Today I was stopped in my tracks when I was reading online about the health challenges of one family. I do not know them personally but it made me think about all of the people I am aware of who face enormous health challenges every single day. I am reminded of how blessed we and our extended family are to enjoy good health and be able to participate in pretty well whatever activity we choose.
A lovely quote from one of my favourite authors.
And finally, something to consider.
I enjoy sewing and for the first time in my life I have an (almost) dedicated sewing room. However, despite my grand plans I have done very little sewing in recent times.
There always seems to be something more pressing to do – cooking meals, washing, ironing, gardening and so on. When I sew, I like to do it to the exclusion of the everything else so I have tended not to do it. The ironing always takes precedence over sewing, especially since I have the ironing board set up in the same room.
Anyway, there can be no more excuses as I have finally got the space pretty much as I want it.
The bed is completely free from any piles of clothes waiting to be folded or ironed.
The wardrobe is cleaned and tidied.
All of my sewing stuff is sufficiently ordered that I can locate what I need. The iron and ironing board are ready to use.
The sewing table looks untidy but much of it is projects waiting for some action.
My first priority is mending (socks) and some alterations. I need to take up the hem of trousers I bought in Canada as well as shorten a top I bought there, too. Next, I will complete 6 pairs of boys shorts which are partly made and are destined to be donated to those who need them. There is plenty more after that, including, finishing a long sleeved blouse for my daughter, the cover for the mattress on the day bed and dresses and tops for myself.
I will make time to sew.
It is one thing to instigate changes yourself but the ones that are forced upon you (for a wide variety of reasons) can be another thing entirely.
But hang in there because the end result may be beautiful.
This morning we headed off to catch the train as we do each weekday morning. It seemed that the train was a few minutes late but we did not give it too much thought until several stations down the line. It became apparent that this train was going to stop at several stations that are normally bypassed by this express service.
Then it dawned on us that today was the first day of the new timetable due to the opening of a new branch line. I then studied the timetable online and discovered several changes which will have a slight but noticeable impact on our morning and evening travel routine.
It is easy to slip into a routine that works for you but invariably there are outside forces at work to almost constantly disrupt things.
Both GMan and I are in the process of moving at work. GMan’s entire office is moving a couple of kilometres away to an entirely new building while my department is simply moving to a different floor in our building. All of this brings challenges and one of them can be the reaction of those around you. Negativity and anxiousness can easily be transmitted within a group.
I try hard to be as flexible as possible and make a conscious effort not to be upset by things which are beyond control.
How about you? Hope do you stay afloat when you seem to be surrounded by changes?
I have had the most glorious 4 days at home. Friday was a well-earned day off followed by a long weekend. Most weekends I am left with the feeling of wanting a couple more days to try to catch my tail. I would not say I have done everything but I do have a degree of satisfaction that I have made some progress beyond the basics of washing and meal preparation. The best part is that I have worked steadily but not frantically for some of the time as well as simply doing nothing at other times.
Here is a snapshot of what I achieved:
Washing and ironing – the first 3 days were brilliantly sunny with a breeze so all of the washing was done and dried which left me with a pile of ironing. I tackled this with enthusiasm since I was armed with a new iron as well as the ironing board cover that I made on Friday.
Shopping – most weekends I buy enough fruit and vegetables for the week as well as a few things from Aldi and Saturday was no exception. However, I also drove a bit further to go to Morayfield so that I could stock up at Simply Good, where I buy all of the flours, dried fruit, seeds, nuts and legumes that I use. I do this every 4months or so. Spotlight is nearby so I took the opportunity to have a look and found the fabric to recover the mattress for the day bed.
Decluttering/recycling – as we change and re-arrange furniture there is often some to move along to someone else who can use it. This weekend I listed 4 outdoor chairs and a large pine chest of drawers on our local Buy, Swap, Sell Facebook page and they have now gone to new homes. I also tidied and sorted the shelves in the wardrobe in the sewing/spare room and put a few things in a bag to go to the op shop.
Gardening – when I was at the market buying fruit and vegetables, I noticed a neighbouring stall selling seedlings. I bought and planted out basil, beetroot and capsicum seedlings. GMan mulched the shrub we cut down a few weeks ago and planted out several native trees and shrubs.
Outdoors – we have taken a few more steps towards finishing our outdoor living area on the verandah. The newly painted table is back in position as is the day bed, albeit without the mattress yet. I spent a good portion of today cleaning up the large concreted area under the house. This is a lovely cool area in summer and I am trying to make it more useable. I sorted and stacked various building materials so that they are in a logical order and easily accessible.
What a shame that I have to go to work tomorrow – there is so much more that I could do here at home.
I will some more details of some of the things I have mentioned tonight in upcoming posts this week.
It is 4.5 years since I wrote this post about covering the mattress on an old bed to use as a day bed on the verandah.
Unfortunately, it did not quite turn out as I had planned for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the cat thought I had made it for him and proceeded to lie on it regularly and blanket the entire surface with grey fur. Secondly, I realised that it was directly accessible to anyone entering our property and I would not feel secure being asleep there.
