Grand shed opening!

I know what you're thinking.....crazy hey! Yep, it all happens in my life.

So, you may recall the seed being planted last month when my lovely little shed/ex wash house was re-roofed. Well things have been cooking rather nicely over the past two months and I would like to share our little moment of madness; albeit rather a lot of fun, with you my dear friends.

Back in February, our very kind maintenance man and friend re-roofed the lovely old red brick shed that resides in our garden along with my adjoining neighbours shed too. Poor thing was leaking here and there and one of the main timbers was severely taking the strain of the weight of the rather buckled corrugated iron roof that it supported.
I knew that re-roofing was on the agenda at some point but wasn't given any real idea about when this might actually happen.
One day I came home from something or other and upon walking into the shed thought it seemed surprisingly lighter than usual. It was of course 'roofless' at that point. Hmmm! Now that was a surprise!
As all of my sheddy things were still present and the nature of being open to the elements, it wasn't long before I was admiring a fine new roof and for once, no leaks :-)
Yeah! I did a little hop, skip and jump at the mere excitement of having a 'leak free' place in which to store said stuff. Then of course my little mind went berserk and started working overtime about the possibilities that a new roof could mean for an old shed.
I mentioned my excitement and a host of potential uses to Mr Maintenance and under his breath he mentioned that my neighbours shed was 'very tidy'!
OOOOHHHH! Mine wasn't in the slightest bit tidy.......
Well, that did it. One little comment was all it took to fuel the start of 'shed envy'.
I instantly set to work looking on Pinterest for shed inspiration (if you haven't yet discovered Pinterest you really are missing out).

I'm embarrassed to reveal these but here we go!

Yes, I know...I could barely get through the door!

My neighbour was equally inspired to transform his shed too :-)
The past two months have been incredibly fun. Dear P started off at super speed and left me on the start line, so to say. We would pass on the way in and nod on the way out....most hilarious! One night Small boy came in to my room at midnight to inform me that P was in his shed...in his pyjamas! Hehe!
Visiting friends have been collared to help too not leaving without a spot or two of paint on their being.

I built shelves and a work surface out of an old door.

The walls were give a lick of paint and the fireplace a rub up with grate polish.


For many weeks P's shed seemed to be advancing (or so we imagined) at rapid speed whilst ours; if the truth be known, was changing at a snails pace. I had so much to move around and re-home. The utility items had to move into the house, the garden stuff had to move into the woodshed....the list is beyond imagination truly it is. My house have never looked more disorganised. It's been a crazy couple of months.
Saturday we announced that we were done.....poor P was under pressure. We joked over the fence about underfloor heating, swimming pools and surround sound systems ...hehe, most amusing!
Sunday night I dropped into the conversation that I had invited a few friends for the grand opening on Monday and so it was. Monday, 19 of us supported the grand opening. It was really a rather lovely excuse for a social get together :-)





 The moment of anticipation.....

 

    

 



  



                                 Ta dah!
Note, the transformation cost me a mere £5.09....:-) not bad hey!
* P's shed was warm and insulated.....the envy continues.......

New year clear out

Having a clear out.......is this not the story of my life?

I always seem to have that fear of becoming swamped in my own 'stuff' and am forever trying to palm people off with 'things'. The children used to be dreadful at bringing things into the house, if not for birthdays and Christmas then there is the constant flow of pre-loved clothing and passed on toys and games. Thankfully over the past year or so my training seems to be paying off and I witness them declining offers 'things' lest their bedrooms reach an un-manageable state of untidiness.

The festive period is always one where I feel I let the house go. The decorations go up, the furniture is moved around and new items seem to arrive, in general a sense of added clutter seems to take hold. Every year I feel that need to rid myself and re-home everything to start the new year a fresh.

This year I had my usual set of post-chrimbo plans; tree down, homes found for new gifts, out with the old...you know the sort of thing I mean. Then I received a late gift from one of my sister's which happened to be a book titled 'The life-changing magic of tidying' by Marie Kondo. Well admittedly part of me thought 'blimin cheek!' Don't people usually disagree with you when you comment about how messy your house is? Obviously not! My immediate reaction was to give the book away but then the pangs of guilt swept across my conscience, I mean I have read books on de-cluttering before, how many takes on ridding yourself of your junk can there be? 

