This time last year

This time last year Dad had been moved on to a ward.   Mum was still trying to get them to give a Creon tablet with the first mouthful of food, but they kept giving it to him at random times.

At this stage, we thought Dad would be OK.    We were looking at homes for Dad to be moved into, ideally one where Mum could move in as well.

Dad started to get a bit confused, and of course we wondered if he had a urinary infection.   Sometimes he seemed reasonably OK, other times he was not with us at all. Occasionally, he was delirious.

Mum was there almost every day 

Messaging apps are great at helping me see what was going on when.  The ups and downs are heartbreaking. 

What's most heartbreaking of all, is that we still believed Dad would be coming home

Christmas Eve

I'm knackered!

This morning, I made myself put up some of the house decorations.  Just a couple.

I added some more ornaments to the tree, including a second piece of knitted tinsel, this time in what I can only describe as a "Frozen" colour.   

I steeled myself to go to the greengrocers in a nearby small town to get some fruit and "salady bits" for the next couple of days.   Darling Uncle is staying, so it'll be a bit odd not having something like that to offer him.

The greengrocer was shut. All day. On the plus side, it wasn't that my dilly dallying had caused me to miss them.    I stood in the high street for a couple of seconds considering my options.   The other good greengrocer was some way away, and I suspected they might be shut by the time I got to them.  I considered just not bothering, but it seemed silly now I had got this far. 

I decided to try Waitrose.  I don't like supermarket fruit and veg very much; as they had run out of almost everything I'd planned to buy, it wasn't really a problem.    I got some grapes (reduced),  a lettuce for the Girls (reduced),  some tomatoes and a cucumber which I know is going to be disappointing. (DH grows cucumbers for me, and they are just amazing).    I saw a Dragon Fruit (or Dwagon Fwoot as I can't help calling it),  and bought it for my brother who would love it.

I bought a few other bits and pieces, and managed to stop myself abandoning my trolley and leaving the shop at a couple of points.   It wasn't as busy as I had feared,  but it was still a little overwhelming.

I saw that they had some fake wreaths in their gardening section. £35, with lights but undecorated.    I decided to buy one, as I realised the chance of me going to get a fresh one now were zero.  I consoled myself with the knowledge that I could keep it "in stock" as an "emergency wreath" should I be in this position again.

To my absolute delight, it was reduced to £10!  What a bargain!

I got home jut as my DB arrived, and I couldn't wait to give him his Christmas Card ("Get Dressed Ye Merry Gentle Men") and the Dwagon Fwoot.     He laughed with genuine pleasure at both, and we spent a couple of minutes reliving those particulr Cabin Pressure episodes.

I then set about decorating the wreath, and eventually got it hung up.    

 I did some more lights,and found some helpful instructions from myself 2 years ago suggesting where to hang certain items. As a result I decorated the bannister and put some lights in a wind chime, and I'm really pleased with the latter (pic doesn't do it justice). 

I  put batteries in the candles,  and then decided that enough was, for this year, enough.

 DH had made some cheese and was playing around with flavourings, so I think we will have that for supper.  Pasta and tomarto sauce for dinner.  

I've just got to put the decorating boxes away, and do some clearing of surfaces.    I think it will be sweeping stuff into a box, at this stage.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Knitting tinsel

I'm not exactly feeling the Christmas Spirit, but I am trying.

The tree has been up since the 19th.  It's the artificial, pre-lit, one I bought in 2022.  After this Christmas, it has paid for itself, and I'll think about what to do next year.    It's a really stunning tree,   and it is so much less hassle...  but I miss the smell and feel of a real tree.   The scentcicles don't do it for me.

I've been decorating the tree for the last few days.  A task I'd previously been able to do in an evening (including decorating the rest of the downstairs) is now spread over several days.

I had a hankering for something peacocky on the tree.  I bought some handmade baubles, which were lovely.   I bought a peacock coloured feather boa, which is lovely too (although not really the thing for a tree).     I picked through my box of baubles, adding the ones representing the hens and cats.  I added twinkly ornaments.  It's getting there.

An old friend sent me the most gorgeous Christmas card with a peacock on!    It encouraged me to look, unsuccessfully,  for more peacocky things for my tree.

Looking on the John Lewis website for inspiration, I saw some Winnie the Pooh (WTP) baubles.  I initially scrolled past them as they were Disney branded, and I loathe Disney's WTP.  However,  I saw that Eeyore looked like the real Eeyore, and I went back.   On impulse, I bought them.  I collected them from my local Waitrose yesterday, and added them to the tree.    

I'd also ordered some yarn from a lovely knitting shop (The Knitting Network) which arrived super quickly.   It was "tinsel wool" and I'd had the idea of putting it round the tree.     Shelby was besideherself, and started trying to chew the yarn immediately, so that was the end of that. 

I had a go at making pompoms out of it, using a Clover Pom Pom maker I'd ordered at the same time.  It wasn't a success, a combination of operator failure and unsuitable yarn, I think.  I decided to implement the other idea i'd had: i was going to knit some tinsel.

My knitting ability is rudimentary at best.  I've been able to form standard knitting stitches since I was a small child.   Until last year, I hadn't learned to cast on or off,  I hadn't learned to purle,  and I'd never mastered the art of keeping the same number of stitches throughout.         Last year I made ap point of dealing with learning the casting on/off and purling, and I improved at keeping the same number of stitches.  Improved as in, I didn't add or lose quite as many as I had previously.

I didn't think it would matter if I was just knitting a length of tinsel.    So, last night, whilst watching episodes 3 and 4 of The Ink Black Heart I had a go.     I started with 5 stitches on a pair of large needles, which was ambitious as the yarn was very fine.    Throughout my knitting journey, it varied between 4 and about 8 stitches,  but the tinsellisation made it almost unnoticeable.

I knitted, and knitted and knitted.  Shelby,  our wool loving cat,  was in a frenzy of anticipation.   I had to keep hiding the ball of yarn, as she kept helping herself.  At one point, she ran off with it, like the Andrex Puppy.     It made me chuckle,  but I had to stop her because she does eat the darned stuff.  We'd once had to pull a whole load of wool out of her throat and stomach, and I don't ever want to have to do that again.

Eventually it was done, and it was quite effective.  The yarn isn't called Tinsel for nothing.   I cast off and proudly hung it on the tree.

It wasn't great.

The tinsel  was fab,  but the peacock blue thing isn't working at all well, and I am regretting it a lot, It just doesn't work with the particular shade of  green of the artificial tree.

The tree looks a bit of a mess really.  

Never mind, it's only for a few days.

On the plus side, I ordered some reduced price  Really Useful Boxes so that I could arrange my Christmas Tree ornaments by colour when I put them away.     You may be wondering why that's a plus?

It's a plus because it's the first time in a few years that I've been interested enough in the whole thing to  consider doing something like that at all.

 

 

A year ago

December 9th 2023, my Dad went in to hospital because my Mum had done a test and found that his insulin levels had gone through the roof.

They lived in a smallholding in a very rural part of Wales, and Mum had to get an ambulance for him.  He was stuck in the ambulance for hours, and then he was in a corridor in A&E for several days.

The hospital staff were lovely, but couldn't seem to understand that his  pancreas didn't work, and he needed to take specific medication immediately before eating, otherwise his body couldn't digest the food.    Mum kept telling them, and they just weren't listening.  Her GP said he would contact them tio let them know that the timing of the medication was crucial to its effectiveness.

My brother and I, and my Uncle, visited.  It was a trip we'd planned before Dad became unwell.  Darling Uncle (DU) hadn't been for a long time, and it was going to be a lovely pre Christmas celebration. 

It didn't work out that way.

He had been inhospital for about 4 days by the time we arrived.  We were shocked at how much he had declined.  He was really unwell, and had become vague and not completely with it.   He has a history of suffering hospital acquired dementia, and we thought that was the case.

