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.

Quick!

I was amazed that my A0 desk sold very quickly. 

Even better, the buyer wanted to pick it up the next day!

This meant getting it dismantled and getting it out.   In turn, this meant that I had to move all the stuff I had piled onto the landing.  Most of it got pushed into our bedroom, some got slung into the spare bedroom. 

We eventually had it dismantled, and started taking it downstairs.  We were knackered.

The next morning, I remembered that I had a large, glass clear, cutting mat undert the bed in the spare bedroom. It seemed sensible to give that away with the desk. 

Except.

Except I'd now piled everything into the bedroom and on the bed.

Deep breath. Start sorting. One item at a time. Place it tidily, out of the way.  Clearfloor space.  Attempt to slide out Kallax unit so I can get to the area behind and pull out thecutting mat. Rmemeber that the Kallax unit fits under the bed, but the bed had to be lifted up to put it in place (because it has a lip round the frame).

Attempt to lift bed. Fail. 

Try again at the corner. Fail. 

Clear bed one item at a time.  Try to put stuff out of the way

Lift corner of the bed. Slide out part of Kallax unit.

Lift corner of the bed, slide it out a bit more. A bit more. 

Move so I can lift the bed with one hand (ha ha ha) and push the Kallax with my leg,

Bed gives birth to Kallax

 Ooh, Kallax unit.  That might be useful in the room I've just taken the desk from. 

Kneel on floor,  attempt to pull out the cutting mat.

Fail.

Deep breath.  Move the stuff that is on top of the mat.  Pull.   Pull. Pu-u-u-ull.

Mat, with everything on it, slides towards me.

Push everything off the mat, away from me.

Retrieve mat.

Amazed I managed to do it all without getting cross with myself.

DH was out today.   The buyer came on time, and we managed to get it all into their car. 

Quick break, some cordial, and I'vegot to take some of my Mum's bone china over to Maidenhead to be collected from my brother's house.  Except he isn't in, so I'll have to wait there in the car until the buyer turns up.

Every little helps!

 

 

 

Madness!

I was listing stuff for my Mum on Ebay today.

I've got 4 (very large)  crates full of china sitting in my living room.  There's more still at her house,  I don't have the room to keep it here at the moment.

I've almost finished the scanning. I've still got the house plans to scan, but that requires me to excavate my large format scanner.

During a break for coffee this morning, I was overcome with an urge to clear my "cutting desk" so that I could take photos  ready for listing at some point.  We'd decided ages ago that it had to go, as we are probably going to have to sacrifice the box room to put a lift in. 

Clearing was a mammoth task, because it has filing cabinets underneath, and ten tonnes of stuff on top.

Once I'd managed, eventually, to get the stuff out of the room, I tried taking photos. And measuring.  And doing a video showing that the electrics all work.

Then I thought I might as well list it now. 

And then.  I got an email advising me that the music shop up North now had an Orla COmpact Theatre Jubilee in stock.   My Grand Theatre Jubilee also has to go, as there won't be enough room for it.    didn't want to lose it completely, so I'd decided I'd replace it with the much smaller Compact version.  I had dithered so much last time that the music company sold the one I was looking at.     I had regretted not buying it ever since, and I've been waiting for them to get another one in.

I bought it.  Then I scrabbled around looking for the funds to pay for it. I've been squirrelling money "down the back of the sofa" for some time.   I'm a bit short, but I've got some other things to sell which will make up the shortfall.

Now was the perfect time, what with me having partially emptied the room (into the landing) anyway.   And that also spurred me on into deciding that we might as well dismantle the cutting table. I couldn't face putting all that stuff on, only to have to get it all out again if I managed to sell it.

I'm not really sure where I'm going to put the stuff that was on it.

I'm going to try and sort it all out tomorrow.

I'm not sure what made me think thatstarting this sort of major declutter, in the midst of decluttering my Mum's house,  was a good idea.

But it'll be worth it when its done.

Won't it?

And another box

Another weekend of decluttering.    It took 4 trips to the tip to take some old wooden double glazed windows.  There were dozens of them.    We knew about two piles, but we found 2 more as we cleared the kitchen.

These are just a fraction of the windows that we took

We also took all the undonateable/unsellable/broken bits from the room my Dad used as his workshop, which was actually meant to be the new kitchen.

While my DB did the final sweep up, I went upstairs and emptied a load more stuff from one of the bedrooms,  mostly stuff that had gone mouldy or had been partially eaten by mice.

I found a large box of yet more papers.  These were from 1984 to 1990, and were from when my parnts were starting up on the smallholding.  Unlike the other filing,  these were all neatly organised.  Each year was in an envelope, and each month was staoled together within that.  I think it was because Mum was registered for VAT at that time, so careful filing was a must.

