Rearranging Furniture

and I am now only fit for bath, supper, and sleep!

In my new bedroom.

The upstairs of my little house is unusual. To get to the bathroom, you have to go through what was described to me as the second bedroom. The main bedroom is the only room in the house it’s possible to close the door on, and not have visitors see it, as you come straight from street to front room, straight through to the kitchen, and up the stairs which lead off the kitchen  to the upstairs rooms.

There is a little outhouse kind of offshoot from the kitchen, which houses a toilet, and a little area for a washing machine, and the gardening equipment. (Um, best we don’t discuss the fact I now have a garden, and gardening equipment, and no clue whatsoever.) Oh, and the recycling boxes and rubbish bags. I really should get the council to bring me a wheelie bin.

Anyway, when I moved in I dutifully put myself into the main bedroom for sleeping purposes, and made the second bedroom a study space. Now I don’t have to keep everything I possess in one room, my bedroom became the tidiest room in the house! The living room isn’t bad, to be fair, and I’ve always been clean if not that tidy in a kitchen, but my work-type space…. oh dear. And, it’s way too cold to expect visitors to go to what in effect is an outside toilet!

So, in between dealing with the toughest week ever at work, and my growing dissatisfaction with the room I was sleeping in, and the lack of tidiness in the places people could see, it occurred to me that I didn’t actually mind people walking through my tidy bedroom to get to the bathroom, but I was minding them walking through a seriously messy work area. Which wasn’t actually working as a work area either.

So, today I’ve moved everything work and music related into the main bedroom, and created a more conducive working space.  Means I can have my keyboard out more of the time, too.  I’ve left the wardrobe in that room, mostly because I couldn’t face moving it, then probably moving it back because I couldn’t get it through to my new bedroom.

If I have overnight visitors, I will still put them in the second bedroom, and move myself back into the main bedroom! Mostly so they can have better access to the bathroom, and I am less likely to fall down the stairs in the middle of the night on my way to the other toilet than a visitor is. But also because I don’t see why I should inflict my mess on anyone but me.

So, I’m going to make my supper and eat, pack my work bag, have a bath and go to bed!! Cos, I’m very tired now.

Normal-ish service resumed

Yesterday, um, I was having a tantrum-y, tearful day, and decided to shut myself away, as not fit for inflicting on the human race.

Today, I gave myself a stern talking to, and tackled the long, long list of really silly little jobs that needed doing, and feel tons better for having achieved almost all I set out to do.

So, I’ve collected the new uniform t-shirts for work and ironed them all (all twenty… three each for the two of us who need them every week, and the rest for volunteers) ironed my own stuff for the week, shopped for work, shopped for me, hoovered, dusted, mended the gate, raked up about eight bin-liners full of leaves, terrorised the local teenagers, (who now only take one look at me raking up leaves and think better of their foolish actions – I harbour no illusions, they continue to use the front garden as a supposed short cut when I’m not watching, but they no longer attempt it when I am there) mused on music for Friday’s funeral, and am now ready for a good night’s sleep.

Strangely, despite the fact I did very little yesterday, I did not sleep well at all. I do seem to be needing to be much more active, and busy at the moment for sleep to happen.

Time to stop.

The trouble with my new routine is, um, there’s not a lot of routine. I’m busy most days, every day is different, Friday is the busiest, and by Friday night I’m totally exhausted.

Partly it’s due to the fact I’ve never been good at mornings, but have to be up and out a lot earlier than I’ve ever had to be in my life before. Partly it’s due to a whole heap of unsettlednesses. I’m happy where I am, I’m happy to be doing what I’m doing and it’s beginning to come together, but nothing is settled. A friend called this evening and got excited about possibly coming to stay after Christmas – I had to break it to her I had no clue where I’d be!

So, what do I do on a day off – I wake up way too early, I get totally over-domesticated, and spend all day cleaning, washing, window cleaning, getting a quick music rehearsal done for tomorrow, and gathering a headache.

I definitely need to plan some time that’s just for me, and not get sucked back into feeling I’ve got to be seen to be doing something useful for other people all the time!!

So, I’m going to shut this down, go back to bed, to see if sleep shakes off this headache, and not do anything that resembles work of any description tomorrow!

Pleasant Occupations

It’s a strange feeling, this doing of household tasks and enjoying them. Something to do with not feeling I’m being watched, and judged for what I do or don’t do, or how I do or don’t do it, methinks.

Then, for the first time in ages and ages, my clarinet has emerged from it’s box. Not just for playing in church or seasonal singing at a point in the year I’m not going to mention because I’ll have hysterics, or because I’ve been asked to play something for an occasion, but because I want to play it, and to enjoy playing it again. I would like to return, at some point in the future, to teaching music, and that means I need to be back in practice again. So scales and exercises were heard for about an hour last night and I’m aiming to do that most days for a while. There are also a few pieces that I love which might be tried today. I do have an aim. I want to be able to play the pieces I played for my degree final again, and I also want to learn some new pieces that I never had time to learn before.

I’ve had a re-jiggle of the boxes in my room, and the ones sitting patiently in the garage awaiting liberation, trying to work out if I need to leave the boxes in the garage for now, or just take absolutely everything and hope it all gets sorted! Mmmm

Now for some hot buttered toast, and coffee.

