My daughter joined me in the conservatory this morning during my quiet time. I had spa music playing and she said that the atmosphere was really nice. She seemed to want to chat about this and that so I went with the flow. I do love these kind of moments; they seem to be popping up more and more with my daughters recently. Mostly with each one individually.

After my daughter left the room, I set a timer for my usual 24 minutes. My mind kept thinking about the benches I saw in Herne Bay yesterday as well as the one I sat on in my mum and dad’s garden. I felt drawn to sketching again.

I look forward to my quiet time every day and I’m hoping that I can still carry on with it after my week off.

A few decluttering hours

I spent hours and hours downstairs today decluttering the kitchen, dining room, hallway and shoe cupboard areas (again). I am amazed at how long it took me to shift the stuff. I tend to move things around when sorting out other rooms so I was left with bags by the back door and items on the table to sort through which were a mix of recycling, charity stuff and things that I needed to find a place for. I was also out yesterday so I got behind with things in the kitchen.

The shoe cupboard looks better though – I did sort things out in there early on in the year, but items have crept back in such as carrier bags due to the extra ones that have been arriving with the shopping these days, and there was even a bag of books that I thought I’d put in the garage to be given away.

I moved out the stuff that shouldn’t have been in there and threw away a few old pairs of flip flops that had seen better days. I also thought about how I could make a bit more space in there by transferring the shoes that I’m not wearing at the moment (i.e. work shoes, holiday flip flops) to my wardrobe upstairs. I’d created a whole shelf for my shoes a couple of days ago so that worked out well and there’s still space.

Let’s see if it can stay tidy in there. I’ll be keeping my eye on things.

I eventually had to stop to cook dinner… home-made meat pie with mash and vegetables.

It was quite tasty if I say so myself. After that I was faced with all of the clearing up. So, by 9pm I was able to sit down to write.

How am I feeling?

The purpose of today was to clear some space around me downstairs so that it feels like it does when I’m in my tidy conservatory (where I can be totally calm). I spend a lot of time in the kitchen/dining room area and it’s felt very cluttered lately. Like most homes, it’s a high traffic area where everything happens, so it’s understandable that it gets like that. I couldn’t believe how many times my husband came downstairs to get a cup of tea today or something to eat, and the girls occasionally rushed down and then back up again after grabbing this and that (they’re busy preparing for going back to school and have lots of school work to do).

What doesn’t help with the clutter build up, is that I have a habit of bringing things downstairs or in from the garage and then I run out of time to put the stuff away or sort things out because I get interrupted with having to make dinner or do something for someone. It’s a well know fact that the area by the back door seems to be the place that I dump things until I have time to sort them out.

I think I’ve made a dent today, but it’s still not completely how I would like it. I’m sitting at the tidy breakfast bar listening to the feint hum of the dishwasher. It’s so satisfying knowing that all the dishes are being washed whilst I am sitting here just listening to it. I’m very grateful for my dishwasher as I know that not everyone has one.

I know that there is still a box of stuff to sort out in the dining room area behind me, so that will have to wait until tomorow as I’m feeling tired now. The space by the back door is clear so that’s positive.

I know how important rest is for me so I’m going to call it a day now and get this posted. Instead of thinking that I’ve not finished, I should reframe that thought and be proud of myself for what I’ve achieved today. There’s always tomorrow…

Until then…

Sandra