2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

weenancyinAmerica

@QueenJess - I hope you had a Happy Birthday!

@diminua - Cocoa powder is one of those items like honey that never goes bad.

I have been decluttering books - another bagful ready to go to the book sale. Will have a couple more bags by the time for the book sale on Friday. Decided to use the cardboard boxes on the weed beds out back to help kill the weeds. That is all we have out there right now - lots of weeds.

We are expecting rain on Tuesday and Wednesday and maybe next week. The last rain we had was last month on the 21st of January for all of 4 hours. Before that it was in December and it rained the day before Christmas and the day after. Temperature today was 25C - but dropping to 15C tomorrow and probably for the rest of the week. Our weather has certainly changed.

While trying to clean yesterday I twisted my ankle. So moving slowly and concentrating on things I can do on the computer. Organizing files online. Then I will add in what I can from the paper copies. Of course, being me with my paranoia about computers, I will make a clear copy to print out as well of everything. I think they are just waiting to change the computers entirely so they won't accept the flash drives anymore. This is the result of having lived through VHS tapes, 8 mm tapes, 78 records, 45 records, 33 1/3 records, 5 1/2 computer disks, 3 1/4 computer disks, old photo albums with black and white pictures, and tintypes - all of which I still have in this house. Even have 16 records (from teaching) and old tapes and records of relatives from the forties. I do have a stereo unit that will take all of the recordings and cassette tapes and CDs. But want to see about transferring some of it to current storage forms and be prepared to change it as soon as I do because someone will invent something new.

London_1

Good morning chums, Mrs SD you are so right, DD1 I love to bits, but could never live with her she fusses far too much.DD2 is much more laid back and just lets me get on with what ever I want to do.

Saturday went fairly well though ,we picked up DD1 from the ferry terminal and she wanted to go to Northwood to see her Granny's old house,So we drove there not really far from Fishborne ferry, but everywhere on the Island has road works and diversions, so getting to Northwood was a bit of a pain as there were diversions

The road into Cowes from Newport is closed so a trip out around it was neccessary. We got there eventually though and my two DDs went for a walk down to the fields behind the house as it was their playground growing up. At least they didn't fall out all day which was a good omen.

They eventually returned, and we trekked back to Wootton Bridge to have lunch at the nice Lakeside restaurant there . Then it was another detour trek to get back to our house in Elmfield, as we had to go over the downs We decided to go over Brading Downs and looking down at it was so sad to see how much of the fields were flooded. We are in serious need of at least several weeks of dry days to drain all the local fields. The farmers must be really pulling their hair out at the moment, and lambing will soon be starting,my favourite time of the year for driving on the island.

Finally got back home in time for some coffee and DD had bought a nice toffee cream birthday cake for me which was very yummy, still some left for a bit later this afternoon when I get back from my games afternoon in Newport. Monday is Crib playing day.:)

My two DDs actually seemed to be fairly genial to each other which made a change from their bickering.

DGD 2 Holly was keeping the peace I think . She's a lovely lass, and a primary school teacher, so pretty good at keeping unruly kids from arguing, even if they are 58 & 56 :)

Saturday was a nice day, and I was thoroughly spoiled by everyone,One of DD2's presents was a double trough on legs that I can use in the garden for growing small veg in. It's waist height so no need for me to bend which is good, as my joints aren't as pliable as they once were.

I've promised to bring up some shepherds pies for DGD2 when we go up to Kent next month for a long weekend to see DGD1 and 2 DGGDs.

Holly adores her Nans shepherds pies, and said 'I really miss them Nanny' So I will make a big batch the night before we go, and put them in small take away boxes for her to freeze.They will be fine in a cooler box to travel.

We dropped them back at the ferry at tea time and they got home safely with a good run on the M25

Last night I went to a U3A quiz night at a pub at Wootton and DD dropped me and picked me up as I'm not keen on night driving over the downs. Great night and a lot of fun for £2.00 plus a soft drink.

So not a lot of decluttering done ,but tomorrow I intend to attack a big pile of papers that seem to have been accumulating. I did empty and recycle a photo album of old photos and they are now in a large box to be gone through at some point.

The weeks seems to just whizz by at the moment , two of my grandsons Ben and Jack are coming over for a few days at half term, so I'm hoping we will have some dry weather by then. I think everyone has had more than enough rain since Christmas

Right, time to get a wriggle on as I want to have another go at the killer jigsaw , even Holly said 'Oh Nanny it really is a killer, and she loves a jigsaw. But I shall not give in :)

DGS Jack will be here on the 18th and he too is a jigsaw fan :)

Onwards and upwards chums ,

Love and hugs to Florenceem, as I know how its such a struggle.

Its now honey that you will find who your true friends are

JackieO xxx

GrannyKate

@Florenceem - sorry to hear about your difficulties with SA. Now is not a good time for big decisions so I would respond to their queries just with ' I feel more comfortable going with my friend at the moment until I get more used to Mr F not being with me." Don't commit yourself either way.

