Tuesday 20 April 2010

Tuesday pick 'n' mix

A moment of ugly, no-hiding-place truth yesterday. I am a Lazy Woman. I realised that while I enjoy the placid slowness of my mornings, never rushing to get dressed or to do very much before noon, I'm falling seriously behind with the immense, juggernaut-like task of sorting out this house. And it was beginning to prey on my mind.

Drifting about in a dressing gown, drinking tea, and thinking about nothing very much all morning would have to change into something more productive.


So last night I made a Resolution. I would get going earlier each day, and try to Accomplish Something before lunchtime. This would mean spending less time at my computer reading other people's blogs, my own emails, anything that took my fancy in the vast ocean of useless information that is Google.

I even made a list, filled with vague generalisations like: kitchen bags. Too vague, actually; I now have no idea what I meant. But I do understand seed trays, pond liner, ironing. I especially understand small attic, and that in itself is a terrifying prospect.

So far so good. So far today:

More than an hour spent working on the allotment. Bees, butterflies, birds, tra la. Tidying, weeding, planning. A snapshot of Eddie the Poisoner's latest contraption to keep the squirrels off his bird feeders; they can't quite climb the plastic piping and they slide to the ground, defeated. He is thrilled; his war might even be won.


Almost emptying the sitting room so that Wally (the painter and decorator so beloved of Millie when she was a kitten) can paint tomorrow. And only now, as I write this, do I remember that I was getting my own paint, and that I'd put it off, until I forgot. Thank goodness Homebase is open till 8 p.m. The kitchen is full of sitting room furniture, and the cats are wildly excited by it. Moving a little chest of drawers, the underneath of which I thought I'd blocked off to avoid every cat toy in the house ending up there, I found this little cache:


I noticed that my sansiveiria (Mother in Law's Tongue) was in flower. The flowers are small and easily missed; they exude a small sticky drop of nectar, and have a faint sweet smell. Mine was rescued many years ago, on the point of death, from the desk of a vicious plant-killer work colleague, and although it has remained wonky and misshapen, I have to admire its persistence.


I responded to a Freecycle notice and picked up a pair of Dartington glass candleholders, thickly encrusted with old wax. They cleaned up beautifully.


And I read your blogs, checked my emails, vacuumed the stairs (Margery is having a 'procedure' tomorrow - more of that in due course when we find out if we should stay worried or not), and decided that this new productive life would be ok after all. 

Still wondering though: what could kitchen bags mean......?



15 comments:

Lucille said...

Zip lock? Bin? Sandwich? Laundry? Black? Green? Peg?
Freezer? Vacuum? Just trying to help.

Fran Hill said...

You can't do JOBS in a dressing gown like that anyway. It's made for sitting around in a leisurely way, sipping a cup of hot chocolate and writing letters on cream notepaper. Forget kitchen bags.

molly said...

Found plenty to identify with here! We are the same age---maybe that explains it? It couldn't be senility? So soon? Can't help you with the "kitchen bags" but it made me laugh hysterically, since I often come across "notes to self"[intended as memory aids] that might have been written by the man on the moon, they make so little sense....They do say the memory is the first thing to go. Followed closely by the hearing, the eyesight, muscle tone, etc.....Sigh.

BumbleVee said...

Geez....we could be twins.... on the slow moving part of our mornings at least. You are waaaay ahead of me on so many other fronts. I'm still in my 'jammies and it has just gone past noon...still have only been sipping coffee... now I need some brekky..but, it's noon....so..what to eat? THEN... HURRY UP AND DO SOMETHING! Where has my day gone already?

We just got back though...and I DO have to catch up don't I? ... read everybody's blogs... see what's transpired... etc....

Jinksy said...

Whoever decreed that life should be all hustle and bustle, anyway? Odds on, it was some bewhiskered fellow lounging around while the females in his household attended to the million and one things he expected of them, in order for his leisure to remain undisturbed! Thank goodness, times have changed...

Annie (Lady M) x said...

Love the candlesticks.... that is a bit of a result!

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

Tea leads to breakfast , which then segues into coffee time , look again at crossword , more coffee , blogs .... All of which can perfectly well be done in a dressing gown .
My first mother-in-law always stuck to the rule that novels musn't be read before lunch .... don't think she'd be over impressed by my weekend morning routine

Linda said...

Mornings are the best part of the day, full of possibilities - but then I'm a lark, with an owl husband!

mountainear said...

I didn't know Sansiveiria had flowers - I thought they were always just spiky things. You obviously have a way with houseplants - incidently the Clivia you sent me some time ago grows on - but hasn't flowered yet.

silfert said...

"Kitchen bags" probably means that you should buy some bags of chocolate to keep in the kitchen.

Lynda (Granny K) said...

I was still in my dressing gown at 11.30 this morning. I like to come round slowly nowadays - because I can! :o)

Pam said...

Oh, now, you're just rubbing it into poor working people like me who have to dress at 7 and start rushing...

Von said...

Ah 'kitchen bags' those glorious inventions for putting all the rubbish in when we're having a clear out.
Lovely candlesticks!
Why not dressing gowns 'til noon?Who says we can't? Out here in Oz we're great believers in gardening in pyjamas and in down time after work in pyjamas or anything in pyjamas really if you feel like it.
I think it's important to have planning and thinking time don't you?

Anonymous said...

Relax and enjoy the jarmie lifestyle. There are enough people out there with go-gettem aggro that are ripping off people blind.What harm are you doing! If you're not working outside the home now, you've given someone else your job - that's generous....and anyway, you need time to decifer those notes. I puzzled over "Yankallila Road" scribbled in my diary for ages.Was I supposed to be somewhere? It turned out to be a good wine label friend recommended...and 4.15p.m. written on a piece of paper by the phone? Daughter's inspection time for a rental unit. No use to me that info. so just threw it away in the kitchen bag!

rogern said...

I could give you a knock on my way to the bus stop if you'd like me to. It would be not bother, honest :)

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