I took them home to scan, and these were much more enjoyable to do, because they were relatively well organised.  As well as bills, there were some good stuff for memoraabilia scanning.    There were many many many receipts for stuff relating to the building of the house, and I've kept as many of those as I sensibly can,  just in case the new owners are interested.  

Overall it was about 3000 sheets scanned from that batch.

I've got to destroy the originals now, plus the many many sheets of things that I didn't scan at all.

And I've got to organise the scans now, lol

 

 

 

Scanning

Over the past few weeks I have scanned thousands (and thousands) of pages.

I bought an even faster scanner, and I'm glad. It's really earned its purchase.

My Mum and Dad seem to have kept everything in their esoteric filing system.    I've spent many, many, many hours, opening envelopes, separating the ocntents,  re-ordering the contents, then sorting the contents of multiple envelopes into date-ordered sets to scan.  

I've scanned hundreds of pages of bank statements. Electric bills. Council Tax bills.  Payslips.  Letters from the DWP and the taxman, P60s, solicitor letters, pension letters.....

It's good, actually, that Mum kept everything. It turns out we need some of the documents as proof of something or other.

Last week we emptied Mum's ancient desk, and found yet more stuff in the drawers, under the desk, on the desk.     Some of this included ancient folders with information for her CV, and letters of recommendation from previous employers (going back to the late seventies).    There was a project Mum did at college in her fifties;   some old photos;    letters from friends;   thank you letters from my brother's nieces and nephews and step children;  postcards;   all sorts.   

This was much more enjoyable to scan, as it wasn't just official boring stuff.     Some of the items I've put to one side to pass them on to their originators, to remind them what they were like as children.

I've uploaded everything I've scanned  on to a shared space,  and I'll give Mum access.    She can choose not to look at it, but there will be the opportunity to flick through and reminisce, if she'd like to.

I also found a file containing all the properties they went to see, when they were looking at buying a smallholding.  One of them was the farmhouse that my brother and I ended up AirB&Bing in.   I've sent an electronic copy to the now-owners,  who were delighted to receive it,  and we'll drop the original off next time we are passing.

I thought I might send the others to their new owners as well.   I'd find it quite interesting to find the selling prospectus for 40 years ago.    My husband thinks its a bit of a weird thing to do, so now I'm not sure. 

I've still got a few bits to scan (awkward htings like passports, for the photos), and I'm trying really hard to get it finished. (I'm on a break!)  I've found the original plans for their house.  I think they are A1 size, so I might be able to scan them on my big scanner.  I have to excavate the room a bit to find the scanner though, and I don't have the energy or enthusiasm at the moment.

I found an old Scenic Drive leaflet, which happens to go past the house of my BiL.   I scanned it and sent him a copy, thinking he'd not take myuch notice.  He was quite interested in it.    I googled something from the leaflet, to try and date it.  I then found that the originator of the leaflet was looking for memorabilia to celebrate the 60th anniversary!    I've sent them a scanned copy too.

Now I wish I hadn't been so hasty in putting various other leaflets in the recycling.  I'm sure many of them would have had a passing interest for the places they came from.    

Oh well, too late now.

 

Puzzling

My DB and I go back yesterday from four days and three nights of clearing Mum and Dad's house to make it presentable for viewings.  This time my DH and DB's DW came as well, and we really got a lot done.

Because we had 2 cars this time, we also took it in turns to drive and visit Mum, to make sure she had plenty of visits over the 4 days.

One of the things we tried to do was to corral all the jigsaw puzzles into one room.   Mum and Dad were very particular about passing puzzles on.  On day 1, I said we'd have to get rid of any that Mum and Dad hadn't done: we couldn't be sure that they were complete.

We found stashes round the house. n cupboards, under tables in the loft, in boxes, in piles, in bookcases... , I opened each one, worked out if Mum and Dad had done it , and then I either filed it ot I emptied the pieces into a bin bag and broke the box for recycling

It was a bit sickening.  Some of them were lovely puzzles.  If we'd had less to do, I would have offered those puzzles free (postage only).   I had to remind myself  that  there is just too much work, and too many good puzzles to sort out,  and all the ones that were being destroyed had not been done by my parents (so I shouldn't feel any attachment to them). 

Thousands and thousands of puzzle pieces ended up in black bags, and in the recycling at the local tip.  I've got a picture somewhere (can't lay my hands on it) of the first tip run of puzzle pieces.

These are the bin bags for the second tip run of puzzle bits.

I thought I'd finished, but then DB and DH opened a wardrobe and found another 20 or so puzzles.  Later, DB found another box.  It seemed never ending,

I organised all the Mum-and-Dad-done puzzles on shelves.  My organisation started off perfectly. I organised by manufacturer and by size.  Eventually, the system broke down as I had more puzzles than space,  and I committed the cardinal sin of stacking puzzles in the same pile even when the box sizes were different.  This is an absolute no-no, as it results in boxe sbeing crushed and damaged,  and I felt awful doing it.I think we halved the number of puzzles by doing this,

We also discovered a couple of stacks of jigsaw puzzle boards from various manufacturers in a range of sizes.  They are now stacked with the puzzles.

