My home is a mess

alec_eiffel

Dh came home early quite a few days last week. I know I should be happy about it but I'm so used to being on my own it really throws me out. Thankfully he has gone away today and won't be home early plus it's a lot cooler so I can have more of a normal day.

So far I have done some cleaning in the kitchen, a couple of loads of laundry and scraped the horrible paint off the letterbox etc and given it a polish. Looks loads better already, needs a bit more work though.

have a good day.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Morning Messies!
Bearcub, it`s lovely to catch up with your friend like that, and to be `spoiled` a bit too! Re that `shadowy` patch where the cats rub, I have one on the side/bottom of pine dresser, as we foolishly kept the catfood pouches in the drawer above it. Our cat was rubbing herself against the dresser purring to signify that she wanted someone to open the drawer and feed her - we didn`t spot the dark patch on the dresser till it was too late, I did manage to get it a lot lighter but I think some of ther oils of her coat must have soaked in!
Alec E, I know what you mean about OH`s being home sort of putting you off doing stuff - it is lovely to have a bit more of their company....but they do expect you to sit around with them & enjoy it! Personally, I tend to feel more lethargic earlier in the day (especially when it`s very warm) and then get my urges to be Busy in the early evening - JUST when OH is expecting us to sit around and chill out together! I used to get nocturnal busy binges, so I suppose I am at least moving in the right direction!
Last night I made a batch of `leftovers pasties` to use up a couple of sheets of puff pastry from the fridge as well. (use-by was yesterday, & no room to freeze them) I made 4 huge pasties, filled with onion, mash, dijon mustard, cut up use-by ham, and a hard boiled egg in middle of each! Glammed them up a bit with a sprinkle of (? elderly) sesame seeds as well.. DS ate one last night and mumbled something like `gorgeous` with his mouth full, and tonight we`ll have one each with salad, so it`s a no-cook day today.
I`ve cleared the kitchen, and it`s much cooler today so I really have no excuse not to get on with the "put-offs"..
1) LR - change rugs/Henry & mop.
2) Caravan of Doom - needs a bit of sort out of what is actually in there, forgotten but useful items always turn up, it`s a cross between old curiosity shop & a hobgoblins` hat!
There`s rain forecast here later on but getting hotter too.
Hope everyone`s having a decent day. x

sonastin

We took ourselves off to North Wales for the weekend this weekend - usually go for the whole week this time of year but OH gets bored and it becomes an expensive holiday so we decided just to do a weekend this year. Took one of the dinghies down and went out for a bit of a sail round the bay on Saturday afternoon and did a bit of fishing. Managed to land ourselves 14 mackerel! which all went on the BBQ on Saturday night. Any idea how best to re-heat the 4 left-over cooked&frozen fishies?! Needless to say, with the weekend representing our summer holiday, I've done no de-messying of any description. Well, apart from cleaning up my mum's caravan before we left but that doesn't take long!

I did some laundry this evening but with the forecast of thunderstorms, I'm too scared to leave it outside tonight. It seems wrong to be drying washing indoors while it's this hot! There's at least another 2 loads needing doing so no idea when they'll get done. If the storms pass tomorrow, hopefully tomorrow night.

YL - congratulations on getting the job. Better still that you get to spend the summer with the boys first.

JPS - hope you're feeling a bit better today. I kinda sympathise with the feeling carpy - I have mega-hayfever and summer is never a good time for me. This year the pollen count is through the roof and I'm definitely feeling it. I'm now really grateful to the little critters that were biting me every time I went outside in April - they got me started on taking my antihistimines earlier than usual otherwise I think it would have killed me by now.

Buffy - ((hugs)) you're definitely not the last to finish. We gave a lift home to a friend who's family are down in Wales without her while she had to get back coz the school she works in hasn't finished yet. She gets to go back and join them on the family holiday at the end of the week. Hope whatever else is making you emotional is something manageable!

