It’s a bit like that isn’t it @Cheery Gardener. We had dinner guests for the first time since the pandemic a few months ago and it felt like the preparations consumed a whole week even though the menu was not fancy. Also one of the guests was a very house proud ninety year old.
Well, pooh! The previous resident at my new home doesn't seem to have done any recycling, so there are no recycling bins. So I ordered new bins from the County Council. No problem, they said - just put out your recycling in any bin, and it will be taken.
So I put my paper recycling outside, in a plastic bin with a note on the lid saying: "Waiting for new recycling bins".
It hasn't been taken.
At least the County Council have acknowledged that my address exists now, so there is a chance of the new bins being delivered.
My favourite Chinese gift is a cheerful looking gold plastic pig, which the NE Man got on a trip to China in 2007 - the Year of the Golden Pig.
Not a conference gift, but something the NE Man bought himself - a bright red silk padded tablecloth, embroidered with multi-coloured dragons. The red runs every time it's washed, although, astonishingly, the tablecloth hasn't faded. But it has to be handwashed, and it takes up the whole of the washing line to dry. It takes forever to dry, because of the inexplicable padding.
My husband loves it - he thinks it looks magnificent (it does!) but he isn't the one handwashing a ******* tablecloth.
ETA - I forgot to mention that it has tassels.
That’s the kind of thing you hang on the wall as an art object! (Saith the Vietnamese household). I’ve never met an Asian family that used such a thing for its alleged purpose. I HAVE seen them on walls.
@WormInTheGrass I had to pace myself and plan out my preparations. I made the biscuit mixture one day and refrigerated it. Then the day I planned to bake, it was ready for rolling and cutting out which made things go much more quickly., While the bikkies were cooking I could mix up my quiche and when the biscuits were all done, the oven was hot enough to cook the quiche. It's funny though how all the little things take up time and headspace. Remembering to set out tongs for serving, putting out drinks and glasses, enough plates. I really need to have friends over more often to get myself in the right headspace!!
I love the sound of the beautiful tablecloth/wall hanging NEQ!
Funnily enough we have several Chinese wall hangings too - two come from a former colleaugue of @Celtic Knotweed while the one on the stairs dates back to her grandfather doing the accounts for the Chinese restaurant in Peterhead - this could date right back to the 1940s! That is the nicest, it is a scene full of birds, all worked in silk, so has been hung out of sunlight.
I’ve got several tradesmen in today and next week, so am going to be pretty much stuck at home. No excuse for further procrastination on my endless sorting. At least the shed roof is being replaced, the front door lock fixed and fascias and soffits going to be replaced. Just hoping they don’t mess up the newly created rock garden with their scaffolding.
Horrid reminder re ongoing clearout of old friend’s tip of a public housing flat following hos going into aged care a couple of weeks back. About halfway there and looking forward to going to local housing office to hand over keys and advise what I’ve left there. Will need the deepest of deep cleans and woe betide the bureaucrat who asks me why I haven’t dragged out heavy furniture and scrubbed the place.
Horrid reminder re ongoing clearout of old friend’s tip of a public housing flat following hos going into aged care a couple of weeks back. About halfway there and looking forward to going to local housing office to hand over keys and advise what I’ve left there. Will need the deepest of deep cleans and woe betide the bureaucrat who asks me why I haven’t dragged out heavy furniture and scrubbed the place.
An uncle of mine moved into sheltered flats on the death of my aunt, and needed to end the tenancy on the council house where they had spent nearly all their married life. A functionary at the council informed my cousin following an inspection that they could not end the tenancy / stop paying rent until the house was in a condition 'suitable for onward letting' (or words to that effect - this was a while ago). The house was clean, tidy, and pretty much as it had been built in the early 50s (which seemed to be the problem) and my cousin was forced to remind them that they had seen fit to charge half a century of rent for it in that condition from his parents; would they like to discuss the matter further in the local paper? They backed down.
Your cousin is very smart, @mark_in_manchester. I too have mentioned this as an option (for another matter years ago), it's amazing how it changes things very quickly!!
Good to hear about your shed @Boogie!! Sounds like the real fun starts now making it how you would find it most comfortable and pleasing to the eye.
A teeny bit of progress today on the two bottom drawers that hold platters and salad bowls and bread baskets (one drawer) and baking stuff and the odd small serving dish (drawer no 2). I had bought two boxes at the Swedish shop and ended up using them just to store things to keep them tidy and upright on their edges (small trays) and all the patty papers, muffin cases and other various baking things. I threw out some sprinkles that expired in 2015, located a bottle of cachous that I couldn't find at Christmas, tossed out a heap of paper napkins which were all messy and unusable. Good grief, I won't know myself when I go to find things next time!!