So reluctantly I started to read the book. I have to say that the author is so bossy! It is not a book that I have enjoyed but I have laughed at some of the sections especially the bit that refers to 'the wardrobe'. Haha!!

Clothes should be ordered from largest to smallest - left to right, heavy bulky items on the left and light floaty numbers on the right.....

Well......I am too embarrassed to reveal the true unadulterated state of my rather dilapidated effort that is my wardrobe. But I can describe it.....It's one of those cheap pine constructions with a linen-look drape over the front. The rail is filled with hangers and the clothes are so tightly squished together that it takes brute force to extract an item. Nothing is ordered, winter and summer items are mixed and several items are crammed onto each hanger. I've sorted through the contents many times and what remains are the items that I wish to keep. There is not at this moment a single millimetre of space for any further garments and should I attempt to remove too may items at one time, I fear the whole thing will collapse before my eyes as it is quite possibly the force caused by the overfill that is keeping it held together. I rest my case!

THE book now sits on the shelf by my front door awaiting some other poor 'needy of decluttering' person to relieve me of it.

January offerings

January....it's seemed quite a long month; the build up to Christmas and over indigence of rich foods now a distant memory.

I've not posted on here recently. Life has just meandered along at a rather relaxed pace, it's been so lovely that I haven't wanted to 'pop' my little bubble.

Small Boy and the Little Lady thought they'd embrace fitness for the New Year in pursuit of a six-pack. One sessions was enough!

Look closely. Can you spot him??

Rather sad really. Two beautiful big beech trees blown over in the wind. Great for climbing on though :-)

I haven't had any particularly wild adventures of late but what I  have been able to do is have time to think and do my own things - it's been lovely, truly it has. I've slept in when I've wanted, pottered about at home and enjoyed my immediate surroundings. The children and I have had time to sit and read and play games, plus I've actually had the opportunity to finish a few creative projects.

I'm most proud of this one...

When it comes to following patterns, I'm not great - it's the same with recipes, I just like to find my own way and put my signature on my work. So when Lucy at attic 24 inspired the crochet nation with her harmony blanket, I decided it might be a rather 'jolly Winter project'.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed creating this blanket. It's made up of a total of 126 squares all in rather scrumptiously harmonising colours. The pack arrived from the Wool Warehouse in one large  see-through bag - how exciting to have a bag filled with beautiful colours and a new project to start.

I started way back in October when the children and I took off for a few days in Yorkshire. What was handy about this project was how easy it was to transport around. I worked just one colour at a time so at most I had to carry around nine little squares, a ball of yarn and my crochet hook.  I completed each square one teeny section at a time - so all the centres, all the second row and so forth. That way I didn't have to keep track of too many different stitch combinations and could literally whip my little squares out and hook them together at speed. When you're working on the larger stripy blankets, you have to carry the whole darn thing around. It's not too much of a problem in the early stages but later on, it does become pretty heavy!
So here it is, my finished blanket and mostly all completed according to the pattern. I did re-arrange the squares just a tad when I sewed them together :-) and I omitted the final row of the border - the final colour brings the blanket together and I rather fell for the sage green.
Unlike the ripple blanket I made last year, this one has turned out well and is symmetrical! :-)

We've spent quite a considerable amount of time messing around outdoors. Hasn't the weather been mild! The snowdrops are already in full bloom in the garden and a few daffodils are dancing in the wind too!

These guys were thrilled to have their remote controlled speed boat returned after dad had taken it off to 'check it out' some four years ago. Poor dad was rather fed up with the constant pestering in the finish so gave in and returned it. Small Boy was convinced he had taken it to play with it himself! (he probably had!)...anyway, despite being told he was too young for such a super powerful toy, Small Boy made it his mission to prove everyone wrong and like a duck to water sailed and controlled that boat perfectly both on the flood on the field and in the stream :-)

Early in January Miss P had to attend a workshop at the Science Museum in London. It's hard working going to London with three children in tow and it I'm being honest I didn't really look forwards to the journey. However, in true positive spirit I made it my mission to prepare for the event and enjoy it at all costs. We took the Oxford Tube up and leisurely strolled across Hyde park instead of using the city transport system. What a pleasant decision that was.