We were particularly shocked that A&E were talking about discharging him.  The original problem was now under control, as much as it could be,  and they wanted the bed.      There was no way that Mum could cope with Dad in the state he was in. 

I had a conversation with one of the Nurses and said that there was no way Mum could have him home like that.  I said they needed to come and look at my parents house before they discharged him".  It was horrendous.

Another Nurse took me to one side and told me quietly that I needed to stand my ground.

Mum realised that Dad was going to have to go into a home, so we started looking at options.

The days dragged on, and Dad got worse, and worse.

Mum was no longer fit to drive to see him, so her nearest neighbour took her to the hospital most days. 

Mum got a big shock on the 20th December, They told her Dad was being discharged the following day.  He was a physical and mental wreck. Mum was herself so frail at this point that she  physically incapable of doing anything to care for him at this point. 

We were relieved to hear that Social Services were away now until January 3rd, so we assumed that he would not be sent home before then.

He was  instead moved onto a ward in the hospital.

 

Dopey

I'm back to my Mum's this weekend and I haven't finished emptying the crates from last weekend yet. 

I have sold quite a few things, some somewhat unexpectedly.   

I've also been moving advertised stuff into the Summerhouse for safety (and my sanity), and I've been sorting and resorting my packaging supplies.

I had some feedback on ebay which made me chuckle.  It was complimenting me on the strength of my packaging.  The buyer was lovely, and we had exchanged a few messages through the process.

I didn't sleep at all well last night, and I'm not sure why.  I'm tried this morning, and I had a long list of Ps to do

*Puddings - wrap
*Package and post sales from last night
*Prep marmalade
*Pay in coins to Mum's account
*unPack the next crate
*Photograph items and prep listings
*Put washing on
*Pile up stuff from airers ready to press

I can't remember the rest of the list now.

I started working through it.    Eventually, after abortive 3 trips upstairs to get the packaging for the puddings, I cleared and cleaned a worktop so I could do the final wrapping of the puddings.  I made only two puddings this year, one for us and one for my BFF.   I'd started them on Tuesday afternoong, potted and steamed them on Wednesday, and cleaned the basins and replaced the baking parchment and foil tops yesterday.    The next step is to wrap them in pretty transparent film.   

I did my friend's pudding first. Huuuge sgeet of film. Pyudding upside down,  TGather the film around it, make a flourish with eth film, tie it off.  Lovely! I put it on the side to take round to her tomorrow.

I cut the next piece of film from the huge roll. I pur our Pudding top down., gathered the film around the basin, flourish tied. I put it in the cupboard.  

I then took the roll of film back upstairs to where it lives for the other 364 days of the year.  When I came down, I saw our pudding on the side, unwrapped.

I was a little puzzled.  I had definitely wrapped two puddings.  t was definitelyours becauise it was in a china basin

I had made only 2 large puddings (I made a small one as a tester, which I've eaten. God I love Delia's recipe).

I went to the cupboard and got out our pudding.  Except it wasn't our pudding.   It was in a plastic bowl and was my BFF's pudding.  With 2 layers of very fancy film wrapping.

How did I not see that when I was doing it?!

Groupie

The range of things I have been selling has resulted in me being a member of an enormously eclectic range of Facebook groups.  Woodworking. Scalextric. Farming. Antiques. China. Specialist china. Kitchenware, pre decimal coins... and many other specific ones

It's been eye opening and interesting

I need to do a bit of an audit I think, as I'm sure there are quite a few I no longer need.

 

Inconsiderate

There are some lovely people out there, and some really inconsiderate **bleep**s.

I've had many rounds of selling my parents vast and eclectic collections of china.     One particularly huge set was advertised, and a buyer came forward.  She lived near my home, so I said I could bring the china the 200 miles if she definitely wanted it.

She did.

I messaged her the day before I was leaving to say I was going to start packing the china,  that it was a lot of stuff, and if she had changed her mind to please let me know before I wrapped it.

She wanted it.

I messaged her the following day to say that I was now packing the car, and this was a chance to say she had changed her mind.

She still wanted it.

I got it home, I unpacked it all, put it all through the dishwasher (which took many loads to do), and then I messaged her about coming to collect it.

She demanded one of my other large sets also be included in the price.

I declined and explained that we were selling to fund my Mum's care.

She said she didn't want it after all.

I said:  "no problem", and left it at that.    I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of letting her know just how much she had inconvenienced me.  

There was a plus side to this.   I later sold the china to a lovely local lady, who had come to buy some other china that I had advertised.  

......

We have had car loads and car loads of clothes to dispose of. Chartity shops,  Salvation Army banks,  bags for rags.  It's left us with mountains of hangers.

The first many boxes just went to the tip, each time we got rid of the clothes that had hung on them.We had too much to do to worry about finding new homes for hangers.

After emptying my parents bedroom,  we had two final boxes and I advertised on freebie pages.  A chap local to me wanted them, and then someone else also wanted them.   I told the second person I had plenty, and said when I'd be bringing them home.

I brought the two  boxes of hangers, organised by shape and size,  home, foregoing car space that could have been used for something else.

The first person changed the collection date twice , and then finally said he couldn't come. 

The second person ghosted me.

The boxes have been occupying a large part of my kitchen floor and I re-offered them on a local Facebook group. .  A lady came, but she refused to take a whole box, she just wanted to pick out a few.  I asked her if she could please just take the box, and she declined as she would then have to get rid of the excess herself.   Zero empathy.

.........

I've found the charity shops quite draining to deal with.

Recently we took a car load of bric a brac and gave it to a local bric a brac type place because I just couldn't face going in to the charity shops again.  It was a much more pleasant experience, the chap was genuinely pleased.  We ended up taking loads of stuff to him, and it was a much happier experience.

 

We did still take stuff to the charity shops as well.  

 ..........

And sometimes people are lovely.  Many people have been over the moon with their purchases, and that makes it worthwhile.

Every time I come back from my parents with crates of stuff to deal with.  I spend many days a fortnight cleaning, sorting, photographing, listing, answering queries,  packaging, posting.    A local lovely lady provides me with some superb empty boxes, small enough on one dimension to go Small Parcel, but big enough and rigid enough to be fantastic.  

I've become a dab hand with my glue gun turning these boxes into "double walled" safety boxes,  often multi-storey.     My husband chuckles and shakes his head when he sees me with Glen the Gluegun.   He chuckled even more when he read some of the feedback.

 

 ............

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting and Stopping

I've started and stopped writing a blog post countless times over the last couple of months.  Even this one, I've stalled trying to decide exactly what to - and what not to - write.  

Let me start by getting the pity party out of  the way.

Last time I posted, I mentioned that I'd pulled something behind my knee. That little mis-step has had severe consequences. 

I'm still waiting for a scan,  my GP surgery filed the letter from the MSK team instead of actioning it,  and I didn't follow up until 4 weeks after referral (6 weeks since the incident) had passed.

 For the first 6 weeks, I was unable to sleep on my side at all.  I tried the suggestions of a pillow in numerous places,  the pain was just impossible.    I ended up sleeping on my back, and the consequences of that have been dreadful.     

I'm now in as much pain as I was 3 years 3 months ago, when I went to A&E to tell them my circulation was stopping at night.   Those symptoms are back with a vengeance, worse than before.  At night, my back feels like all the air has been sucked out of it. 

I can't get down on the floor to do the fascia stretching exercises that have helped keep things under control.   I'm struggling to do the standing exercises (or the seated exercises) that I've been working on to try and build up the strength in my trapezius muscles.  

Anyway, it's made life very difficult,  t's made doing the clearing even more of a challenge, and it's made me (even) more short tempered.

The belly breathing provides short term relief for some of the pain.  I 'm trying to do wall exercises to keep things moving.

One thing I have realised is that my heart rate, already on the slow side,  is well below 50bpm for long periods, on the nights when I am in most pain.  I've asked for a respiratory referral,  ideally to the sleep consultant I saw before I started on CPAP,   as they may be able to monitor and interpret whats happening to me overnight.