The second issue has been addressed somewhat by having a lockable gate installed.
However, the problem of the cat remains. I have considered this for some time now and decided that the best option was to have fabric on one side and vinyl on the other. I will keep it vinyl side up generally so that any cat fur can be easily wiped off but turn it over to the fabric side when I (or anyone else wants to lie or sit on the bed.
Since the original post, we have painted the bed frame in a dark grey (the same colour as the surround of the gate in the photo above). Additionally, the outdoor table is now red.
I had an idea that I could incorporate these colours into my new plans for the bed. So, today when I was shopping I went to Spotlight and was surprised and delighted to find exactly what I was looking for.
The plain black vinyl will be for the cat while the stripe fabric which was described as ‘outdoor canvas’ will be perfect for the fabric side. I should have enough left to make a couple of cushions, too.
I was really pleased to find exactly what I had imagined and I am looking forward to getting it made and ready to use.
As I mentioned in my last post, the ironing board cover really needed replacing so I made that project a priority for today.
I do not have a ‘before’ photo but I can assure you that it was ripped in a couple of places, very thin and badly stained.
Here is the new version which I made from a sheet which was no longer being used. The fabric is strong cotton that I bough and used to make a fitted sheet several years ago. I cut two layers for extra strength. The inside layer is cotton/bamboo batting.
The straps, velcro and binding around the edge were all salvaged and re-used from the previous version.
There are a couple of old layers from previous purchased covers which are under the new cover. It is firm but well-padded so a great surface for ironing.
I use 2 straps underneath the board to hold it firmly in place. You can see one of them here.
With a new iron and fresh cover for the board I am ready to do the ironing. Like most tasks, it is made easier with the right equipment.
While I am prepared to have a go at repairing almost anything, there are some things that only have one destination at the end of their life and that includes small electrical appliances such as irons.
I was almost finished the ironing on Sunday when I realised that the iron did not seem to maintaining its heat. On closer inspection I discovered that it was not on and that we had lost power on one circuit. A bit of judicious testing revealed that the iron was malfunctioning and tripping the circuit breaker.
So, the old iron has been discarded and I bought a new one on Monday.
I expect that when I do not have business attire to launder for both of us that my ironing pile will decrease significantly but for the moment an iron is absolutely essential.
Now, I just need to find time to make a new cover for the ironing board as this one is now worn out. It is actually close to 2 years since I wrote a blog post about the fact that it was about to wear out.
I really must do something about it this weekend. The new iron deserves a new cover on the board!
I did some repairs to my cane laundry basket a couple of weeks ago. I delayed showing you my handiwork until I was sure that it really was going to be successful.
Here is the well-used basket with some of the cane broken.
The rear of the handle on the left has broken canes. Here is a close up view.
These pieces should be positioned the same as the other side of the handle but once they have broken and the tension is released they have sprung away from their position. There is now nothing holding the handle in place and if I chose to, I could pull that side of the handle right away from the basket.
I had been considering how I could repair this for some time and I finally bit the bullet and bought some thin plastic rope. I would have preferred cotton cord but that did not seem to be readily available.
My general idea was good but I had not really thought through the finer details so I did that on the run.
Here is the end result and so far it appears to be holding up to the rigors of being a washing basket.
Well, Sunday evening has rolled around yet again in the blink of an eye. The weekends are simply not long enough for me to achieve everything I hope to do.
Some weekends are more productive than others and I am pretty happy with what I managed to accomplish.
All of the washing and 95% of the ironing are done. Why 95%? The iron decided it was time to die when I only had a few items left. So, one of my jobs for this week will be to buy a new one.
I have planned our menu for the week, bought fruit and vegetables, swept and vacuumed the floors as well as doing some painting on the verandah.
GMan and I went to the computer shop to buy a new tower for the desktop computer as the other one had been deemed as unrepairable. The new one should be ready next weekend.
Apart from sanding and painting GMan managed to do all of the mowing so he has been busy, too.
However, the weekend was not all work as we went to the movies in Maleny on Saturday evening to see, ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’. It was both funny and sad in places and I really enjoyed it.
Have you been waiting for another blog post?
I have been waiting for a parcel and today there was a card in the mailbox advising that it was ready to be collected from the Post Office.
Here is the box.
And the contents.
A new bag. I am not a great fan of online shopping and I debated long and hard before ordering this bag.
I had a clear idea of what I was looking for but finding it proved to be a challenge. I was not prepared to spend $300USD and then add freight on top of the purchase price. I eventually found this online shop which is based in Adelaide. I was able to ring the shop and speak directly to the staff who were able to answer my questions.
I needed a wheeled bag to transport my laptop and assorted files for work along with my lunch and umbrella etc. but wanted something a bit more stylish than a plain small suitcase. This Florence Broadhurst bag fits the bill perfectly and also meets cabin baggage size requirements and so will be a great weekend bag or hand luggage when travelling.
organised castle 