The Princess Diana memorial fountain

The mild temperatures have also seen us venture outside for some Spring garden clearing. Firstly the wood shed needed a little re-organising in order to get to the dry wood that was stacked at the back. Then it was all change and the wet stuff (that remains wet) was stacked at the back for next Winter. You have to think ahead when you live a simple life :-)

Small boy took it upon himself to chop up some kindling. He's quite capable in his use of axes and saws and happily told be (when I reminded him to be careful when using the bill hook), that he's fine and has been using one since his was in my belly! That explains a lot!

The water meadow in Wootton

Loving the light for taking photos.

Hope your January has been filled with love and laughter too XXX

Stuffocation

I've been reading again.......
Way back during Lent when I decided to de-clutter my life, I came across a little book in Blackwell's bookshop appropriately named 'Stuffocation'. I jotted down the title back then as I had little time for extra 'stuff' or time to read but knew as some point I would try and navigate the pages to see what it had to say on the subject.

Well, back then my 'clear out' went pretty well and I shifted the 40 bags in 40 days (plus more) of unwanted junk that I challenged myself to remove. However, reminding myself of this I stood back at the beginning of the holidays and took a look at my house and some how, it seems....once again.... I am surrounded by THINGS. How could this be? Quite clearly, my good intentions have not  morphed....the storing habits of the children haven't helped!

'Stuffocation' has been a real eye-opener. It quite literally looks into how we have become a nation of people surrounded by such an excessive amount of belongings that we are literally being suffocated by them, they are taking over and consuming our lives. It seems that our problems may well have begun way back around the time of the Industrial Revolution when industry created a means of mass producing objects in less time. Mad Men and the advertising crew of the 1950's didn't help either where objects that were once built to last suddenly started to be replaced by objects that had a short lifespan and that needed replacing. The bottom line is related to money. People like having the latest new thing and companies need to keep profits up by creating items that need replacing and updating in order to keep the profits rolling in. I had always thought perhaps our need for things developed as a result of the war years when things were harder to get hold of. People held on to more 'just in case' they should need a spare.
The book goes on to look examine cases of people who have felt so suffocated by their belongings that they have got rid of virtually everything (tempting) and gone off to live in very remote areas living the simple life. In such cases, it seems that most do not stick out such a radical change in lifestyle for long (average of two years) before returning to their former ways.

The buying of 'stuff' does seem to only have short term benefits and doesn't necessarily lead to improved happiness. The new dress for a party never to be worn again, a fancy new bike to replace the old one that just needed a polish. What the book suggests is that the best type of investment is in experiences. Hearing friends talk about a new gadget is far less appealing then hearing someone talking about an amazing experience, plus the lasting memories are more valuable too.

So this week I've been head down once again trying to clear out further unwanted 'stuff'. The motivation has been that the children have swapped bedrooms and I have promised them a make over of sorts. So far the girls are being really rather ruthless in their clearing :-), the boy on the other hand is a different story. I've quite literally had to sneak stuff out when he hasn't been looking and be totally mindful of the fact that on several occasions he's been right behind me sneaking stuff back in again. Whilst trying to locate the TV control yesterday, the girls made the rather disturbing discovery of household rubbish being stored behind the sofa! Shock horror!!!
I was understandably mortified! His explanation.....he's been collecting things to build a space rocket!

The book I've been referring to is available from here or borrow it from the library so as not to add to your belongings!

