More (less) clutter

I'm a little embarrassed to say that I've been really getting in to my "cupboard a day" thing. 

I've had a couple of days when I haven't had the inclination (or energy) to tackle something,  but i've had lots of days where I have done multile cupboards.      Some of those days have been non-kitchen, and have usually been inspired by me needing to find something,  or wanting to sort something. 

Ebay sent me a reduced fees offer for this weekend, so I've upped my game and am tackling cupboards which have saleable stuff in.

I've done several cupboards (or a number of drawers with the equivalence of a cupboard).  I've got a fair bit to take to a charity shop, I've found new homes for some things,  and I've got a few things to sell.  I've been ruthless. I'm even selling some of my chicken things. 

Up to now I've mostly been doing cupboards/drawers which are fairly self contained, so doing one (or not) doesn't really afect any of the others.     Today I decided to tackle the occasional-use-utensil drawer.  This required me to also tackle the cutlery drawer and the 'in limbo' shelf.    

The cutlery drawer gradually acquires utensils, either because we "go through a phase" of using something,  or it gets used and put back in the wrong place.     The "limbo shelf" is at the bottom of a cupboard,  and where I put those kitchen things that I  think I  no longer need or want, but I'm not sure enough to actually get rid.   They go there to live and, if I don't think of them again,  they go next time I declutter.   Like now.

The kitchen table,  which is also my cutting table,  has been piled up with stuff, including boxes and packaging which might be needed if some of the items sell.     Today it reached peak fullness,  and I had to clear it all.    My car boot is now full of stuff to go to the charity shop.  The hall has large boxes packed with stuff that I am offering for sale,  and piles of donations for different people.   

The final bit of clearing was to remove the jigroll and two jigsaws, which are sitting wating to be done. 

At least the table is clear, and I might be able to do some cutting out during the week.

Clutter

The cupboarding and drawering in the kitchen continues.  It's as dull as it sounds though, so I won't dwell on it here.  Although I would like to record fr my own satisfaction that I am ahead of target, despite havingone day "off".  And I still haven't found that expensive thermometer thing.

Over the past few weeks I've been thinking about my embroidery machine.   I've been swinging between "I don't use it, I'll sell it" and "I want more needles". 

I really would like more needles.  In the Autumn before Covid, I had decided to buy another, bigger/better,  machine, I was just unsure what to get.  I'd done a shortlist.   I'd started to save seriously towards it. 

I wanted to be able to see the non-Brother ones in the flesh so that I could assess whether they would be better than the Brother 10 needle (which is a good machine, but a bit overpriced new and rarely available second hand).    Most of the manufacurers  are "up North", so I'd been thinking about how to do that.  I had decided to maybe go for a few days the following spring to have a look.

Then Covid came, and for two years I didn't go anywhere.

And now we still have Covid,  and I'm even less inclined to travel than I was back then.

I'm now wondering about getting a Brother machine (they've released an improved model in the meantime) , but they are a lot of money and I don't want to get one if it ends up being as frustrating (for me) as the machine I already have.

I wondered if I'd use the machine any more than I do now, or would I end up buying something that just sat unused.     I spent some time thinking about why I don't do embroidery very much now.  I thought about the space I'd have if I sold my machine and all its paraphernalia.  

After considering the eleventy ten reasons,  I decided that most of them were "..and another thing..." reasons, rather than the real, underlying, reason. 

I concluded that I think (I'm not sure) that access to the machine is (one of) the fundamental reason(s).

It's kept on its trolley at the end of my sewing bench,  just in front of the sliding door for the built in wardrobe in the corner of the room.   It fits perfectly,  in fact the bench was cut to size based on how much space the embroidery machine needed. However, it's a bit inaccessible.  

I can get to the front of the machine, but I can't get to it from the sides.  This means threading and rethreading is even more tedious than it should be (It's not the best design in the first place).   It also means the wardrobe is difficult to get in to.

And, of course, when I stack my overspill (and "come in handy") supplies - all neatly bagged and boxed - in front of the door of the wardrobe, it means that the front access space is further encroached upon and it's just too much hassle to keep moving everything.

Relocating the machine it is difficult.  I had thought about takig it off its trolley and putting it on the plan table in the boxroom.  However, that would make it even harder to get to,  and that room is east facing with a window that flood s the room with daylight,  so the machine would get damaged by the strong sunlight        

I thought about bringing it downstairs, but  it will just get covered in fluff, dust and detritis (we have a stove, so dust is a fact of life),  and the threads will be a kitty magnet.  