I don't know how long it will take.

On the plus side,  at least I've found out now that all the underlying issues are still there. All the work I have done over the last 3 years has alleviated some of the symptoms, but hasn't fixed the root cause.  And it's better to find that out now rather than in another 10 years.

Lower

My brother and I have been dealing with clearing our parents property since March, and it's been very challenging.    My Dad was a hoarder, the property was built by them and is huge, and it has been relentless physical and mental graft.  

My whole life has been consumed by either travelling to the property, being there and clearing it, bringing stuff back, dealing with stuff, scanning stuff, sorting stuff, selling stuff, chucking stuff,   trying to sort out getting a borehole put in, dealing with my Mum's care, dealing with trying to sell the property, planning the next steps....

After many hours and days of clearing, we got it empty enough to advertise and someone wants to buy it.   We've continued the treadmill of clearing, and dealing with not having any water. 

We've just had our toughest long weekend of clearing yet, and that is saying something.  My lovely cousin came to help because this weekend involved the cellars and a lot of heavy stuff.  We wouldn't have been able to empty the cellars without him.  

There's still loads more to clear from there, but most of the heavy stuff is out.

My brother came away with a shoulder issue, and I've come away with a wrenched leg around my knee area.  It's incredibly painful, I'm having to sleep on my back (which I shouldn't be doing), and I'm feeling low.  It took me 3 days to get my stuff upstairs (DH is away) and going up and down stairs isn't straightforward.

Yesterday I got the bundle of very detaild forms from the solicitor.  It's a property with two large parcels of land, and it's not straightforward to answer the questions.   I've going through the documents I've scanned over the last few months to try and get some answers.  I've opened crates of papers to see if I've missed anything.

There is stuff everywhere and I'm sinking.

My grandson and his wife are arriving on Tuesday night, and the house is a tip.

I'm feeling low, and I'm suppressing the urge to burst into tears.  I feel childishly overwhelmed.

 

Bosch vs Miele

We've just set goodbye to our second Miele dishwasher, and have bought a Bosch instead.

Our first Miele dishwasher was a top of the range one,  and was a problem throughout its guarantee period and beyond.  Time after time we had to get an engineer out.  Thank god for their "Diamond Care" or whatever it was called.

We quite liked its features, everyone knows Miele is a fantastic brand, so we assumed we'd just been unlucly and had a Friday Lemon. We decided to buy Miele again when we;'d had enough of paying for repairs for the first one.   Another top of the range one, even more features. Loved the interior light,  seemed to work well.

It first packed up just after the 2 year warranty expired.  Miele were very good, and sent an engineer anyway.    He fixed it, and it worked for a year.  Then it packed up again.  The "Diamond Service" was no longer sold. Now, you could either pay per hour plus parts, or spend a reasonable sum but it would cover the problem with no extra costs.  We did that.

Eighteen months later - well outside the time limit warranty on the previous fix - it went wrong again.  We paid the now increased even more   "all in" price, and the engineer ended up replacing half the machine.

And now, 20 months later, it's gone again.  The "all in" price was now an eye watering £300.  

The machine was now 7 years old.  It had cost a fortune to buy,  and we'd already paid twice to have it repaired and this would be the fourth repair in that time.    We decided it was time to cut our losses and  to look at getting another dishwasher.  

 We looked at Miele again, to get a benchmark and to see what had changed in 7 years.   Our requirements were short (and I know they are going to sound stupid).   We both agreed that the interior light feature , initially a nice to have,  was surprisingly useful, so we listed that as a "must have".  It also "must have" a delicate programme, and it must be possible to set it to start at a sopecific time (to make use of cheap electricity periods).

n the end, it came down to Miele or Bosch,

Availability of models from lot sof manufacturers  is really rubbish at the moment, and I ended up with 2 models  on my list, one from Bosch and one from Miele.  I couldn't find a showroom anywhere near me which had either of them in.  We didn't really need to see the Miele, we've enough experience of them to know enough.  But I really did want to see the Bosch.   

We found a lower model (seriesd 6) Bosch in a local Curry's, so we had a look at that.   It wasn't great (after owning a Miele).  Even the 5 year warranty (vs Miele's meagre 2 years) wasn't enough.  I was disappointed, as I had really wanted to love the Bosch.

We watched a selection of YouTube videos for the Bosch series 8, trying to piece together what we had seen of the series 6, and what the videos showed us.   In the end, we decided we'd go with the Bosch.  It was 2/3rds of the price of the Miele,  and we didn't think that Miele deserved a third chance really.

The new dishwasher arrived today.

Some of the features (like the folding down of bits of the basket) are definitely clunky compared to the Miele,  but (a)  the adjustments are even more versatile than what we had before. and (b) the machine was 2/3rds of the price.      The grey baskets are a bit grim and utilitarian looking,  but we dno't have them on display so it doesn't matter.

I'd forgotten that most dishwashers salt is inside and the basket has to come out to access it (the Miele has salt in the door).  But it was easy to reach, and the salt funnel is fine. 

The basket layout is completely the other way round, so it'll take us a couple of goes to find the "normal" places for our various items.   The basket adjustments are good though.  It'll just take a bit of getting used to.

It's doing its first wash now.

So far, I'm very happy with it.

And around we go

I felt so much better when my house was finally (mostly) free of my parents bits and pieces.  Everything was in the Summerhouse, and fairly tidy.

I set off, with my brother, for our next weekend of clearing, and as part of that we took the last of the china to a cafe near my Mum's house.  They had been lovely with my Mum when we visited, and they had been so helpful one day when we had a problem.  We gave them the china, and the were very happy,.

Our plan for the weekend was to start clearing the cellar, particularly of the out of date products.   They used to be good at stock rotation,  but when things started to go wrong - my dad losing his sight, for example,  it became a small problem.  As things deteriorated, it all got a bit out of hand.

I'm tempted to write about Those Cans Of Food,  but I won't.

The fridge-that-wasn't incident from a few months ago was a good training run for what we encountered. 

Anyway,  I'd had enough of the cellar for one weekend, so  I was up in the attic, bringing clothes down to go to the Salvation Army banks and to the local charity shops).  My brother called for me to come and look at what he had found.

More Colclough china.

Different patterns to the five patterns I'd already sold.

We brought the pieces out and sorted them out into sets.

I messaged my husband, who just laughed.  

We did our Salvation Army bank runs,  and a run to a Charity shop.  And some other runs as well. We've completed 32 full loads now, so we just under 11 skips so far (3 loads to a skip).

We still have no water, but we were prepared this time.

I ended up bringing home 3 full crates, plus another box of jigsaws,  plus  a small crate of Mums stuff.  I hadn't bargained on brining anything back this time.

The journey home was troublesome, the alternator stopped working.  DB used to test engines for a living,  so he tried all the tricks.      We got home in the end, very tired.    DH came to pick me up from DB's, and told me to leave the stuff in the car until the morning.  Normally I would have disgareed, but I was very tired and desperate for a shower.  I had a shower and went to bed.

When I got up the next morning, DH had got the china out of the car and had put it in the dishwasher (on a gentle cycle, with a gentle tablet). He'd also got out the other crates and stacked them.

And so yesterday and today has mainly been about the crate contents. 

The good news is that the property is now on the market and we have our first viewing on Wednesday.

I feel like I'm holding my breath.

 

Order! Order!

My house is a mess.

I haven't done any proper housework (apart from washing,  batch cooking, and swish & swiping) since Easter.   All my time is spent either away (visiting my Mum,   or at her old smallholding trying to clear the rubbish),   or at home dealing with Mum related things.

The mess, compounded by crates of my mothers things,  stacks of my mothers documents and photos,  piled up everywhere has been really getting me down.

DH went away to visit his brother in law, and I decided that I was going to spend the weekend trying to get sorted out.

It's been tough.