A moneyless existence

A couple of weeks ago (Mother's day), I sat browsing through a book in the straw bale cafe and came across a whole list of things that sounded interesting and which I jotted down information about on a little scrap of paper  rustled up from the darkest corner of the bottom of my bag. I'm always doing that these days. Things look as if they inspire so I write down just a fragment of info and then store it away until I return home and the next available opportunity to look it up on the good old WWW.
Anyone else like that?
Anyway, on this occasion one of my little snippets of inspiration was a brief reading about a chap that lived for a whole year without any money. I know you probably all think I'm crazy but the idea of having no money is far more appealing to me than having endless amounts. I'm guessing you really are thinking I've lost the plot now....(if you hadn't already thought that!).
So I got home and was rather excited about finding out more.

In 2008, Mark Boyle an Irish business man currently living in Bristol, decided to try his luck at living for a year without spending any money. He foraged for his food and became a dab hand at 'skipping' for food thrown out by shops but still in perfectly good and edible condition. He also worked three days a week on an organic farm in exchange for further food plus land on which to live in his caravan which he obtained for free from his local Freegle website.

Inspiring.......

After initially reading about this chap I wanted to have him come give a talk locally, however he seems pretty busy and didn't seem overly keen on taking a trip to Oxfordshire anytime soon. I decided I would just have to buy a copy of his book and find out more about what possessed him to  carry out such a challenge and how his year went.

Upon reading the first page it was obvious why he perhaps isn't so enthusiastic about visiting every individual who is interested in his story. For the past seven years he has been inundated with requests to give interviews, talks etc etc....he has to move on and live his own life......

So I purchased a copy of the 'Moneyless man'. From the moment I retrieved it from the dogs jaws after she beat me to the letter box, I have been hooked on the chaps story. It wasn't just the whole living without money thing that grabbed my attention it was more about the love and joy that seemed to evolve when no money was involved. Mark could work but couldn't accept a penny (his rules), what a joy to be able to help someone and not expect anything in return.
It occurred to me that this is just NOT how the world works these days. The vast majority of us don't like to do things unless we get something in return.

To me this is rather funny. Many years ago Saturday nights used to be all about the National Lottery and what we would do with our winnings. I craved that life 'when money will make us happy'. Of course it didn't take long for me to realise that the odds are seriously stacked against your winning and besides what would you do with the money anyway? These days, winning the Lotto would be my worst nightmare, I don't do it!
During my recent clear out, I've dug out oodles of 'things' that I could potentially 'sell'. I've chosen not to and have instead given the items away to folk who could make better use of them. What's more, I don't have any feels of regret about doing so. I've actually gained pleasure from the experience.
The same has happened recently with my shoe selling. Much as I need to make a living from the sale of the shoes I purchased back in January last year, I'm not against sharing the savings with others in the form of accepting offers. One lady in Russia was deeply upset about the depreciation of her national currency due to the political situation. It made me feel really good to be able to ask her how much she could afford to pay for the shoes including the postage. She actually paid more than I expected and was thrilled by my generosity. It feels good to be able to help others.

The Moneyless Man set up all kinds of skill sharing and free swapping type arrangements during his year and makes many suggestions about getting by with no money. I'm pretty frugal anyway and not really interested in 'keeping up with the Jones' so much of it was reinforcement of things I am already aware of. For me it offered a new kind of inspiration that I haven't quite put my finger on. I think it's probably more to do with the possibilities relating to being liberated from systems....oh hang on, when did I ever conform to systems anyway??!!

Do look up the 'Moneyless Man' and Mark's second book 'Moneyless Manifesto'....it's free to borrow from the library or to down load HERE, or you could buy it and all the proceeds go towards helping set up further moneyless ventures :-)

Right, need to find something else to inspire now...............
(finds self looking up caravans on Ebay and thinking about solar panels....)

Out with it, not in!

