If You Don't Need It .....

Everyone's on a bit of a buying marathon at the moment, but I'm trying my best to keep this little image in my head.

Of course there are a couple of exceptions ;-)

Advent Challenge - Day 7

Just a couple of magazines .  One from Christmas this year and one from last year.  Both to the charity shop.  Hopefully another £1 in their till and a bit of space for me.

Sue xx

It's Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas, well I suppose it is only a couple of weeks away now ....how did that happen?

The supermarkets are full of folk buying their Christmassy stuff, with trolleys piled high with Christmassy goodies, junk foods and lots of big plastic children's toys.  If it's like this now WHAT is it going to be like in the week before Christmas ...

... and will we be all Christmassed out by then?

Advent Challenge - Day 6

A beautiful, handmade dark wood and highly polished wardrobe.  It's been in the family for years and I have carefully checked that no one wants it before offering it up on Streetbank, the very organisation that initiated this Challenge.  A local lady has been in touch to say she would be delighted to have it and if she gets back in touch in the next couple of days it will be hers.

Sue xx

Giving Away Things That I Like

Advent Challenge - Day 5

Emma Bridgewater Jug.

I've gotten to the stage now that I am actually, in some instances, giving away things that I really like.  Not many but some.  I like the chest of drawers that I'm giving to my son, I really like this little jug, but they are things that I am not using, are not really needed and by giving them away I hope that they will be appreciated and useful to someone else.  It's easier to let go of things the more you get into the 'giving' mindset.

The Christmas decorations have gone up, not many but the few that we do put up.  It's become a bit of a tradition to put them up on our anniversary now and it was our 7th wedding anniversary yesterday.  Lovely Hubby came home from his week working away to find the living room toasty warm with the log burner lit, candles twinkling away on the mantlepiece and the living room looking suitably Christmassy.  It's a nice contrast to the outside of the house with the dust, rubble and building supplies stacked everywhere.

I watched the Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners episode on Channel Four last night and was amazed to see the lady washing her baubles in bleach water, and even more amazed to learn that she takes them off the tree and re-does them every week.  I'm afraid mine stay 'dirty' and I guess dusty, until they come down after Christmas.  Life's too short to bleach a bauble!!

And as for the lady that takes her tree down at 2pm on Christmas Day!!!

The conservatory improvements are coming on in leaps and bounds now with the Upvc trims going on yesterday to hide all the gaps between building and the roof.  The spaces are backed with wood and infilled with insulation to make a cosy, secure and Building Regs approved space.

The steel supporting columns are being bricked around so that the roof will look like it is supported with brick columns instead of the steel uprights.  Much more aesthetically pleasing and it will match the house better once we repaint early next Summer.  We are going to be three or four shades of grey instead of the more usual 50 ;-)

Thank goodness for the Christmas decorations inside the house, sometimes you need a little oasis of cosy, calm to keep your spirits up.

Sue xx

Morning Rainbow

I walked round the paddock with the dogs this morning, hands in pockets, head down, miles away in thought, while the dogs ran here, there and everywhere and in Charleys' case ate as many rabbit droppings as she could find, and then suddenly I looked up .....

... I'm so glad I did, and that I had my phone in my pocket.  I don't know where this rainbow came from, there had been no rain and the early morning red sky was just merging into the grey/blue of the day to come, but was beautiful.

The reason I had my phone with me was to take some shots of the conservatory and it's progress.

It's coming on wonderfully, each day sees us a little bit nearer to being once again closed off from the elements.

I'll be glad when it's all finished, but at least I guess we are over half way there now.

Advent Challenge - Day 4

Another smaller thing today.  But if someone somewhere can make good use of this sieve (maybe to sieve the lumps out of their Christmas gravy), and it makes a few pence for the charity shop then it's better than it hanging on my rack unused.  I had a set of three, and I've never had reason to use this medium sized one, so off it goes.

Sue xx

Cat Flaps and Drawers

Ginger is coping pretty well with the building work.  

Considering that his normal route into and out of the house is unavailable because his cat flap is in the conservatory, and with the wooden boards dividing it from the rest of the house he has no access at all if he uses it to come into the house,  he is just in the conservatory which is still pretty much open to the elements so not much cosier than sleeping outside .... and it's quite a stretch to even use it with the steps no longer in position (we are having new concrete steps made to replace the dangerously slippery wooden ones).  

