Is it just me

who is finding this January particularly tiresome.  World events do nothing to lift the gloom but the days seem so grey and foreboding I cannot wait for spring.

The decluttering is not going well, it gets worse before it gets better.  I put a few Rowan magazines on eBay with not much interest, they are now in sorted piles in the lounge. 

I have sold one item of Emma Bridgewater pottery having refused low offers on two other pieces, I’ve freed up hardly any shelf space at all just moved things round and not into better places. 

MrFF who has a completely different decluttering technique has turned the office into a bomb site. For 11 years I have reminded him that we have no way of listening to the hundreds of CDs we keep. I thought progress was being made when I found him sorting through them this week. Wrong, this was just the first pass, he was merely looking at them and didn’t have time to decide if he was keeping them.  Most are back behind the curtains in the lounge, a few are now on the office shelf and 3 went to the charity shop along with a some DVDs. That was quite a logistical exercise as first they had to go into a box then next day be transferred into a bag so I could carry them.  Only handle it once is an alien concept to some people, decluttering it seems is alien to us both.  

But credit where it’s due after 11 years of asking I finally have a full length mirror in the penthouse.  It’s fixed to the inside of the cloak cupboard door in the hall.  It’s lovely to be able to see my lower body and know what my shoes look like with an outfit.

After an iPad update I can no longer upload photographs, we have spent half the morning trying to sort this and given up.

Next day MrFF has fixed the photographs but not without raised voice and more stress.

Stuff

My attention was recently drawn to a newspaper article titled January is an ideal time to declutter your house.  How true, here in the penthouse we were holding a festival of clutter as I struggled to find places for our gifts. Many of these are edible and have been supplemented by MrFF’s post Christmas bargain buys, like 20 more mince pies.  Over consumption and storage on my hips isn’t an option so there’s been some cupboard reorganisation, not necessarily of the logical kind, I keep forgetting where things are.

We are hoping to get the penthouse recarpetted this year but it’s alarming to think how we’ll need to move and dismantle furniture in very limited space to accommodate the fitters.  MrFF sensibly suggested we should redecorate before the new carpet, not our favourite pastime, then we agreed we could update some of the old radiators before the decorating, what fun we shall have.  

At least a little yarn has been used and left the building.  At a family party over Christmas our youngest grand niece 3 year old Elodie was happily wheeling her dolls push chair containing baby doll Jonas around the guests.   I like the name, she chose it herself.  Sadly Jonas was wearing only a short sleeved legless body and had no bedding.  He has now as I made him a soft cotton blanket and had enough yarn left over for a hat.  I originally intended using the yarn to make dish clothes but this is a much better solution. 

I have resisted the urge to buy much in the January sales, I really hope this year to keep on downsizing.  Of course I won’t be able to resist the odd charity shop bargain, like this lovely Brost of Copenhagen mug I found for £1.99, perfect for my morning frothy coffee.

MrFF when he put the decorations back in the loft reminded me there is still a box of framed pictures up there.  Luckily at the time he didn’t have the strength to bring them down.  Maybe they can go to Italy, obviously they are not required in the penthouse since I have lived here without seeing them for the last 11 years

We woke up to snow this morning so did baby Jonas who apparently is out and about.

New Year

Not so new me, I am feeling a bit jaded after all the festive hoo ha.  Today we opened the blinds to snow and minus 5 degrees.  MrFF was up and out early as he had yet another doctor’s appointment where they arranged further blood tests for tomorrow. 

Last Monday before we headed out for lunch with friends he received a text from the surgery saying his recent tests showed him to be pre diabetic, an explanatory leaflet was attached.  Both abrupt and surprising, he’d been out that morning to stock up on beers that were on offer for new year, I didn’t ask if he’d kept the receipt.

Saturday we were back to York for a surprise 40th birthday party for our niece.  It was especially nice as it started at 5 pm so all the grand nieces, the youngest is 3, could attend, they were still going strong when we left around 10.  

Apart from the potential diabetic situation MrFF is back to normal.  He managed a 15 mile group walk on New Year’s Eve with no ill effects, looks better, he is eating well and mostly healthily.  We have not started the Christmas cake yet

This morning I managed to motivate myself to take down the Christmas decorations and while MrFF was returning them to the loft I got him to bring down the boxes of my old Rowan knitting magazines that I packed away years ago. I love these gorgeous magazines and bought them regularly, I have I think 32.  I actually knew someone who bought them even though she couldn’t knit and just looked at the pictures. 

I plan to sell them once I’ve checked if any are of great value, I have do this one but I am not sure I believe the price. Could it be an extra happy new year for me I wonder.