The girls went back to school today after six months of being at home. It was a bit daunting for them, but they got through it. I was proud of them. The routine for me of making sure that uniform is all washed and ready, packed lunches done in the morning etc etc will all start up again. I’m hoping that it doesn’t mean less sleep for me! I was enjoying my lie in every day.

What made the transition easier for the girls, after working from home for so long, was for me to take and pick them up from school so that they didn’t have to get the bus. It was actually quite nice getting out for a drive and also having a chat on the journey.

After work, I went to pick them up and got there a 15 minutes early to get a good parking space. I took the opportunity to have some quiet time in the car. I did some deep breathing and almost nodded off.

When I got back into the house, I tried to continue with some me time, but it didn’t really work out. The routine will need to settle down a bit before I can work out where I can fit myself in again. I’m hoping that it will be soon, although work is still as busy as ever.

I tried to be positive and started preparing a roast dinner and whilst I was peeling the potatoes (a task that gets my mind going) I was thinking about how I would prefer to be clearing some space somewhere rather than cooking. I just needed to do something to move things forward.

I thought about these new grey plastic baskets that I bought yesterday and how a couple of them could possibly fit nicely in the medicine cupboard in the kitchen and would be an interim solution to tidying up the mess in there.

I just knew that sorting the two shelves out would make me feel better (as it’s been bugging me for a while) and I could easily fit the task in whilst cooking a roast. Clearing is all about small steps, so even though I didn’t have a lot of time, I knew that I could easily fit in a few steps today and do the rest another time.

Many months ago I created labels for each type of tablet and although it seemed like a good idea at the time, it has been too difficult to maintain. I still get asked where the paracetamol is even though it clearly has a label. The problem is that things rarely get put back in the right place and I think that it includes me sometimes when I’m in a rush or the space is full! So, it was time for a change.

It felt very satisfying dumping the contents of the two shelves onto the floor which I literally did in minutes once the potatoes were in the oven. I then did a quick check for anything that didn’t belong in there as well as expiry dates on bottles, packets and tubes. I was surprised how much of it went into the recycing/rubbish pile (below).

This clutter pile made me feel very pleased that I was going to be putting less back in the cupboard. Unfortunately the baskets (which weren’t bought for this purpose anyway) wouldn’t quite fit next to each other so I went for one on each shelf for now whilst I research if they do other sizes. I found a couple of other temporary baskets to hold some of the other items.

I still need to organise the contents of the baskets properly; however, it’s amazing how doing these few small steps today changed the way that I felt. The space is now being used better and we should be able to find things.

… and the roast was good too.

Thoughts about tomorrow

I’m feeling a little bit sad about something today and wanted to share my thoughts with you. Tomorrow we are having two silver birch trees chopped down in our garden. It’s something that my husband has wanted to do for years but I’ve always persuaded him to keep them; however, they are getting a bit overgrown and the roots are now visible through the grassy area around the garden. The trees are in the wrong place as well, so I finally agreed to get someone round.

After eating my dinner this evening, I stayed at the table staring at the trees for the last time. This morning I took photos of the sunlight reflecting off the white bark. The swing seat is going to look odd on its own without the trees there so that’ll need to be the next thing that gets moved. The tree stumps will need to be removed too (the guy won’t be doing that tomorrow). We also need to sort out the grass as it’s mostly moss and weeds.

I supposed I should be seeing it as clearing more space in the garden rather than trying to hold onto things that don’t fit anymore (a bit like the clutter). My husband has a lot of ideas for the garden but I’ve never been able to picture anything other than what we’ve got. Maybe once the trees have gone I might be able to visualise something and be of some help to him when he’s coming up with the design.

I’ll be posting before and after photos tomorrow so that I will at least have some memories of them on my blog. The ‘silver’ lining is that we are planning on buying some new smaller trees to be planted in different parts of the garden, so I’m looking forward to doing that soon.

I would love a blossom tree or something similar. That’s a positive thought that I will go to sleep thinking about. The tree surgeon will be here around 8am and I need to take the girls to school, so I’d better get some sleep.

Are any of your routines starting to change?

Hope you’ve all had a good Tuesday.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra