Orrible Mother! Who Me?

Well well well!  What an Orrible Mother I am!  Today was D Day!  I said 'If you don't keep it tidy, it's gonna go!' and I meant it!  Henry said 'but Mom you know he doesn't think you mean it!'  I said 'I know but now he will know that I did!'  Henry was my right hand man!  He felt really bad chucking his brothers stuff away. I predicted a tantrum.  This is a child that is emotionally attached and has a photographic memory for each rock, Lego brick, itty bitty piece of paper he has ever collected. . .We had just unearthed his 'Chocolate Stash'  I don't know where it came from.  Easter I think and I don't think they were all his!   We heard the front door open as Euan came in from playing outside, Henry and I literally froze, sensing the pending outrage. . .   Sure enough ( I know my children so well)  there was a meltdown.  It was not the three large sacks of toys for the charity shop that did it, it was not the two large bags for the bin that did it. . .it was one tiny Lego brick, that he found in the Wheelie bin that I had carelessly not hidden!  One Brick!  He has about 10 000 others.  Howl, yep, he howled like a wolf at full moon.  He was very very cross with me.  I apologised profusely.  We retrieved the brick and then all was calm again (eventually).  It is such a relief to have the 'Den' under his bed clean and tidy again.  After the meltdown he sat and played Lego nicely in his clean and tidy 'Den'.  He has since thanked me and says it is great.
I have been continuing with my mission to try and get organised. . .  Jeepers Creepers. . .how long is it going to take?  The people at the charity shop are starting to look incredulous at me now when I stagger in with more sacks!  All day today I have been on a mission. . .all day!!!  Let me tell you, the house still looks a tip!  Gah!  I have the car loaded ready for the Charity shop again tomorrow.  I even, get this, to alleviate my guilt at throwing my son's belongings out . . .I got brutal with my own, I took three cones of yarn to the charity shop.  My stash is out of hand.  The trouble is those cones are playing on my mind now. . . I might have to go and buy them back in the morning!
I have vacuumed and mopped and cleaned and tidied.  I have even cleaned a window!  The dog got banished outside for making the place look untidy.  She is very happy tonight though as I found her Christmas Present that vanished in December.  It had fallen behind a cupboard so she never got it at Christmas.  She is very happy with her Cuddly Turkey that squeaks, even if it is a bit out of season.
I am hoping when all the clutter has gone to be able to craft in peace again.  To be able to craft, guilt free without thinking 'I should be doing this or that'!  I am also hoping it will help me to be organised and possibly get some projects finished.  I still can not see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Surely if I keep going in the right direction I will get there.  How much stuff can one small house contain?   Tomorrow I live to fight another day.  xxx 

Pie 'In the Sky' Day Friday

There won't be a pie today in this house.  My 'One Woman Decluttering Mission' is to blame.  More of that after the 'Pie' which is actually Quiche.  I made this last week.  It is a very simple and tasty 'Leek Quiche'.  Very few ingredients but a very tasty 'pie'.   Quiche is not appreciated by my brood but it is appreciated by my parents so I had half and they had half.
 
Leek Quiche:
Ingredients:
Shortcrust Pastry Base (blind baked)
Filling:
1 Leek finely chopped
1 Onion finely chopped
Butter for frying
150g strong Cheddar cheese, grated.
2 eggs (From your bestest Chickie Friends)
100ml milk

Method:
Gently fry the onion and leek gently in butter, until they are soft but not coloured.  Spread over the base of the quiche.  Sprinkle with the grated cheese.  Beat the eggs with the milk.  Pour the eggs and milk over the quiche filling.  Cook in a medium/hot oven for 20-30 minutes until it golden brown on top.   Enjoy.

I feel I must take this opportunity to update you with my 'One Woman Mission' to Declutter the house.  It certainly cures your insomnia!  Not that I had insomnia, but I did have to have an early night, which has meant this morning I was awake before the Sun had put his hat on and before the birds!  Yesterday I achieved what I set out to do, declutter my room and make trips to the tip and the Charity Shop.

