Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

Toni'sfriend

I am so impressed. Well done. I really need to get this place all tidied and a few jobs done but, honestly, I just can't seem to get started. Lots needing ditched but even if I could get a skip it would be filled with all sorts of other people's rubbish before it hit the ground.

I'm so pleased for you. You're like a different person now you've got the thing with the ex sorted out.

natsplatnat

Buffythedebtslayer said:

CCL you are bloody amazing XXXX 

HEAR HEAR! X

janb5

Succinctly put Buffythe debt slayer....CCL we`re in awe. And you kept on going when the white paint spilt and you got the joists done .  Yay!

beanielou

Awesome 

1LuckyLady

Sounds fantastic CCL,  so pleased to read how things are going with you. 

Narola1976

Been away for a while and just caught up to your diary. Wow you are like Wonder Woman. So much accomplished in so little time, well done. I am sure when it’s all done you will really enjoy your new look home

crazy_cat_lady

Morning  
So I know you're all waiting with baited breath to hear how things are going Chez CCL Thanks for all of your kind words - I am noticing a difference - alas not in my room which has become the new dumping ground, but the rest of it is looking well. There's lots to report and I don't know where to start... actually I do. I've gained back 2lb of the 11 I had lost but I figure it's an anomaly because I have been working so hard and not eating too much. Probably hanging onto water as I always seem to a few days after a drinking session. I shall keep plodding on and hope for the best.
Thankfully the hangover never fully materialised on Tuesday thank goodness but I was shattered by the end of the day because we'd been so busy. DD and I headed off to the Swedish furniture emporium and got there in time for it opening. The queue was massive but moved quickly so I was pleased about that. We got everything on her list as well which was double happy. Unfortunately, most of the things I had on my list were out of stock (a shoe rack and a bedside table). I had fallen in love with another bedside table but could not justify spending £80 on a teeny bedside table - no matter how beautiful. So dd got her drawers and desk, and cried with happiness over drawer dividers and I got my little Billy bookcase for standing my bedroom tv on. We also got a couple of extra bits in the market place (bins for ds room, scissors, measuring jug) and then headed off to pay. As is customary I made dd go round Bargain Corner, just in case, even though I have never bought anything in Bargain Corner in the 20+ years I've been going there. Well. Guess what I found in Bargain Corner.... The £80 teeny bedside table, ready assembled and reduced to £50 due to a miniscule chip on the leg. Bargain! And good use of my ONS money as well - so of course I bought it   Two hot dogs on the way out of the door and then stacked the car right up with the flat pack and onto the next homeware shop that my dad insists on calling the Grange no matter how many times I tell him.
DD had never been in one before but very quickly declared it her favourite shop in the world. She bought a little fluffy stool to go with her desk, some white bedding (with pillowcases) for half the price of the previous one she'd bought without pillowcases and I bought a lamp that was reduced (and on my list - last one in stock!). Then off to Primarni to return 2 of dd's items that were too big (that's what she gets for being a size 4 ) By the time we got home it was almost 3pm and there was no skip on the drive. DS had made his own lunch and had barely noticed that we were gone for most of the day as he was so busy on his exbox. Little rest and then proceeded with building dd's drawers and desk. Skip finally arrived at 6pm so me and the kids got straight on with filling it - then finally stopped for the night at 9pm. I was shattered but happy that everything that had been cluttering up the garden was now in the skip.
Slept well and woke up yesterday in my tip of a bedroom wondering where to start next. My friend who helped Monday offered to come round again and help demolish the shed, and she turned up bright and breezy at 11am. I was struggling to get going but had started emptying my outhouse - affectionately known by me a p1ssy cat corner due to my being able to smell cat pee out there but not being able to find it owing to the dumping ground nature of the space. Loads more stuff in the skip and a lovely, clear, nice smelling outhouse with loads of space - probably to dump more junk. Then onto the shed, just as it started raining. I don't think I have even unlocked the shed door for at least 8 years. It was never cleared when we moved here, and I never maintained it so it just got wrecked and more and more stuff got dumped in there to deal with later, on top of what was already in there. We had to smash the door off the shed as the lock had rusted up but god it was awful in there. Leftover stuff from the previous owner's home maintenance - paint, skirting boards, tiles, ceiling coving, an old carpet/rug, laminate flooring, wallpaper, plus some rusty garden chairs, 2 hoovers, 2 lawn mowers, a microwave oven, some home brewing kit, the leftover bits of trampoline and inflatables from my kids younger days. Good job my friend was there because the kids saw the rain, creepy crawlies, mud and carnage and just refused to help empty it. Very little salvageable stuff in there apart from some wood that my friend is going to help me make some shelves with and a couple of garden tools - a spade and a rake. It took 3 hours to empty the shed contents into the skip (minus the electricals and paint) and a further 2 hours to demolish the shed itself - ds came back to get involved with swinging a hammer at stuff but not putting it into the skip. And my skip is full. And I haven't finished emptying the rubbish either so I think I'm going to need to get another one but at least the skip is full of just my household rubbish and not the whole street's rubbish. 
Had a long soak in the bath after that, because I deserved it I thought... and then dd casually reminded me that the only thing left to do in her room was to put her new venetian blind up. 10 minute job I thought. Unfortunately I was some way out here and it actually took over 2 hours with lots of drilling and precise measuring required. I really hope that she's happy with it because I was beyond exhausted when it was finished. But her room is finished now apart from her wanting a small ottoman box for extra storage. It looks amazing in there and I'm so proud that she's used her ONS vouchers and her own savings to pay for the furnishings. A wise investment I think. DS new bed is due for delivery today (also paid with his ONS vouchers), and once that is set up he needs to put his stuff away (which will be more of a job than he thinks) but then he can get on with enjoying his new haven as well, and move back into his own room. 
Now I am jealous because my room is the dumping ground, and I want it nice in there too. I still haven't put my new bed up, or taken my old one down (and there's no room in the skip for it), or assembled my flatpack bookcase, or decorated in there, and the bargain corner bedside table is currently in the living room, and the new lamp is in the kitchen. But I feel really worn out today. My shoulders ache, my back aches, my legs ache and I feel tired and fancy a day of doing nothing. And it's raining really heavily so double miserable. And obviously the kids are still in bed because it's not even 10am yet And I've run out of milk so just one cup of tea because I'm still in my jammies. Then if. and only if, I can be bothered then I will start to clear stuff in my room.
So as busy as ever, but just trying to tell myself that it's ok to have a day off if I need it - even if the house is a mess. 

PurpleFairy26

Wow cat I’m tired just reading what you’ve done. Sounds lovely. Take a day off if you want there’s always tomorrow to sort your room. You know it’ll get done. Well done on the bargain purchases too and your daughter paying with vouchers and savings. Big life lesson for her too. 

You’ll definitely be decluttered fully if you get a 3rd skip. Will be nice when it’s all gone though. 

MeandO

I'm in awe of you CCL and I'm finding your house updates exciting reading! We need before and after pics now though...
Seriously, it's so lovely to read how positive life seems to be now, minor blips aside, compared to a few months back. xxx

apple_muncher

This is just all awe-inspiring ccl! Well done you!