Grey Day

Things could be worse and I know it, but I just feel so flat today.

Today I have not done anything compared to yesterday, although the washer and dryer have been going non stop.  Uncle was not on good form.  He was cheerful enough at the start, but he is still in pain with his leg and he kept asking why it had been amputated.  Worryingly he couldn't work his phone, and he's been permanently attached to it for the last ten years.

Bear has come home with a note to ask for fancy dress on the 22nd May.  This isn't bad notice, so I am not complaining.  He has to come as a character from fairy tales or traditional stories.  He wanted to go as Puss in Boots.

In the end, with the help of my friend ebay, we found a 'Robin Hood' costume that should do it.  Out of curiosity I had a look at sewing patterns for boy's fancy dress.  I did this safe in the knowledge that the sewing machine will not be ready to use then.

If you have the material already, and the cotton etc, and the time, then you may possibly be able to make the costumes cheaper than you can buy them, but it would be a stretch.  As a cost saving exercise it wouldn't work unless you stuck to old sheets.  However if you wanted something awesome and amazing with quality stuff then you would be better off sewing them.

One day, when the stars are in the right alignment and I have finally cracked the sewing machine, I will make these matching costumes for DH and bear, and it will be so much fun.

btw I think DH is much better looking than the model.  Bear is, of course, gorgeous.  They will look amazing if I can pull off what looks like a challenging pattern.  Something to work up to.

Ironing

Today I woke up with an absolute determination to iron.  It needs doing, I have just dried a big load of shirts, bear is always needing uniform and unless I sort out the tangled heap I will never get my sewing machine out.

First I fixed the curtain in my room.  It sort of slid off the first time I closed it, but I never remembered unless it was last thing at night or first thing in the morning and I was either exhausted or rushing.  I felt quite good about that and up for some serious ironing after a boost of actually getting something done.

The garden kneeler I found when I was clearing a space to get out the microwave we put away when father came to stay with a very superior machine was useful when I cleared out the space under the kitchen stairs.  Father would like a microwave for the purposes of ready brek and hot chocolate with brandy.  I leave him to sort out whatever he likes.  I have been meaning to get at that under stair space for a while as it is great to store the 7up that father likes with his whisky.  When it is on offer at £1 per bottle instead of £1.98 I usually get a dozen bottles and it takes some time to get through those.  I also now have access to the dehumidifer there - it is so damp that the wood chip is peeling.

I'm on my third lot of washing, my second run of the dishwasher and I've sorted out a load of boxes.  I've passed some spare cat litter to Nice Mr Next Door (although I kept some in case of difficult spills).  I've got rid of some cake tins to the charity shop pile, cleaned out the veg rack and did a good extra clean of the halogen oven.  The bottle of multipurpose Dettol cleaner, dilute as required, that has sat on my window sill for ages has been brilliant.  I am seriously tempted to try it out on the awkward spots on my cooker.

No ironing.

I can have a go tomorrow.

Image from stockfreeimages.com

Review of the Week

I love the extra day in a weekend that you get with a Bank Holiday, but I am always out of sync for the rest of the week.  It feels so much like a Monday.

I didn't do so well last week.  I didn't get much writing done, but if I can manage to write for the challenges then I can manage to write for myself.  This week still has a 5000 word target.  I didn't get any knitting done either, mainly because I kept forgetting to bring down the yarn from my bedroom to carry on with the knitting in the living room.  The 100g target stays.  As for the room for the sewing, it is still not good but it is better, and I think maybe another week will do it.  I am quietly optimistic.

Now I am off to hang out the washing.  It's a great drying day, and it's great to get stuff outside.  It feels like spring is finally here.

Caught Again

Father had got some microwave meals in and he wanted to use one up before it went out of date.  For me that was a sign to make pasta and sauce for everyone else.  DH, bear and me all love pasta and sauce full of peppers, but father doesn't.  This means that we usually avoid the pasta and I never have peppers in.  Today I had an opportunity.

I asked DH to take us to Aldi.  DH is very good about lifts, but I always think it is a bit unfair to ask him when he works so hard.  Normally I rely on my deliveries and Aldi is an odd place to get to, but DH was happy to help.  It was a chance for him to wander around PC World with bear while I shopped.  Bear was less impressed as he had just started a complicated word document on the computer (he was explaining what a suffix was to DH in the middle of his complaint) but he came happily enough.