Good grief, I won't know myself when I go to find things next time!!
I often find after I've had a tidy up and then go looking for A Thing that I'm hunting for ages, thinking, "I know where it used to be."
Absolutely. I daren't re-arrange my sheds now, away from the 'organised over 25 years by the order in which they were built and filled up with stuff' because I'll never find anything again. When something in this organic scheme is *really* suboptimal, I have resorted to leaving a note where it used to be, telling me where it is now. There are several things I know reside in their 'sensible new place' (wherever that is) and several more things I know I moved, where I no longer remember the thing, the new place, or the old place...just the fact of change.
I am 54 years old. If I live another 20 or more, I am going to be a wreck.
I love the note idea @mark_in_manchester, I think it works well, as long as second and third moves don't occur, or if they do that the note is updated.
Mum left a lovely bag of boxes under the house with a note listing which items the boxes belonged to and where they were located. Unfortunately between 2000 and 2016, the note was never replaced/updated and the items were no longer in their original homes. I think we gave up trying to marry the items with their boxes in the end.
I've spotted a junk box in the bottom of my laundry cupboard. I think I might go through that today. It's been sitting there since we moved house 8 years ago and the box blocks the sliding of one of the cupboard doors. Having that sorted and hopefully a new smaller box found, will be good!
Glad to say that I managed to go through the box in the bottom of the laundry cupboard. Not a lot thrown away, but definitely re-arranged and split over two boxes. One tall box to hold the pooper scoopers for the cat tray and another to hold painting stuff. The laundry cupboard now closes - Yay!
The previously unsuitable container has now gone to the garage awaiting disposal, but also doubling as a recycling bin for larger bottles, to see whether that is actually necessary, or just an additional unnecessary step.
Cheery son has also done some work to fit a desk into his bedroom, he previously had a loft bed with a built in desk, but changed sleeping arrangements meant he had lost his desk. The need to fit-in a new desk has meant he's had to go through his washing backlog and a basket full of superhero plushies. Alas he wants to keep most of those, but they can go to a vacuum bag for more efficient storage and fit into an underbed drawer. There is hope!
Thanks @Graven Image , I was very happy with son's efforts, all initiated by him, which was another big step!
At the weekend I bought a zippered nylon box at the Swedish shop. It didn't work for the job I'd mentally assigned to it, but I've found that is makes a perfect storage for our beach towels. We use them rarely, they always get messy in the linen cupboard because they are so bulky, but they fitted nicely into the box and if necessary I can even just grab the whole box to take on an outing. I have labelled it so I don't even have to explain to other family members where I've put them. I'm taking that as a win.
I am about to embark on a total Spring Clean. Husband is unconvinced, as he feels I should focus on the bits that need it most, but my theory is that if I do that I'll just end up moving stuff around.
I am going to start at the logical starting point - our front porch - then work my way round the downstairs clockwise.
I'm hoping to get the porch done completely today, as it's not big (3ft 3in x 7ft 3in, though it does have a hatch to our underfloor).
I hadn't lifted our underfloor hatch in months /years.
At some point, many years ago, I stored an emergency 8 litres of water under the floor. A couple of years later, when our emergency water was out of date, I bought a new supply of 8 litres. I marked the old bottles with an X and kept them for emergency toilet flushing. We've now got 64 litres of out of date water under our porch, together with a box of emergency candles. No emergencies yet.
By contrast my mother, for whom the idea of having anything go out-of-date is anathema, has had at least four no-water emergencies. I have tried leaving a two litre bottle of water with her "for emergencies" but she drinks them "to avoid wasting them."
Today's under-floor surprise was the discovery of four bottles of wine. We get given alcohol at a faster rate than we can drink it, and the NE Man refuses to let me re-gift or donate to bottle stalls. He was delighted to find we had four bottles we had forgotten about.
Comments
We managed to look pretty tidy and organised, I felt a bit like a duck with all the activity below the surface.
So I put my paper recycling outside, in a plastic bin with a note on the lid saying: "Waiting for new recycling bins".
It hasn't been taken.
At least the County Council have acknowledged that my address exists now, so there is a chance of the new bins being delivered.
That’s the kind of thing you hang on the wall as an art object! (Saith the Vietnamese household). I’ve never met an Asian family that used such a thing for its alleged purpose. I HAVE seen them on walls.
I love the sound of the beautiful tablecloth/wall hanging NEQ!