In addition to those in the picture,  DB brought home a handful for a chap that is starting a drop in centre;  DSiL took some for a puzzle loving friend;  I put some to one side for a friend; I brought some home for me;  and we put some to one side to take to Mum (one at a time) so that we can do the with her.

By the way, the puzzles got their revenge.

 

 

 

 

Molly Coddled

I brought home their 30 egg coddlers, to attempt to sell them.

I found an excellent resource ,eggcoddlers.com, which told me all about the different patterns and sizes.  I also, of course, joined a FB group, which was also helpful.

I then washed and dried about 20 of them and, with my new found knowledge, started listing them on Ebay.  I'd had a "reduced fees" offer, so it seemed worth trying.

Some of them sold, some didn't.

I'm not sure what to do with the unsold ones.

My brain is a but full of stuff at the moment, and I can't spare the effort required right now,

Getting started

It's been a horrible few weeks.    I'm still in the middle of it, and I can't sort stuff out well enough to write it down yet.  So Im going to try and just write about specific things.

My DB and I have been trying to clear some of the stuff from my Mum's house, so we can get it ready to sell.  She needs the money to self-fund her retirement home.

Last time we went,  a week ago,  we did a few tip runs. DB's people carrier was rammed to the rafters.  We also brought home one of my Dad's sets of china (which took 3 crates),  their collection of egg coddlers,  their photo albums, and a load of paperwork.

I started with the paperwork. Sorting through it, throwing away the envelopes and leaflets, putting unwanted stuff with their address on in the "burn" pile,   and separating out the bits of important things,  Then I attempted to sort each pile into date order, and then I started scanning.  Some of the stuff I put in the "burn" pile as soon as it was scanned.  Some, I saved (for now).   As I got through it, I was able to organise the filing of the paper stuff so I could find stuff again if I needed to.   It was hard going, and took several days.

For a break, I started to scan the photos from the 7 large albums.  These were mainly photos donated by my Dad's large family to form a record of the entire clan.  The alums were self adhesive,  and it was difficult to get the photos out without damaging them.     I did several albums, but stopped.

I don't know what to do with the albums.  I need to find someone who wants to take them on and keep them.   I'm going to ask one of my cousins if she would like to take them on.  If not, we are planning a family do in June, to say goodbye to my Dad.  I will have to raise the subject then.

Then I had some small albums of photos, that Mum or Dad had taken themselves.  These were presumably important, because they'd gone to the trouble of creating little albums of them.  I emptied each album, scanned the photos, and then put them back in the albums.      I've still got 2 little albums to do.

 

I noticed that my living room was smelling like old books, and I guessed that this was probably coming from the mountain of photo processing envelopes which had presumably got a bit of damp.  My Mum had stuffed dozens and dozens and dozens of photo envelopes into shoeboxes. I'd emptied the envelopes into a crate, thank goodness.    I decided, for the sake of my nose, that I'd better get on and do those.

There were many envelopes, most from the days where we posted rolls of film off to get them developed, and a "free" roll of film was included when the photos came back.   Truprint,  Colorama,  York to name a few;  and Boots from when Mum moved to getting them developed at the chemist. 

 I threw the negatives into a clear bag so I can make sure they are destroyed. I ripped off any identifying info from the envelopes, and put it in the "burn" pile.   I then scanned each pack,  often having to break it into multiple batches.  The photos from the same pack are grouped by name,  and I filed them according to what the majority of the photos related to.  These were from the days where a roll of film might be in the camera for months,  so the subject matter could be all over the place.  

I put an elastic band round  each pack of originals , and put everything in a shoe box of my own  Eventually, I'll destroy most of the originals, but for now, for Mum, I'll keep them.

As I went along, I didn't pay too much attention to individual photos.  A few registered with me,  and some of them printed  to take to my Mum next week.  A few, I sent by WhatsApp to the subject (or their relatives). 

One envelope contained photos from the house we all lived in, or even older.  There were some of my brothers as babies, and I sent those to DB.

I've got hundreds of their house - the one we are getting ready to sell -  being built.  I hope it's bought by someone who is interested enough to want a copy of the photos.

Thank goodness for my fab scanner!   I'd been planning to upgrade to the newest version of it, but it's made by Fujitsu and I can't bring myself to buy any more of their products (Post Office scandal). 

It took most of the day to do the envelopes of photos.  The actual scanning didn't take that long, it was the peripheral stuff that took the time.

I've made a shared online album, so I can give my DB access, and my Mum when she is well enough.  And I can access the photos on my phone when I am with Mum next week.

I'm going to try and finish the sticky albums today, and then see if I can stash everything under the stairs. There's loads more stuff to come home to be dealt with, and my home is looking overwhelmed already.

As am I, truth be told.