It has to stay in the guest bedroom.

The guest bedroom has limited options, mainly due to the guest bed.   Apart from the machine's end-of-bench current location,   I had identified  2 other places it might be able to go.  Neither were ideal,  in fact both were worse from a guest bedroom perspective.  I considered that I might be able to move the machine to one of those 2 locations for most of the time, and just move it back to the bench end when we had guests. The machine table has wheels, how hard can it be?

That was all a few days ago.  It's been too hot,   or I've been otherwise occupied, and I hadn't done anything about it.   I had looked at a couple of gently used machines online.    I'd enquired, unsuccessfully, about using mine in PX on a demo machine.

This morning I knew that today was the day I was going to try moving things around so I could access my machine more easily.   Whether that was to prepare if for sale,  or to evaluate if I'll actually use it,  I don't yet know.

I had to start by clearing the enormous pile of boxes and bits from the floor in front of the wardrobe.  Part of me wishes I'd taken a picture so you could see the mountain I was attempting to climb.     The other part of me is glad I didn't.

I picked up each box and bag,  checked what it was, and then dumped  placed it carefully  the bed.  This enabled me to slide the machine forward and out of its corner.      I then went back and picked up all the bits that fell off the rolley during this short journey.  I swept the floor (oh that's i where the needle threader went!).

I was tempted to quit while I was ahead, and come back another day.  But I wouldn't be able to relax with eth room n such an awful mess, so I decided to plough on. 

The first possible  (and my preferred) relocation site was already occupied by a chest of drawers with a stash of fabric on top.   I had to move that first, adding to the stuff on the bed,  and then I swept the floor area ("oh that's where my tweezers went"). 

I wheeled the trolley over, which was a bit trickier than I expected.  I checked several ties to see if I had one of the wheel brakes on, but I didn't.  It's just a heavy piece of equipment,  even without all the other items that call the table their home.   A few things jumped ship while I was moving,  I just picked them up and put them on the bed along with everything else.

I ased the stand into it's proposed new home.  I could see at once that it wasn't going to work.  It was too much too wide.  I knew it was going to be too wide, I didn't realise just how much too wide it was going to be in practice.  It was going to get bashed every time I came into the room, and it was going to hinder access ot my other machines. 

I looked at my fabric storage on he same wall as the machine was standing.  I have floor to ceiling  Ikea Kallax units, stacked on top of each other,  and some well organised and labelled storage boxes on top.  I thought long and hard about getting rid of some of the fabric and reducing the number of units I had, slipping them over, so I could move the machine table along.  

Even then, I wouldn't be able to get the machine any further along though, because the bed would be in the way.   That in itself  was quite a helpful revelation, and I was spurred on oo test the onl other location.

While the machine was out of the way and I could access the wardrobe, I had a quick review of the contents.    

I found some bits and pieces that my craft-loving niece would probably like.
I moved some stuff around, including underneath the sewing bench.
I managed to stash some of the "project boxes" in the wardrobe in the space I'd created.

I'd had enough of it all  at this point (the days of me being able to continuie non stop until something was done seem to be long gone!).    I came away and spent time listing some stuff for sale, binning some stuff, and adding some to the charity shop pile.      I spent time on other activities, unrelated to the task in hand.

Later, I went back and moved the machine into the spot in front of the wardrobe door.  Effectively this was swapping the original "piles of boxes" with the origil location of "the machine",  but as the machine was now turned round 90 degrees it would have the advantage that I should be able to get to the sides of the machine.   The downside is that I'd  have practically no access to the wardrobe, unless I moved the machine each time.  

The machine is on a wheeled stand. It's heavy, but it's doable, as I'd proved in my moving it around today. I reasoned that it's probably no worse than when I had the pile of boxes there.

While I considered whether this was acceptable, I started to clear the bed.  I put some fabric away properly, which  required me using my steps to access the boxes to put each piece in the correct box. I took some of the overspill boxes from the bed, and stacked them where the machine used to be.         I did a bit of this and that.    And then I looked at the rest of the Stuff on the bed.   My attention threshold had again been reached at this point, so I didn't even try to tackle it.  

I just walked away for a while to clear my head.