Yesterday, I cleared the living room and dining room.   Most furniture was moved, the floor was washed multiple times.    Crates were emptied and re-sorted.  Stuff was moved.  

The stuff that I'm taking back to Mums (like the towels, which I had to bring home to wash as we have no water there at the moment), is in a stack in the summerhouse.  A box of china, which is being donated to a cafe local to where she used to live, is there too.    The rest of the china has been passed on to my brother to go to a local chap who is going to be doing afternoon teas for senior citizens.

The stuff that is being sold (both my Mum's and mine too now) is now organised on a large table in the summer house.  The packing boxes and packing materials are - mostly - all out there as well, mostly stored underneath the table. 

 The charity shop stuff continues to be stored in the boot of my car, and I really really need to empty it.   I did try on Thursday, but I couldn't park near my chosen charity shop and I gave up.

The living room looks OK.  It's still got some crates in,   but most of those will be gone (to the summerhouse) tonight.  The remaining 2 crates need to continue to live in the house for now.

Today's focus was the kitchen, and it's taken me 6 hours so far.    It's a grade 2 clean.  Everything off the worktops, the worktops are scrubbed, the stuff is cleaned, everything put back.    Things like the cutlery drawer are emptied and cleaned.  The hob plates and cooker hood filters are dishwashered.     It's not a cupboard-emptying clean, I don't have the stamina for that.

I'm only about half way round.  

There was so much stuff (mainly my Mums) under the table.   It's been dealt with now, each box as I pull it out. 

The windows are clean. The windowsill is sparkling.  The sinks are shiny.    The floor has been vacuumed (by Raymondo) and washed (by me) multiple times.

I'd planned to do our bedroom today as well, but I can't see me keeping this up.

I just need to get it finished.

I'm going to feel so much lighter when I can walk in to a clean, fresh, tidy home.

I just need to find one to visit.

Ups and Downs

A couple of packs of photos on, and I'm now feeling rather miserable.

One pack of photos was of my Mum, lying on our sofa. There were lots of photos, and my Mum is wearing different clothes   so they weren't taken at the same time.

We had a typical of the time living room: A three seater settee, and two armchairs. There were 5 of us.

The photos brought back some very unhappy memories.  My Mum used to come home from work, and then she'd lie on the sofa across 3 seats, and that was it.  Mum didnt care what it meant to the rest of us, she had no interest in us ir engaging with us,  she was entirely  consumed by her own unhappiness. 

  I realise now she was suffering from depression,  she was very unhappy with her life and made sure we all knew it. 

I don't know how long this went on for. In my memory, it was a looiooooong time. I'd guess a year or so. Maybe longer, maybe less.    

That was the point where  I made the decision that I wouldn't have children of  my own, because my mum.had said that children ruin your life.

At that young age, I also realised that it was not good for people to stay together when one of them wanted to be somewhere else. 

It was such an unhappy time.  There was more that happened that I just can't share, although I dont suppose it matters any more. My Dad isnt here now to discover secrets that I've kept.  Like that time when my mum tried to get me to agree to go and live with her when I clearly had no idea it meant leaving my dad.   The whole thing  had such a profound affect on me, and the anger and bewilderment I felt as a child is overwhelming me even as I type this. 

It was painful to be reminded of it by the photos.   I was transported back to that time and to the feelings of inadequacy and confusion, and extreme unhappiness and powerlessness

As a child I eventually managed to squash it all into a locked chest,  deep in my stomach. I buried it,  really well.  

I hid it for a long time.  Although unacknowledged,  it festered and fermented 

My parents eventually sorted things out and had a long and mostly happy marriage.  

For me though, the decision about not having children remained;  and the poison from the suppressed feelings and memories eventually escaped their containment and robbed the  carefree joy from the girl in the earlier post.   

The feelings unleashed today overtook me like an avalanche.  

This time, I won't let the feelings suffocate me. Acknowledging them,  writing down the fact that I had them -that I am having them - is part of trying to deal with it.

It was a long time ago.

It doesn't matter any more. 

I can't go back and change anything.

Picking over it is pointless. 

I just need to put the feelings in a rucksack, and then take off the rucksack  leave the rucksack at the side of the road while I walk away. 

Nostalgia (isn't what it used to be)

The attic photos continue to deliver surprises.

One of the photos is of me with my then boyfriend. I am 16 (possibly just turned 17).  Obviously I am thin, with long slim legs.  I have a beautiful slim neck. 

I sent it to Miss Teen, who is now the same age as I was then. 

But what made me put the photo to one side is just how naturally happy I look.  Big, happy, smile. Mouth, face, eyes, all smiling and happy.   Nothing forced, no nervousness, no self doubt, no guile, nothing.

It is possibly the only picture of me as an adult that I really like.  (Apart from the fact it has an old boyfriend in). 

I've tried smiling like she smiles, and it looks like a grimace.

It was such a long time ago.

For a moment,  I wished I could be her again, just for a bit. Just at that instant, perhaps.  But with my husband next to me.

 

Attic

My brother and I have been trying to clear the huge attic walkway which runs between the two halves of my parents smallholding house.

We've already spent many many days clearing the rubbish from the rest of the house,  this is the last area to have its initial decluttering.

It's been very hard work, with many irritations (more paperwork!!!) ,  many amusing moments (more jigsaws!  more books!!), and some pleasant urprises.  We found boxes of very very old photos.

I've been working my way through scanning and sorting them.   I'm binning nearly all the originals.   The ones where there are people in, I've been assigning to boxes lined up on my sewing table.     I've sent electronic copies to those inteested parties.

Thee are photos of my parents as small children.  There were all my Mum and Dad's wedding telegrams nd cards.    There was everything to do with the very early death of my Mum's dad, and all the condolence cards,  and the death of her Mum. 

There were photographs and newspaper clippings of some of the exotic cars they owned.

Their trip to Florida in 1980 to see the Daytona 500, and the tickets for that.

Letters to my Mum from her Mum after the birth of each of us.  A biurthday card for my Mum (as a little girl) from her Mum and her Dad.

There were photographs of their long dead friends.

I've managed to contact the daughter of Dad's best friend, and I sent her some pictures via Messenger.   I've also sent her a packet of pictures, which include some I didn't send electtronically, and a her (long since divorced) parents wedding invitation.   I sent her step mum pics of Dad's best friend.

I'm trying to contact the offspring of some of the other people of whom I have photos,  but it's not that easy.

I've also been able to share photos of my Dad's siblings and his parents, including his parents wedding photos,  to arious members of the family.  Not all are online, so they are getting the originals, hared a=out between them.   

And some of the photos.... I just don't know what to do with.  

I wish we'd done this when my Dad was still here.  Mind you, he wouldn't have been able to see the photos, so a pointless bit of nostalgia.

Lovely people

I've met/"met" some lovely people recently.

The first was a lady on Ebay, who was selling some modern china.  I was interested in some pasta bowls she was selling,  and I also decided to buy a couple of other items as well.    I was very careful in my purchase,  I only bought what I planned to use. (And I'm selling a set of pasta bowls to make room for the new ones)

She did  a special listing for me with the bits I wanted, and I explained that I was trying to only buy items I'd actually use.  We ended up chatting about having to dispose of parents belongings,  books and china in particular, and she had had a similar experience to me.  

In some cases, my experience was "worse" (the volume of stuff) and in others, hers was much worse (the distance involved).

I bought her china even though I realised that the manufacturer was having a sale, and I could have it (and a bit more) for the same price. 

It arrived today, and it's lovely.  The pasta bowls are perfect.     The other pieces I bought are pretty... but they've possibly been superseded by a subsequent purchase.  

..............................

The second person was also through me buying china.  I was actually searching for a different pattern by the same company.

A couple of weeks ago, I'd arranged to buy a tea set of china I thought I might like.  I wanted to make a cake stand, and have a few cups and saucers, and the rest was going to go into my party box.   The seller was some distance away, and she agreed to keep the items until I next went to see my Mum.  She isn't on the way at all,  but we can go via her and only add an hour to our journey in one direction,   whereas a specific round trip would take 5 hours.

While waiting, I kept searching for pieces in this pattern. I was particularly looking for salad plates,  soo I could make a cake stand.   I found my salad plates, they arrived, they were  quite lovely.

Anyway.  I continued looking for bits for this new set.   I was wondering if I could find dinnerware pieces, so I was searching Ebay, Facebook, Gumtree, Vinted.   There weren't many bits of interest about, at least not at a price I wanted to pay.   I realided that not all sellers list things accurately, so as well as looking for the pattern, I was also looking for the manufacturer.

While going through numerous irrelevant listings, I saw an ad for a dinner service in a different pattern.  I'd seen a lot of patterns by this manufacturer, but none (apart from the one I've yet to collect) had tempted me.  But this pattern made me look carefully.  I'd seen a couple of pieces in passing, but I'd not looked at it. It was a lot of useful pieces, and it wasn't particularly expensive.  The seller was also willing to post.

I put it on my watch list, and thought about it for a while.

I kept looking, and I found myself actively searching for that pattern.  It really seemed lovely.  Sometimes though, they aren't as lovely in the flesh. Or a pattern that seems pleasant on a sandwich plate becomes overpwoering on a whole dinner service.

This set though.... I didn't think it would be.

In the end, I decided to buy it.  If it turned out to be overpowering, I'd just sell it on in smaller lots.

It turned out that the seller was new to Ebay, and Ebay isn't very helpful when you're starting out.  The seller hadn't realised that Ebay had put a shipping option on, and that the shipping option was a fraction of what it should have been.  I had realised that the shipping was incorrect, and I was ready to offer the right amount.

I was a little worried about all that china being posted,  so I suggested that I collect and that  we met half way.  The seller said they couldn't drive that far.   They were very polite and offered to cancel the sale.     I thought about it, and decided that I'd just travel the whole way and collect it.

And I'm so glad I did.

The seller was a lovely lady called Iris.   The china was her wedding present in 1966.   She initially thought I was a dealer (I'm not surprised, with the amount of china related listings I have had!) and asked if I was going to sell it on.   I explained that I bought it to use, and I had never expected to choose a floral set.  She asked why,  and I explained about my parents' 5 humungous sets of Colclough.   She empathised, as her in-laws had been china collectors (having worked at the potteries in Stoke) so she had had to deal with many sets herself some years ago.

She showed me the china, and it was....stunning!  So much better in real life than in the pictures.

We chatted for ages, and I'm so glad I went to see her.  I have a lovely set of china,  and she knows her china has gone to someone who will love it.

I'm still going to collect the other set.   I really like it (I dont think I'll love it like I love Iris' china)  and I think the two will complement each other. 

Buying it has made me re-think my sandwich plate collection, and the contents of my party box.  I'm selling all my sandwich plates.   I've given my brother one of my Colclough Wayside cake stands;   I'm selling another (proceeds to my Mum), and I'm keeping just one in my party box.   I'm keeping just 8 Wayside trios, and they are all in the party box, not on my tea set shelf.    I'm keeping one Avon cake stand, and I'm selling the other (proceeds to my Mum).  I'm probably not keeping any other Avon  pieces. 

I'm selling the spares for my current dinner set (I have a load in the loft which will be going). I absolutely love my current china,  I've had it for more than 30 years and I keep coming back to it. I've no doubt I'll be coming back to it again when the novelty of the new set has worn off,  However,  I'll be keeping just a (relatively) small number of pieces, maybe 8 each of plates and bowls, in the loft.  Everything else, including all the the ancillary pieces (like the serving platter, gravy boat, serving bowls), can go.   

I just need to gird myself for the selling effort.

 

 

 

 

There's a hole in my bucket

DH decided that he would like to incorporate the now-freed-up Kallax unit into his study.   This wasn't as straightforward as one might expect.

In order to do this, he had to rearrange and re-orientate his existing Kallax units.

In order to do that, he had to empty them.

In order to do that, he had to clear the floorspace leading up to them.

In order to do that, he had to find somewhere to put stuff "temporarily" while he reorganised.

In order to do that, I had to move some of my (well, our) stuff from the small box room into the guest bedroom.

DH then started, and did a eally good job of emptying.

We got the Kallax in place, and DH started to put stuff back in.

It's a work in progress,  and it's progressing.   It's now Monday, and we're still not back in place.

That's not a surprise to me,  I'm a veteran of this type of thing and I know how long it takes.

Meanwhile, I'm still limping along trying to put stuff away in the living room.   I've done well, but I've got a large pile of books that I'm not sure how to handle.   Almost everytghing else is back in place.

And I've sorted out the china that's being donated to two places.

Except.

Except I've bought another set of china.  I'm thinking about giving away some of the stuff that's currently in my party box and putting the tea services from what I've bought into the party box. To do that, I need to remove some of the stuff I've kept.  I just need to do it before I donate the remainder.

I'll wait until I have the new china safely in my hands and then I'll decide.

On the plus side, I've emptied another crate of my Mums stuff, and I only have a little bit  of it left, sitting on the table waiting for me to do something.

It's A1 plans, and I need to get my large format scanner out.

And I can't do that just now, because it's in the guest bedroom.  It's boxed in.  Literally.  by the boxes and stuiff I moved out of the box room so DH had some temporary space.

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza........

Sideboard

DH and DB collected the new sideboard.   I stayed at home and emptied the Kallax unit. It was a bit like Mary Poppins' bag!

I had piles of stuff everywhere.   Some of smaller, loose, bits (eg various USB items like a camera, a scope, a DVD recorder) I put in a crate for safety.

The sideboard arrived.  It looks reasonable, it's not overpowering, it goes reasonably well with the table.  It's much deeper than the Kallax, but it is shorter.

I can't get everything to fit.  I mean in both terms of dimensions and in terms of volume. 

I had forgotten that one of the advantages of the Kallax is that it is open on both sides, so things can stick out a bit without looking odd.    They really are amazing pieces of furniture, with TARDIS qualities.

I've got a lot of the stuff on and in the new sideboard, and I've got about half a sideboard's worth of stuff that isn't in there.  I'm taking some time to consider what to do about it.

I was going to move the Kallax into the summerhouse while I decide what to do with it.  DH mentioned that he's thinking of putting it in his hobby room, in place of a bookshelf there.  I think it will work well for him,   it will mean quite a bit of rearranging and DH needs to see if he's up to it.

In the meantime, the Kallax is now in front of the sideboard, blocking access to it.   I don't mind, it means I'm not entirely to blame for the mess in the room.

Meanwhile, the auctions on one particular pattern of china have now all finished.  I packed the sold items last night, and put the unsold items into a crate to donate to a venture one of my DB's acquaintances is starting (afternoon teas for older folks).

My Zebra printer played up. It was only printing one half of the address labels.   There were numerous posts about various Zebra printers doing this, with a myriad of "solutions". Most of those failed at the first hurdle for my little printer, because some of the options just don't exist.

Of course I tried rebooting things.  In the end I deleted the printer and attempted to set it up again.  That was a nightmare, it's a cloud only service so it isn't like a normal printer.  It has to be done through an app.  I couldn't get that to work so I deleted the app and resintalled it.  And the app just hung there.

I imagine Zebra were having issues with their cloud service, but I couldn't find any information about this on social media.    Every attempted fix resulted in at least one (sometimes more if it involved turning the pinter off, as it ejects a blank label on restart) label.    I've wasted about 20 of the roll of 190.  Eventually, at about 1am,  I managed to get it reinstalled and later managed to print my shipping labels.    I'd already bought the postage and needed the barcode labels ready for when the postman comes.

It was all done in the end, but it meant I had a relatively short night.

Lots of strange dreams, including dreaming about a someone from a workplace I left 18 years ago!

