My home is a mess

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
Bearcub, your poor DD - no wonder she feels miserable, hope her leg gets better soon.
I`m usually motivated by a bit of sunshine too,
YL, well done on your contribution to the tip and your cleaning binge. I must admit, I don`t know when I last moved our sofa out to clean under it, it`s a battle here just to keep the seats clear!

We had the dire weather warnings yesterday, heavy snow in the night then ongoing.
DGD came here from school yesterday, and is now in residence for the duration of the current weather. Her mum lives in a more weather-frought spot, they get snowed in first, so she rang to say could we keep her here. Schools are closed today too.
I`m quite happy about this, and so glad it`s happening while OH & I are off work for a spell now.
I have a decent `stockpile` of edibles, have been telling myself for a while I need to use up quite a bit, as well as using stuff from the freezers - now it`s enforced, so I`ve gone into `siege mode` quite happily.
DGD is vegetarian, and a great devourer of bread and pasta - but luckily I`m rather overstocked with Aldi part-baked bread rolls which she loves, lots of cheese in the freezer, and jars of pasta sauce if I can`t get out to buy fresh stuff for HM sauce. I just wish I`d done a farm shop visit yesterday when the snow was lighter, but we`ll manage on what`s here.
OH has refilled the birdfeeders early and will refill them again before evening as they`re going down fast, just have to get more bird-food out of caravan of Doom...
The birds look very bright & clean with the up-lighting effect of the snow on their undercarriages, it`s VERY busy out there!

Last night`s beef stew & dumplings went well. and I`m thawing chicken for tonight, probably curried but undecided yet. I`m now going to have a half-hour (timer) clutter-trawl upstairs, fill some bags ready for when I can get out with them - I couldn`t have done that before joining this thread, as I would likely have just put the stuff back, anywhere, rather than get rid, but I`m stronger now!!!

Keep warm, Messies! xx

loobylou2

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all well and managing to keep warm. Thought I'd post as I haven't been around for a few days. I had my day off on wednesday but all my well made cleaning and decluttering plans went to the wall as I was so tired. I spent the day sorting out our finances instead and working out how much money we don't have :eek: so at least the bills are all paid for this month though the house is still a mess!!!! Have just been managing to keep on top of things so all the laundry is up to date as well although the house is still untidy. I will manage to get it decluttered and cleaned up one day!!!!,however, unfortunately it won't be this weekend because I'm working tomorrow if I can manage to make it through the snow into the office and if the office is open!!! Its a bus and a train ride or 2 bus rides to where I work from home because I don't drive!!!! I'm worried too that once I'm at work I won't be able to get home again if the weather is bad!!! However, I will try to do some cleaning and decluttering on sunday!!! I promise!!!
Hope you all have a great weekend and stay safe, warm and well.

bearcub

Evening Messies.

I quite like a 'siege' situation, too, Emms, as it makes us use up what's in the freezer, and makes us more creative with our meals, too. DD2 is a veggie, and we discovered quite a few new or adapted recipes, that we still use for ourselves occasionally.

Seeing the number of people in our local Co-op yesterday, obviously people took the yellow weather warning very seriously. As it was, the whole main village street had been gritted, road and pavements, so it was easy to drive and walk along. The trouble is the side roads and, where we are, the fact that there's a rather steep hill down to the village, which isn't gritted. The Island doesn't get snow very often, and it's even rarer to get more than a sprinkling. A friend who lives near the stables kindly fed our horses for us this morning, so we didn't have to do the trip twice. Later, we had to go all round the houses to get there, as a huge lorry had got stuck in the lane to the yard.

I've done very little today, I admit. One WM load of duvet covers, and a bit of dusting. I seem to have spent most of the day opening and closing the doors for one of the cats, who couldn't make up her mind whether she liked the snow or not. The Ginge decided very early this morning that he definitely didn't like snow, and stayed indoors, sleeping. Couldn't argue with that!

PS Hello Loobylou! I'm sure that sorting moeny matters, tedious though it is, is more important. Try to make sure that, if you're going to get stuck anywhere, it's going to be your home. DD1 drove to work this morning, saying it was 'fun', but left her car there and caught the bus home, when they all got sent home.

sashanut

Hi all:j

Popping in to update on messy status = still messy!!! Although I have been making inroads into 'bedroom of doom', have cleared a big space - enough to vac!!! Actually scared myself by finding lots of things I'd 'forgotten' about buying :eek:.
Still working my way through the piles of stuff, forcing myself to stay off the dreaded eBay (late night surfing on there is my downfall!!) although my friend says doing that WITH a glass of wine is apparently even more dangerous!!!!!