The break was helpful because some of the stuff is just stuff that it seems a shame to dispose of. It's all stuff that will come in handy at some point, it's just very bulky.  Things like used (but clean) cushion pads;  an old duvet which I use for making pet beds etc;  stuff which just takes up so much space.   

I've tried vacuum packing it before, but even quality bags just don't seem to keep their seal properly.     I guess these are perfect examples of  the things that I need to dispose of and just accept that I'll rebuy if and when I need them.   

I just need to let it all go. Bin it. Donate it. Sell it.   It doesn't matter which of those  I do,  I just need to do it.    The emotional cost of holding on to the stuff is much higher than the cost of replacing it.

I'm going to go back and try and get it all squared away today so that I can look at the arrangement with a fresh pair of eyes tomorrow and see how it looks.

 

Hotter

Today was even hotter than yesterday. 40.2 degrees at Heathrow,   pipped by Coningsby at 40.3.

The Girls were struggling today.    Phyllis , who is 3rd oldest at about 8, was really finding it tough.

I brought her into the kitchen,  tried to give her some electrolytes,  but she wasn't having it.  I have her some Nutridrops and thought I'd let her stay inside.  She had other ideas,  quite strongly so, so I pit her back outside.

Lots of water for them today. More cucumbers from FHs plants,  the rest if yesterday's watermelon,  some lettuce., peas in water...  

We had two fans out.  Some of the girls weren't interested,  but some Girls sat themselves directly in the path of the fan.  Both fans had Hens.

Shelby spent most of the day in the summerhouse.  Dh and I spent some time there too.  Lewis hid under the log store.

Much later there was a short shower, with thunder.

I stayed in the garden, collapsing the umbrellaa so the garden could get water,  and picking up debris.    

I also spent a lot of time watching the Girl, who weren't at all impressed.or relieved by the rain.

Its stopped now, and I'm back inside having a bowl of cereals for dinner.

Fantastic

My sister in law highly recommended a neck fan, so I got one ready for yesterday.  It works quite well.

We've been trying to help the Girls.  They had frozen peas in water twice today, plus half a  water melon,  plus cucumbers,  plus several lettuces.   Just trying to help them take in water.

We also put a BIG fan outside for them,  I've 

been gradually moving it as the sun traverses.

One girl has been by it most of the day

  The others have been coming and going.  The wet towel helps cool the Or that blows on them.

  I put big waterers in the shade so they don't have ro go back to the run for water.  I also put  a couple of small dishes out near the older girls.

It was 35 here.  We put the Aircon on in the summerhouse, which the cats appreciated.   They are long haired and aren't enjoying the heat.

It's going to be hotter tomorrow,  so we are going ro have to let the Girls in to the newly grassed bit right at the back of the garden.

They will wreck the grass (again)  but the  exceptional weather circumstances mean its the right thing to do. 

I might have to repair to the summerhouse myself tomorrow. 

Spice it Up and Tea off

Today's exciting foray into cupboarding, was the spice cupboard.  Actually it was 2 cupboards.  One has the spices (and foil and cling film) in,  the other has the spare spices,  empty spice jars, and sausage making stuff in.

I started iwith the spares.  I threw away a lot of opened (but vacuum sealed) stuff.  I keot any whole spices, even if they were past their best before date. Whole spices are dried, so it doesn't matter too much,  it's usually the ground stuff which loses its potency.    I threw out jars which I'm not going to use.  I cleaned the cupboard floor and sides.

Then the main cupboard.  This is divided into herbs and spices we use all the time (the top drawer),  herbs and spices we use all the time but are too tall to fit in the top (middle drawer), and stuff we use ocassionally.

I sorted them by drawer and then alphabetically.    This identified some duplicates (some of which were unopened and so went into the spares cupboard),  some that were just too old,   and some that needed re-canting into better jars.

The top drawer was, and still is, just a mish mash of every day stuff.  The duplicates have been removed though, some of the stuff has been re-canted into better jars, and I've printed a couple of labels for jars that didn't have anything.   I don't have the energy or inclincation to replace perfunctional labels.
  

 The bottom drawer is alphabetical (which it always has been, it just gets lost after a while) and I've now sectioned it into 3 to help maintain discipline.     I've also put some of the generic seasonings together.

 

No change to the middle drawer. 

I also went ahead with my plan to try all the tea samples (not all at once, of course).    I decided to go fror what might be the most challenging one,  a bag of Russian Caravan tea (BBE 2019).  Russian Caravan Tea is a smoked tea.