I'm tired today, and I am in auto pilot.  Domestics happened.  I had to clear the pile of stuff that needed ironing (well, pressing),  and emptied the airer.   I changed the bed, and then put everything frm the floor onto the bed so Raymondo could vacuum.    I've been upstairs to empty him.  I put a load of washing on.

I'm on autopilot.

 

Service resumed

I'm back now. Not quite firing on all cyclinders, but I'm in a better place than I was.

I've managed to do some Domestics, and about thee quarters of the kitchen looks more than presentable.    All the carp is piled on the huge table I use for my sewing and stuff, and I've been trying to go through it. "Even one thing makes a difference" has been my mantra.

I also managed to tackle some of the remaining scanning for my Mum.    It took me a couple of attempts to be able to start it;   it was scanning documents from a particularly difficult time in their lives.      In the end, I scanned and sorted the bits I could, and just put the rest in a pile.  Then I tackled the pile again in the same way. And again.  Until I had a very small pile left, which has gone back in the crate until I have headspace.

The hallway table has disappeared, with crates in front of it and stuff to be collected piled up on top of it.  I'll be glad when the items have been collected, as it isn't helping.

I'm waiting for my Ebay auctions to finish (between now and Sunday) so I can get things packed and sent and then take stock.   Some of the items are mine, some are myMum's.  I've got open crates all over the place, with lots neatly packed in bags, hoping for new homes.   

I'm also awaiting the next Ebay fees offer, which I'm anticipating will be at the end of next week,  as I've got a few other bits to sell.  I might try and sell them elsewhere in the meantime.  Maybe.  I've got more china arriving, and I'm trying to do a "one in, one out" rule.

I've also got to empty out and move the Kallax unit that sits in the dining room, as we're collecting a new-to-us sideboard tomorrow.   My motivation is fragile, so I'm not forcing things.    I imagine I'll do it in a rush tomorrow, and i'll be wishing I'd got my finger out today.

I had a really good session with the Physio this morning, it really helped.

 

 

Out of nowhere

I was fine until I wasn't.

I'll return when i've got myself back under control.

Chinaphilia

It's funny how continued exposure to something affects one's view of it.

My parents had a bit of an obsession with certain patterns of china.   My Dad loved Colclough Wayside, and bought smome, piece by piece, from our local department store.    Many years later, when bone china was out of fashion and was being used in plate smashing at fairs,  he bought up sets of it at boot fairs and charity shops.

Then he started adding other Colclough sets to his collecting habit.  He eventually ended up with 5 different sets of Colclough - huge sets - plus a few odd pieces from other patterns.

My parents also collected Royal Albert Old Country Roses, which is a set I loathe.   They picked out a few pieces to use as their "everyday" china, and I'm glad they did.   My brother and I use those pieces when we stay at the house to do the decluttering,. We drink wine from the tea cups.

When I started to sell the china,  I thought that four of the five Colclough sets were "all right". One I didn't like at all, although I'm not sure why.     I didn't like any of the sets enough to want to own any,  although I did feel an emotional attachment to Wayside.

Once I started selling I found my Facebook feed was full of foul, flowery china.   Not just Colclough. Not even the hated Country Roses.  I had hundreds of sets pushed in my face, all the time

I sold 2 complete sets immediately, thanks to the intervention of two friends.  I also sold part of a third set, and a large amount of Wayside.  Vast amounts of Wayside went to people I know, and I was happy that it was going to homes who would love it as much as my Dad had done.

I had crates of the stuff, plus crates of packing,  stacked in my living room.  I listed the remaining china in various combinations, on a plethora of platforms.   i arranged, I photographed, I listed.  I learned a lot about Colclough china doing this.   Even DH found he quite liked one of the sets.

My brother and I decided we'd use whatever china we had left when we held Dad's wake, so I paused selling.

My feed continued to be choked up with china.  I found myself no longer being repulsed by the floral designs.    I didn't want any of them in my home,  but I learned to appreciate them for what they were. 

As we prepared for the wake, I appreciated the beauty of the shape of the sandwich platters.  On impulse one day, I bought  one (despite having loads) in a Colclough pattern my parents didn't have. .   DH was horrified.  I told him at least I'd only bought one platter, I could have bought the whole set.

And then I bought two more platters.  One wasn't even Colclough, but it was from a related company.  DH looked nervous. 

The Wake arrived.  It was lovely to see so much china being used,  and the cake stands my DH had made out of  some of the pieces looked great.   I quite fancied keeping a cake stand.  And then I decided that I'd keep some of the china - not all of it, just some of it -  for future garden parties.    DH agreed it was a reasonable idea.  I selected some pieces from the 3 sets I was selling,  including some more to be made into cake stands,  and packed it away in a crate.  Everything was packed into home made drawstring bags,  with the ribbon colour indicating what pattern was in the bag.

I then decided to move my cake stands (there were now two of them being promoted to being kept in the kitchen) plus a selection of sandwich platters into a cupboard.  And I might as well keep some cups and saucers in one of the designs (Wayside of course). And a couple of cups and saucers in the design that DH liked.  And I might as well keep the teapot in the design that DH likes (we used it to deliver brandy at the Wake).

By this time,  I found myself actively looking at china.  

I'd looked at dozens of Colclough patterns, and there were a couple I quite liked.  Not enough to want to buy a set, but enough to want a sandwich platter.  Or a cake stand. Or a sandwich platter and a salad plate so I could make my own cake stand. 

I found lots of them. I resisted buying. I wanted to see if the feeling subsided.

And then I saw a set which I really really  liked. 

I was astounded, as it was definitely floral.

I told myself I'd buy a sandwich platter. Nothing else.

I couldn't find one.

I did see a set of salad plates.  I resisted.

And then I saw a tea set.

And then I asked if she would hold it for me until I could find a way to get to her. She's sort of on the way to my parents house.

Well, not exactly on the way.  It's an hour detour.  But that's better than a five hour round trip.

I haven't told DH.

It'll be a nice surprise.

Back again

I'm still fighting my back issues.   One of the reasons I did the chaotic rearranging was to try and distract myself.    

The last two days have mainly been spent sorting, grouping, photographing, and listing various pieces of china.  I had an Ebay fees reduction offer, so I wanted to get as much posted as possible.  I know a lot more about the china now than I did when I started selling stuff for my Mum, so I've ended up being very particular about trying to group items with the same (age of) backstamp together.

It was interesting and tedious in equal measure.

Last night I managed to get all the lots separately bagged and then put into crates, and the crates neatly stacked. I cleared up all the detritus, like bits of kitchen towel, bubble wrap, cardboard, boxes, blah blah blah.

This morning, I started listing some non china items.  I also cleared the two remaining trays of chaotica from Thursday.  Seven eighths  of it was put away or listed for sale or binned; the other eighth was put on a single tray, and is waiting to be dealt with.

I also had to do some batch cooking today. I'd got various packs of meat out of the freezer, and I'd arranged a grocery delivery with the additional ingredients I needed.      I managed to do:  4 x 2 huge portions (should have been 6x2 normal portions)  of shepherds pie with the last of the mutton mince;   much chilli made with thinly sliced beef steak;  and a vat of bolognese sauce.   The shepherds pie is potted up and cooling, waiting to be frozen.   The chilli is just finishing, and we are having some of it for dinner tonight.   The bolognese has a couple more hours to go.

I had planned to do a load of Indian dishes as well, using the amazing Mrs Balbir Singh spices.   My back said no, so I've put that back to tomorrow.  I'll have to do something, as I've got a load of defrosted meat waiting to be used.     

I managed to drop a brand new bottle of Biona Lime Juice, which smashed spectacularly.  And a bloody nuisance to clear up.

On the plus side,  I'd used the lime juice before I dropped it.  And it had to used in 14 days anyway.  And the floor needed washing.

Accidental chaos

The contents of many kitchen cupboards are strewn around my kitchen.