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
Sonastin, I am glad your weekend away went well, and I`m most envious of your fresh-caught mackerel. I cannot advise on re-heating it as we`d probably just thaw & eat as it is, with a bit of salad.
JPS, how`s you now? Hope you`re resting up & feeling better.
I also hope everyone`s getting reasonably watered & refreshed but without too much of a deluge.
Weather here so far this week is still hot and cloudy but dry- except for 2 heavy showers and one distant thunderclap. Beeb forecasts for a lot more wetness were QUITE misleading! I`ve not watered things I would have watered, and I`ve held off rug-launderetting but that`s me, too credulous!

I did manage a bit of caravan tetris -
THREE large empty boxes (& polystyrene bits) from long since out-of-warranty computers/printers etc. were just sitting under loads of stuff, taking up all that space for nothing. I`ve skipped the lot this morning, but then it got too hot to do any more caravan sorting - I have to have the door shut as there`s a huge cottoneaster right beside the caravan and half draped over the roof and it`s in full bloom and heaving with bees, and I don`t want them getting in and getting trapped there.

Hall - de-cluttered & Henried. Found DS`s missing boots, DGDs old wellies now 3 sizes too small, a Bratz shoe-pouch hanger thing, and a jar of sour cream & chives dip! And it`s only a little hall...

DGD`s room (downstairs) - She`d brought out her laundry and made her bed before she left on Sunday, and the room didn`t look too daunting, so Henry & I ventured in. I still couldn`t say it`s actually tidy, but it`s better than it`s looked for ages. She may not recognise it when she returns!

LR & kitchen are passable. I feel ever so slightly like I`m Getting Somewhere, and should continue to `reclaim` more of my home from its messy state. Waiting for the next cloudy/cooler patch to either get a bit more done in caravan or take Henry upstairs for a surprise attack on bedroom carpets...
Have a good day all. Chin up Buffy, only 2 more days! x.

jpscloud

Sorry I haven't posted for a while - I have severe bronchitis and can scarcely breathe, have been in a complete mess for a week.

I have some antibiotics which are clearing up a suspected secondary bacterial infection in my lungs (Dr is a bit twitchy as I have had pneumonia in the past), but the main infection must be viral as I am still really ill.

At first I couldn't lie down, so had to try sleeping sitting on the sofa propped on lots of pillows. The cat thought that was hilarious and jumped all over me in an attempt to make me adopt a more comfortable position for her to sleep on!

My appetite has been affected - a very rare occurrence, I can assure you, but I am eating enough and can stand to lose a lot of weight (don't ask!) so I will be fine.

Emm you are probably right, I should have stayed off that last week. The problem is, if you are off the last week of term you have to get a sick note or they assume that you were throwing a sickie for an early holiday. In retrospect I could have had a sick note of course, but I didn't know that at the time, I thought I just had a bit of a cold.

I still can't do more than shuffle out to watch the butterflies and bees in the garden for a while. It's driving me nuts, because I can't even enjoy the enforced rest with this blasted cough and feeling so ill! I keep seeing things that I want to deal with and can't. A whole week has just gone!

How is your wildlife Emm? One good thing about having to stay still most of the time is that I am seeing loads of good stuff, butterflies, hoverflies and bees. Haven't identified the bees yet, still waiting to feel a bit better.

Sonastin that sounds lovely, we had fresh caught mackerel on a camping holiday when I was a kid, gorgeous!

Bearcub, you enjoy being spoiled! How lovely.

Buffy, I'm thinking of you today and hope your holiday gets off to a great start!

Emm-in-a-pickle

Here`s ANOTHER Friday folks!
Hols at last for Buffy today, a weekend break for the business-as-usual people, and for others just another day being busy (or in my case feeling that I should be).

JPS, how are you feeling now? I do hope you`re better and have rested, but if not I`d go doc-bothering & get it sorted.

