It’s still totally August!

I am holding onto that thought.  Because, you know.  I’m not ready for September. I mean, I have no problem with September as such.  In fact, I am pretty pro-September, in general.  Just not NOW, I’m not done with August!  Heck, I’m not done with JUNE, who stole June and replaced it with Septmeber.  This isn’t funny guys!  I’m onto you!  Bring June back right now, and I won’t even ask where it’s been, ok?  Guys?

Well, anyway.  Here are some photos of my chickens.

They are lovely.  Their tentative names are Dorothy S. Layer (Dot for short of course, although I would never call the real Dorothy L. Sayers that, it would be disrespectful), Agatha and Harriet.  Except I can’t decide who should be who and in fact I can’t really tell them apart yet.  Except for the youngest one, who looks smaller, obviously, as she is about 2 months more youthful than the others.  She was the first to get comfortable enough to lay an egg:

Why yes, I was very excited about it, why do you ask?  This is not my hand, btw, it’s the manpanions.  The better to make it look teeny and also take an in-focus photo. They’ve been churning out the teeny eggs, actually.  Here is a not very good or useful photo that I took of my fridge this morning, showing the eggs from my chooks in comparison with commercial eggs – the two up the back.

Perfectly salad-sized

They seem to be pretty peacable and there’s not been too much pecking etc.  They all came from the same place, so probably that was already settled.  They do kick up a fuss before laying, but who can blame them, really.

Let’s all take a moment to think of that poor chicken’s cloaca

Otherwise, I find the clucking and bokking to be a very soothing garden noise, and I am very pleased to have them.  I seem to have acquired many animals to feed, it’s nice to have some that feed me back.  Given that I am not really an animal-person.  As in, I quite like having a cat, but not as much as I like NOT scooping cat litter.  If you see what I mean.

The other thing happening in my garden is that the tulips are blooming.  I planted the raised bed FULL of bulbs, and the tulips have been up for a while, and are now pumping out flowers:

I planted rows of particular… breeds?  Species?  Whatever. Ones with names, like ‘queen of the night’, and in between I chucked in random bulbs from a big bag.  Looks like some of the randoms are first up, all the orange ones.  Although I was very excited to see this morning that there are some red, yellow and white ones now coming in.  Yes, I am easily excited by things happening in my garden WHAT OF IT??

Some of the edging grape hyacinths are having a go too, but something been nibbling them, much to my displeasure.  There are enough tulips up that I have felt ok about picking them, which was the whole point of planting them in the first place, so that’s good.  Also, given that I don’t really get to see them in the garden, I have started picking what there is on Sunday afternoon so I can see them during the week.

Luverly.  I am partial to tulips.

Happenings

Last week I came down with the black lung.  I spent Thursday and Friday in bed, coughing and achey, completely unable to do anything.  Even reading was too hard.  By mid friday, I was bored out of my mind and VERY whingey about it all.

Luckily, entertainments had been booked!  S’s kids are in Scouts, and they were performing in this year’s Scout Shouts.

Guys, a word of advice.  Never, ever go to see a pantomime performed by young children when you have a fever.  Especially not if it’s Peter Pan and appears to have random things thrown in just because they had extra people and costumes.  Like adolescent girls in lycra catsuits.  Just wrong.  They were led onstage by an adorable 5 year old and then BAM!  My involuntary reaction was ‘woah!  That’s confronting!’ and the lady next to me turned around and agreed.  It also involved an Indian scene rife with cringe-worthily inappropriate racist puns (although I did enjoy the scene that went: Hook:where’s my redskin? *first mate hands hook a lolly* Hook:no, where’s my REDSKIN? First mate: OH, you mean your nativeamericanprincess!)

And the second half of the show was a series of sketches themed ‘the human body’ and was apparently written by the young performers themselves which makes me feel a bit better about the amount and quality of the puns.  Sample sketch: two adorable young blonde girls run on stage in nurses uniforms (no, I don’t know why).  Someone chucks a bunch of plastic ears on stage.  The two adorable girls chorus ‘WELL THAT WAS EERIE!’ and scurry off stage in delight. 

Actually, I kind of enjoyed it, and the small children were incredibly adorable (especially the ones that popped out while they were changing scenes and sang ‘never smile at a crocodile’ over and over, complete with hand actions.  That song will not. Get. Out.  Of. My. HEad) but it was very, very surreal.  And ended quite late – about 11ish, I think, which was WAY past my poor invalid bedtime.

Then we had to get up early to vote (and wasn’t that all very exciting!  I am not commenting until it is all over because while i am not particularly sorry that Australia has registered its displeasure, the Mad Monk still scares the shit out of me) and collect my chickens. 

YES I HAVE CHICKENS.

