Reclaiming My House

Photo copyright: Maggie May

I'd been looking forward to seeing my daughter and grandsons and when they arrived last weekend, I was dismayed that I found myself fighting off some kind of virus that caused painful glands in the neck and aching limbs and snuffles.

When I was working in the school until quite recently, I had built up a resistance to most things and was rarely ill with anything that was going round.

I think seeing me like that worried Deb a lot. Anyway, by Sunday afternoon, I started to feel better and we went out for a walk together. Then she had to leave.

I found myself crying after they'd all gone. I haven't done that for a long time.

However, I woke up feeling heaps better the next day and started to do quite a bit of tidying up.

Unused to this sudden surge of energy, I decided to do as much as possible. I collected all the old videos together that the children used to love but have now grown out of.

I filled up a small trolley and off I set to our local High Street where there are about a dozen Charity shops.

It soon became apparent that I couldn't leave the videos in the first few shops that I tried and they all told me the same story. There was no call for them and they recommended that I throw them all on the Council tip.

I went home with my load of unacceptable donations and decided that I would try ringing the largest local charity shop that was the furthest distance from me. This proved quite fruitful as they told me to come with them straight away.

Off I set with my trolley full of unwanted Walt Disney films. It did make me feel a little twinge of nostalgia when I thought of all the times my grandsons had been glued to the screen watching these films and later my granddaughters who did the same.

When I returned home with my lighter trolley I was surprised how the Spring Cleaning mode carried on and I spent the whole day tidying up.

Now what has caused this, do you think?

Well Sam has been given a date to move into his house (God forbid that anything should go wrong at this late stage.)

When they came as a family straight from Japan to live with me for almost a year, my house was completely taken over. They brought mess with them and it gradually spread over every available surface. When they moved to a different location, the children still went to the local school so came round every school morning and quite often the evening too. Quite regularly they spent the night here, so their muddles just stayed and were needed here, I was told.

I couldn't keep up with all the mounds of papers and toys and clothes lying everywhere. It seemed too much.

Amber was just five and Millie not yet three when they first came, so during those four years there was a lot of junk of theirs lying around. Why did they have at least six coats and dozens of shoes each? Not to mention scarves and hats and gloves that filled several bags. I could have started my own charity shop.

Now I am hoping to clear it up. The muddles can go to their own house and I am claiming my house back. So I have an incentive to press on with it.

All we need now is the final document to be signed and we await with bated breath......

My Everlasting Kitchen Progress

Photos copyright: Maggie May

Most of you know that I have been having my kitchen altered in varying degrees since last February.

The menfolk in our house have done major work on it. Originally to get rid of rodents (of the largest variety), who were nesting and causing havoc in a tiny roof space where we were completely unable to get to them.

After constructing a new roof, of an entirely different design, the problem was solved. However, I have been living out of boxes for ages as the men had other things to do and my kitchen was in a state of limbo for months.

While I was in hospital recently, my carpenter son, Sam, decided to try to finish off the interior decorations. A mammoth task but I knew it was his way of coping with the uncertainty of my biopsy and everything.

Although three sides of the kitchen have now been revamped, the rest has been put on hold because Sam has another run of work and I also decided to go back to work last week and I couldn't face having no access to a kitchen when I wasn't home all day. If I work I need to organise meals and things at set times, otherwise I cannot cope with any of it as it is all too tiring.

I am still living out of boxes because the one side of the wall that hasn't yet been attacked by Sam, has to have the wall cabinets remade. So everything is on hold again.

You will see by the above photos that he has made an excellent job of everything and I am so grateful to him.

Not long ago the kitchen looked like the picture at the bottom.

So we are making progress slowly but surely.

In Need Of A Good Sort Out?

authorblog: Weekend Wandering

This week, David  Mcmahon, from authorblog set the question, "How long since you cleaned a cupboard or a room?"

The above photo shows a section of my wardrobe, which obviously needs a good clean and tidy up. I seem to have lots of things belonging to my computer in there, as I have no place else to store them. So this wardrobe has obviously not been cleaned out for some time.

Trouble is, when I tackle a cupboard or a drawer, I often find bundles of sentimental things. Old letters and cards from people who have either died or moved away. I have sometimes started to clean and removed all these treasures to sort out. I end up rereading letters and cards and looking at things that have not been viewed for ages. I carefully read everything and reminisce about past memories associated with these objects. I then run out of time, bundle them all up and put them back where I found them! 

I have recently cleaned and tidied up the kitchen, since the family have left our house. That definitely looks much better than it did. I have tidied muddles in the bathroom too! 

I need to tackle our bedroom next and the spare bedroom and the attic. The front lounge has been done. Our house can be likened to the Forth Bridge in Scotland, by the time the painters have finished repainting from one end to the other, it all has to be repeated, so really goes on for ever! Our house is a bit large and rambling and needs constant attention. In many ways, it is getting too much for us to maintain. I feel we are at a crossroads in our life. Do we stay here or go for something smaller?

However, the need to clean will be here long after I am dead and gone and I feel that I have to have some enjoyment in  my life now, so quite often it all gets postponed while I do something else.

I do have my limits though! I am eventually forced to do something about a muddle for the sake of my sanity. I will only let the muddles get so bad, before I have to tackle them.

How about you?