And so I find myself trapped back in mumps prison. Finn’s face is fatter than ever and the chances of mixing with the rest of humanity still scarce. So what’s a good housekeeper to do?
Strip I say.
Strip away the nonsense cluttering every surface in the house. Clear out the fiddly bits drawer (I know you have got one!). Attack the bathroom cupboard with a bin bag in hand. Get rid of every unuseful bit of paper in the entire house. Edit your dvd collection. Create a bag of books to give away. Drink nettle tea all day and strip away the toxins swimming around your veins. Force the kids to give up one toy each (It won’t kill them and they will only hate you for the next ten minutes). Take rugs up and go hang them over the line in the garden. Remove little stabs of depleted candles. Put anything likely to survive it into the dishwasher (Candlesticks, trays, kids manky plastic nonsense, rubber bath mats, dusty ornaments, the works – though probably not all at once!). Eat sushi- makes you feel wierdly washed inside. Eradicate every wandering leaf in the garden. Prune things. Change every bed in the house. Take library books back. Clear a shelf and await inspiration. Pay a bill before its time and feel financially virtuous. Strip away guilt. (Who needs it??) Chuck out an item of clothing that makes you feel rubbish. Go through your sentimental nonsense and get brave. Give away your magazine collection (I dare you!!). Edit a collection: don’t have items in it just to keep the numbers up. Say no to somebody. (NO! I don’t wanna!!) Even if there is a little bit of you that would be thrilled. Clean out the fridge. Make space for culinary dreams. Rip out the pages of your 2007 diary already passed and start the year all over again. Dance like no-one is watching and wipe numbers you never intend to call again from your mobile phone..
Discover my daily domestic to-do lists, join the conversation, read-along with the BrocanteHome bookclub and find exclusive Community only benefits inside.
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
Though this January has been exceptionally soggy, it is usually in this, the first month of the year. that,I get to to dreaming of all the tiny little pleasures Spring brings: from laundry drying in the garden to bundles of white tulips, Spring cleaning and a gentle shift in mood from subdued to almost alive…
Rain. Huge big plops that call for a sunny yellow Sou’wester and a cherry red smile. Vegetable chilli in the slow cooker and candles lit everywhere because this is surely the darkest day in the history of all our Augusts. You fight your way through knee high cottage flowers to feed chickens that squawk in surprise to see…
Unless we are very, very lucky indeed, life occasionally has an element of repetition. In fact let’s go completely nuts and admit that there are times when living through Groundhog day would offer more variety than the endless whirl of laundry, school run’s, the horror of commuting and the effort it takes to pin a…
Now there’s a title likely to worry my Mum. But then it is her fault that what I am about to type is fluttering around my brain. You see we were talking about the dog, who currently sleeps in a cage at the end of my bed because he simply cannot live without me and…
Black coffee and bitter chocolate. Junk shops and home-made gingerbread. Vintage cashmere, worn out denim and pale pink peony. Lace, crochet and milk-glass. Letters tied up with ribbon, memories, diamanté and a pot of tea. Babies, mummies and housework. Photos, scrapbooks and cosy blankets. Blowzy dahlias, forget-me-nots, vanilla and cups with spotty saucers. Dreams, ritual…
Who needs MySpace when you can go and hang around The Pantry at BakeSpace… MySpace for cookers and cakers… Other Things To Do At BrocanteHome Join the BrocanteHome Community Discover my daily domestic to-do lists, join the conversation, read-along with the BrocanteHome bookclub and find exclusive Community only benefits inside. Join Today (It's FREE!) Life…
6 Comments
How funny that you should write this today as I started exactly this process over the weekend. There's still a long way to go but we've already managed to clear a lot of junk over the weekend and it feels good! I even went through all my old issues of Country Living(about 4 years worth), tore out the bits I wanted and recycled the rest and it wasn't painful at all! Hope Finn is soon feeling lots better. I remember mumps. Not nice! x
How funny that you should write this today as I started exactly this process over the weekend. There's still a long way to go but we've already managed to clear a lot of junk over the weekend and it feels good! I even went through all my old issues of Country Living(about 4 years worth), tore out the bits I wanted and recycled the rest and it wasn't painful at all! Hope Finn is soon feeling lots better. I remember mumps. Not nice! x
You have totally inspired me. This is something I HAVE to do anyway because we will be selling this house soon but I've been dragging my feet. I am going to print this off and hang it on my fridge to read whenever I get a lazy bone. Thanks Alison you are the best!!!
You have totally inspired me. This is something I HAVE to do anyway because we will be selling this house soon but I've been dragging my feet. I am going to print this off and hang it on my fridge to read whenever I get a lazy bone. Thanks Alison you are the best!!!
I am in total agreement with everything EXCEPT the parting with the magazine collection. It's Victoria magazine! Every single issue including the first one. That should just count as a family heirloom to be passed on or a piece of literary history somehow. What ever happened to that editor I wonder? Thanks so much for the other ideas!
How funny that you should write this today as I started exactly this process over the weekend. There's still a long way to go but we've already managed to clear a lot of junk over the weekend and it feels good! I even went through all my old issues of Country Living(about 4 years worth), tore out the bits I wanted and recycled the rest and it wasn't painful at all! Hope Finn is soon feeling lots better. I remember mumps. Not nice! x
How funny that you should write this today as I started exactly this process over the weekend. There's still a long way to go but we've already managed to clear a lot of junk over the weekend and it feels good! I even went through all my old issues of Country Living(about 4 years worth), tore out the bits I wanted and recycled the rest and it wasn't painful at all! Hope Finn is soon feeling lots better. I remember mumps. Not nice! x
I'm taking the magazine challenge on friday. Must be 200 of them. I thought I'd look at them again. I won't. Blogs are so much better!
You have totally inspired me. This is something I HAVE to do anyway because we will be selling this house soon but I've been dragging my feet. I am going to print this off and hang it on my fridge to read whenever I get a lazy bone. Thanks Alison you are the best!!!
You have totally inspired me. This is something I HAVE to do anyway because we will be selling this house soon but I've been dragging my feet. I am going to print this off and hang it on my fridge to read whenever I get a lazy bone. Thanks Alison you are the best!!!
I am in total agreement with everything EXCEPT the parting with the magazine collection. It's Victoria magazine! Every single issue including the first one. That should just count as a family heirloom to be passed on or a piece of literary history somehow. What ever happened to that editor I wonder? Thanks so much for the other ideas!