We have the white stuff here but not an awful lot yet, that could all change soon though if the forecast is anything like close. Bath waste outlet must be frozen as bathwater refuses to leave - DD only had a bath as shower was frozen:mad: It's only started to freeze since the loft insulation was fitted a couple of years ago - just shows how much heat must have been escaping up to the cathedral-sized loft.:eek: No good for storage or anything else though........

Good luck to all messies, hope the snow isn't too bad & if you're snowed in, maybe a few bursts of enforced de-messying will kick in. If we are I'm going to count the number of drawers in the kitchen (!) & maybe, just maybe, clear a couple out. There, I've said it now, gotta do it:rotfl:

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
Loobylou, I agree with Bearcub, sorting out the finances is more important than house de-cluttering, especially if you`ve managed to keep up with the basics. Also, it is a sort of mental de-cluttering. Hope you managed to get to work & back safely.
In a way having to use public transport makes things simpler - if it`s not running, the decision to travel or not is made for you rather than having to judge `can I make it in the car or not?`,
And then if you do venture out you only have yourself to worry about, and not your vehicle as well.
Sashanut, I was thinking of enforced de-messying, but we`re having a bit of a lull in the snow here, and it`s forecast to get worse again after the weekend, so I`m thinking of trying to venture out to farm shop. Only thinking, up to now...
Bearcub, your DD describing her snowy journey as fun... ah, that`s Youth, Bless`er!
It`s usually the way, main roads cleared but actually getting out of residential roads and onto the main roads is the problem. Our cul-de-sac looks lethal, but I have seen a bus going by at the end of the road so it can`t be that bad out there today....
So much for my `siege` thinking...

bearcub

Afternoon Messies.

Sashanut, why does the loft insulation make a difference to the bath and shower? Or did you mean that the water feed to the shower had frozen? If so, aren't the pipes insulated, too? I'm so glad that I don't get surprised by stuff I've forgotten I'd bought - not enough space to store that much. It occasionally happens with craft stuff, though, but that's usually a pleasant surprise.

Emms, DD1 did say that when she said 'fun', she wasn't sure in which way she meant it, sarcastically or otherwise. I suppose she's relatively 'youth' but she is 32, so I'm not sure she thinks of herself as youth at all. Our cul-de-sac was awful yesterday, so slippery. The snow's all slushy today, though.

Don't know what de-messying I'm going to do today - maybe tidy that drawer I've been intending to do for the last couple of days.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Sashanut - I get `surprised` at stuff I`ve bought quite a lot! Yesterday I was attempting to trash-trawl and found Christmas crackers that I`d stashed for the Christmas before last! Also I found a stash of 4 tins of pilchards (for Daftie-dog, bought before Christmas at mr T`s )yesterday in the caravan of Doom - I`d put stuff on top of them & thought they were baked beans, and that we must have used the pilchards already...

Bearcub - you`re so right about age being relative. That`s why I love having elderly patients, when they call me a `girl` sometimes it makes me almost feel like one. They do say some funny things, and some lovely things - on my last shift, one of my gorgeous ladies who I`d coaxed into the bath said I was "an angel in sheep`s clothing" ... I`m still trying to work that one out!!

Well, I managed to get to the farmshop today, got fresh fruit/veg & eggs so we`re definitely ready for a siege now. There was a lot less traffic about than usual, but the roads were clear. Side roads and car-park DEADLY slippy slush when we set out - and it was already starting to freeze before we got home.
No de-cluttering today, but I`ve put shopping away & made a nice `brothy` chicken curry (or should I call it a chowder, or is that only when it`s fish?) for tonight from last night`s chicken leftovers boiled and picked...
I slightly got the urge to brillo-pad all the saucepans, (they`re not bad but that `new` look has long gone)...but I managed to resist.
It is weekend after all!

sashanut

Hi all:j

Just working up to another bout of de-messying in bedroom....have already done a bit this morning, revealed more of said carpet!! Ok, so I have to vac it now, but still.....

I was waiting for DH to comment on it but realised he wasn't going to, so I asked him what he thought.....according to him, he's very impressed but I wish he would just say so:D. Can't be too hard on him though as he bailed out the bath - and then did a clever thing. He'd overheard this tip - if your outlet pipe is frozen, tip a little anti-freeze down it.....it worked! However I do have to say, first of all he tried it - with screen wash!!! That didn't work:rotfl:

Bearcub - I'm not au fait with the plumbing stuff, but I think it's because the cold water tank is way up high in the loft & gets frozen now the warm air doesn't all rise up through the ceiling as it used to. You have to imagine a huge cathedral style roof, with a tiny aperture in the very high bathroom ceiling to get into the loft, which TBH I am scared to do. :eek:
As for finding surprising stuff, there is so much room here - we always joke that we have most things - we just can't find them. And that's not entirely fiction.....hence the absolute need to de-messy:D

