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I'm not opening the laptop most days. We've been busy - vast amounts of laundry, packing, Linnea reading, Emer and me gardening, Astrid pushing chairs across the floor and walking to catch up with them, visitors, DIY plans, more laundry, housework, summer food, eating in the garden, and getting ot bed before midnight at least sometimes.
Apr. 13th, 2011
Today my sprained ankle was much better than it had been, so I was able to do a bit more. Plus I'm sick to the back teeth of laundry. And we're not caught up yet. And we're going away soon.
So the first thing I did today, after cleaning children and making my bed and getting everyone breakfast and wiping the table and so on, was to dye a load of children's tops and my hankies a vivid flamingo pink with Dylon machine dye. And I took in dry laundry and hung out clean wet nappies and helped the children in the garden and did some gardening.
We weeded the flowerbeds - convulvulus and dandelions mainly, though I also halved the Herb Robert in places - and opened the cold frame. We watered the tomatoes, spinach, parsley, basil and marigolds in the cold frame and the potatoes in their grow bags. We also watered the apple tree, redcurrant bush, blackcurrant bush, and gooseberry bush (none of which are bushes, they are all slightly leaf-topped sticks, but who's counting?) and dug about for the secateurs. I didn't find the secateurs but I found a shears and I cut back the ever-erupting blackberry briars. And I tackled the jasmine, pulling dead matter out, plaiting obstreperous green shoots back in, and trimming it a good deal - I think we'll knock out a couple of the trunk bits this year, if it's still not dead.
The mint I killed years ago is coming back.
I also laundered a duvet and a set of bedlinen, and took delivery of a ton of second-hand books. Then I did finances online and read the whole internet. And because I was so tired of painful tidying up tasks which don't show an immediate benefit, I stood in the kitchen and oiled our wooden butter-spreaders and the breadboard, to comfort myself. We have six other little chopping boards I need to do soon, too.
The cuts on my hand were soothed by the oil and I washed with aqueous cream, not soap, which also helped. The itching might stop soon too.
It's actually a really really nice day here chez nous.
Immediately edited because I totally forgot that I picked all the clothes out of Astrid's wardrobe, folded and sorted them, and took the too-small ones out of use. That took a while, too. I wonder what else I've forgotten I did?
So the first thing I did today, after cleaning children and making my bed and getting everyone breakfast and wiping the table and so on, was to dye a load of children's tops and my hankies a vivid flamingo pink with Dylon machine dye. And I took in dry laundry and hung out clean wet nappies and helped the children in the garden and did some gardening.
We weeded the flowerbeds - convulvulus and dandelions mainly, though I also halved the Herb Robert in places - and opened the cold frame. We watered the tomatoes, spinach, parsley, basil and marigolds in the cold frame and the potatoes in their grow bags. We also watered the apple tree, redcurrant bush, blackcurrant bush, and gooseberry bush (none of which are bushes, they are all slightly leaf-topped sticks, but who's counting?) and dug about for the secateurs. I didn't find the secateurs but I found a shears and I cut back the ever-erupting blackberry briars. And I tackled the jasmine, pulling dead matter out, plaiting obstreperous green shoots back in, and trimming it a good deal - I think we'll knock out a couple of the trunk bits this year, if it's still not dead.
The mint I killed years ago is coming back.
I also laundered a duvet and a set of bedlinen, and took delivery of a ton of second-hand books. Then I did finances online and read the whole internet. And because I was so tired of painful tidying up tasks which don't show an immediate benefit, I stood in the kitchen and oiled our wooden butter-spreaders and the breadboard, to comfort myself. We have six other little chopping boards I need to do soon, too.
The cuts on my hand were soothed by the oil and I washed with aqueous cream, not soap, which also helped. The itching might stop soon too.
It's actually a really really nice day here chez nous.
Immediately edited because I totally forgot that I picked all the clothes out of Astrid's wardrobe, folded and sorted them, and took the too-small ones out of use. That took a while, too. I wonder what else I've forgotten I did?
Resolutions for May
Apr. 13th, 2011 07:56 pm- Arrange home improvements we've been talking about for about four or five years.
- Vote.
- Take the children to London and have lunch with Rob and see his workplace.
- Attend my very first baby shower ever.
- Plant a bunch of things in the garden.
- Take the children to Oxford to see the same museum again.
- Make firm plans to take the children to Beale Park.
- Make firm plans to take the children to Legoland.
- See what's on in the South St theatre and book tickets if relevant.
- Go to Reading Museum and spend time looking at the art gallery as well as the biscuits.
- Children's Festival starts on the 14th - plan which events we want to see / attend.