playing house

With Richard and three quarters of the children gone for the week, I all of a sudden had so much time that I was wondering if the days got longer and nobody had told me*. It wouldn't surprise me, I have not watched the news in weeks!

In between working or playing with fabrics or watching Netflix, I have been blitzing parts of the house. There are so many things that need attention and never get it. Whilst I don't exactly love tidying and cleaning, I enjoy the results and to some extent, I enjoyed the process of working my magic.

First I got to work on some of the upholstered pieces of furniture. Seat and armrests of the older of my two sun yellow armchairs had taken on a hue of French mustard gone bad. I have been trying really hard not to notice but both chair and its footstool were in dire need of a scrub. The footstool was also one of Jack's favourite chewy targets when he was a puppy (he is nearly three), the fabric in a bottom corner was torn. I found some upholstery cleaner and went down to business. I lost interest very quickly but I didn't fancy a 'before and after' effect on one single item. What a difference a bit of elbow grease can make. I also mended the tear in the stool but will have to get a fabric sample to patch it up better. Did you know you can get fabric samples at Ikea?

Next I tended to our neglected rugs. We don't have many but all were in need of a good clean. I considered renting one of those rug doctor machines but didn't fancy carrying it home on my bike. So I went down on my knees and did a bit more scrubbing, giving our living room rug my full attention. The  rug under the dining room table also got some attention but less as it is newer. Again, the difference was amazing. The colours are so much more intense, almost like new. I also trimmed the threads from the underside of the rug in the one corner that Jack chewed up back when he was still a naughty pup.

I washed bedding, wooly winter jumpers, sleeping bags and picnic blankets because they needed it.

I attempted to do some gardening, just weeding and pulling up plants that mysteriously died. Our garden is on a steep hill, which the previous owners had terraced. This makes tending to my flower boarders quite convenient because it is gentle on old joints and bones, no kneeling down. I gave up sooner than I wanted to because I managed to disturb an ant colony in the sage pot. They were irascible ants, I barely touched the pot but they went to full assault mode, two million ants in my cleavage (I was reaching over the pot to pull some weeds). It was a painful experience I do not wish to repeat anytime soon. I guess there are disadvantages to terraced flower boarders.

I sorted my fabric stash (but you know that already)

And finally, I de-haired the living room. There was enough animal hairs in there to stuff a cushion. I sometimes wish we had opted for non-shedding pet varieties. Tortoises maybe.

If it wasn't for ironing my fabric stash, I might have tackled the insides of our kitchen cupboards.

When the crew got back, things very quickly deteriorated and of course nobody noticed the sparkling rugs. Ah well.

Disclaimer: at the off chance that you think I am a perfect homemaker, I am not. I did not use more than 30 minutes of my precious 'holiday' time for each of the above. There was of course less of the usual large family associated mess as there were just two people in the house.

Anyway, not the most exhilarating of posts, I know. It is good however to remind myself of the minutiae of life, otherwise (in the distant future) I might delude myself into thinking that my life was a succession of holidays and making beautiful things.

Thanks for stopping by and saying hello. x

*I read a book once where the rotation of the earth suddenly slowed down, resulting in a change of day and night length. It was quite frankly, a terrifying thought project.