I made a list using a tally chart of what I manged to declutter.  There were 71 items for the chartity shop.

13 tops/shirts/jumpers
5 T shirts
3 pairs of children's trousers
3 Cardigans
25 books
14 magazines
1 Toiletry set
3 bottles of Body Lotion
2 preschool games
1 video
1 blank audio cassette

71 items to the Charity Shop!  I have a bit of a thing for round numbers...so today I may look for another 29 things, then that will make a nice round 100.  Which sounds fantastic.  I must have got rid of over 100 items but some of it went to the 'Tip' so sadly destined for landfill.  This included:

Very old clothes
2 Dead Vacuums (It is a long story!)
Old work files
Floppy Disks
A black sack of general junk

I also recycled a big box of paper.  I rediscovered parts of my bedroom carpet!  I have also found some lost treasures, including a favourite crochet hook and bookmark.  I actually found cash!  I also found coupons £15 and saving stamps £30 (of course you have to be disorganised enough in the first place to lose them)!  It was good to be reunited!  It was like finding a fiver in your old coat pocket!  All was going well and I was feeling rather smug.  Euan has been very complementary about my efforts and has been and had another look today and consolidated his praise!  Yes that's right all was going well....  I had three loads of washing to do last night.  I put the first load in my trusty old tumble dryer...it is older than my oldest son so that makes it about 17 years old...well its given up the ghost!  Hasta la vista Baby!  It will be destined for landfill ASAP!  I did not wish to declutter large electrical appliances!  Today I will have to go and find a new one.  It puts the stoppers on my 'One Woman Mission' to Declutter, it interferes with 'Pie Making' and it makes a mockery of delusions of imminent 'Tah Dah!' crochet moments.

Five of My favourite Blogs Today

I need to say a big than you to Jude over at A Trifle Rushed because I won a prize.  I won this great book in Jude's Give Away.  I love a Trifle Rushed there are great recipes, cooking tips and ideas.  How exciting is it to win a prize?  It really did cheer me up when this arrived in the post.  I have never won a Blog Give Away, but now I have.  I am hoping to be creating professional looking iced biscuits sometime in the near future.

Kanelstrand - Declutter Your Life  I spotted this article this morning, after yesterday's efforts.  It is a very useful article if you are on a one woman mission to declutter.  It has motivated me to keep going today.

The Zero Waste Home Someone was kind enough to e-mail me a link to this website.  Click on the 'About' section, scroll down a little and watch the short but very inspirational video.  This is fascinating.  Never mind decluttering, this opened up a whole new world to me.  Zero waste is 'Food for thought' indeed.  It seems unobtainable to be but there are some fantastic ideas to work towards.

Simply Life is having a 'Give Away'.  Many of you have said you find spinning fascinating, well here is your chance to win a little starter kit of a Spindle and Fibre.  I think Claire is being very generous here and it is a great prize for spinners and non spinners alike.  Do pop over and have a look.  Good Luck!

Running Away - I'll Help You Pack Finally on this blog this morning is just a great story regarding Universal Law.  Dreams can come true.   A very quick uplifting read.  It made me feel happy anyway.

Now I am off to continue my mission to declutter.  I intend to count the items I am getting rid of today.  I am hoping it will involve a trip to both the Charity shop and the town's local tip.  Which will all result in more space for fibre   good, clean, simple living!  Yippeee, how exciting.  It is going to go something like...half an hour and a cup of tea....half an hour and a cup of tea....half an hour and a cup of tea.
         I am so close to a fantabulous Crochet Tah Dah moment, but working on it is going to be reward after decluttering.  It is taking all my willpower as I am not good at delayed gratification.  Hope you are all having a good one.  It is bright and sunny here and all the little birds are busy in the garden.  X 

Would you like a Pretty Crafty Home?

