My mum had a guy come and do the carpet in her lounge with a wet carpet cleaner and it really made a difference to what was a really mucky carpet. I think it is worth doing @nenya.
Based on my experience of trying to dry out the interior of a soggy car, I would support the idea that now is the time! I'm sure Mr N would get that analogy
I finally got tired of the curtains that were up when I moved in a year ago. They're good quality, but rather stereotypically "old ladyish" and floral.
So I went into Nearest Big Town - and not a single shop in the town centre sold curtains. The one I remembered being there has closed down. Apparently there's a Dunelms out of town, which would mean getting the bus in and then a taxi out, in the absence of a car.
The next day I went into the local Red Cross shop, and they had the perfect curtains, plain dark green, for only £4.50!
They look lovely.
Next step is to work out how Roman blinds are put together so I can replace the ones in the bedroom. At the moment they're white with red flowers, and let too much light in from the outside. I've seen some fabric that I rather fancy, navy blue with a star field.
I love the sound of your new curtains and proposed blinds @Eigon. Well done getting such a good buy. When we moved to our current house we had purple curtains in our good room, 5 sets of them, which were going to be expensive to replace as they had begun rather faded. They must have been quite lairy when they were first hung. I managed to find a lady selling a houseful of curtains (all the same), some of which were exactly the right size for our windows. Cheery husband managed to cut others down to fit, so we were pleased getting new to us curtains for very cheap.
I do need some curtains for the laundry as it's a hot room in summer, but I think Ikea curtains are the wrong size for our Australian full length windows. However, some of the curtain panels might work well there, I will check out their catalogue. I bought a lovely blind from Ikea for the kitchen in our old house. I liked it so much that I bought an additional one for spare (not knowing how grotty or not the blind might get in the kitchen). We left it for the new owners when we moved because our windows were not the same size here (of course not). I do hope the new owners are enjoying it.
Thank goodness the move went well; you all deserve a rest.
I had to smile at your description of your “lairy” old curtains; that is an expression I’ve not heard in years. I recall my granny referring to a flashily-dressed young man as a “ 2 bob lair”; that dates me!!
A bit of tidying done around the place over the weekend, not all of it by me. Cheery husband did a big run of boxes to the recycling place. Then, he took daughter's old mattress to the tip. The exercise bike and the rowing machine have now been relocated to her mostly empty bedroom, though it appears no one has been inclined to use them today! I think tomorrow I'll move a few things around in the rumpus, and do a big vacuum in there. I might have to call on Cheery son for assistance as I know I'll encounter some loose Lego and we might try to get it all onto the table before the suction begins.
@Cheery Gardener I feel tired just reading that, let alone actually doing it.
Two sunny winter days in a row means being able to get the washing dry on the outside line. I seem to generate a lot of washing for just one person. I'm glad Aroha is a self cleaning animal.
Moving my "office area" into the bedroom because it's much more pleasant to sit in the bedroom in the current heat wave. Of course, this means playing an elaborate game of jenga with the various pieces of furniture that need to be moved....
I hope your game of jenga has gone well @Eigon. We have made some progress with our own. The rumpus is looking much tidier with the rowing machine and exercise bike transferred to Cheery daughter's bedroom. We've also moved the sewing cabinet there and now it has access to powerpoints and fits nicely just under the window. Hopefully having done this, it will be a bit easier to keep on top of things that have needed mending.
In the rumpus we've moved the cat tower and have filled that vacant spot with a small coffee table and two lovely comfy chairs. I am a bit concerned that the upholstery will fade rapidly, but as I had those chairs recovered in 1993 or 1994 the fabric really doesn't owe us anything!! I do have concerns though that if they do need recovering we won't find such a good heavy fabric as the chairs currently have. Regardless I'm looking forward to sitting in the window and enjoying the sunshine.
The redundant filing cabinet has now gone. I offered it to various individuals and organisations to no success. My eldest grandchild has now moved it into the garage of their new home. I am hoping they will come back for a few more items.
I have four weeks to clear my little study ready for the decorator. Before then I need to complete my tax return and do lots of filing, shredding and sorting. Most days recently the room has been unbearably hot to do anything.
Thanks, @Cheery Gardener ! My desk is now in a much more pleasant position near an open window looking out to the garden, and all my craft materials are now in the other room where it's more cosy (which will be nice when the weather cools down).
My craft materials have have taken over the front room. I have a plastic storage box of stranded cottons that I am donating to the library when I am no longer able to cross stitch. They will share them between the various branches for craft work.
