Back to Getting Stuck in Part Three

Many apologies this post by its very nature is a bit of a long-winded one due to what has been going on more than anything else.  Slowly getting there though!

Well it is Monday again and I have been bogging in all day.  In several places not particularly one place today.  I have not been online as much as I normally am as I am trying to get things done and dusted.  Trying to bring everything together and ultimately get things sorted so that I have more free time to do what I really want to do, which this year will involve gardening as well as going on holiday (fingers crossed on the last bit).

Monday

Was an early start for me, but got there in the end.

Started work in the Dining room, but then went to the top of the stairs as I had hung a load of fresh ironed laundry there to air.  So a slight change of venue, but it will all help at the end of the day.  Getting all the clothing etc. into the front bedroom and getting it sorted out.  Have more to get in there, but that will happen over the course of the next week or so.

Then started to clear part of the stairs as I had popped some sorted books on the stair case and it was a matter of getting into tubs and then to where they needed to be.  So that is all done.

Have done some work in the dining room as well.  Have started the main shelf on the Dresser as my new cutlery box is going to be in-situ there.  Will do this a little later on as it will not involve me making any noise and disturbing the neighbours.  It will be another late night tonight.

Am now in the kitchen, starting to square that up.  I have the cooker to strip down which I will get to either tonight or tomorrow morning (in reality probably first thing tomorrow).  I have some pots and pans to put away in cupboards and then it will be a case of washing the floor.

Slowly coming together but still a long way to go.

Washing machine and the Drier have been on and off most of the day.  Tackling the large pile of stuff not done before so there has been some movement.  I need a new ironing board cover and this time round will buy one.  Next one will be made though and I shall take a template of the new cover to save time when I need a new one.  I have taken to making templates just recently for cake tins out of cereal packet cardboard.  Will save a lot of time in the longer term.  There are always jobs within jobs, wheels within wheels.

Tea tonight was steak, fried onions, cheese coleslaw, mixed salad leaves, fried mushrooms served with brown bread and butter.  No pudding.  Trying to bring G back under control with his Diabetes and making him take his blood and recording it in my diary and then examining what he has been up to and what he has been eating.  There are some interesting patterns which I am sorting him with.  I prefer healthier style food and a lot of what he likes I am not fussed with.  I did enjoy my tea tonight especially as it had the salad and the coleslaw, but I am not a big eater in any event.  

I am a lot better than I was last week and things have calmed down a bit for me; it was just a "wobbler", but hindsight and personal experience have taught me not to ignore such episodes and to get myself in a safe place just in case and to tell whoever is around me. At least nine times out of ten I can take precautions.  

Tuesday 

Will be an early start like Monday was.  A heck of a lot to do. but I am determined it is going to get done.

Tea tonight was going to be roast pork served with veggies and a couple of Roasties each.  Will cook a double meal so that food is sorted for tomorrow evening to make things a bit easier.  Probably steamed cabbage, peas, carrots and broccoli, but we will see I have been known to change my mind.  We do have some fresh Honeydew Melon for pudding. In the end this was deferred and because I was busy and we and we had fresh buns in from the Bakery we had a couple of Beef buns each for our tea.

I then decided to pull an early morning session and I eventually got to bed at 2:30am ish and was up for 6:00am.  This was covered in the post "shattered" link here.

Wednesday

Up at 6:00am and continued until about 1:00pm where I had to stop and then take things easy.  A lot has been achieved but I have a heck of a lot more to do as yet.  Kitchen is the room that is nearly completed but not quite.  I did manage to get to the Charity shop to drop off a few pieces that I not longer needed so that cleared a good box full of crockery.

Tea will be a Tray Bake of some sort as G is going to the Butcher at Moor Farm.  He came back with a beautiful Pork Pie and lots of other goodies.  Full on day today where I was working between rooms.  

In the end I went back to bed and slept the sleep of the dead only getting up to cook tea. I then spent a very quiet evening before crashing out.

Thursday

The plan was for me to have today off working on the house as I need to catch up on some sleep. I have a few things to do. 

The Dream was:

Maybe I will actually after have had a lay in extra few hours sleep be able to do some crafting, just a low key day today is required.  Maybe Friday as well and then back into the fray.

At some point I need to go and buy a new ironing board cover, and some small boxes. Whether that will be today or not I am not sure at the moment. I am planning to have a look in Dunhelm.  This is where my ironing board came from originally and it is a larger sized board so I want to see if they have one first, otherwise I will have to make one.  Hopefully this time around will be able to buy one ready made to save me a bit of time.  After that I can start filtering the ironing pile into jobs to be done until I get everything all up to date.

Hard graft starts again on Friday!  

The Reality

In the end as I have lots of clearing of bits and bobs before getting stuck back into any one particular room.  I started clearing some of these. That in reality is going to take a few days. Needs to be done though.  Now I have a little space, I am craving more of it.   

