Travelling On

Karmacat

Thanks beanie!  They won't be given out for a few weeks, there's such a lot of sickness in the family, sadly.

Anyway, that means I'm here ... and I had a *terrible* night's sleep, ugh.  But I've finally made myself face the fact that any domestic work I do, apart from putting some soaked beans in the slow cooker, is about the bathroom and the pantry - cleaning.  Ugh, more ugh.  There are stains just above the skirting board  

GOOD NEWS: I've won two £1 bets on the baby Happy Wheel, and finally had a couple of wins - total of £1.16 added to my account since Christmas 🤣  I haven't bothered laying, because they're so small, but I might start doing that to get into practice, hoping to start the grownup version of the Happy Wheel, the sort that Cheery does 😀

Watty1

The giftwrapping looks splendid.

Karmacat

Thanks Watty!  I'm very pleased with how they went, and I'll enjoy adding fripperies for next Christmas  

I'm in the middle of a slight domestic freakout 😲 I've finished clearing the floor of the pantry - 3 feet by 5, maybe?  Easy to clean the dirt away, and the mould is easier than it looks, the wall isn't stained, its just that a bit of paint has come off.  Fine.

HOWEVER!  Down on my hands and knees and pushing the sponge into the far corners, I happened to see the underside of my shelves - they're the leaves from the table my family used when I was a child, solid wood, nice and thick, they even have a metal repair by my dad.  And the underside of them is full of green and white mould I've rarely seen anything so unpleasant.  

I know exactly how this has happened - I've stuffed everything in there, as full as I can, and not touched the back layers for 5 years or more    no air circulation, damp not only from normal everyday useage, but also the outside wall there is the one where the mortar failed, and the plaster blew on the inner cavity wall.  So now *everything* will have to be emptied out, possibly just shelf by shelf, and *everything* gets a thorough cleaning. 

I never understood the concept of spring cleaning, not really.  I do now!  I've wanted to keep up with the trips and holidays that my sister has suggested - because I want them too!  But the cost has been not taking care of home.  She has more energy than me, that's just fact, and I didn't decide my own balance between trips and holidays, and taking care of my home.  Astonishing to see it so plainly!

Lesson Learned.

Goldiegirl

Hello Karmacat, How are you?

I usually manage to log in for your birthday, but I'm running a bit late this year.  Hope you are keeping well.  I remember looking in  at some point in the summer, and saw that you had Covid after a cruise? At least, I think I remember that - it has happened to a lot of people. If it was you, I hope you made a good recovery

I hope to make a few comments about 2022 on my diary, and thoughts for the coming year. But generally, Mr Goldie & I are fine, and just plodding on ! 

apple_muncher

We always used to have delayed Christmases and birthdays with dh's kids. It spreads it out more!

Eek to the multicoloured mould 😵😵😵. Make sure to wear your marigolds!!!! And do not, under any circumstances, overexert yourself- you know how long the shopping sometimes has to wait, so don't get to that point. Please 😎.

Karmacat

Goldiegirl said:

Hello Karmacat, How are you?

I usually manage to log in for your birthday, but I'm running a bit late this year.  Hope you are keeping well.  I remember looking in  at some point in the summer, and saw that you had Covid after a cruise? At least, I think I remember that - it has happened to a lot of people. If it was you, I hope you made a good recovery

I hope to make a few comments about 2022 on my diary, and thoughts for the coming year. But generally, Mr Goldie & I are fine, and just plodding on ! 

Hi Goldie!  I'm fine thanks, I was wondering how you were doing I had such a quiet birthday this year, just with my sister, I don't think I mentioned it on here this time 🤣  But you remember correctly about covid after a cruise - it lasted 4-5 weeks, tough, but I'm genuinely over it now.  I'm so glad you're well!  I'll watch out for your updates on your diary.

themadvix

Eek to the mould from me too - but also agree with Apple about not overdoing it. It's been there this long and you've survived, so getting it back to square one doesn't need to be instantaneous. Good job you found it though. Can you avoid stuffing it full again in the future?

Karmacat

apple_muncher said:

We always used to have delayed Christmases and birthdays with dh's kids. It spreads it out more!

Eek to the multicoloured mould 😵😵😵. Make sure to wear your marigolds!!!! And do not, under any circumstances, overexert yourself- you know how long the shopping sometimes has to wait, so don't get to that point. Please 😎.

That's nice to spread it out, it can get *so* frantic I think my niece in law wanted everything to be perfect, even after having moved house 6 weeks previously and with a young baby, but it just didn't work out that way.

For me, I'm fine - I don't have a family of my own, so Christmas doesn't have the same resonance for me.  And I like perfection, but I'm **so** rubbish at achieving it, I have to accept imperfection 🤣😛😺

The marigolds are getting a fantastic workout, don't worry 🤣 and the over-exertion isn't a problem either.  I'm having to contort myself a bit to get into the corners of the wall underneath the first shelf from the bottom, I haven't moved the shelf itself yet, and that contortion is a bit of a problem, I do very little before I stop for 45 minutes or so 😋

My supermarket delivery, coincidentally, is arriving tomorrow afternoon   I might try to move the shelf later on, so I can clean it this evening (not much left on it now) but that's all.  

Watty1

eek to the mould but you have a plan.   And a plan that will come together

Karmacat

themadvix said:

Eek to the mould from me too - but also agree with Apple about not overdoing it. It's been there this long and you've survived, so getting it back to square one doesn't need to be instantaneous. Good job you found it though. Can you avoid stuffing it full again in the future?

Hi madvix - very true it doesn't need to be instantaneous, but it does need to be done by the end of Saturday 7th January: House mog is coming to stay until Thursday 19th, and he'll be mostly downstairs, so I need the dilute bleach off the walls and the mould gone, he's an inquisitive 3 year old house cat.  I have time enough to do it, though - its why I'm doing it now.

I've already decluttered quite a bit - keeping stuff "in case it's useful" really doesn't work 😲  I've never had this issue in any other house, and my previous one was very exposed on a high hill with a 4 mile view to the Channel.  I suppose the wind kept the damp away!