This wasn't actually a sample,   I'd bought a pack with a tea order probably 5 years ago.   I can't remember why I thought i'd like it.  Maybe it was when we were going through a phase of smoking lots of food?  Maybe the description on the website was just too interesting to resist.  I can't remember now.

Despite being 3 years past the BBE date,  the tea was in great condition.  This was as expected, as the pack was unopened and was a vacuum pack bag.

When I tore open the seal,  I got a nostril full of smoke. Not acrid smoke.  Not even as smokey as DH's smoked haddock.  But very smokey nonetheless.

I googled how much tea to use (1 level teaspoon per 6 fl oz), and whether to fully boil the water (yes),how long to steep (3 mins), whether I could add milk (yes,.maybe/depends)  and made some.

It smelt like I'd left a cup of tea by a bonfire.

It tasted like I'd left a cup of tea by the bonfire. 

 But it wasn't horrible at all.    I can't say that I'd be buying this instead of assam,  but it actually was OK.  

I'm a bit surprised about this, but
I may even put some in an airtight cannister and keep it.  It might work as a marinade flavouring as well, to being a little smokiness without harshness.

(And probably throw it out next time I go round this loop).

  

 

Goodby Raymondo, Hello Roberto

It's time to say goodbye to Raymondo Jr.

Raymondo Jr was our second Roomba, a 560,  and we've had him since 2008.  We had an earlier version of Raymondo (Raymondo Senior) for many years before that.

Raymondo Jr has been very unwell for sometime, and now needs yet another new battery.   We've replaced the NiCad battery on him several times over the last 14 years, and given him upgraded brushes,  new rolling eye, an upgraded bin and filters  and various other bits... but it's now got to the point where we might as well get a newer model.  One with a lithium battery and a whole host of other helpful features.

I've been saving for a while,  and decided that I would bite the bullet this Amazon Prime Day. IRobot changed their prices to match the Amazon price, it was a good discount.    Both the models I looked at were on offer.    Neither was exactly what I wanted, I imagine that the next release will be a perfect combination... but I don't want to wait another year.    

I watched a few review videos,  and the most helpful was one from a calm chap who had had his S9+ for 18 months.     

His review helped me decide to go down a model to the J7+.  I'd be giving up on some of the features I really liked (the slow spinning brush, and the shape which makes it easier for the machine to get into corners) but I'd be having a model which is newer, has some better features, and was a fair bit cheaper.    It means that I'd feel comfortable upgrading sooner than if I spent out on the S0+

Roberto (I couldn't use Raymondo's name again,  he's been such a fab robot) arrived today,  and we set him up.    We set up a home for him, in the hallway and wile he charged up I downloaded the app, and    moved everything out of the way (the garden was full of stuff, and the jkitchen worktops had things all everywhere) ready for him to do his mapping run.  We set him off, and watched with interest, and then left him to it. 

He fell out of the kitchen on to the patio,   which was a bit unfortunate.  In the split second before we heard the crash,  I had 3 alerts on my phone, which was the equivalent to the poor chap shouting for help.
"15.07 Roberto requires your attention. Roberto is Stuck" "
"15.07 Roberto requires your attention. Roberto is Stuck"
"15.07 Roberto requires your attention. Roberto is stuck near a cliff". 
Raymondo used to fall out of the door as well, I had thought that the newer models would have sorted this out. 

We picked him up and set him on his way.  hen he was done, we looked at the map he'd created,  tweaked the zones,  created some favourite routines, and then set him off to clean the three kitchen areas.    I could see we had an issue with the mapping  (our fault for not clearing the chairs out for the mapping run) so we got him to map again.  I had to re-setup the favourtie cleaning jobs. and set him off again.     He's done a reasonable job,  and he's been back to base to empty himself.  

The app has the ability for me to mark no-go areas on the map, and I'll do that when I've seen him clean a few times.

I'm reorganising the downstairs a little bit  - in line with my attempt at getting rid of stuff I don't really use.  I've taken one of the fold up stools and folded the up and put them under the stairs.  I had to clear some stuff out of the way (and into the bin) to create space for this.  

I need to create some space in parts of the living room, because there are areas where the gap just isn't wide enough for Roberto to get into. I don't quite know how I'm going to do it.

We haven't tested the obstacle avoidance skills of Roberto, which was one of the main reasons for going for this model.  