I managed to clear the outstanding washing up and get those items popped away in their homes.  The kitchen is starting to look a bit clearer but I still have items to deal with.

There is also the ironing pile to start to tackle.  Need the new ironing board cover before can do this.  The ironing when I start addressing it will be a double duty job as everything has been washed, but needs ironing.  I will also decide whether certain items I will be keeping or whether they will find their way to the Charity shop.  I plan on working in segments on a daily basis where I can or a little longer if the need arises. 

I also have straggler items to get back into their homes as well.  One of the kitchen cupboards also needs re-organising a bit so that I can get a few more items in there.

I am going to be busy for the foreseeable.

Tea tonight was homemade Hot Dogs with decent sausages and buttery fried onions in Brioche Buns.

I also need to put the stack of boxes I have in the house out of the way as I have another delivery of boxes due tomorrow 31 January 2025.  I managed to get this done and out of the way with.

In the event a lot of what has been achieved during the last week has freed up a little space where I can work and start to deal with "The Elephant in the Room", notably the back bedroom.  Will try and do something in here each day moving forward.  It will also give me the chance to re-visit some of the already pre-packed boxes and re-sorting them to make the most of the space and keeping an inventory of items and photos as well.  

I am pleased to report that a tentative start has been made on the contents of the back bedroom.  There will be a separate upcoming post about my plans and what I manage to achieve on this front shortly.

I am trying to theme the posts as best as I can otherwise the posts are likely to be a jumble of events and will give a "bitty" picture of what is going or has been going on.  Hopefully this way of dealing with things will give more context to what is going on.

Friday

I am due a delivery of 12 x 100 litre extra storage boxes for packing away and organising items in the back bedroom.  That means an early start as the delivery man from B & Q always seems to deliver really early!

What a B.....  I got up early expecting to have heard from the delivery driver only to find an email from B & Q cancelling the order and refunding the payment.  No explanation otherwise and therefore have launched an enquiry as to the position direct with B & Q.  I was well narked for the unilateral action and the fact I had got up early to accommodate the delivery. They have come back and apologised for the lack of communication.  I have asked for clarification as to whether they will be getting more stock in - I assume not - but I am asking for that clarification so that I can plan my next steps.

I have also started filling the UFO Box and getting all unfinished projects into that box to tidy up the mass of bags and make things look a lot more organised, tidy and able to locate.  A separate post on the Back Bedroom operation will be posted shortly.

I made it out to Dunhelm today and was left to potter for a while.  I was a little sad as the store did not have what I was after.  It has been sometime since I visited but there did not seem much of a selection - possibly because they have just had the sales but the store seemed messy as well which it never was.

They certainly did not have my ironing board cover which I am a bit peeved about so will now look online to see if I can find a suitable cover as it is needed reasonably quickly.  I also need to order some starch powder in for finishing the vintage linens I have.

Tea tonight is the Chicken and Garlic tray bake.  It was very tasty and very good.  Shall definitely be having this one again.

Saturday

It is G's 70th Birthday and we are going out for a meal la- famille, with my S son and his wife, my S daughter and two of the grandchildren.  This should make a nice change. 

Indeed it did.  We had a lovely breakfast and spent some good quality time catching up.  G has also been treated by the children to a couple of nights away fishing by them, as well as other gifts and a fantastic birthday cake.  Please have a look at my post here for photos of the fantastic cake.

As a result today has been very much a low key day.

I nearly always cook something nice for birthdays, and tonight I fancied some proper home cooking. G was not in the mood for a cooked meal until I pointed out that there just was not one of us for a meal but two and I fancied a cooked hot meal.  Therefore cooked a pork roasting joint, got lots of pork dripping, and served with roast potato, roasted sweet potato and roast onion.  Served with Swede and Carrot Crush, mashed potato, Asparagus, peas, and broccoli.  Went down a treat and the non-hungry person polished off the lot and really enjoyed it.  Phew!

Tomorrow I have some washing up to do, but tomorrow is another day.  I also have some more sorting to do. I have been doing bits each day in different areas of the house now that there is a bit more room to move.  I still have a lot on my plate, but some of the stress from time limits has now been removed.  I intend to bring this house back under control whether it screams and kicks in the process.  I do not give in very easily.

Sunday

In the end today was a no go day for me.  I took things easy and caught up a little on the lack of sleep earlier in the week.  Still playing catch up but not as tired as I was.

Tea tonight, is a Beef Tray Bake and a Venison Melt, something a little different.  There is also plenty of Pork leftover from yesterday. So plenty to eat.

Monday is the start of another week and another day in itself.  There will be plenty of pottering going on as I have a lot to do at the end of the day.  However I am hoping to do it in a much more structured manner that is less stressful overall.  Focusing on the kitchen and the bathroom tomorrow as well as washing!  So we shall see how matters progress.

Here is wishing everyone a positive week.

Keep warm, keep safe and keep your loved ones close.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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