This last week has been all about DIY and decluttering.
I went into work on Monday, only to find that there was enough work for me for the day, but not for Tuesday or Wednesday. Unfortunately that sometimes happens when you work for a business that has end of month filing deadlines. However, the beauty of being part time is that, unlike my full time counterparts, I can switch my working days around and slot them into a week later on in the month when I know it is going to be busy.
So, I've been here since Tuesday doing DIY and winter prepping. The former, as ever, involves stripping and painting metal doorframes, a task so dull I've come to hate it. BUT as of this week I only have one doorframe left to do in the house, and I have already part stripped and cleaned that last Christmas before wallpapering the lobby.
However, it has not been the easiest of tasks with Fleagle around. She sat in the bathroom watching me every day. Everytime I put on the paint stripper I had to carry her out of the room to make sure she didn't brush up against it. When I sat on the floor to get down to the last bits of the frame, she decided that the fabric of my skirt was an ideal resting spot.
Was there ever a cat that was so cute but oh so very annoying...it's like having a toddler.
Anyway, winter prepping has been going on since the Bank Holiday weekend. I walked round the house and garden, took stock of what needed to be done and have given myself a deadline of six weeks to complete it all. I'll post the list of jobs that I do each year this week - it might help some of you make plans to winter-proof your own homes before the bad weather hits.
This week I have managed to clean the conservatory roof, which was heaving with moss that had come off the main house roof. Talk about an ordeal. My arms are not long enough, even with a massive long mop, to reach the apex of the rood panels from below so I had to do a two-pronged attack from above and below. Irritatingly, there was part of one panel - a section of about 6" x 18" - I just could not get to no matter what ladder I used or angle I came at it from. I resorted to chucking hot soapy water at it from above to get the worst off, but you can still see if from below. In the end I pulled up the blind inside so you can't see it!
However, from the window I spotted another task that needed doing - de-mossing the back room roof.
If I don't, the first heavy downpour will see the moss block the gutter (worse that in is!), and the water will spill over and come in under the back door to flood the utility area. The garden grass rake is going to come in very handy for grabbing that lot.
This week I've also been clearing out all the manky corners of the house too, with the utility area coming under close scrutiny for cleaning. Over the spring and summer months it becomes a gardening dumping ground, so I had sorted it out, relocated a ton of stuff back to where it should be and given it all a good wipe down. It could do with a lick of white paint, but I can do that very quickly when I get to the last bits of the bathroom emulshioning. In fact, all the walls in that area could do with a quick going over with white paint, so when I have the small roller out I'll give it a once over.
I've unearthed a lot of winter textiles from their respective corners, and washed and dried those ready for winter.
All the radiators and grills have been scrubbed, defurred and dusted, so when the heating goes on I don't get a massive allergy attack as a year's worth of dust and cat fur flies up out of them into the atmosphere. The cats have a tendency to sit on the radiators to keep warm during the winter and can build up quite a pile of loose fur under the grills :)
The hobby room had turned into an awful dumping ground, so I cleared that out and tidied it properly. I managed to turf out two bags of rubbish, as well as four carrier bags for the charity shop and three to the tip shop. It's looking nice and clear in there now.
And what for the weekend? Rest? Relaxation? Car boot sale? Nope, not this weekend. While I have the energy I want to finish off some more jobs as work will now ramp up steadily towards the end of the month.
I have the conservatory to clean out, as that has also turned into a dumping ground, and a few small projects to finish off. There's the other bedside table left over from my February auction snuffles that needs a quick sand over and light coat of varnish. This is its mate, already done and in place.
The two prayer stands, also from my February snuffles (seen here in the auction hall), need cleaning and putting in place in the back bedroom.
Finally, I want to finish this pouffe. My father gave this to me a few months ago, but it had the most horrendous 1980s peach upholstery fabric and rusty castors. So I took it apart, threw out the castors, and put on some leftover upholstery fabric on it. I still have to put some edging in place to neaten up the fabric joins, screw the lid back on and then re-fit the castors, hopefully in the same holes. It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to finish off.
Famous last words...