My home is a mess

Emm-in-a-pickle

Sonastin, it seems your OH redeemed himself after all! I know what you mean about friends you don`t have to stand on ceremony for, but you still feel you want to make the effort if you know someone`s coming, don`t you? The bike ride sounds a bit taxing for a lazy day though, have you thought of suggesting a tandem?

I`ve finally got a clean LR window now. I cleaned the indise (in between bringing the rugs in again & putting them out again - rug hokey-cokey made me a bit grumpy but it was necessary) DS must`ve felt guilt-stricken about the pie-flinging accident, as he volunteered to do the outside of the window for me. It seems very bright in here now.

sonastin

Funnily enough Emm, OH actually owns a tandem. I've been on it a couple of times but its really scary. Takes more trust to ride a tandem than it does to sail a small dinghy across the Solent! Before OH got his new bike working, I suggested we venture out on it again but its too big to fit in the van for transporting so we'd have to set off on a bike ride from home. And home is in a village in a dip in a hill - so uphill ride in every direction. Not for me thanks! At least not just yet. Better to put the bikes in the van and drive somewhere flatter.

That and the fact that OH would just get a kick out of terrifying me by going too fast!

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
I know we`ve always said "baby steps" here - and this is echoed on other threads when folks are near to despair about clutter/hoard/messiness. But I had a little light-bulb moment today.
It`s not only what we DO, it`s also what we manage to NOT do. I cleaned LR window the other day, and the by-product of this was clearing the windowsill to actually get to the window.
I didn`t put the clutter back, I sorted it, slung some and found homes for the rest. I have managed to stop myself and others here from filling it up again. I know it`s only been a few days,
but then I thought - I cleared the mantelpiece just before Christmas, and have managed to stop it getting cluttered up again ever since. That doesn`t sound much, but it was a start.
Now I`m aiming to keep the windowsill clutter free, which also doesn`t sound much but it`s another step, and one that I now think CAN be achieved (unlike many of the more ambitious household goals I`ve set myself in the past!)

Upstairs, I`ve at last managed to get DS to sort some of his stuff in spare room of Doom. Admittedly it now looks worse than before, but it`s still a work in progress and he`s found stuff he`s forgotten about so that has made him want to do a bit more sorting...we`ve taken a crate of old videotapes, a coat, a new (wrong size!) pair of boots, and 4 big shopping bags of books to Barnardo`s this morning.
That`s a lot of stuff gone.
It feels great, but there`s more to go, and some of it is my stuff that I couldn`t get at because DS`s stuff was there, but now I feel progress IS possible.
Other progress - A chunk of appointments this week (Occy Health & Drs etc.) is over, and we`re visiting OH`s elderly aunt tomorrow, but hopefully I can have a a stay-home weekend with a bit more clutter-ridding ready for CS & skip, and a bit of garden-tidying too.

sonastin

So I'm guessing all the messies have been enjoying the sunshine / tennis this weekend? Either that or the rest of you have taken Emm's words of wisdom and suddenly found the motivation to completely de-mess! I'm putting money on the former! Its certainly the case in this house. (sunshine, not tennis - not big sports fans here)

Yesterday morning we packed up the racing dinghies ready for a sailing event today and then we took the narrowboat out for a little play. Its a long way from being habitable inside but OH is making good progress & its still nice to take it down the canal for a little ride. Even though I deliberately overdosed on anti-histamines, I was still completely knocked out by hayfever and spent the evening feeling decidedly sorry for myself on the sofa.

Today we headed off for the planned sailing event with fingers crossed that there would be some breeze. Sadly it wasn't really to be. I went for a bit of a sail but it took all my patience with no wind and no shade. OH didn't even bother trying - there was even less breeze on the shore but at least he had shade so he didn't fry. My skin is so fair that an hour out there even with factor 30 was enough to leave my cheeks decidedly rosy! So we packed up and retreated to the air-conditioned car to come home.

In amongst all that playing out, I've managed to get 2 laundry loads washed and dried and my sailing kit is just about finished in the WM. I'm going to hang it out tonight to save me doing it in the morning. I haven't done any form of cleaning. OH & I seem to be having a battle of wills over the dishwasher at the moment so the clean stuff has only come out when there's more than a load's worth ready to go in. OH even took to washing up this morning rather than emptying it so I retaliated with emptying it while eating my breakfast! It's so childish I should be ashamed but it's almost become a game now. Still, tonights dinner pots could go straight in if only my belly wasn't so full of takeaway & keeping me pinned on the sofa. Perhaps before bedtime...

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies - wherever you be & whatever you`re about! Hope all`s well with the MIA folks (is Bearcub getting drunk in a field now, listening to music with DDs? I lose track!)