That should read "a former colleaugue of Celtic Knotweed's father"... grr!
It's been a long job!
🙂
An uncle of mine moved into sheltered flats on the death of my aunt, and needed to end the tenancy on the council house where they had spent nearly all their married life. A functionary at the council informed my cousin following an inspection that they could not end the tenancy / stop paying rent until the house was in a condition 'suitable for onward letting' (or words to that effect - this was a while ago). The house was clean, tidy, and pretty much as it had been built in the early 50s (which seemed to be the problem) and my cousin was forced to remind them that they had seen fit to charge half a century of rent for it in that condition from his parents; would they like to discuss the matter further in the local paper? They backed down.
Good to hear about your shed @Boogie!! Sounds like the real fun starts now making it how you would find it most comfortable and pleasing to the eye.
A teeny bit of progress today on the two bottom drawers that hold platters and salad bowls and bread baskets (one drawer) and baking stuff and the odd small serving dish (drawer no 2). I had bought two boxes at the Swedish shop and ended up using them just to store things to keep them tidy and upright on their edges (small trays) and all the patty papers, muffin cases and other various baking things. I threw out some sprinkles that expired in 2015, located a bottle of cachous that I couldn't find at Christmas, tossed out a heap of paper napkins which were all messy and unusable. Good grief, I won't know myself when I go to find things next time!!
I often find after I've had a tidy up and then go looking for A Thing that I'm hunting for ages, thinking, "I know where it used to be."
Absolutely. I daren't re-arrange my sheds now, away from the 'organised over 25 years by the order in which they were built and filled up with stuff' because I'll never find anything again. When something in this organic scheme is *really* suboptimal, I have resorted to leaving a note where it used to be, telling me where it is now. There are several things I know reside in their 'sensible new place' (wherever that is) and several more things I know I moved, where I no longer remember the thing, the new place, or the old place...just the fact of change.
I am 54 years old. If I live another 20 or more, I am going to be a wreck.
Mum left a lovely bag of boxes under the house with a note listing which items the boxes belonged to and where they were located. Unfortunately between 2000 and 2016, the note was never replaced/updated and the items were no longer in their original homes. I think we gave up trying to marry the items with their boxes in the end.
I've spotted a junk box in the bottom of my laundry cupboard. I think I might go through that today. It's been sitting there since we moved house 8 years ago and the box blocks the sliding of one of the cupboard doors. Having that sorted and hopefully a new smaller box found, will be good!
The previously unsuitable container has now gone to the garage awaiting disposal, but also doubling as a recycling bin for larger bottles, to see whether that is actually necessary, or just an additional unnecessary step.
Cheery son has also done some work to fit a desk into his bedroom, he previously had a loft bed with a built in desk, but changed sleeping arrangements meant he had lost his desk. The need to fit-in a new desk has meant he's had to go through his washing backlog and a basket full of superhero plushies. Alas he wants to keep most of those, but they can go to a vacuum bag for more efficient storage and fit into an underbed drawer. There is hope!
At the weekend I bought a zippered nylon box at the Swedish shop. It didn't work for the job I'd mentally assigned to it, but I've found that is makes a perfect storage for our beach towels. We use them rarely, they always get messy in the linen cupboard because they are so bulky, but they fitted nicely into the box and if necessary I can even just grab the whole box to take on an outing. I have labelled it so I don't even have to explain to other family members where I've put them. I'm taking that as a win.
I am going to start at the logical starting point - our front porch - then work my way round the downstairs clockwise.
I'm hoping to get the porch done completely today, as it's not big (3ft 3in x 7ft 3in, though it does have a hatch to our underfloor).
I'm an 'all or nothing' person too.
Mr Boogs goes away tomorrow for three weeks - so I can get on with it without his 'helpful' suggestions.
At some point, many years ago, I stored an emergency 8 litres of water under the floor. A couple of years later, when our emergency water was out of date, I bought a new supply of 8 litres. I marked the old bottles with an X and kept them for emergency toilet flushing. We've now got 64 litres of out of date water under our porch, together with a box of emergency candles. No emergencies yet.
By contrast my mother, for whom the idea of having anything go out-of-date is anathema, has had at least four no-water emergencies. I have tried leaving a two litre bottle of water with her "for emergencies" but she drinks them "to avoid wasting them."
Today's under-floor surprise was the discovery of four bottles of wine. We get given alcohol at a faster rate than we can drink it, and the NE Man refuses to let me re-gift or donate to bottle stalls. He was delighted to find we had four bottles we had forgotten about.
Me, less so.