This reminded me of a tale from many years ago. We lived in a very expensive (even then) area of Surrey in a rented property next door to my Grandparents rented baker's shop. The houses were on a corner next to the school with a small side road in between. The landlady was an elderly widow with cats living in a property on the side road with a huge garden running along the back of ours and other properties. I got on fairly well with her because of our mutual love of cats - she had no children but had her late husband's nieces and nephews who visited and she was a regular and generous member of the local parish church. When my father returned from the war she offered to sell him our house for £500 but he was not keen to stay there so he refused (it most recently sold for around £750000!). Anyway as her health deteriorated she became less able to do the half mile walk to church and support from the church was lacking. We moved out when I was 13 but we were still in the area and we later heard that she changed her will without telling anyone except her nephews. Apparently no-one from church visited, or offered any support and the vicar did not come to bring her communion of anything. The other side of her house up the side road was a rather battered little chapel built of corrugated iron - Baptist I think. She never joined that church but someone popped in nearly everyday and they bought food etc. They were completely surprised after her death when she left them her house with its huge garden and the land on which their current building stood. The family were quite happy about this but I believe the expectation was that the charitable beneficiary of her will would have been the parish church. The Chapel were able in subsequent years to build a lovely brick building with parking on the two plots. A cautionary tale although it shouldn't have been about money.

I must stop making excuses and do some frogs. I bought DGS4 a fluffy throw for his bedroom here and he had an accident last night. I then discovered it was 'dry clean only' and I didn't notice. It is however in my machine on a 20 degree wash so I will hope for the best. Never occurred to me that a bedcover wouldn't be washable. DD has set off for Devon for 4 days expecting rain but looking forward to a break from work with hubby. They have a large wet patch on hall and stairs ceiling so guess roof is leaking. They have just had it decorated.

Not decluttered anything except children to school and back to Mum for one night. I did buy the paint for bedroom 3 as DGS4 wanted to make sure I got the colour he had picked from the chart. Hoping to hear from plasterer and electrician again this week.

Wednesday2000

I agree with what other people have said Florenceem. That is really quite disgraceful that you have had very little support from them.xxx

vulpix

TC, I think that sofa will look lovely in that fabric.

Florenceem, your corps behaviour is baffling. I think Granny Kate has given you some sage advice.

My lovely cleaning lady has offered to come tomorrow to start decorating in the bigger spare room. All other plans shelved today so we can empty the room as much as we can. I am not stripping the anaglypta paper. The house is old and goodness knows what doing that would reveal. My tasks for today are to emulsion the chimney breast and one wall white. They are currently dark blue. Sand the woodwork and wash it then undercoat it. I shall be doing a controversial thing. The previous owner has stripped all the woodwork. The doors look dreadful, very cheap hardboard panels with pine carcass. I am going to paint them, as they were intended. If they looked nice I wouldn't do it , honestly!

Better crack on Vx

_Dolly_Rocker_

@Florenceem - Aw I'm so sorry, it's so disappointing when you don't receive the same level of care back that you provide to others. I think it just shows more about your character and how good of a heart you have yourself. Stay strong and make decisions that are best for you. Lots of virtual hugs from me.

ionafan

@Florenceem I fully respect your preference not to have people visiting you at home - what I am going to say is in no way critical of your wish for privacy in your sanctuary. I do wonder if some people from your local SA corps have seen you around town, to all appearances holding yourself together perfectly well. As a result they are somehow expecting you to already feel able to come back to worship in your old place, not realising how much you miss MrF beside you there. In this area it is unusual for bereaved families to be seen out and about so soon after they have lost their loved one, and perfectly normal for friends and church members to offer a home visit, rather than meeting in a public place or impersonal office. I expect they all miss you very much and mean well. I'm with GrannyKate on this one: it's too soon to be making big decisions, so keep all your options open for now. At the same time I agree wholeheartedly that your church leaders should be more sensitive to your needs, and the people who run the weekly lunches ought to have learnt from your actions in the past and remembered to bring you a meal. Unfortunately, we human beings are all fallible and generally slow on the uptake. ..

I am having a quiet day catching up with admin and phonecalls, as I am exhausted after a manic fortnight of baking. All my DH's birthday cakes that he took to his clubs went very quickly, and of the 12 cakes that I made for yesterday's event at my church, more than half were eaten, so all in all a good batch, I think. My freezer is now fully stocked - I shall pass on a boxful of leftovers to my DD's family when I see her next week. My two teenage grandsons have already reached 6ft and are still growing, so they won't last long. Redistribution at its best!

Brie

@Florenceem

I'd be giving your regular SA a bit of polite feedback on their lack of action on your behalf. And say you'll be doing your good work elsewhere for the foreseeable. But you may have a more forgiving nature than I do. Frankly I doubt I'd be as polite.

But find your support where there is support to be had.

Wednesday2000

I had a fire safety test from the Essex fire safety team. I will put this here if it is helpful.

Pennypincin

Sorry everyone.

I've been awol again.

Not as much decluttering done as I'd like.

In fact I've had a small storage container come in, 2 tiny bee toys, 2 different boxes of wildlife friendly seeds, 2 different types of grass seeds, plus several packets different of seeds and a small roll of chicken wire.

Hopefully I will tidy up the bed I've got, dig over and create a new bed at the back of the garden. It's almost a lawnmower killer at the back of the garden, due to it going up into a bank (not sure how to explain it otherwise) and I'm often too impatient to faff with the strimmer. So I'm aiming to dig it over, put some of the seeds in and maybe shrubs and a small tree or two.

I've previously (possibly already mentioned), taken a bag of bits to a charity shop, plus have re-homed a foot massager, plus a usb stick.

I've recently re-homed a cardigan to my sister and the jumper I recently brought to my mum. Today I gave my sister one of my 2 extended blue-ray sets plus another small thing. It seems pointless having 2 sets of the same extended lord of the rings and hobbit blue rays and hopefully she will enjoy it.

I've still got the art supplies for someone, but hopefully soon I will pass it on.