I need to get poor Raymondo out of the house soon, as I feel guilty every time I look at him.

Clear a Cupboard

I've been selling some bits and pieces, and I decided to extend the minor clear out to actually just chucking out some stuff.   

I had a few piles of stuff that I had planned to try giving away,  but I decided that I really really, really just needed to get rid of it.  I've been so condiitoned about waste, that it felt wrong,  but it really helped. 

While on a bit of a roll, I resolved to go through my kitchen cupboards and drawers and get rid of all the stuff in there that, if I'm honest, I (probably) won't use.  In the, extremely unlikely, event that I ever do need any of it, well, I'll just have to rebuy. 

I'm also still looking for my expensive cooking thermometer, which I bought on impulse months ago and put in that hopeless place known where things hide, usually referred to as somewhere safe.

I inwardly committed to averaging one cupboard or drawer  a day. I realised this meant it would take me a couple of months just to do the kitchen, so I 'll have to revise that, but I didn't want to crush the green shoot of resolve.

 I started today.   I'd had to do some kitchen emptying anyway (more on another pot, maybe), so I thought I mght as wel get started.   I targetted the Tabour unit at the end of a run, because I could imagine me wedging the thermomenter in there somewhere. 

It's all clean and reorganised.    I threw out some mint tea with a BBE date of 2009, as it didn't smell particularly minty any more.  I had a tin of a huge range of mint teas (buttermint,  double mint, mint and fennel, mint and eucalyptus, peppermint,  and more), and the air was alive with mint when I opened it.  The other herbal teas were ones I did actually like (just not very often). and they were all vacuum sealed, so I just reorganised them.  

I also found a range of tea samples, which get sent to me when I buy my normal tea, and I decided that I'd commit to trying them all over the next week or so.   I can't try any today because I also reorganised a bag of cheese and onion crisps, into my tum, and now anything I eat taste vile.    On the plus side, it made me spit out a Teaser bar, and put me off trying anything else.

When that was done, I  cleaned the condiments cupboard. I  chucking out various flavoured oils and vinegars that had been open for years.  I was sad about some of them, and if they had been unopened, I would probably have kept some of them.      The resulting space enabled me to get some of the unopened ones out of the pantry, so they at least have a chance of being used.       I was then able to get some unopened (but still past the best before date) out of the pantry.

The upper shelf had things like dried milk powder,  Stevia, Truvia, Camp Coffee, Horlicks,  and various syrups on. and everything is now checked and tidy.  I just need to print off shelf edge labels.

I haven't found my thermometer, which surprised me as I though it would be in the tambour unit near the blowtorch, but it's not.

It's 2 of the very busy food cupboards though, so I'm ahead of schedule.    I'd like to get the rest of the food bearing cupboards done next, and then start on the emotionally tougher job of equiment cupboards.  

I know its just stuff. And I will try and be ruthless. More ruthless. Less ruthmore.

We'll see.

 

Sugar belly

I've eaten so much sugar/sugary things over the last few weeks that I've ended u with a sugar belly.   

It's not the first time I've had this,  I doubt it will be the last either.     It started with that bl**y topping I was using on my morning coffee.  I'd been craving and craving sugar.   I bought some own brand Sugar Puffs, and I managed to eat loads of them.  The combination of the refreshing cold milk and the honey topping on the Puffs was irresistable.   

And then I had a french recipe for a Honey Cake.  I sourced some french Four Spice seasoning, which  is Pepper, Ginger, Nutmeg and Cloves  It smelled divine.   The recipe also required a lot of oranges for zesting, and the first time I tried to make it I had a dodgy orange which ruined the whole batch of zest.

Eventually I had all the ingredients, and I made it.   It was lovely.  The texture was reminiscent of McVities Jamaica Ginger Cake,  and the flavour was much more complex.  It was instantly addictive, and I ate most of the whole loaf 0 slice by thin slice - myself.  (Here's the recipe, in case you are interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w0ZINH5CtQ

Once I'd got hooked on to sugar, I found myself eating the white cooking chocolate while waiting for a cup of tea,  ad opening and devouring a packet of M&S jaffa cakes (I so love those) in one go. And hiding the empty box deep in the rubbish. 

Even now, while I'm typing about it,  I'm craving something - anything - sugary.

I'll have to cut it out completely until my body can re-set itself.

Hopefully then the swelling will go down.