My home is a mess

alec_eiffel

Sounds pretty eventful sonastin!

sonastin

The self-clean function on the oven only cleans the oven - shelves have to be cleaned separately. They haven't been done since OH removed the oven from his Hampshire house so lord only knows how long they've been left. Anyway, OH made one of those oven-clean-kit type things using oven cleaner and a black bin bag. The shelves came out mostly clean and I finished them off tonight with a scourer.

Apparently oven shelves are silver in colour, not a sort of brassy-yellow. Who knew?!

In my last oven, I'm sure they were black!

bearcub

Evening Messies.

Jps, I know what you mean about gardens and the Forth Bridge. We don't have the problem ourselves but our DD1, who works fulltime, finds it very difficult to keep her little garden under any sort of control, especially when the weather isn't good at weekends. Congrats on what you got done on Monday!

Why do I get the feeling, sonastin, that your Battenberg looking like homemade isn't the compliment it should be? And I do sympathise about the oven shelves. Ours desperately need a clean, but I'm afraid we're going to be very un-OS and get someone in to clean our cooker for us. I wasn't allowed a bike when I was a child so, when I got a part-time job after ahving the kids, I bought myself a shiny new bike. Rode it to work for a couple of years, but found the traffic terrifying - and my Mum reckoned the roads were dangerous in the 60s! :eek:

Alec e, you're not the first person I've come across who doesn't like couscous. I love it, especially with lemon zest mixed in it or with very finely cut fried onion. In my case, it's polenta I can't stand. It sounds as if you've made great progress with the garden if it doesn't bother you so much now.

Today, I got down on my knees in the kitchen. No, not to pray, although maybe I should have done so before starting the job. To access the outlet pipes of our washing machine, we have to go via the cupboard under the kitchen sink. To do that for the new WM, a tray holding all my vases had to be taken out, and put into the conservatory for safety. With great restraint, OH asked me if I actually used all the vases. Er, no, I have my favourites so, today, while the vases were out of the cupboard, I sorted out the ones I want to keep, and others have been put to one side for the CS. And, I emptied everything else out, and I got down on my knees and cleaned both shelves. HOW does so much dust and dirt get into a cupboard that is nearly always closed? Took me a while to clean, as reaching the far corners wasn't at all easy. Bottles of cleaners etc were also sorted, and thrown away as necessary. Looks pretty good - for 5 minutes.

alec_eiffel

Well done for parting with some of the vases bearcub.

I'm glad we have made progress with the garden as the parents have decided to visit at the weekend. Father is bringing lettuce and strawberries for me to grow, I think he's testing me!

I finished painting the dining table and chairs (well I only painted the legs of the table as I usually have a cloth on it). Bought some wax last night so I'm going to be busy waxing today. The rest of the house is a bombsite but the chairs look... zingy.

Have a good day everyone.

YORKSHIRELASS

I have been neglecting this thread a bit lately so just popping in to say hello. We did a car boot sale last Saturday. I spent nearly two days last week dragging stuff out of cupboards and sorting it. Got to the point where I wished I hadnt started.

Everything we brought back from the car boot sale - and there was quite a lot - is now piled up in our bedroom and on the landing. We have decided to do another car boot at the weekend and after that everything will be binned or taken to the charity shop.

Other than that I cant get myself into a routine with housework at the moment. I think its because I have had lots of distractions. Once the car boot hoard is gone I am going to have to get my act together.

Off to my voluntary job this afternoon, chicken fajhitas for tea then a quiet night at home tonight I think. Have a good afternoon everyone!

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
Well done on all the gardening, oven and cupboard cleaning folks! Bearcub - I only have one vase, but I have 3 pretty AND useful jugs that sometimes get used as vases if needed (more often for a big bunch of parsley than flowers though. I don`t like having flowers in the house much so it`s quite a rare event here.