I said firmly that I was only taking a small bag.  I wanted sweet peppers and I wanted dishwasher tablets as I was running low and Aldi's are not only very inexpensive but they are also very good.  I thought I heard something snigger at the time.  I ignored it.

I got a trolley, left DH and bear to go and wander and then whizzed into Aldi.  All I wanted was some dishwasher tablets and some sweet peppers.  I decided to get a few boxes of the tablets to save coming back too soon, but that was it.

It came to £81 at the checkout.  It should be hard to spend that much at Aldi on anything but I managed it.  There was £21 on three shirts, one for father and two for uncle.  I don't think uncle has any light shirts so these were ideal.  I picked up some spiced rum for DH and some liqueur for me to keep them company with, that was another £14.  There was some melamine stuff which now that some neighbours have moved is worth using in the garden, that came to £14.50.  I also threw in some treats for bear and then there was the grand total of £16.85 on four boxes of dishwasher tablets and three sweet peppers.

I use two dishwasher tablets per day on average.  I got 160 tablets so that is nearly three months before I need to risk going again.  Perhaps it is just as well.

Sunny Saturday

I can't believe it, last night I had a bad reaction to a cup of tea (yes, really!) and spent some interesting times in the bathroom then slept for twelve hours.  Poor bear, I had to miss his bedtime but I know DH made up for it.  I think bear, father and DH were watching 'The Plank' at one point as well as I remember hearing bear laughing his socks off.

I'm scraping the energy together to go and water the trees.  DH and bear are out, bear is getting extra lessons in martial arts.  My brother has just called in and uncle is not doing so well.

Bright side, I've displaced from it all and written my prompt for Light and Shade Challenge here and my prompt for Write on Edge here.  I've even updated the Steve Adderson story and I'm considering the ironing.  It could be worse.

It could happen to anyone

Sigh

As my bedroom has been drying out due to the mended roof and dehumidifier the ceiling paper has been coming away from the ceiling and slowly drooping downwards.  I've just left it out of morbid curiosity to see how it progresses as I am usually doing something else.  Today, however, I decided that the trailing part was now only two foot off the floor and I should trim it before it got too near the ceiling light in case it was a fire hazard.  That was sensible thinking.

What actually happened is that the moment I touched the paper lightly to steady it the whole thing came down with a slow motion hiss.  It just seemed to keep going no matter what I did.  What I didn't realise is that the previous decorator had put the huge, ornate, faux plaster ceiling rose on top of the paper.  Who puts a heavy ceiling rose on top of paper?  It isn't that bad really, but it's at least two foot across.  I would have thought it would be sensible to cut the paper around it and just tuck the edges in.  I was stuck in the middle of the bedroom surrounded by boxes, covered in paper and with a plaster ceiling rose hanging on the lampshade.  I said some rude words.

I consulted father.  He thought about it and agreed that it was a bad idea to stick a plaster rose on ceiling paper.  I got the lampshade off.  To be honest, I am glad of an excuse to get rid of it.  It's a case of 'begone, foul shade!'  I have never been a fan of surgical appliance pink and as I haven't dusted it in some time it was a dirty surgical appliance. However the ceiling rose still wouldn't come down as it was stuck on the bit where you put the lightbulb in.  I thought about sawing the thing off, but the ceiling rose was made of resilient stuff, so, with the encouragement of father, I cut the wires.  I expected something to go bang, but it went fine.

So now I have no ceiling light, ceiling paper all over the garden (I threw it out of the window, it saved a lot of hassle) and a ceiling rose I will be glad to see the back of.  It could happen to anyone.  On the bright side I can probably use the bottom bit of the lampshade holder from my room to replace the lost bit in the study which has been lost since father first came to stay and get a lampshade in the study.  So it's a good thing really, and could happen to anyone.

Nice and Quiet

It has been nice and quite today.  There have been no dramas, no fusses and bear did his maths homework without a prompt.  He still hasn't written out his spellings but he knows them all, so I am not so stressed.

For anyone who enjoys creative writing, the Light and Shade Challenge has a new challenge up.  You look at the picture or the quote, think about it, write 100 words that are inspired by the challenge, put it on your blog and then use the button on the Light and Shade Challenge page to link back to your work.  It is, of course, completely free to jump in and have a go.

I am treating it like a gym session.  It is incredibly good discipline for me.  I am still not sure what I will do with this challenge, but I will have fun.