It started with me having the bright idea of using the corner wall cupboard to store my small collection of sandwich plates,  and possibly all the tea party china (instead of putting it in the loft).  It's spilled over into the reorganising of many cupboards.

So. The corner wall cupboard is horrible.  It's very deep, it's impossible to see what's in there, much less reach anything. It's like the cupboard of death. More stuff gets shoved in the front and everything gets pushed backwards to die of disuse. 

I thought I could easily stash the china on the middle shelf.  Or the bottom shelf. I'd need to empty a shelf in a different cupboard to take the contents, but it seemed doable.  

That was 8 hours ago.

Admittedly, I took my time.  I emptied out the two lower shelves , and played around..   One shelf contained, mainly, spare glassware; the other contained bottles of alcohol (mostly expensive sherries and ports and other old lady exotica) plus my cocktail making stuff,  some flasks, and various other bits.

I looked at the best way to get the china to fit. I thought about whether it was a good use of space. It seemed like a good idea, cramming the china into the recesses of an inaccessible space.    I realised I had the potential to have an erected two tier cake stand in  but that would mean the china wou;dn't fit unless I used both shelves, and that seemed a a lot of space for not a lot of benefit.

I made a decision about the china, and that is now sorted. Well, the bits I'm using are sorted.  I've got two cake stands erected, with 4 cups/saucers to match one, and 2 cups & saucers to match the other.  I've got the matching sugar and milk jugs.   I've also used a rack thing to stand my sandwich platters on their sides,  and I've allowed for two sandwich platters that I'm still trying to source.

The remaining cake stands now need drawstring bags so I can store them in the crate with the rest of the tea party china, and then that can go in the loft. I should be doing that instead of writing this blog but I don't have any room to cut fabric.   I suppose I should be finishing clearing space so I could do that.

I'd sorted out the spare glasses, moved those that I'm keeping m into another cupboard (which I'd emptied in readiness), and those that need rehoming.    I had a little sidestep into a minor reorg of the glasses cupboard. I took out a few that we rarely use and put them in the spares cupboard, and then rearranged the shelves to make some of the balloon glasses easier to access.    Everything in there needs a wash,  so I'll take a photo of it and put them all in the dishwasher when the dishwasher is next empty.

Having got this far, I didn't really want to just stuff everything else back on the bottom shelf.  I looked at Options.  Options were rather limited, so I decided on a heavy duty "lazy Susan" for the alcohol.  It's 12 inches across, so it'll fit to one side of the cupboard rather than being in the middle and making the rest of the shelf unusable. 

At some stage,  I opened the next cupboard along the line, which is a 300mm wide very tall cupboard. It contained many years of homemade fruit liqueurs, plus various bottles of interesting spirits that had obviously popped up on my Facebook feed (or some other form of advertising)  at some time or other.    I transferred as many of the Interesting Spirits into the official Drinks Cupboard, but there wasn't a lot of space and I've got a lot left.   I have just thought of a possible solution, but I don't have the inclination to empty and sort that cupboard too.  Not today, anyway.

Anyway.  I stared at the inside of the cupboard for some time,  considering my options.  I wondered about using it for my cocktail stuff - the equipment I mean, not the syrups and stuff. (although that would have been a good idea too. Too late now).   I looked at the years (and years) of fruit liqueurs, and decided to pour down the sink any that were open.  The rest were crammed on to one shelf at the top. They'll be able to embalm me in it when I die!

Eventually, after a bit of trial and error, I decided to put the vacuum sealer bags in there.  The chamber sealer is directly under that cupboard (well, it does at the moment), and the narrowness is useful in supporting tall flimsy things.   I had to get DH to move a shelf, which was more work than it should have been (and would have required me to unscrew the cupboard door). 

I thought about what I would do with the drawer where the bags currently lived.   It's a rubbish drawer, so it needs to be something that isn't accessed very often and isn't too heavy.  That excluded everything I currently had spread over on my kitchen worktop and floor.

I mentally went through the contents of the other cupboards, evaluating each set and quickly discarding it. I reached the base corner cupboard, and thought about the two small crates of bakeware that had resided in there, unused, since I went through and had a major bakeware declutter some years ago.   I briefly wondered about getting rid of it all, but it is all quite expensive stuff and I don't know anyone who would make good use of it.  I'm hoping my granddaughter-on-law will turn out to be a baker, and I can offer it to her.  In the meantime,  it's staying.    I was sure I'd be able to get them into that drawer. So I did. 

As a result, I had a gap where the bakeware had been.  It isn't a good cupboard for access, so there wasn't any point putting the bottles there.      I ended up taking most of the contents out and resorting them, so that I could more easily access some of the bits that I did use. This left me with a better cupbord and a bit of space, ehich I promptly filled with some bread shaping baskets that have been homeless on the worktop for some time now.

The diversion into sorting out the 300mm cupboard and the other cupboards has  resulted in a slightly better organised couple of areas, but I'm no further forward with getting all this stuff back in a cupboard.

And I've got an itch to move some other stuff around.  That's why I'm writing this.  It's my equivalent of lying down until the feeling passes. 

.....

I've attempted to put my cocktail equipment in the cupboard, and I'm seeing how it looks in a moment.   I'm going to evacuate the cocktail syrups from the Official Drinks Cupboard, and use the space for the stuff that I've now got lying around.  I haven' decided where the syrups are going to live, and I haven't ruled out pouring (some of) them away.

.......

 OK, the cocktail stuff is now in the huge red flour bin.  The semolina flour was several years out of date (we've been using shop bought pasta instead of making it, I didn't realise how long that had been going on) so I threw it away.  

The reorganisation continued through to bed time, by which time I'd re-reorganised the bakeware and the other drawer in that cupboard,   re-reorgansed the corner base cupboard,  and reorganised two other drswers in two other cupboards. 

The cupboards look great. I've got a pile of stiff to donate.  And a large tray of stuff that I still have to rehome.

......
It's now the following day.  The tray remains unsorted.    I have, however, made one pouch for one of the cake stands.  And I've done a load of unrelated stuff (like bought some new bird feeders, bought a secondhand sideboard, plus done various domestics)

I will finish all today.

I will.

I will try.

 

 

 

Wakefulness

Mum was well enough to travel, so we decided we'd go ahead and hold the Wake for my Dad.

We had organised a family garden party, in my garden, to coincide with (what would have been) my parents' 65th wedding anniversary.

The run up was so busy.  DB and I spent a night at my parents house, doing yet more clearing, then we collected Mum and brought her to my house.   Things were derailed slightly, as she had very high blood pressure and we had to take her over to her GP surgery and wait for them to see her.    her medications were amended and she was cleared to travel, and we got back home about 7 hours later than we planned.

The next three days were a whirl of preparations. We emptied the summerhouse, cleaned it, washed it, washed the floors.  We got rid of severely out of date soft drinks. I cleaned the fridge.    We started running the machine to make ice cubes, and I started manually making HUGE ice cuves.

  DH made cake stands using some of the china and the stand bits I'd bought from the lovely Theresa at Through the Cake Hole.  We washed and stacked the china and sorted out the cutlery.  The gazebo was put up, we shorted out the seating. DH got the party stuff out of th loft and it was washed and assembled.

My DB had found some video of my Dad which he had digitised. I edited it so we had just some short clips to show.  We wrote and practised and revised  our joint eulogy.  

We went shopping the day before to get all the bits that could be bought in advance. We worked out the layout of all the stuff, with me writing on bits of paper so that we would know what to put where the following morning.

On the day, DB collected the pre-ordered sandwich and dessert platters from Costco, while I sorted out the rest of the food.  Everything was ready in time.

We used the china.  It looked magnificent.  Stacks of tiny side plates, a sea of cups and saucers,  and a trio of teapots (one of which didn't contain tea at all, just more tea Vicar) .   The cake stands and sandwich platters looked stunning.  

It went really, really well.

