40 Bags!

 After last week's sleepover there was much recovery in the house. I was absolutely shattered and son was too. Husband was on holiday and so managed to get the sleep he needed quite quickly. Though to be fair, because I had been working during the teenage chaos he was very busy. 

He made breakfast for 7 in the morning. My big plan was simply bacon, sausage, pancakes and maple syrup. But husband made them a full English breakfast. He also did a huge amount of cleaning up.

Though by the end of the week we had persuaded son it was his responsibility to de nerf bullet the house and to pick up every shred of water bomb from the garden. And NO we were not going to pay him for his efforts (much to his horror).

Other 'excitement' of the week included our carpets being cleaned. We tend to have rugs on the high traffic areas of the house. Because of the dog it's difficult to keep things clean. When all the rugs were up for the carpet to be cleaned I was astounded how much nicer everything looked.

So I went online and purchased some new rugs in cream, to try to recreate the look of openness, but still have the rugs.

They turned up and I put them in place, they were far paler than the carpet. I decided to live with them to see how I felt. Here we are about 5 days later, the cream rugs are covered in filth. I absolutely hate them. I also hate wasting money. For the messiest rug (outside kitchen) I have purchased a new rug that will turn up soon. We'll see how that looks before I replace the rest. I'm very p'd off.

When the weekend came I had a fire in my belly to do something to sort the house out more. So I dug into a range of cupboards I knew needed sorting. Some of it was recycling, some car boot and some for the dump. 

The dump really has been my second home this year. So far I've sorted the attic, the utility room, son's bedroom, cupboards in sitting room and dining room. I've even spaded out my bedside table (a far bigger job than it sounds). All in all son and I worked out we'd taken 40 bags to the dump. This doesn't even include the recycling - that's probably about another 20 bags - if you include old clothes.

You'd think that by now the house would look completely empty like a show home. It doesn't - it still looks like 'ye olde curiosity shopeee'. Largely this is because most of the work that has been done is in hidden areas. So you spend 15 hours doing something, then shut the door and there's nothing to show for it.

We are definitely not suited for an open plan house - it really only works if you are minimalist. I'm hoping now son is getting older that things will sort themselves out, but I fear that after 15 years habits are in place that it will take a while to resolve. 

The problem is that husband and I both have different things that annoy us. One of the things that drives me bonkers is that I'll put something out so it's ready for me when I need it later in the week. In the meantime husband finds it and tidies it away to some random place that makes sense to him and nobody else. HOWEVER, he's perfectly happy to leave some figurines he's painting untouched on the dining table for 6 months. Something that drives me mad. Then when I buy a basket for them to be hidden away he gets all moody that I've touched them.

Plus on top of that there's all the tut (lovely things) I've found and purchased over the years.

And all the furniture that we purchased at great expense around the year 2000. Great quality stuff that would last us forever. Well the problem is that it has. 25 years on I absolutely hate it and it makes me itch. I'm desperate to throw it all out and start over again. However, it would be far too expensive to start from scratch.

This is why I'm better off moving every 2 years. I've never lived in one place for so long at any point in my life. 

Aaanyway, it's getting darker ready for winter (to give Santa enough time to do his deliveries). I honestly don't even feel like we've had much of a summer. It's been very strange. Some sunshine a fair amount of rain and bizarrely humid evenings - even though the weather hasn't been that good.

I'm about to take the dog out for a walk. It's 06:00 and it's still dark :(. I think that if I walk along the road to the Rec, by the time I get there it should be just about daylight and we can walk back through the wood. But it's a bit depressing to know that I'm about to be at a point where I have to wait to take the dog out in my lunch hour, rather than first thing. This p's me off all winter because the only reason for that is that I don't feel safe out in the dark. Not because of monsters, because of men. I hope that one day men realise how lucky they are to be able to walk about with confidence.

Now I'm aware it's not every men, in fact it's a very small percentage - however, like every other woman I've been flashed at, I've had men barging past me and even recently I had a man who was twice the size of me have an agressive (shouting, not physical) go at me because when he said good morning at me on a path where nobody else was around - all I did was smile and not engage him in conversation. I mean what the FUCK! It didn't even occur to the aggressive piece of Sh1t, that a lone woman on a path in a wood may not think it was a great thing to do to engage a stranger in conversation. In fact the only reason I even smiled was to try to avoid the conflict that happened anyway.

Oh, I went off on one then didn't I!!!!!

So yes, I know it's not every man and a huge percentage are amazing and often go out of their way to make sure I don't feel intimidated when out with the dog, standing to the side etc. But when even one does something aggressive or unnecessary it means that you never feel safe again. If you are one of those people that behave like that - YOU ARE AN ARESHOLE!!!

Oh whoops I did it again. Back to sunshine and light. Tra-la-la.

So yes, we're moving into winter. We're all holding out hope for some late October sunshine - which we do often get. Watch this space.