I am hoping to addict future generations to the love of colour and cross stitch.
I hope you do inspire the next generation of stitchers @Huia. I was introduced to cross stitch at the age of 7 when we made placemats for the school fete from gingham. I was given a rectangle of blue and white gingham to be stitched with orange thread. At the time I didn't enjoy the experience, but it gave me the basics to come back to it as an adult. A couple of tiny kits from the dollar shop and then a couple of books and I was off! I found it really therapeutic when Cheery son was sick.
Nothing so exciting in my house cleaning this week. I've done the shower and might do some vacuuming later. Cross stitch would be a much better option!!
Today we replaced the single ceiling light in our upstairs landing with two ceiling lights. A huge improvement! However, it has conformed that the carpet needs to be replaced. It was the carpet which was here when we moved in in 2003, but it looked ok when it was just visible by the light of a single lightbulb. It doesn't look ok now.
We are also trying to sort the landing bookcase. Originally, it was supposed to be for our children's reference books; but over the years it has become a dumping ground for books which don't really go anywhere else. Not only were the shelves full, but there were books stacked on top too. I have been sending lists of books to the offspring to see if they want to claim them, or let them go to Oxfam. So far, the Quinie doesn't want any, and the Loon is claiming most, including books that I can't imagine being of any use to him. Slim pickings for Oxfam, so far.
The hope is to offload enough for the bookcase to look neat, tidy, and with no teetering heaps on top.
Been dismantling a Chesterfield this evening. We inherited it from student digs, reupholstered it probably 45 years ago, and it has followed us from house to house ever since. But with downsizing in mind, it is the first to go, as it is no sort of antique. Deconstructing it, I am amazed at what we managed all those years ago with minimal knowledge.
Apologies if this is sabotage, but I had to share this - I have had it on repeat for about an hour. So much is deep in the heart of the sanctified hoard …
Spare a thought for me today.
We leave at lunchtime for our big family holiday in Dorset.
Whilst we're away we have a viewing on the house, they are few and far between and I want to leave it looking as nice as possible.....suffice to say I am in a minority!!
Hope you prevail @MrsBeaky , though I never get why viewers can't see that just because you have your rooms set up one way, they couldn't do it another. Also I don't see that beds piled high with matching cushions are going to make much difference one way or another.
Enjoy the holiday and forget house moving until you get back.
I think I am doomed. I have been given another pile of papers from a recently-closed church, plus the pew Bible, plus the Pew Bible's red velvet cushion. I have no room! The Pew Bible is lovely, though, and each page includes the year the event occurred. (Creation BC 4004).
Apologies if this is sabotage, but I had to share this - I have had it on repeat for about an hour. So much is deep in the heart of the sanctified hoard …
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You've seen my shed!
It currently has two push mowers in it, a petrol mower (1920s), and a large and lethal petrol powered hay mower.
My lawn is 12x25 feet. It's not much bigger than the shed.
Apologies if this is sabotage, but I had to share this - I have had it on repeat for about an hour. So much is deep in the heart of the sanctified hoard …
Another musician to enjoy 😁. Spent an hour after work yesterday on thst channel. Have just told @Sandemaniac to listen to the track...
Apologies if this is sabotage, but I had to share this - I have had it on repeat for about an hour. So much is deep in the heart of the sanctified hoard …
The situation in the Japes Abode is complex at the moment... we are now 19 months into the bin workers industrial action in my city with no resolution in sight. My garden waste bin hasn't been emptied since November 2024, and my recycling bin, I think, early January 2025. A new system for all recycling is being introduced in stages across the city before the resolution of either the industrial action or the correct emptying of my very current full bins which I'm now scared to look into!
I'm currently trying to get up the energy to do another round of attempting to re-sort the many boxes and bags of glass/paper/plastic recycling I'm holding on to to see if it can take up less space. I'm simultaneously impressed with myself for holding out until the industrial action is over, appalled with myself at how much there is now, and getting hugely frustrated as I just want my house back!!
Had I not been having regular houseguests (with similar principles to mine) this year on student offspring collecting/delivering duties it would've been worse as I know they've taken some away with them to put in their own recycling. I could, of course, ask local friends with cars to take me and all this stuff to household recycling centres, but they all have their own stuff to deal with in all this and have larger households.