I thought I'd feel better afterwards, but it was then a few days of trying to take everything down and putting everything away.  Mum stayed for three more days, then we took her back to her Home, and we went on to the house and spent two nights and three days trying to get everything to a point where the photographer could come.

And then we went home,  and I've been knackered ever since.

I decided I was going to keep some of the china for another tea party.   I sewed drawstring bags to hold the stuff to prevent it getting damaged in the crate.    I used two different fabrics: one for cups and saucers,  and another for plates and ancillary stuff.    Each bag has a ribbon drawstring,  and the drawstrings are colour coded, reflecting the main colour of the china pattern: yellow for  Stardust,  brown for Avon, and pink for Wayside.

I've still got to make bags for the cake stands, but I need a bit of a break from it.

I need to sort out what I've got left and have another push at selling it. 

I'm off to see Mum tomorrow, so it'll have to wait until later in the week,

Taking it on the chin(a)

Over the last six weeks, I've been sorting out my parents' vast collection of bone china.

My Dad loved Colclough. 

When I was about 12 (?), he started to buy the odd piece, brand new, from our local department store.  He could only buy, say, one plate.  The chosen set was Wayside,  which is very floral and very pink.  (I think I may have had a hand in choosing it).

Many years later, when bone china was out of fashion,  he would rescue sets.  He didn't limit his collecting to Wayside, he branched out into another pattern, and another, and another.

 

We had five massive sets of the stuff to sort out,  plus a small amount from 3 other sets.  I don't even have pictures of the whole sets.  I can't find pictures of two of the sets at all.

 

I've managed to sell two huge sets, thanks to the generosity of a friend. She happened to collect one of them, and she bought the other to split between her daughter and her Aunt.

My friend has also been responsible for me selling some of the Wayside (the one my Dad bought when I was young), and also some of the Stardust.    My BFF's sister bought part the Wayside, and that made me really happy. 

I've also sold various configurations of Stardust and Avon, I haven't tried selling the remainder of the Wayside yet, I'm waiting until after our tea party in June.

 

I was successful in selling two smaller collections, luckily my parents only had a few pieces of those.

My cousin was happy to receive a non Colclough set of china as a memory of my Dad.

There is still more china to go, but we may have to wait until the house is sold.    I've got so many crates of carefully wrapped china, I just don't want to deal with any more at the moment.

 

Down

Having a not-so-great few days.

Rude person on Ebay, I'm letting him get to me more than I should.

Mum's not doing so well.

I've done another mountain of scanning,  and a load of shredding (can't burn anything as I'mve just had the schimney swept and I'm waiting for the stove to be serviced).  There's still a load to do, and I'm concerned now about the stuff I destroyyed without scanning.

Severe back and stomach issues.

I've got crates stacked everywhere, and we're trying to clear up so we can hold this thing for my Dad in the garden.

Normal sevrice will be resumed as soon as possible.

Cooping Strategy

I'm shattered. My back is killing me.

Another 3 nights/4 days of clearing my parents house, with us coming back very late Tuesday night. 

ONE of the sets of china

Wednesday and Thursday was spent dealing with stuff I'd brought back.  The crates we bought for transporting stuff are working really well.   I've got a large number of them stacked up against the wall in my living room, most of which contain the worlds largest private collection of Colclough china. 

My parents collected several sets. The picture shows just one of those sets.

Friday was a warm day, and I decided I really had to do the chicken coops.  I normally do a deep clean and disinfect in  early April, but all this business with my Mum has meant I've not been able to,   I seized the sunshine on Friday,  and did all 3 coops.   It took quite a long time, and I was so very tempted to just do 2. Or 1.       

They are all done now

I've also had a slight rearrangement of one part of the run, with DH putting in a fairly low level bar for the girls to roost on during the day.  

They have, of course, ignored it.  

DH also set up the enormous shade, unasked, for them.  

All we need now is enough sun to justify it.

My back and stomach are terrible today,

It's not all bad

Clearing out a couple of drawers, we found my Dad's old Company Stamp.  It had an inkpad with it, but the inkpad died a long time ago.

My Dad was self employed, and he used to stamp the top of every invoice, each of which was written out by hand,  in his duplicate book.   This was long before the advent of self inking stamps.

I'll have to get an inkpad and stamp something.

We also found some placemats which my brother and I remembered from our childhood.  They were extremely battered, we've put them to one side for now.

Small things, but they made us smile and brought back memories

Video on demand

We were lucky enough to have a video recorder very early on. None of my friends had one.

The tapes were eye-wateringly expensive.    We started off with 60 minute tapes, and then as time went on, 120 mins and even 180 minutes!! became available.

Back then, of course, you could only see films when they were shown on TV.  There was no Iplayer, or on-demand service.  So we used to record films and keep them.  Dad built a drawer for them, and then another one.  We had a massive collection.

I found them all today.  All mouldy, sadly.

As I piled the into a heavy duty bag, the titles made me smile.

Grey Lady Down, Magificent Seven,  Jaws, The Omen,  That Touch of Mink,  Benny Hill, Support your Local Gunfighter....n

Hundreds of them.

Our own "on demand" library.

And the most treasured of all, some of the James Bond films.  I remember the excitement when Goldfinger was going be shown on television for the first time!

Man in a Suitcase

Back at my parents' home this weekend, more clearing.  

The first tip run was stuff we'd stacked up in the hall from our last visit.    This time, we're focussing on a couple of the upstairs rooms.

We've removed 6? 7? sets of luggage so far.  Each large suitcase has at least one, usually two, smaller suitcases nestled inside.   The suitcases are worn, or damaged, or nibbled, so can't be passed on.#

There are are additional holdalls, most of which are mouldy, or nibbled.   They're stacked ready for the tip.  And Many, many, many more Readers Digest editions of famous literary works.  I wish we'd counted how many of them we've disposed of already.  DB has 80 in the car for the tip already, and I've got another 80 packed ready to go.  These are just the editions that were stacked up going mouldy;  we haven't taken them out of the bookcases yet.

 DB managed to bring at least one ancient TV downstairs, so that's in the queue to go. 

We've found a lot of stuff which has made us chuckle, I'll write more about that later

Offencive

We decided a couple of months ago that we needed to replace the fence.  One of the panels was broken, and some were worse for wear,

We agreed that we would get completely different panels this time.  It should be a relatively easy job, as we had slotted concrete posts and gravel boards put in when we had it done. In theory, we should be able to just slide the old panel out and then slide the new one in. 

It turned out that the fence panels weren't 6 foot high.  We had asked for a 6 foot fence, and the installer had taken that to be 6 foot finished height, the fence panels were 5 foot 6.   This limited our choice of suppliers.

The cost per panel was much more than I anticipated, probably akmost double what I expected.   We decided to replace the first 6 panels, which took it down to our summerhouse and, more importantly, up to where next door's side was covered by shrubs.

We were surprised that, upon, ordering, we were given a likely delivery date of 25th May.   It was a longer lead time than we expected, but it meant we would still get it done before we have this thing in the garden in early June.

This morning I woke up early.  I decioded to get up at 7am, and I checked my Mail before I had my shower.  There was an email from the supplier, from 5.08am, saying the fence panels woud be delivered today between 7am and 9am.

DH had to get up in a hurry, I got in the shower, and the fence panels arrived.

My lovely brother came to help DH remove the old panels and fit the new ones.   All went well,  until I accidentally let one of the cats escape.  Lewis refused to be caught or cajoled, so we had to leave him to it.  As soon as we stopped trying to get him, he came in of his own accord.

Removing the old panels continued, and then installing the new ones started.  Some were a piece of cake, others were a little bit more tricky here access was severely limited.   And then we found that one of the gaps wasn't a full width panel!

Luckily, DH is very handy, and he trimmed the framed panel and sorted out the frame so it's not possible to tell (unless you go out there with a tape measure).

It was all done fairly quickly, and it looks LOVELY!  I wish we'd bought all the panels now.  

We will do the rest of the fence after the party in June.