Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff · 16 August 2024 at 1:00PM

Don't hold your breath on the windowsills - we're almost 3 years without them now and as much as I'd like them done, it's a right old faff so we'll see!

Wall is finished though

No cows to be seen today (they have access to fields I can't see from where I was).

First load of washing is on the line, second load has just finished so I'll hang that out in a second.

I started strimming, but then the plumber turned up for a boiler service, so I came inside and made a batch of granola and a batch of flapjacks while he was messing about so I was in earshot. Mostly fine, but we do need a new part - he's going to order that this afternoon and hopefully fit within the week. I'd reminded him we'd not paid him for when he came in January to do the boiler service and got sidetracked into helping us disconnect the electrics that were filling with water in the living room... So £155 today (For that, and the boiler service), and probably another £200 to come.

Going to have a sneaky bit of flapjack with a cuppa, then back on with the strimming

beanielou · 16 August 2024 at 2:54PM

Oooh flapjacks.

Cheery_Daff · 16 August 2024 at 4:39PM

Ooh indeed!

Mr Cheery got waylaid in the city, so we couldn't meet for our planned cafe trip - he's still not back, but I hope at least will have got the bulb replaced in the car.

In the meantime, I was rather enjoying the strimming (well, in a 'being-satisfied-with-the-results' way) so I carried on, and now most of the things that get an annual chop have had one.

Time for more tea and another bit of flapjack I think!

Then on with the tiles. I need to raise the level of the ground slightly as they're too far below the other tiles, but it's such a small area it's not worth breaking into the self-levelling compound. I found a tub of mortar in the shed, but no idea how old it is, and the lid is cracked, and it's gone pretty solid... So another trip to B&Q I think.

Tonight I think we need to tackle the mould (before my mother arrives

) - hopefully won't take long but does involve shifting furniture and currently I feel fit for nothing but a long hot bath! Hoping Mr Cheery will feel more sprightly, but not holding my breath...

Cheery_Daff · 16 August 2024 at 7:43PM

Phew, is it bedtime yet?!

Mr Cheery did NOT feel more sprightly, and after drinking a cup of coffee, immediately fell asleep on the sofa, and has been there for the last 2.5 hours... I have battled on - put a layer of PVA where the tiles are to go, pitchforked a load of cut grass into the veg patch, and did a row of scything - only my third this year, I really do need to do a little every day to chip away at it before the bad weather arrives.

And looking at my last post, I've reminded myself of that dratted mould! Time to wake Mr Cheery I think and encourage him to help...

KajiKita · 17 August 2024 at 7:12AM

Is the mould vanquished ….? I am on tenterhooks here … 😉

Btw, did you know that Americans don’t typically know the word “tenterhooks” as it came into use after a lot of the English moved to the Americas, when the wool trade kicked off in England and ‘tenterhooks’ were used as part of the drying process of the wool cloth. Found this out when I used the word in talking to my American friend in Japan, who had no clue what I was wittering on about. Mentioned it to my mum and she explained why 😊

KK

Cheery_Daff · 17 August 2024 at 10:14AM

I did know that as it happens!

And yes, the mould is vanquished. Vinegar solution washed onto the carpet and rinsed off, bicarb overnight (I bought a new box the other day - obviously my intuition was telling me I'd need it as I hadn't had any for ages

), dehumidifier is on, and the last thing I'll do before my mum gets here is hoover and put the chair back (and then probably move it out again when she's gone and put the dehumidifier back on for good measure!)

Speaking of which, she'll be here in an hour... Fortunately I did a tidy of the whole place the other day so it's not too bad, although I unwisely started watching Kim & Aggie while I was cleaning the mould and now I can just hear them say 'that's disgusting!' whenever I look anywhere

Mr Cheery promised to mow this morning, so I'm going to wake him up to do that (although he went to bed with toothache so I'm not ruling out having to do it myself...).

Still, I have made time for a nice bath this morning - got out of bed VERY stiff and sore after yesterday's excursions but feeling nicely mobile now.

Right, best crack on. Putting on Flylady's crisis cleaning podcast

It doesn't really need a crisis clean, but it's 45 mins long and aimed at people whose mothers are turning up in an hour and spurs me on nicely

rtandon27 · 17 August 2024 at 11:38AM

Oh Cheery - that really did make me laugh!
Weighing up K&A vs, Flylady - I'd rather listen to the second! Non-judgmental wins out for me every time!

That being said, I'm about to share a very judgmental story...

A few months ago we went (for the first time) to the house of a couple who I'd always thought of as 'posh' due the superior way in which they referred to their own existence. In my head I equated posh to neat, clean and having a weekly maid to deal with the worst of it. (Don't get me wrong, they are a lovely, kind & caring couple.) I was utterly shocked to see the state of clutter throughout their houseand couldn't bring myself to use their loo after seeing the state of their kitchen. I was very thankful it was a pet free house!
I came home & realized immediately that by comparison, we live simply and don't own anything fancy. Our comparatively non-existant clutter is tidy and for the most part organized. If we had planned company coming over the kitchen and bathroom would be blitzed! (and the piles of paperwork shoved into a basket and hidden in the bedroom.) Our state of being is lived in but definitely clean!

So the moral of that little blurb is not to be so hard on yourself! K&A standards are above most of us 🤣🤣🤣

Cheery_Daff · 17 August 2024 at 10:13PM

😂😂 Thank you! 😂😂 I do wonder what some of you would think if you turned up here 🙈 My kitchen and bathroom are certainly NOT filthy but I did spot a veritable forest of cobwebs behind the harmonium earlier 😱 But in fairness that's far too heavy to pull out, and you can only see behind it if you strain your head in an odd way to pick something up you've dropped under the radiator 😂

Mum made it here eventually, and we have had a nice day - a cafe lunch, little village fete (where we didn't win a single thing on the tombola) and a trip to a little market town. We were going to have a bbq tonight but she was full from her lunch and there was no sunshine so we decided to do it during the day tomorrow.

My mum mentioned the Swedish death cleaning programme @LadyWithAPlan mentioned so we watched an episode of that while I did some of my rag rug this evening and she did some knitting.

Before she got here I did fill in the form for the new mortgage fix, starting 1st November. So that's something ticked off the list! 😊

Not sure of tomorrow's plan. Mr Cheery was meant to be going to his dad's, but doesn't feel well so may not go. We might have a bbq, or might not 😂 Mum broke her ankle a few weeks ago so can't do much traipsing around fields so we may just end up in a cafe again or watching more death cleaning 😂