I don`t even want to think about the state of my oven, but I have managed to keep the hob reasonable. Nor do I want to contemplate the state of the under-sink cupboard. I still aren`t supposed to be doing any prolonged bendy-crouchy jobs yet, but I did clean the front of the WM yesterday - it`s next to the cooker and under the draining board, right in range of spills and splashes when DS is `cooking`for himself - baked bean juice, egg yolk, oil-spills - then seems to attract all the dust and dog-hairs in the house as it sets. I did feel I`d slightly overdone it (but daren`t tell OH that!) so took things easy after that job.
YL - well done on the car-boot effort. I`m LONGING to get to a car-boot (to wander and browse, I love them!) but not this weekend. I`ll be driving again by the weekend after though. Hope the weather is nice as it`s piddling down here today.

I`ve done a fair bit of clothes-sorting last couple of days too, washed loads and got it all dry. Found some un-worn but still fit summer tops I got for DGD last year and `mislaid`, and found my favourite `scruffs` summer skirt and some newish crop trousers that I`d lost, so good result!
Also I found quite a lot of stuff that is never worn nor likely to be but still good, I`ve sorted into a couple of bags then gone through them with DS`s ex (DGD`s mama). She has been here a lot more recently `chauffering` me about on little shopping sorties and the like. Bless`er!
She works for a refugee`s charity, and the stuff I`ve given her she`ll give directly to individuals (including kids) she works with who need it and can use it immediately, so we`re all happy with that.
DS is going away to his GF`s up North this weekend, and our noisy-but-nice next-door`s are on holiday the same week, so it`ll be peaceful here! OH is off, so we`ll pretend we`re on holiday too!
I`ll be driving the car again a week today! SO looking forward to that. Whatever the weather that day, we`re planning on doing a skip run, then the out-of-town Lidl (just for a nosey) then Naughty fish & chips from the best chippie ever which is near Lidl - then eating them in the car in the country-park a mile further out! It may not sound like a Grand Day Out, but we`re quite exited at the prospect.
Hope you`re all having a good day. x
ps - still haven`t tried doing the couscous thing yet.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies, (wherever you be)
It`s Drizzly all weekend here, with bright but still soggy interludes. My fault entirely for washing towels, DS`s bedding, and 3 pairs of jeans.
Apart from that, I`m having a great weekend.
DS has Left the Building (LR & Kitchen tidied, & likely to stay that way till his return)
DGD in residence till tonight, and we`ve been cooking and Experimenting again, and she`s getting well into good habit of clearing up as we go, rather than me clearing up after her. Between us we`ve made -
Orange & Rhubarb Crumble.
Vimto vege-gel jelly with kiwi fruit in.
Roasted veg sauce - red peppers/red onion/bendy sweet potato/a bendy courgette/ lots of tired tomatoes (plus a tin of chopped at the end, and the last bit of stir-fry white cabbage) zapped into lots of Thick Red Goo.
Yesterday DGD had some with spaghetti, OH & I had some with chicken/chorizo & round pasta `coins` I had to use up.
Today we had part-baked ciabatta with some Red Goo & cheese `pizza` for brunch. Then we both got Frostbite, doing some freezer Tetris to accommodate the rest of the Red Goo. I`ve got some `Bambi` steaks out for me & OH tonight (when DGD`s gone home) and a leg of lamb defrosting for future reference...
The amazing thing is, the kitchen ISN`T spattered with Red Goo. Weird!
Upstairs is like a Chinese laundry.
Garden - even the dandelions look bedraggled.
Hallway - full of damp laundry, have to use back door.
Quite reassuring, with the kitchen looking so good!

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Emms, glad to hear you will be back on the road soon. We had a similar day out a couple of weeks ago which involved a trip to a budget garden centre about 20 miles away, a picnic in the car (too cold to eat outside) then a drive on the scenic route home!