Plus, it would've been perfectly possible for me as a fit, active person who's normal is "no car, use public transport" to walk in to the household recycling centres with shopping trolley loads of glass/paper/plastic on an every few weeks basis before doing my every few weeks Big Shop with the then emptied trolley, but only those in cars are allowed in...
Sighs deeply, closes the cupboard doors again, and hopes it's all over before I die and someone else has to sort it all.
I cleaned my house, well most of it, not every nook and cranny, ready for my French group yesterday, and it will stay clean and tidy ready for some friends coming on Monday. It has made me aware of various long- standing areas which need sorting and now I have no excuse as I have very little happening in the next couple of weeks.
Apologies if this is sabotage, but I had to share this - I have had it on repeat for about an hour. So much is deep in the heart of the sanctified hoard …
Another musician to enjoy 😁. Spent an hour after work yesterday on thst channel. Have just told @Sandemaniac to listen to the track...
Inspired by that, I've spent all afternoon doing a Man Job.
This is the sort of job that is up there with being at the birth of your first-born, and the day you finally get to play competitive sport with (or against) the fruit of your loins. Or so I am told, not having a first-born.
I've tidied the shed.
This is important because (a) it would be full of shit if there was space for shit round the mowers and (b) I may finally collect a mower in November I was offered circa 1992!
I've even thrown stuff away reduced the sanctified hoard. Though mostly stowed it more tidily.
Apologies if this is sabotage, but I had to share this - I have had it on repeat for about an hour. So much is deep in the heart of the sanctified hoard …
I like it, but played slower and with a different kind of (equally low-rent, cheap-keyboard kind of vibe - I always wonder why he did that) backing - it would be even better in the voice of Leonard Cohen.
Praise the Lord, we have managed to get rid of our piano and two bunk beds. The former went ot a Christian retreat house, the latter to a charity for the homeless.
That only leaves our two cats and some of Mrs RR's art stuff and pictures. Trouble is, I like the decluttered house and now don't want to move.
You remind me of that theoretical perpetual motion machine, in which a cat has a couple of pieces of buttered toast strapped to its back, and is then dropped from a height. The two proverbs about a cat always landing on its feet and buttered toast always landing buttered side down are thus placed in conflict, resulting in a perpetually revolving cat/toast amalgam, which never actually reaches the floor.
Eek!! Energy had finally been summoned to deal with cleaning and tidying the rooms the boiler service chap will be going into. I also pulled out the used batteries box, from the kitchen cupboard I store them in, thinking it was time they got taken down to the local bin in my supermarket whilst shopping.
I have discovered a very dangerous looking bloated discarded powerpack - which I think has been there for at least a year. Now off to discover just how to deal with that one...
They take them very seriously indeed on planes and have a protocol for warm phones - to douse it in water and a special wet fireproof box to put it in.
You remind me of that theoretical perpetual motion machine, in which a cat has a couple of pieces of buttered toast strapped to its back, and is then dropped from a height. The two proverbs about a cat always landing on its feet and buttered toast always landing buttered side down are thus placed in conflict, resulting in a perpetually revolving cat/toast amalgam, which never actually reaches the floor.
I like it
I have a bad teenage memory of swiping a (not very close, and I had not been to his place before) friend's cat off a kitchen worktop in his house, absent-mindedly, like I would at home with ours. The cat landed on its back with a splat, and he raised an eyebrow and told me the cat was not so flexible since it had been run over by a car...
(The cat seemed OK afterwards, or at least as OK as it had beforehand.)
I watched my newly acquired rescue cat fall out of the top of a large tree, luckily on to grass. About half way down she did that perfect swivel and landed neatly on her feet. It was amazing, if somewhat scary, to watch.
The other day my husband proudly announced to me that he'd emptied another cardboard box - one of the many that's currently making one of our bedrooms look like a storage unit. This sounded like good news until I realised what he'd actually done was simply empty the contents of the box onto the bedroom floor...
@Nenya, I think you should have married my husband. His first priority when we moved here was getting all the boxes emptied and put away in short order. He's much more tidy than I am, though he has trained me well in the last forty years.
A tiny but significant step. I have a small table beside my chair on which stand all the things without which, apparently, I cannot conduct daily life. These include, but are not limited to, glasses, pens, phone, TV remotes, pills, toothpicks, scissors, tissues etc. Joined on a regular basis by mugs of coffee or glasses of soft drink. Things fall on the floor a lot. But no more! I have acquired two 5" square boxes - stackable, even.