They are Bantam Langshans and they are adorable, as are the teeny tiny eggs I am getting from them.  I have photos on my camera, and I will get them to the internet eventually.  They are black and shiny green, like beetles.

I spent the rest of the weekend doing not much, pottering around and coughing.  And this week I have had zero energy for anything, and the house is trashed.  It’s highly irritating.

I realise that I have no time because I am spending it bundled up on a couch with a snuggle buddy, and as such I am not complaining.  But given the amount of sorting and organising there still is to do of my sister’s stuff, it’s a bit irritating.  The spare room and laundry is literally just heaped with stuff.  I am hoping to get time this weekend to clear that out and get all of my sister’s stuff that’s left into boxes and in the shed.  And then I can start on my OWN stuff.

When I semi set up my craft room I sorted my wool stash and pulled out some rejects.  Mostly murky greeny brown colours that I will never use.  There’s more in there that I am determined to use  before buying more yarn.  Well, except that I just did, but that was for specific things – white for my semi-abandoned hexagon blanket and some yarn to knit S something for his birthday which I was thinking was nicely away in October but guys.  August is almost over.  And I only just remembered to turn my calendars over, so I’ve been missing out on Janet’s lovely photo of her sewing machine, all that time!  HOW is August almost over?  I nearly missed my sister’s birthday (luckily she’s already had her present).  So anyway, considering what a tardy knitter I am I probably should get going.  So I ordered more yarn. 

I haven’t been doing much crafting, to be honest.  I am still knitting away on a couple of WIPs, ones that don’t require much thought or input.  Thing is, I can’t really GET to anything – my stash is now accessable, but all those bits and pieces you might need – notions, scissors, measuring tapes – have no home.  That is also part of the projected tasks for the weekend.  Locating and amalgamating craft stuff.  Even if it WILL still be on the floor of the craft room for a while before I can get a new desk, at least it will all be in one area.  Things need amalgamating, Like needs to be with like, WIPs need to be sorted and assessed.

While thinking about but not doing all of this, I’ve decided that, as well as having too much of my sister’s STUFF, I myself have far, far too much STUFF.  I have too many plates and glasses and bowls, too many knick knacks (not that many, but definitely too many) JUST enough books, so please stop buying them unless you plan to finally read all those ones that you never got around to and then maybe pass them on.  Some things can be gotten rid of altogether, some, like the excess crockery, can be put in the shed in case I suddenly decide to entertain 30 people (ahaha). Problem is, by the time I get home, it’s cold and dark and I’m tired and lazy and just wish to sit by the fire with the cat.  And I get a little bit done on the weekend, but I really need a good two hours at LEAST with no distractions.  S would be perfectly happy to sit and read while I putter – last Sunday he sat in the sun while I pottered around weeding and watering and the like.  But I feel guilty and, more to the point, would rather join him in the sun reading, or on the couch talking, or whatever other activity is in the offing.  But I am DETERMINED to get at least the spare room and maybe the laundry sorted this weekend.  That would mean I could have a table to eat at, and the other organising can be done in half hour lots. 

I am trying to curb the wanties, too.  I want new, more, better.  My life would be shinier if I had this shelving system or that single use tool.  Mostly this is a symptom of inaction (buying feels like doing something, and if I don’t have time to make something I am more likely to buy it ) and of feeling poor.  Which I am not.  But I have a backlog of largish purchases to make, like more mulch for the front yard and a new desk, and bird wire for the rabbit run, and I really need new glasses but I’m putting it off.  I got my tax return, and the same week I got a water bill, a gas bill, an overdue phone bill (the post office has been losing our mail) and council fees.  Bye bye, tax return.  Which, you know, is fine.  At least it meant I wasn’t stressed.  And hopefully bills will be lower now my sister isn’t taking two showers a day and sitting in front of the heater all night.  I mean, there’s no one living there most of the week, since I am at work.  That should cut down the $$, one would think.  And I’ve downgraded the internet plan and decided to eat less meat (mostly because all that stodgy winter food was making me feel a bit icky), so hopefully the pennies will start to add up.  It would be nice to be able to buy those large things I want, and then maybe start paying more off the mortgage.  Well, there will always be something else that I ‘need’, I guess, but I’m trying to keep the wanties to a minimum.

Well, that was a tad whingey.  But I feel like that.  It’s friday, and I’ve been mildly sick and listless all week, and work has been irritating while I do bitsy work and wait for people to get content back to me, and I feel scratchy and bound down.  I bleached and dyed my hair last night – I had massive regrowth and the blue was fading, and I was SICK of it.  But it takes about 5 hours all up, so I had to stay up late to do it and now I’m tired, and I’ll have to top it up later because I missed some bits and didn’t leave it on as long as I’d like.  But I couldn’t see a free weekend when I was going to be ok walking aorund with gladwrap on my head for 5 hours, so I just went for it.  On top of that, I’ve been dragging up my mother issues this week, which has made me generally a bit glum and a bit churned up.  But that’s a blog post in itself.  If I ever get around to it.