Emms i hope you got to the farmshop & got your provisions, it has snowed here heavily but very fine snow, otherwise it would be 2 feet deep by now. Dogs are loving it, cats less so:(

OK I have counted the drawers in the kitchen - are you ready for this?????? OK I counted 41:eek: THEN realised I forgot 12.....yes there are 53:eek::eek::eek: Now they are not large drawers, haha not all of them, a lot are very small apothecary style drawers.....but what's in them all?? I asked DD22 & she said vaguely, I think there's JELLY in some of them:rotfl:OMG

Anyhow she is supposed to making tea today, however she had a night out last night & is looking decidedly unwell. I think she's going to incorporate some left-over chilli that I made into this dish, which is kind of cheating - but those two (her plus DH) are definitely making whatever we are having!!!

bearcub

Ooohh dear. Long post disappeared without trace. :mad:

Emms, 'an angel in sheeps clothing' is a bit of a mixed comment, isn't it?

sashanut wrote: »

However I do have to say, first of all he tried it - with screen wash!!! That didn't work:rotfl:

I bet it's nice and clean now, though, sashanut.

We downsized quite a lot when we moved here 7 years ago, and had to get rid of lots of stuff. Some belonged to our DDs, who'd left home 2 and 3 years before. To be fair, DD2 had taken most of what she wanted, but DD1 had to leave some with us, as she'd moved a fair distance away. There were only so many times she could drive back up the A3, and only so much she could carry in her car each time. So, we brought loads of her books with us, and sorted them when we got here, as then there was just the matter of a strip of water between us!

We moved from a large 3-bed semi to a small 2-bed bungalow, and that was bad enough. Our newish next door neighbours moved from a 5-bed detached to a place similar to ours. When we first introduced ourselves, the husband was wondering what on earth they were going to do with all their pictures, as there wasn't nearly enough wall space. I think they've knocked down at least one internal wall, so they have even less wall space now! :rotfl:

The snow's gradually melting, but the sky's black. goodness knows what we're getting next.

Right, must go and be busy - yawn!

mcculloch29

I've had some nice discoveries whilst de -messying today.
Sorted out undies drawers and paired up five pairs of soft fleecy socks that had somehow lost their partners, various bits of underwear went out, binned - chiefly thongs (why did I ever buy those?) or low cut boxers.

I also came across three cotton full briefs that were unworn, they were bought as part of sets but are colours I won't wear- will gift these to friend as she likes pastels.

Some Am*zon goodies arrived this morning, packaging straight into recycling. No putting things aside that might come in useful

Another two bags of books were set aside for CS, the aim is to find room for all the books from a collapsing bookshelf in my bedroom and put them downstairs. but I have to make room for them.
Whilst moving books I found one that I thought I'd CS'ed accidentally - "4 Ingredients 2" an Australian cookbook of recipes that use just 4 ingredients (or fewer).
This is ideal for this weather; many of the recipes use common storecupboard staples and I'll be able to try out some different twists on old favourites.

I also discovered where DS had put an extension lead he'd 'borrowed' a few years ago, I can now have my hairdryer and hot air brush back in my bedroom rather than in my (home) office.

Ironically, getting round to buying another extension lead was on my list of things to do.

It's easier to do this than to chase DS up; he always denies having borrowed and until a year or so ago recently the riposte "You'd find it easily if the place was tidier" was probably justified.

DS has long been a massive fan of decluttering my things but not his own - over the years he's thrown out lead crystal glasses that were supposed to become an heirloom, a beautiful set of cutlery that was a wedding present, and hundreds of pounds worth of educational toys and arts & craft materials that I'd earmarked for local pre-school facilities after giving up childminding. (All this was done when I was on holiday and had left him in charge.)

I was really annoyed, needless to say, especially as I never touch his "stuff" and there is plenty of it. I can remember how upset I was as a four year old when my Mum threw out my teddy because he was worn and too scruffy to come in to hospital with me. I'd had Nonsense the bear since I was a baby.
Mum wasn't being cruel in her eyes, she was just a tidy freak. She knew I needed a teddy and got me another, but Rhymney* the replacement wasn't the same.

Getting a cleaner was the best thing I ever did, it was lovely to have the place tidier. Even though I can no longer afford her, I've been able to keep it that way and make inroads into the bedrooms, which she didn't touch. I got less messy during the time she was with me. In the last few months, she was even slightly counter-productive, as I wouldn't clean and tidy prior to her visits in order to give her something to do!

My settee's been clear all week - that never used to happen.
I'm getting to like being less messy - what a shame that it took all this time.

* Rhymney was named after a local brewery. I spelled it Rumney, the phonetic Anglo Welsh spelling but Rhymney is the correct spelling. In the 1960s the American group The Byrds sang a song called Bells of Rhymney (based on a poem by Idris Davies) and pronounced it "Rimney". That's today's useless fact for you.