That sounds like a great solution @Firenze, I am a fan of boxes for keeping things in order. We keep one box for Cheery son's medications, which has helped to organise his morning and 2 other boxes in the cabinet as well. One for stuff which is applied and one for stuff which is taken, seems to work well for us.
Regarding cars, I nearly shut ours in the front door the other day. I was carrying in two bags of shopping and tried to close the door with my foot while Miss shorthair was trying to escape into the night. She was temporarily squished, but seems to have suffered no ill-effects.
I was glad of a chance to give the tiles a good clean the other morning when Cheery husband has son at a medical appointment. I managed to vacuum all through and get the tiles cleaned with floor wipes while I was the only one home. It was good to have the floors nice and dry before they arrived home.
Oh my word, that was a boo boo! Fortunately I have not driven our car through the front door of our house!! What a disaster that would be!! It would require more than tidying up!!
Just a very naughty moggie who given half a chance would escape into the big wide world. Fortunately she has survived her ordeal and has spent half the day bossing us around, demanding either a walk, or milk and now cheese (which my son is trying to cut back on!)
All tidying continues as normal, with the addition of a new built in shelf to Cheery husband's Lego table. He had not incorporated enough storage, and hopefully this new addition will help him to manage the storage required.
Comments
So I went into Nearest Big Town - and not a single shop in the town centre sold curtains. The one I remembered being there has closed down. Apparently there's a Dunelms out of town, which would mean getting the bus in and then a taxi out, in the absence of a car.
The next day I went into the local Red Cross shop, and they had the perfect curtains, plain dark green, for only £4.50!
They look lovely.
Next step is to work out how Roman blinds are put together so I can replace the ones in the bedroom. At the moment they're white with red flowers, and let too much light in from the outside. I've seen some fabric that I rather fancy, navy blue with a star field.
I do need some curtains for the laundry as it's a hot room in summer, but I think Ikea curtains are the wrong size for our Australian full length windows. However, some of the curtain panels might work well there, I will check out their catalogue. I bought a lovely blind from Ikea for the kitchen in our old house. I liked it so much that I bought an additional one for spare (not knowing how grotty or not the blind might get in the kitchen). We left it for the new owners when we moved because our windows were not the same size here (of course not). I do hope the new owners are enjoying it.
I had to smile at your description of your “lairy” old curtains; that is an expression I’ve not heard in years. I recall my granny referring to a flashily-dressed young man as a “ 2 bob lair”; that dates me!!
A bit of tidying done around the place over the weekend, not all of it by me. Cheery husband did a big run of boxes to the recycling place. Then, he took daughter's old mattress to the tip. The exercise bike and the rowing machine have now been relocated to her mostly empty bedroom, though it appears no one has been inclined to use them today! I think tomorrow I'll move a few things around in the rumpus, and do a big vacuum in there. I might have to call on Cheery son for assistance as I know I'll encounter some loose Lego and we might try to get it all onto the table before the suction begins.
Two sunny winter days in a row means being able to get the washing dry on the outside line. I seem to generate a lot of washing for just one person. I'm glad Aroha is a self cleaning animal.
In the rumpus we've moved the cat tower and have filled that vacant spot with a small coffee table and two lovely comfy chairs. I am a bit concerned that the upholstery will fade rapidly, but as I had those chairs recovered in 1993 or 1994 the fabric really doesn't owe us anything!! I do have concerns though that if they do need recovering we won't find such a good heavy fabric as the chairs currently have. Regardless I'm looking forward to sitting in the window and enjoying the sunshine.
I have four weeks to clear my little study ready for the decorator. Before then I need to complete my tax return and do lots of filing, shredding and sorting. Most days recently the room has been unbearably hot to do anything.
I am hoping to addict future generations to the love of colour and cross stitch.
Nothing so exciting in my house cleaning this week. I've done the shower and might do some vacuuming later. Cross stitch would be a much better option!!
We are also trying to sort the landing bookcase. Originally, it was supposed to be for our children's reference books; but over the years it has become a dumping ground for books which don't really go anywhere else. Not only were the shelves full, but there were books stacked on top too. I have been sending lists of books to the offspring to see if they want to claim them, or let them go to Oxfam. So far, the Quinie doesn't want any, and the Loon is claiming most, including books that I can't imagine being of any use to him. Slim pickings for Oxfam, so far.
The hope is to offload enough for the bookcase to look neat, tidy, and with no teetering heaps on top.
My smugness at a tidy house is matched by Mr Boog's smugness at having kept just the thing to 'save the day'
Luckily he has a workshop with drawers to keep it all in!
