren't you getting a lot done? :T There had to be more than the obvious advantage to you having the op done. How lovely to find you get on so well with your neighbour, and that you were able to explain the dusting.

The clearing out of your drawer reminds me of when we moved into this house. Of course, the vendors were supposed (as the law says) to clear away all their stuff but left rubbish everywhere, including a loft full of bits of wood and paper. If they hadn't moved to France, we'd have taken legal action. However, one of the kitchen drawers was full of bits - cup hooks, curtain hooks, nails and screws, odd tools, clothes pegs, bits of plugs (not even whole ones in some cases!), keys and padlocks (none of them seemed to match) etc. We took out anything that might have been useful, and binned the rest. About two months later, a man knocked on our door, and somewhat embarrassed, explained that he was a friend of the people who'd lived here. They'd phoned him, and asked him to ask us if we'd thrwon everything away that had been in the kitchen drawers, because there was something that they needed. Tough, although I did feel sorry for the little man.

Am sitting having a bit of a rest, because I've been cleaning the vertical blinds in the conservatory. So much climbing on and off steps, that my back was starting to ache. Got to do the window frames etc next. :eek: