2020 - banish the clutter

Willowtree222

That sounds lovely Mrs SD. That food sounds amazing too.x

[Deleted User]

Our Freecycle closed here with the onset of coronavirus and hasn't re-opened yet, easiest way will be to put a notice on the Village page on face book and see if anyone has spare jars, perhaps I'll be lucky?

Very inactive day, much cooler and more pleasant to be in here today but we had storms rattling away all round us for most of the morning and deluge style rain showers that put down an inch and a half of rain in just a few minutes.  It's eerily still out there and the air is saturated with humidity so although it's cooler it's still feeling sticky.  I've processed all the veg and fruit that was  waiting to be dealt with and got another large amount from the runner beans on the rose arch.  I made stewed plums, mixed berry compote, processed a couple of kilos of runner beans some of which we had for lunch and the rest will be used over the next few days, tomatoes I have masses of ripe ones but just not quite enough for a full recipe of chutney so some are ripening in the windowsill and when they're Ok  I'll make it then.  Onions sitting on top of the log store drying (that is until it rained) will be strung when they ARE dry and go on hooks in the top kitchen area and potatoes have had to re earthed up as the heavy rain washed some of the ridges off but they're looking a good size, just not quite ready to lift yet.  More plums on the tree but they're still hard so more for the freezer when they ripen.  Squirrel time again I think!

TC77

All home growing and cooking sounds so lovely and impressive.,, my one strawberry was eaten and tomato plant struggling! maybe when I move out of the smoke...

Finally dropped whiskas which our cat refuses to eat to the cat rescue place 1545 - 1563

Resisted buying a sideboard in the heart foundation charity shop - If I empty other furniture in other rooms can move things around. Have noticed more space - managed to order additional shelves for one of my display cabinets so will be able to keep things more tidy rather than piled on top of each other.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. WRITE AND USE “TO DO LISTS” - MINIMUM 30 MINUTE BURSTS OF ACTIVITY AT LEAST TWICE EVERY DAY

2. KITCHEN WILL BE LEFT CLEAN & TIDY EVERY NIGHT

3. I WILL ENDEAVOUR TO BE NICE TO EVERYONE & TRY TO SEE THE FUNNY OR PECULIAR SIDE TO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
4. DAY TO DAY DECLUTTERING WILL CONTINUE

Woke at 2:00 a.m., 6:00 a.m. & up at 07:45 a.m. but did wake up refreshed. Took 2 bags down to bike (2nd floor) & packed before breakfast. Full Scottish for DH after a huge bowl of yoghurt & berries. I had scrambled egg & salmon on toast - again 😉 with A slice of toast & marmalade. We shared a pot of coffee. DH loaded the bike & paid the bill whilst I had a bathroom visit (tmi 😱) Left 10 minutes later than we intended. The weather started sunny but quickly changed to overcast, low 20’s but no rain. Headed off towards Invergarry, then on to Plockton then Dingwall ending up at Farr Bay. The day stayed overcast all day with a 10 minute burst of sunshine & a bit of blue sky. To add insult to injury - DH got bitten to pieces by midges Wednesday night (in less than 10 minutes 😱) & we stopped off at a cafe called The Midge Bite Cafe for coffee & cake - although DH had an egg mayonnaise seeded bread sandwich which was soo tasty 😋 

Wildlife: horses, sheep (serial dozen in the road), cattle including an Highland cow laying down in the middle of the road with no intention of moving. We managed to squeeze past slowly & carefully with half a dozen other Highland cows looking on 😉
Other wildlife: chicken, pig, ducks (I think possibly Gadwalls), butterflies, swallows/swifts, seagulls.

Strangest  sight of the day was a sign that read “LAMBS HAVE NO ROAD SENSE”
Finally arrived at The Farr Bay Inn abut 6:40 p.m. A rather innocuous looking building from the outside which has turned out to be a hidden gem 👏 A very friendly landlady, the room is huge with an on-suite bathroom (shower with decent water pressure), a newly happy landlady as my reaction when I entered the room was “wow 🤩”. 

DH & I showered & dressed for dinner - slight problem - I thought I had packed a 2nd skirt which turned out to be a very short sundress 🙄, however I just removed the detachable straps & wore as a skirt - not very flattering but better than going to dinner half dressed 😂

We shared a King prawn starter with a chilli sauce. DH had Katsu curry - in Rembrance of his usual Thursday Katsu curry whilst he was still at work. Dry tasty but nothing compared to my venison or roasted asparagus with black pudding bon bons, extra vegetables, fries & red wine jus. Even better than last night’s dinner. I was in raptures (I did let DH taste test😉) & he would have preferred the venison 😉😉) No dessert but we did have an Irish coffee each 😉 I was drinking a John O’Groats Oat stout which was delicious.
we were going to go for a walk but decided against it & spent 40 minutes in the bar (Me drinking Baileys with ice & DH drinking Stella) chatting to the owner/landlady, her 19 year old grandson who was the chef & a couple with a spaniel called Maud who thought she was a meerkat 😉  A Thoroughly pleasant & enjoyable evening. 

1481 Drinks cans - Binned

Nicnak, we appear to have struck lucky with the food again 😉

Can I stay till Christmas boazu? 😉 Your inner squirrel must be jumping for joy 🥳

Well done on the cat food Declutter TC77 👏 More space proves your decluttering is working 🥳

BE KIND. STAY SAFE. BREAK THE CHAIN. SAVE LIVES.

MrsSD ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  🏅

1481/2020

Willowtree222

I am drooling reading that description of food and drink. It sounds delicious and perfect x

[Deleted User]

I love black pudding, I didn't try it until I was in my 60s although it was one of my dear old Dads favoutires along with Gorgonzola cheese and Brawn.  Now I like the cheese and after being persuaded to try black pudding as part of a breakfast when on holiday it's a favourite in the winter when I make it into a hot pot but brawn I find utterly repulsive, I don't like gelatinous things anyway but random bits of offal, meat and unidentified floating round in a sheet of set jelly was never going to be on my 'likes' list!

I'm doing a wardrobe cull today and what I don't keep will get taken to the clothing bank in the village, our charity shops are so inundated they can't take anything else at present. I shall also make another batch of tomato chutney as they are the plants that keep on giving and I have the 6lbs of ripe ones that are needed for a full recipe.

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

509: bin full of shredding

@savvy - so sorry you've had such a tough time - sending my best wishes x
@Mrs SD - DS is my one and only - so I will be home alone - other than the cat!  I'm sure I will have a major wobble when he goes but it does feel like the right thing for both of us - (I'm try to be very brave  )
510 & 511 - 2x ornaments
512 - old tea towel
513 & 514 - 2x prints

bit_by_bit

Wow Mrs SD. you are having a great time. Mouthwatering food. Literally my mouth is watering. 

TC77

Mrs SD your trip sounds wonderful. Haven't been to Scotland for years ( haven't been anywhere for years).
1564- 1567 - 4 more glasses in CS bag.
With dd2 cleared the top of her wardrobe ( shelves) mainly my stuff - spare car carpets- why? Flippers? She kept dart board but packaging and other stuff out including clothes/ boxes 1568- 1575 counting packaging . She also sorted some teddies ( used to have about 100 whenever I took things to cs she would spend a £1 on a soft animal. Culls when she was 11/12 and 14 to about 17/20 and now only wants about 3 and a couple that you heat up
 I don't want to let go- she's 16 in a few weeks and want my little one.. sometimes   putting in another room to see if some are retrieved.  She did lots more tidying on her own and few things comb/ papers and boxes out .

StickyTheStickInsect

It sounds like you are having a fabulous time Mrs SD, the food sounds amazing !
We managed to get away for a week to my FIL's, for the first time since my MIL died in April. we had a lovely week away and I think he enjoyed seeing us. I cleaned his kitchen and the appliances and got DS1 to clean all his skirting boards, its all new to him but he's managing really well. I also went through some of MIL's things that he prefered that I did. So some bits for my DD and a bit of decluttering for my FIL.
I've managed to get 4 bags to the charity shop today, (there were actually 5 but I'm not including the bits from my FIL), almost all clothes that DS1, DD and DS2 have grown out of, DS1 went up two sizes in one go, lockdown clearly agrees with him !