The second week of my 40 day de-clutter.
Not quite as much of a breeze as the first week mainly due to the unregulated hoarding tendencies of my children.
Clearing out is in itself relatively easy once you set your mind in gear and body in action, it's the children's inability to 'let go' of belongings that seems to be scuppering plans.
I get the novelty factor of the exercise. Clearing out means rediscovering things you never knew you had and things long since forgotten about. In someways I guess it feels like Christmas! But then there's the discovery of having grown and clothing that no longer fits. Trying to convince the younger children especially, that it's a lovely act to pass on unwanted or ill fitting items is painful to say the least. I've been spending the past week trying to smuggle out stuff to avoid the upset and and arguments but is that right?
Then there are the vast numbers of cardboard box buildings that are scattered around the place. A home for a teddy, a bed for Rara (that's Small Boy's comforter), a castle for the Playmobil people - the list goes on.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the use of such things, in fact I quite openly encourage it. recycling and all that, but there does come a time when it becomes apparent that such constructions are taking over or have seen better days. It's not always easy to crush and inconspicuously disguise a cardboard city in the council waste boxes.
So two weeks in and the house doesn't actually look that much tidier. Certainly areas are less cluttered and the contents of my cupboards are looking orderly for once, but in general I seem to have created more mess by forming piles everywhere of things to be re-homed, things to be recycled and things to be put away within our home. Uuurrrrrggggghhh!

Today I have been gathering together some of my many 'throw out's' for the local community swap shop that is running tomorrow. The sheer frustration of the matter when the children catch on and start unpacking my bags and reclaiming things.....

The temptation is there to give up!!!!

On the plus side.... I'm feeling somewhat liberated. I can easily find things in the cupboards and drawers, I have sorted my email box and now have under 1000 emails so my computer is working faster and the feeling of having passed stuff on that others can make good use of is wonderful :-)

I suppose with so much clutter lifted there will be space both physically, mentally and emotionally for more of the desirable things in life :-) :-) :-) :-)

40 bags in 40 days

Yesterday marked the start of Lent in the Christian calendar. 40 days of trying your hardest to abstain from something. Usually I have to confess that I don't give up anything and continue to gorge on life's delightful treats. This year WAS going to be the same as ever until yesterday when a good friend posted a link on Facebook to decluttering, to be precise chucking out a bag of rubbish everyday for 40 days.
Yep, that's it! What a good excuse to declutter my life. Thinking of it as 'Spring cleaning' :-)

Now for some of you that might be a difficult task. Not for me! Although I wouldn't say I am a hoarder, I do have a very large stash of everything, far too much. So this year I am going to attempt to ditch a great deal of it.
You would think that with two family house moves in the past three years, the amount of unwanted clutter might be at a minimum. No! Unfortunately that is not the case. As a home educating mother and father figure and self confessed craft addict, anything and everything has a potential use. So it's stashed away for the moment in life when the light bulb is on and it materialises into something beautiful......well that's sort of how it is intended.

So, a quick read through the idea of the challenge and I'm off...inspired to throw away.

Day 1: The shed.

Just one hour in my lovely little shed and 5 (yes 5) boxes of rubbish are recycled and given away to friends who can make good use of the items no longer needed here. Oh this feels good!

Day 2: A rainy day so indoor decluttering.

Embarrassed and shamed myself by exposing the interior of kitchen cupboards and drawers. Arrrr....how could you live like that??
2 drawers and 2 cupboards cleared out :-)

This is obviously a before photo. It actually wouldn't close properly due to all that clutter. It does now though :-) :-) :-)

Turned on computer to discover that I have almost 8000 emails in my inbox. RIGHT, time to clean up (this challenge is about cleaning up all areas of my life). Manually deleted just over 4000 emails then discovered 'Roll up' through a friend which helps to eliminate subscriptions. Subscribed and am not free of 65 subscriptions. Wooo hoooo! Doing well!

I'm wondering if I shall be able to sustain this level of clean up for 40 days? Will I have anything left at the end of it?

Day 3:

I've woken up and the first thing on my mind is 'What am I going to clear out today?'.....
Fearing my clear out is becoming an obsession!
There are so many areas that need sorting and the temptation is to dive in and do it all at once. That may well be a quick fix to the 40 bags but will not be sustainable over 40 days and both go together as part of the challenge. So, I'm having to restrain myself and tackle small areas of the house at a time.