He had just learnt to jump onto the top of the boiler while it sat underneath the living room window, to alert us of his desire to come in but now that has been moved back to nearer to it's usual place and is of no use to him whatsoever.

He is a lovely polite cat and has quickly learnt to sit by the front door if he wants to go out, and he nearly always either looks up at you as you open the door as if to say thank you or even mews as he steps out as if he is indeed verbalising his thanks.

I let him out very early this morning as he was mewing for me around 6am ish.  

He said his thanks this time with a neat little mousey body left in the centre of the doormat which luckily I spotted before standing on the next time I opened the front door.  I wasn't sure really if it was a thanks ..... or just his breakfast that he was hoping I'd warm up for him.

Advent Challenge - Day 3

Today's Advent Challenge giveaway is a bit bigger than yesterdays, and rather than going to the charity shop this one is going to my son.  Well they say charity begins at home and he has much more need of it than us.   :-)

Sue xx

I'm in Hot Water!!

I'm in hot water .... well up to my elbows anyway.

The central heating/hot water oil fired boiler is now re-installed and working on all cylinders.  This means hot water for washing pots, and last night ... luxury of luxuries .... a nice hot bath.

Having something like hot water and central heating taken off you for while makes you appreciate it all the more, and I do.  Although now the heating is back in action the new house thermostat is set at just 16.5 degrees, and that's where it will stay unless I really need it higher at some point during the day.  At this temperature a woolly jumper or a couple of layers and warm socks make it a very pleasant place to be, I really don't like a hot house.   But knowing how well we managed without the heating means that it will only be used as a background warmth, the Aga and wood burner will still be our main source of heat for the house.

Advent Challenge - Day 2

A little mug I was given as a freebie when we were at the Llanrwst Country Show this Summer.  I've never used it, maybe someone else would like to, it's gone to the charity shop anyway, even if they only get 50p for it at least it may be useful to someone.

Sue xx

Advent Challenge - Day 1

Every year when I was little we would get out our Advent Calenders on the 1st December.  We had one each my brother and me, old faithfuls that we used year after year.  The first year we got them Dad told us to carefully open the little doors and not to pull them off.

At the end of the Christmas holiday when the decorations came down Dad would sit and carefully close up all the little doors again and lay the calenders flat in the bottom of the decorations box and up they would go into the loft ready for next year.  The following year after 12 months of having the weight of everything else on top of them the little doors were once again firmly closed.

We didn't mind not having new ones, I think deep down we knew that the saving on buying us a new one each year meant an extra little novelty in our Christmas stocking on Christmas morning.

The sort of advent calender with little chocolates behind each door came out a little bit too late for us, so our fun was all about trying to remember which little Christmas image was behind each door, and then oohing in wonderment when we finally got to the big double doors twenty four days later, at the lovely scene of Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus and the donkeys in the stable. 

There are so many lovely Advent Calenders available to buy, all these pictures are taken from Google Images to give you an idea of what I am talking about.  There are some lovely ones that come pre-filled with sweets or gifts for you or your children to open each day in the run up to Christmas.

There are others with little drawers, sacks or compartments for you to fill yourself with mini gifts and chocolates or sweets.  Racking your brain for weeks prior to the first day of December for what to hide behind each number.

I know my boys would have loved this one ... I think I would have too.

But for me, now, all I want to do this year is give and not 'get', so I am joining in with lots of other people and having an Advent Challenge.  Instead of getting a present or opening a little door I will be giving something away each day for the whole of  Advent.  These will be good items and will be going to various charity shops, dropped off in small clusters each time I pass by one.

Along side other items sorted out in the coming weeks I hope this will take me to my 365 items needed to finish off my Decluttering 365 Challenge for this year.

To find out more about this Challenge you can visit Kate Groves' blog post at Streetbank News.  I will try and photograph the item that is leaving the house each day this month and put it on that days blog post just to keep myself on track.

This is today's.

A little colander that is terribly pretty and does work well for all it's lack of holes in the side, but that is surplus to requirements if I'm honest.  I am being ruthless through my cupboards and jettisoning anything that is duplicated in any way.

Sue xx