Cherry Heart Blog

I have lifted the 'Cherry Heart' 'Mission Staement' for a Pretty Crafty Home from Sandra's Blog:

"This is what I want to do:

1.  Tidy, tidy, tidy and clean, clean clean!

The first step for me is to get rid of the junk and de-clutter.  It's time to get rid of the stuff I don't want, don't need and can't use or re-use and tidy up everything I'm keeping.  As I'm doing the tidying and de-cluttering I'm going to be giving this house the 'Spring clean' of it's life.

2.  If it has to live here, it should be pretty.

With a tat loving daughter and a husband with no thought for how things look, it's going to be tough to keep new ugliness and junk coming into the house, but I'm going to try hard.  If we do need something new, it should addto the home, not detract!

3.  If I don't like how it looks, and I can change it, I will.

I'm not planning on re-decorating the whole house, this is about finding the bits you don't like and changing them into something you do.

4.  Thrift, re-use and recycling are my watch words.

As it stands the budget for this little project is practically zero, so I'm looking for cheap solutions here! (Although there may be the odd exception, knowing me!)

5.  Crafting is king!

The most important thing thing of all.  This project is all about home improvement through crafting.  If it's home made and it makes me happier about my home then it's part of the project.



Now, this is just what I'm setting out to do.  If you'd like to join me you can define the challenge however you'd like to so it works for you and your home.  The principle is, if you're doing something crafty to improve your home, make it a more pleasurable environment to be in and look at then, it qualifies.  If you can thrift and recycle your way there - so much the better! "

There is a Flickr Group Here so we can see and share what each other has been up to.  I am on board with Sandra as my home is in desperate need of some Tender Loving Care.  There is no fun in 'Crafting in Clutter', I should know.  I find the blogging community very helpful and motivating where craft is concerned so I really like the idea of joining with others in a 'Mission' to have a 'Pretty Crafty Home'.  I am a little slow off the 'starting block' but today I have made some progress.  At least it is a step in the right direction.  I think I may be in 'Phase One' for quite some time.  'Tidy, tidy, tidy and clean, clean, clean.'  It isn't fun, it isn't glamorous and it sure is not pretty.  Euan has a physical reaction to de-cluttering his belongings, it ranges from going quiet and pale, to getting fretful and tearful and at all times there is the danger of a full blown meltdown of a tantrum!  I have made the mistake of tidying and de-cluttering his stuff when he is at school and the results were ugly!  I mentioned it this morning and explained it is getting a little out of hand and to enjoy our 'toys' we have to be able to have room to play with them.  He really really didn't like the idea.  Miraculously though he did get on board and we tackled his territory under his bed.  I have never known him willingly part with stuff.

Poor old broken sword!  My brother made 'Excalibur' for Henry and Euan inheritted it.  I think we will need to ask for another one.  We had a pile of stuff for the 'Tip' and another pile for the 'Salvation Army' shop.  It really feels like a result!  I felt guilty chucking stuff into the 'For Landfill' skip at the dump but needs must.  I hate going to the dump!  Usually you have to queue for ages and it is really busy but today the 'Declutter and Dump Angels' looked kindly upon us and we drove straight in.  We then went to the Barbers, for Euan not me!  After the Barbers we drove to the Salvation Army Shop with toys, books and clothes that would be good to re-sell.  Euan rescued one crocodile puppet that he decided he really did not want to part with.

It doesn't look much in the two photographs but it has really cleared a 'Play Space for Euan under his bed.  I have to go and do the 'Clean, clean, clean' part with the vacuum this afternoon as it was very dusty under there.  We found some Easter eggs that had been squirreled away!  Tut tut tut, shame on me!   Euan has a natural eye for a 'Pretty Craft Home' and said 'Do you know, I have always wanted curtains under here!' 

This is really the tiniest tip of the iceberg.  I have the whole house to work my way through.  Rome was not built in a day, and neither was a 'Pretty Crafty Home'!  I will just keep plodding in the right direction.  I will try and do a weekly update on my progress, it is rather like hanging ones dirty linen out in public though.  'My Name is Lucy and my house is a shocking mess!'