Tackled the dreaded larder cupboard today. One whole bag of rubbish easily disposed of due to resident weevil infestation in my flour. I blame the kids for that for spilling the contents all over the cupboard! Apparently you can help prevent weevils by freezing your flour for a few days as soon as you can after purchase. Hmmm the thought of frozen weevils is not in the slightest bit more appealing!
I'm finally throwing out all the out of date jars that have festered at the back of the cupboard waiting to be eaten. They were there last time I tidied and are still there so obviously no great urge to eat the contents. Good bye rubbish!!

Before

Ta dah!

I've had a little move around too :-) 

Yes I know, that top shelf is never going to look tidy but it's all okay and as neat as it can be!

I got quite carried away today and tackled one under bed drawer too throwing out old creams and lotions that didn't smell too pleasant.

2 bags!

There was also a strange moment today. The Little Lady discovered that a bunch of tunes that I had purchased from Amazon years ago, were present on our Kindle. I got listening to them and found a lovely track that I downloaded to play to the children way back in the days when we sat by the hearth singing and engaging in moments of loveliness. Now nothing too weird about that hey. But when I was clearing under the bed I found the written lyrics to the song! Just that one song - VERY weird! I haven't looked at that for years. Hmmm??
Mind now puzzles at the likelihood of a coincidence or some hidden message?

Here's the song......

'Land of the silver birch
home of the beaver
Where still the mighty moose
wanders at will

Blue lake and rocky shore
I will return once more
Boom diddy aahh da boom diddy aahh da boom diddy aarr da boom arr ar'

There's more.....but you'll have to look it up yourself.


Day 4: The study/larder/laundry room

My 40 day challenge was not the first thing on my mind this morning you'll be glad to hear.
I had planned on taking the kids out for a hike on this (unbeknown to me)  beautiful morning. I saw a little note on the local information site advertising the walk which crossed the local Roman road twice. Wow! Amazingly enough the threat of leaving the children with family for the morning whilst I enjoyed the blissful scenery by myself was enough to insure promises of good behaviour and no complaining.
Everyone seemed to want to talk to me this morning (as seems to be the case most mornings when I'm in a rush to get out) so my plans to arrive on time were scuppered and I found myself in a half dressed state running to catch up with the last walker just as they disappeared along the footpath and out of site. I must have looked a bit of a plonker with one gaiter on and the other in hand!
Walking through the peaceful countryside is just what was needed. It's amazing how nature works to clear your mind of clutter. It's so good on so many levels. Exercise, fresh air, socialising and in this case learning quite a bit about the history of the local area. What's more, if you take a buddy for the youngest child it seems that they complain far less and explore more. So returning home, I had four tired, happily aired children :-)

This was an old healing well. Inside you could see the spring bubbling away. Folk used to walk to this well via an ancient avenue of Ash trees and bring their sick to this well for healing. Apparently there used to be signs of use right up until fifteen or so years ago. Folk used to leave remnants of the suck child's clothing attached to a nearby Hawthorn tree.

Interesting!

This afternoon on day 4 of my 40 day challenge, I embarked on The Study. Well we call it that. It's a little room at the back of the house that triples up as a utility room/larder/study (and at the moment - common dumping ground). Oh those drawers and that filing cabinet have been crying out for a bit of tlc for months (okay, years). Everything had got into such a muddle with paper and things literally spewing out of the drawers and piles of unfiled paperwork. Jee whizz! This clear up business is not for the feint hearted. But I'm determined, so I sauntered on.
There's always that moment where the whole place looks a whole lot worse when you're trying to tidy up. That moment when you remove everything ready to sort it before putting it all away again.

This is that moment!

Looks like a bomb has gone off!

I've taken great pleasure in throwing a whole bin bag of paperwork away and sorting all those drawers :-) It still looks a mess though as I am yet to clear the main of the room. Today's clear out was a good one. I found several early examples of the children's artwork which made me smile and some lovely photos too. Plus I found an old birthday card from Tim. He wrote inside that he loved me very much. I always knew that he did :-)

Tomorrow is a 'no tidy' day. The challenge allows you a day off! How will I resist the temptation?