Well most of the car boot sale stuff has either been sold, binned or taken to the charity shop. There are a few bits still lurking around the house with an undecided future though. When DS first became poorly we went into Asda and he wanted this massive teddy which of course we bought him. Recently it has been stuffed in a cupboard and DS agreed it could go to the car boot sale. It didnt sell and now he doesnt want it to go to the charity shop. Really dont want to just put it back in the cupboard again because it takes up so much room!

Ah well. Have swished the bathroom and kitchen, done a bit of hoovering, got all the washing up to date and folded to go away, made the beds and mopped the floors this morning. Off to get a few bits of shopping then take my dog for a long walk this afternoon as I have been neglecting him a bit for the last few days.

Hope the sun is shining everyone!

bearcub

Evening Messies.

Emms, it sounds as if you and DGD make a good team, and she's learning a lot a the same time. I bet you can't wait until you can drive again. About the vases, most of mine are jugs of various sizes, but some were presents from various people, and are too big for anything I'm likely to pick from the garden.

YL, I hope you and yours are doing ok. I guess there will be a certain reluctance from your DS about getting rid of a toy like that, bless him. Still, if it's the sort of teddy bear I'm picturing, it'll be BIG, and I can understand you'd like it gone. Difficult situation.

Very little sun here today, although I think we got more than most in the southern area. It started raining around 11.30am, on and off, then by 4pm, was tipping down. At least we didn't get the strong wind that was forecast. that's arrived now the rain's best part stopped.

Yesterday was a bit of a rush, as I had a number of commitments, one after another, BUT I still managed to wash the bathroom, kitchen and conservatory floors. The conservatory is the main thoroughfare from garage to garden in the winter, so the tiled floor gets pretty dirty. I'd forgotten just how pretty the tiles are when they're clean! It's also a bit of a dumping ground during the winter, so it's now been cleared and tidied. I've gone through all the books on the bookcase, and those I no longer want (or that were being passed onto DDs)have gone to one of the CSs, along with a large box of Mum's many jigsaw puzzles - Mum still has loads. The Wessex Cancer shop in the village had a fire about 3 months ago, and lost a lot of stock, so that's where most of the puzzles will be going once they've got going again. By then, my bag of unwanted clothes will be full, too.

Emm-in-a-pickle

YL, I understand re the Teddy. I wouldn`t put him back in a cupboard though. If you keep him out in DS`s room and he gets in DS`s way a bit taking up space...DS is maybe more likely to allow you to find him a new home?

Bearcub - well done on re-discovering your conservatory tiles!
DGD`s developing of culinary skills is good, of course, but it can be a mixed Blessing! Yesterday she came here after school, and was all fired up for making Pancakes. Great. Then she wanted to make MORE pancakes, for her Mum and mum`s OH. Piles of lovely pancakes - and flour & batter everywhere! To be fair, she WOULD have cleared up but her mum was in a hurry to get home when she came to pick up DGD, so I let her off. (Kitchen looked like DS had been in there)

I also had a rummage yesterday in caravan of Doom....I found 2 sets of spice jars, nice Lidl ones. (a 6-set I`d bought, then DD bought me the 8-set. All the same size, 2 different holders) Decided to decant my herb/spice etc collection currently in various different jars & tins into these, but only got half-way, on account of the pancakes.
I found a roll of sealant tape too - angled stuff for sealing sinks/bath edges. Handbasin in downstairs loo was particularly grotty where it meets the tiles, so decided to try the tape stuff. I managed to get all the old silicone sealer off, eventually. Then applied the tape, pushing the crease well into the angle between sink & tiles. It looked lovely. For a whole five minutes. Then it came off, straightened itself out completely flat.
There`s lots more tape left, but maybe it`s a bit past it & lost its stickiness....
Tomorrow I shall DRIVE to a shop and buy some stuff with the nozzle...there`s a hardware shop near the chippie we`re going to.

Just a basic tidy done today, and dry laundry put away. Nothing much else - yet! I may get going again later. Or not. x