Sonastin, your watery weekend sounds fun but exhausting! I do sympathise with you and all fair-skinned folks who burn easily - you`d think it would be more comfortable on or beside water, but it reflects even more UV back at you! I`m very lucky that I never burn, never use sun-creams etc. (I suppose I`ll pay for that when I end up looking like a wrinkly old leathery thing!) but I can`t BEAR the sun on my head!
Ten minutes in the sun without a hat is enough to make me feel ill - I must have a thin skull, or my brain has a low boiling point!
Re Wimbledon - no, we`re not sport fans either. I happened to remark that I didn`t even understand the scoring of tennis, and OH explained it, which didn`t help at all, didn`t endear me to the game. But I did recall hearing an interview on R4 Woman`s Hour a while ago, (while captive audience in the car) with Andy Murray`s mum, talking about him & his brother when they were kids. So I`m very pleased that he won, she sounded ever so nice!

I`ve done VERY little indoors - it`s been too nice to be inside if it`s not absolutely necessary! That includes sitting by the computer. I reckon that most of the posts on OS must be done on laptops that folks can take outside...
Indoor priority only: Cooking/washing up, clean kitchen sink/tops. Loos. Feed animals & WM. As for the rest, buggritt!!

Outdoors, I`ve `reclaimed a patch from the wilderness at the back, a patch of paving slabs shaded by the apple trees had disappeared, and I have now cleared it all, just sitting on a little stool using gloves and a trowel. And stopping to watch bees a lot. The leafcutter bees are here now, starting to use my new bee-hotel. (Yes, I have yet another!) There`s no shade on the decking, so now there`s somewhere nice to sit in the shade (as originally planned some years ago!)
Today I have to go into town (yuck) then dig out case from under bed and pack a few bits for Wednesday as we`re off on a mini-break. Not much point in cleaning/tidying as DS will be here `holding the fort` (ie, trashing the place!)
Enjoy the day folks. x

alec_eiffel

Had the boiler serviced today, the guy needed to put the heating on!!! Can you imagine? It was soooooooooo hot.

The house is looking fine - there's a large pile of sheets at the side of the bed as it's just too hard to guess what I'll want to cover myself with each night! But the garden looks fine, kitchen neat and tidy, no laundry to do and I think everything is where it's supposed to be.

Hope everyone's well, off to catch up now.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Hope everyone is enjoying the sun. Like Emms I cant venture out without a hat, or I start to feel very unwell. Is that a sign of getting older I wonder? And AlecE - heating on today, that is not good! Mind you that reminds me that I ought to put our boiler on just to make sure it still works, it hasnt been on for ages!

Been really busy lately with both paid work and voluntary work as well as ferrying the kids here and there. This afternoon I am trying to do housework in short stretches with a little rest in between! Oh dear that makes me sound ancient - but it is so hot!!

Need to make something with chicken and pasta for tea and I really should mop the kitchen floor first.

Oh and have a lovely time Emms, what a nice week to be going away! Right, off to find the mop.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
I hope everyone`s well & not melted.
We`ve just had a few days away (North Yorkshire) well worth driving up & down the M6 for. Our B&B pub was great, and the food was brill. Much as I like to cook, it makes a lovely change not to. We found some cool shade too - a cave visit!

DS hadn`t trashed the place by the time we got home - he hadn`t bothered `cooking` as it was too hot, just sandwiched whatever he found in the fridge!
Daftie-dog was pleased to have us back, bit of tail-wagging but then went out to doze by the back door. She`s shed lots of hair, but probably no more than her usual quota. I`m half thinking of doing something about it, but haven`t got further than exchanging glances with Henry in the hall...and drinking several cups of tepid tea while I put off doing anything.
I could also slosh a mop around the kitchen floor, it`d dry fast.
But it`s even warmer in the kitchen, as I`ve put a leg of lamb & some tomatoes & veg in the `pseudo le creuset` in the oven,
will have pasta coins with it tonight as I CBA doing spuds.

Finally, at last, we have some flowers on the nasturtiums & marigolds. And my supermarket- rescue chives are full of buds about to open. I am aware that I deliberately changed the subject there, when I was half working up to a bit of Henrying & mopping. For Shame. RIGHT!
Drags self away to Henry & mop......

sonastin

I promised myself I'd clean the bathroom this weekend and OH is watching some rubbish military documentary which I'm finding really dull so I really should go and do it. But it's still so bleedin' warm and I'm feeling a bit hay-fever-y so I really don't feel like doing any cleaning. But come on, the bathroom is smaller than a postage stamp - it takes next to no time to do it so really I should just get on with it.

Oh heck, OH has just offered me a cup of tea so that seems like its a much better option. Maybe tomorrow :rotfl:

snookey

Hello all just back from sunny Wales. Im like a boiled lobster having burned my back on the Sunday. Lying down on my back is impossible but is my own fault for forgetting to put on sun cream.
Its the first week we have been away where the sun has shone all week.
Emm glad you had a nice time in Yorkshire.
Im going to do some clearing out next week of the cellar and little room. Hopefully this will be the last of the major clear outs for a while.