We leave at lunchtime for our big family holiday in Dorset.
Whilst we're away we have a viewing on the house, they are few and far between and I want to leave it looking as nice as possible.....suffice to say I am in a minority!!
Enjoy the holiday and forget house moving until you get back.
I guess old papers are my sanctified hoard ....
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You've seen my shed!
It currently has two push mowers in it, a petrol mower (1920s), and a large and lethal petrol powered hay mower.
My lawn is 12x25 feet. It's not much bigger than the shed.
Another musician to enjoy 😁. Spent an hour after work yesterday on thst channel. Have just told @Sandemaniac to listen to the track...
Now why, I wonder, do I automatically hear that in a broad Scots accent?
We'rrre doooomed, I tell ye, doooomed!
Describes the situation at Casa Nen perfectly!
I'm currently trying to get up the energy to do another round of attempting to re-sort the many boxes and bags of glass/paper/plastic recycling I'm holding on to to see if it can take up less space. I'm simultaneously impressed with myself for holding out until the industrial action is over, appalled with myself at how much there is now, and getting hugely frustrated as I just want my house back!!
Had I not been having regular houseguests (with similar principles to mine) this year on student offspring collecting/delivering duties it would've been worse as I know they've taken some away with them to put in their own recycling. I could, of course, ask local friends with cars to take me and all this stuff to household recycling centres, but they all have their own stuff to deal with in all this and have larger households.
Plus, it would've been perfectly possible for me as a fit, active person who's normal is "no car, use public transport" to walk in to the household recycling centres with shopping trolley loads of glass/paper/plastic on an every few weeks basis before doing my every few weeks Big Shop with the then emptied trolley, but only those in cars are allowed in...
Sighs deeply, closes the cupboard doors again, and hopes it's all over before I die and someone else has to sort it all.
I cleaned my house, well most of it, not every nook and cranny, ready for my French group yesterday, and it will stay clean and tidy ready for some friends coming on Monday. It has made me aware of various long- standing areas which need sorting and now I have no excuse as I have very little happening in the next couple of weeks.
Inspired by that, I've spent all afternoon doing a Man Job.
This is the sort of job that is up there with being at the birth of your first-born, and the day you finally get to play competitive sport with (or against) the fruit of your loins. Or so I am told, not having a first-born.
I've tidied the shed.
This is important because (a) it would be full of shit if there was space for shit round the mowers and (b) I may finally collect a mower in November I was offered circa 1992!
I've even thrown stuff away reduced the sanctified hoard. Though mostly stowed it more tidily.
I like it, but played slower and with a different kind of (equally low-rent, cheap-keyboard kind of vibe - I always wonder why he did that) backing - it would be even better in the voice of Leonard Cohen.
That only leaves our two cats and some of Mrs RR's art stuff and pictures. Trouble is, I like the decluttered house and now don't want to move.
PS: I was joking about the cats.
Call us cat-owned Antipodeans concrete thinkers.
I have discovered a very dangerous looking bloated discarded powerpack - which I think has been there for at least a year. Now off to discover just how to deal with that one...
Chargers are no longer allowed.
I like it
I have a bad teenage memory of swiping a (not very close, and I had not been to his place before) friend's cat off a kitchen worktop in his house, absent-mindedly, like I would at home with ours. The cat landed on its back with a splat, and he raised an eyebrow and told me the cat was not so flexible since it had been run over by a car...
(The cat seemed OK afterwards, or at least as OK as it had beforehand.)
Regarding cars, I nearly shut ours in the front door the other day. I was carrying in two bags of shopping and tried to close the door with my foot while Miss shorthair was trying to escape into the night. She was temporarily squished, but seems to have suffered no ill-effects.
I was glad of a chance to give the tiles a good clean the other morning when Cheery husband has son at a medical appointment. I managed to vacuum all through and get the tiles cleaned with floor wipes while I was the only one home. It was good to have the floors nice and dry before they arrived home.
(to be honest I made about 6 typos in those 2 lines of printing, so I am really in no position to comment).
Just a very naughty moggie who given half a chance would escape into the big wide world. Fortunately she has survived her ordeal and has spent half the day bossing us around, demanding either a walk, or milk and now cheese (which my son is trying to cut back on!)
All tidying continues as normal, with the addition of a new built in shelf to Cheery husband's Lego table. He had not incorporated enough storage, and hopefully this new addition will help him to manage the storage required.