So Much to do So Little Time to Do It!

Blogging between now and 2nd June (ish), will be a bit irratic. I have spent so much time in the garden recently that my house has been sadly neglected and my mother is coming to stay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is the reason 'bloggin' maybe irratic! I may not have the opportunity to sit down and write. We will see!!!

Anyway the current state of the house is to be expected when you look at what has been achieved in the garden....




I am really chuffed to bits with how its turned out!

So whats left to be done in the garden,

I managed to fit everything into my little car and get it to the tip, when I came back I had to hoover it out!!!!!!
I need to edge the beds and then cover in bark chippings, what I can't decide is whether to use weed membrane or not as some of the plants will only be in for the summer??
Harden off the remaining plants that are in the greenhouse.
Pot up the tracycarpus and brugmansia into bigger pots.

In the house,

Well I did the whole of the lounge, up the stairs across the landing and the bathroom yesterday. Tori did her room over the weekend, so we just need to hoover and change the sheets. (Mum sleeps in here), Tori will move across to K's room which is currently full to the ceiling with ironing! So that has to be done today! Then theres just the kitchen and downstairs loo to be done. Not much really but my goodness I have neglected them and they are a bit of a state!!!!!!

Wednesday is cake making day! Its K's birthday on Thursday and on my way up to mums (on Thursday) I am calling in at the Uni to give her, her birthday presents and birthday cake! Friday we should be returning provided the appointment with the specialist goes well. Then mum will be here for a week!

Right must dash, got to take T to school she has an English Literature exam today, it is based on Lord of the Flies by William Golding! I did this for my exams too, but I can assure you my result was consideranly lower than I expect T's to be!!!!

Housework Procrastination!!!!!

Just so you all know I don't live in a total pigsty!! I had promised myself that on the good days this week I would 'play' in the garden! I state 'play' because to me its not a chore its fun!!! Then when it rained I would do the 'chores' housework!! So its raining and so far I have tidied and hoovered the lounge and hoovered the stairs, now I'm on here!!!!!!! Dreadful aren't I!!!!!
I did the bathroom yesterday! I'm sure if I didn't live in a house full of 'clutterbucks' I would do more and be more houseproud!
I live in a terraced cottage which basically has 2 large rooms downstairs, a lounge which is split in 2, the TV end with multi fuel stove, TV, sofa etc and then an officy bit with filing cabinet, computer etc! Then the kitchen diner! This is the only part of the house, visitors see and its kept in such a way that if I have visitors, (becuase I live so far out in the sticks they have to phone first to see if I'm in)it will be spotless and sparkling in under 30 minutes!!! For those friends that just drop by, they are prepared to accept me as they find me. Clever huh!!

Right off to do a bit more!

Back now!!!!!!!! Actually 2 hours has passed since that last sentence and I have finished the kitchen diner, even washed the floor!!! 2 hours is along time to clean a kitchen??????? Your right I havent' been a full 2 hours tidying I've been down the greenhouse potting on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopeless case!! Well lets be honest you can't write a blog about housework can you??? But I bet someone has!!!
My lounge...



That red on the walls looks awful in the photo, but its really nice in real life, this is a north facing room and I have most of it painted cream which makes it light but quite cold, I love colour and we needed some warmth added so I decided to add some red! Looks really good at Christmas!!!!!!!
This is my pride and joy ....



When we moved in we had a small wooden fire surround and a very small fire with a back boiler and it was all plastered. All the other cottages had this wonderful fireplace so one day hubby went off to work and when he came back the fire surround had gone and I had chisled a line of plaster off from the bottom left corner up to the arch to see if it was still there! It was and it took us over 6 weeks to get the rest of the plaster off as it had been 'uni-bonded' on. Towards the end hubby was chucking neat acid at it!!! Anyway I think you will all agree it was well worth the hard work!!

Now I am stood in the doorway with my back to the lounge



and the stairs



thats Tori's room at the top of the stairs and this is as far as the tour goes!!!LOL!!!!!! I haven't 'done' upstairs!!!!!!

Now the 2 Red Caster Oil plants have really taken off



look at the roots



so of course they had to be done there and then



I am leaving one in the greenhouse and bringing one back into the house! The begonia's have started sprouting already



have to ask Ruth what I do next? Sweetpeas all over the place...




plus thers another tray, some of these are for my friend S, up the road.

The Baby Brugmansia is looking very poorly and to be honest I don't hold out much hope as the whole of the stem is soft!!



the big one on the other hand has really started going and I haven't repotted it yet! This is taken looking up the main stem



how the heck it will stay in the greenhouse until May I really have no idea? Then we have a couple of trays of tomatoes, chillies and peppers




The succulent in the greenhouse is really starting as well. having been green most of the winter it is starting to blush now...




Maybe thats what succulent do because I bought this plant at Ikea back in January and look at it now, it blushes too!!!

Housework?!?! & Post

As you know I would much rather play in the garden than have anything to do with housework!!!! On the Potting Shed (link on the right) they have started a new housekeeping thread and each day the moderator has set us a 10 -15 minute task! So I thought, I'm sure I can find 10 -15 mins each day and even if you really hate housework its over quickly. Today we had to wash the front door and frame! So here is the before photo



and here is the after...



Can you see any difference??? No neither could I!! But hey ho! its done now, but it will need a coat of paint this year!! As I had the bucket out the front I took the opportunity to wash round the window as well
before



now after...



I don't know if you can see it, but there is definately a difference here! We paid alot of money to have these put in, I should have sanded and painted them last year but I really, really hate this job. I HAVE to do it this year, so when the warmer weather starts give me a nudge to remind me and accept no excuses!!!

I recieved this in the post yesterday


(Click on it to enlarge)

even if my neighbour, his daughter hasn't the common courtesey to thank me, he has!! I wonder if she would be upset if I invited him round for lunch?? I'm sure she would be, so I will do it anyway!!!! lol!!

Right can't spend all day on the computer, bloggin, e-mailing and chatting to kathryn, I must go and do something!! Back Later!!