The heat is getting to me…

I have hand-washed three T-shirts, because I’m going away tomorrow, and I need those three to go with the trousers I’d carefully kept for the weekend occasions. Along with the new sandals!

The scarier thing is I’ve ironed all my laundry. I’ve not ironed in recent times, for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I’m pretty good at supervising my washing, getting it out of the machine almost as soon as it’s stopped and hanging it up neatly. But, for some reason, I felt like doing some ironing after I’d come home from the second end of term event of the day. Either I’m ill, or the heat is getting to me! Or I needed occupying…

To the visitors I’ve had today from Canada, India and Sweden… I hope you found the answers to the phases you are going through. If not, I can only commiserate.

Despite an interesting invitation,

it seemed best to see today’s self-imposed task of cleaning, in places in the abode that don’t often get cleaned, through to the bitter end. Sorry, Kerensa, the shredder and I would have much prefered an exciting outing!

Lessons learnt today include counting the steps on the step ladder on the ascent, before doing the descent. Bruised sole of right foot has been the consequence of failing to learn that lesson, and a previous un-learned lesson… When a step ladder is to be climbed, sturdy footwear is advisable.

Replies to letters sent three weeks ago have now all come in.

Victory declared

I think I can declare the Grand Sort Out finished for now. I have achieved most of what I set out to do, and that which I haven’t managed this week, can wait until my next few days of solitariness. Which will be upon me very soon.

But, I have tackled the Top of the Wardrobe, the Top Cupboard, the Space Under the Bed, and dusted the Shelves Behind the Books.

I do have one small dilemma… my cassette tapes. My cassettes are not in their first flush of youth, some of them are nearly as old as me. But, they were my very first collection of recorded music, carefully purchased using limited Saturday job income, and some of my favourite recordings are on them. My cassette playing machine is distinctly newer, but was involved in a little mishap a couple of years ago during a Painting and Decorating Saga, and it’s never been quite the same since. So, I can’t quite tell if it’s machine or tapes, and there is no other machine in the house to test them on.

A return to my normal routine beckons tomorrow… (EDIT.. oops, I mean today! I hadn’t realised it was quite so close to midnight) apart from the extra plant watering duties, which cease the day after.

News from the Shredding Department

The job continues… I’m now onto the baker’s dozen of bin-liners filled with shredded paper, two shopping trolley loads of unshredded paper and related material, (for alas, I do have to walk with all this lot along to the recycling bins) and I do believe the end is in sight. For shredding, at least.

There are other delightful chores ahead of me, including dusting and cleaning in places I’ve not visited recently. mainly because now I’ve got rid of so much paper, and recycled so many things I can now, um, see the dust. I also moved the flipchart paper from the top of the wardrobe. That, too, was an error of judgement that revealed layers of dust I prefer not to have known about.

I have saved the pleasant task of sorting out my printed music until this evening.

Today we commemorate Josephine Butler, my favourite commemoration in the Church of England’s calendar, and I will reread the excellent biography by Jane Jordan some time over the next few days.

It’s about to get chaotic

A job I’ve been putting off for quite some time now, but a little incident involving my somewhat official looking garment’s right hand pocket, a drawer handle, and me trying to avoid a worse incident with a sharp knife, (I succeeded there!) meant I was obliged to spend an hour plying needle and cotton this afternoon. Possibly my least favoured activity after gardening and ironing, but, I need this garment to wear for an official purpose tomorrow, so it was a matter of urgent necessity.

The pocket is now securely mended, as are all the bits of hem that were beginning to come adrift. I have a sneaky suspicion the thread used for the making of this garment was on the elderly side, because there was an awful lot of mending to do that I don’t think can all be put down to me being careless. Anyway, it’s all looking much as before, really, but I know a significant amount of mending has been done.

I will be responsible for plant watering for a few days. I believe the requested list of instructions has been drawn up… It’s either very brave, or very stupid, leaving plants in my care without precise instructions, but that request is always received with the same degree of surprise it has been over a good number of years. But, I just have no natural instinct about plants, it’s no good telling me to water them if they need it, I have absolutely no idea what that means.

It also means the Occasional Grand Clear Out and Major Cleaning Session can take place in peace over the next few days!! As will a mammoth shredding session, the pile of papers have been building up for quite a while now, and every file of paperwork I possess is due for sorting, and assessing for keeping or shredding. As will some decisions about things to keep or pass on or replace.

I’ll save the nice job of sorting the music oddments for a treat at the end! But, I’m not losing a single hymn book.

Cold water cure worked

Burn still evident, but no blistering, or soreness, and proper two handed typing has now been resumed. Three hours of soaking hand in large jug of cold water worked!

The consolation is that, even though I didn’t particularly enjoy them, the way I cooked the potatoes last night did meet with approval. Which is a bonus. What was wrong with them? Well, to me, they were nicely, but boringly, cooked. I’d've had loads of herbs and onions in with the milk/veg stock liquid mix that the potatoes got cooked in

What I need to remember for next time I microwave liquid-y food in a pyrex dish before putting it in the oven, is that if the liquid has boiled over in the microwave, then once the dish has been transferred to the oven, the liquid that still remains on the rim of the pyrex dish will cook and stick the lid and the dish together. Thereby causing the hapless cook to burn her hand through the inadequate oven gloves, when attempting to remove lid from dish. Unless she remembers to wipe the rim of dish before transferring it to oven!

New oven gloves have been added to the next shopping list.