I`ve always got this `should be doing something` feeling (even though I`m able to ignore it & do Nowt, it still niggles at me!) especially as I get closer to going back to work.
Actually taking stock though, I have managed to get quite a few things done & have got my head around Reality - the idea that it`s still (and probably always will be) an ongoing task to de-clutter & de-messify.
I can only do what I can do, and I`ll have to be content with that - the only one cracking the whip at me is me, after all.
Messy Status Report:
Another bootload of !!!! removed from caravan of Doom to skip, plus several ugly plantpots donated to SIL who likes stuff like that, stored items checked & tidied, tools & diy stuff found plus 4 new still vacuum packed pillows and loads of cleaning stuff in a forgotten stash. And 3 spare grate-bottoms, and 2 new doormats, and unused Christmas decs & wrapping.
Now I know what`s there and where to find stuff when required.
LR & kitchen - I`m winning the Flat Surface battle, still keeping clear. Downstairs is staying quite reasonable without huge effort, laundry up to date. (Upstairs is still Pending....)

Yesterday evening Strimmer Man came to tackle the problem hedge. Some folks have Leylandii that can be seen from Space. This is privet! Behind our large shed it had been inaccessible for a few years and the snow had bent some of it over but still a huge thickness as well as height. Next doors couldn`t reach it properly from their side either, and it was blocking a lot of evening sunshine in our garden.
Strimmer Man tackled it from both sides with ladders and a chainsaw, cut over 6ft lengths off, and the remains is still at shed height! While he was here with his ladders, he also fixed a bit of displaced guttering for us. Cherub!
Then OH decided Strimmer Man deserved a beer or 3, and a very pleasant and sociable evening followed, even DS joined in - reminiscences and funny tales of a few decades back when SM was a kid playing here, & coming camping with us, and when my late hubby used to take him fishing(OH didn`t know us then).
Surprisingly not hung over this morning I got up & coloured my hair, so another `put-off` task done!

Have a good weekend all. x

Emm-in-a-pickle

JPS ((HUGS)) - you posted while I was still drivelling on - I`m sorry you`re still feeling so rough, but rest and anti-b`s should do it. Sleeping on propped-up pillows is good too, even if you can tolerate being a bit flatter, the more upright you sleep the less garbage builds up in your chest overnight.

As for seeing stuff that needs doing indoors - Look Away! It`ll keep! And in the garden, if you`ve got birds & bees and flutterbyes to watch your garden sounds just fine to me!
(Ours is still very busy, all flying things flying as usual and squirrels nicking peanuts, yesterdays privet-lopping hasn`t put anything off visiting!)
Do be well soon. XX

jpscloud

Bless you Emm, thank you for your lovely kindness.

I do exactly the same thing, I have a mammoth post going on then get distracted and it can be ages from starting it to actually posting!

It's very warm here now so I'm hiding in the house till later. I've just been asleep (lying down) for a few hours, but woke up coughing violently. It's hard to sleep propped up though!

jpscloud

Hi Messies, hope life is treating you well wherever you are!

I am still suffering with bronchitis but trying to do a bit of washing today. As long as I go very slow, I can do a little bit. After a night of very heavy rain, it's sunny with white clouds and a good fresh breeze so ideal for getting the washing dry.

I am managing to sit outside and enjoy the garden for a few minutes at a time now, too. It's not looking too bad at all considering I've done nothing for three weeks.

The house is just dreadful though. Like you say Emm, it'll wait :cool:

Emm-in-a-pickle

GRRR, just lost a long post !
Hi all.
JPS, after the rain and a good fresh breeze it`s more important that it`s easier breathing weather than good drying weather! Don`t be tempted to do too much. It`s a lot cooler here this morning but seems to be drying up & getting warmer.
I`m just planning a trip to CS with some books & other stuff from caravan sorting. Then I`ll see what mood & weather inspires me to do with the rest of the day.
Have a decent one folks. x