 But, on the other hand, it’s friday!  Tonight I am heading up to S’s place in the hills, so I will get a good dose of lounging around guilt free on Saturday (while at the same time meeting one of his best friends, no pressure or anything) and then Sunday I might achieve things.  I’m hoping to use my pent up purging urge while it’s around.  What are you all up to this weekend?

Some things that are my garden

This is the view you get if you walk to the edge of the covered part of the verandah.  That pile of dirt is potting mix over mulch.  I got it delivered, and I got halfway through it before it got dark by the time I got home, and I ran out of steam.  Need to clear the potting mix off and find how much mulch I have left, and order more.  Need to finish mulching the front yard, and I also want to use it as path material for the beds you can see in the front, since they flood when it rains.  I also have to think about what ot do about the driveway, which the pile is on.  I was going to order more gravel, but if I do that, I have to KEEP doing it.  Thoughts, anyone?  The ground gets pretty muushy in winter, so it does need attention.  On the other hand, I don’t have a car, or indeed a license, so it’s hardly urgent.  I’m also plotting a washing line out here.  I have one, under the verandah, which is great for winter.  But it means I won’t get sun warmed sheets, and I like to air my quilt in the sun.  It’s also over the bit where people woudl sit in the summer, which is less than ideal.

You can see the New, Improved, Dodgiest Chicken Dome Ever™ right at the front.  And this morning I moved the guinea pig over those weeds – he can earn his keep.  That’s the tahitian lime in the potful of pansies, next to the raised bed of bulbs which you can’t see, because the weeds are too high.  I noticed this morning that some of the tulips have flowerbuds, I reckon I might even get a flower or two this week.  Thrilling!  Up the back there’s my exciting new compost bin.  Here it is being built:

As you can see, I was very helpful in the building of this.  My job mostly consisted of handing tools and also saying ‘it just has to be good enough, no, I think four ties per side is plenty, can I put these weeds in it now?’  Seriously.  Never get a perfectionist to help you.  Or, you know, always do.

I finally was allowed to put the weeds in it.  Speaking of, anyone know what this is?

It’s everywhere, as it was at our last house.  It’s not very deep rooted so I’ve been digging it up for the compost, and planting wildflower seeds instead (no idea if they’ll grow or not).  But I would like to know what I am digging. I wonder if I should leave some for the catterpillars that appear to be eating it.  I’m not a fan of catterpillars, but I do quite like butterflies, and I understand that a lot of native butterflies really struggle because of lack of the food and breeding plants.

I think I shall move my propagating table to this area between the shed and the fence.  Where it is at the moment, around the side of the house, it doesn’t get enough sun.  I might need to bring trays of seedlings out beside the front door too, though, to make sure I walk past them and give them a check and a water every day.  I think this area up the back would be a nice place to sit of a summer evening, and eventually I woudln’t mind putting in some sort of pond effort – maybe sink an old bath in?  Near the compost is good for frogs. 

And this photo is taken standing in the same spot as the top photo, but turning to my right.  The bit up the back where the straw and poles are is the ‘carport’, and joins up with where the ladders are in the top pic.

Oh dear, taking photos does make you see all the abandoned buckets and feed sacks, not to mention the weeds!  Oh, well.  You can see the edge of the F*&king ivy in this photo.  For reference, this is what it used to look like, with my sister’s legs poking out from under it:

You can see the edge of the ‘carport’ (the green bit of fence on the left) for direct comparison.  Oh, and all the F(*&king three cornered jacks at the bottom of the photo.

I am actually quite pleased with all the weeds, given that the bed is covered with ivy leaves, which are allopathic.  The weeds mean that the effect is fading and I might be able to grow things there myself.  I think this week when the bins are emptied I can clear that off finally, and mulch it with straw.

Here is my rough plan of the back yard, to match the photos.  It is totally not to scale, I just made it up completely.

The photos are taken from the top of the plan, where the verandah meets the concrete.  Anything with a dotted line is planned but not planted/setup yet. 

The chook dome beds (which I now see is misspelled.  Grrr) were originally a proper mandala – six circles around the central one, which was to be a pond.  But that bit where the kiwis are is so damp and dark in winter, as it’s shaded by the house.  I have abandoned it to shade liking things.  And I am dubious about how the kiwis will go – the female will get a decent amount of sun in summer, as the sun is higher and will make it around the side of the house.  Well, we’ll see anyway.  I’m going to try a tamarillo in there, and some violets, and I’m going to get that old blue sink I have lying around, stop up the drain, and set it in the ground as a teeny pond.  Hopefully to attract some frogs. I like frogs.

Because of the change of plans, this setup only gets me four chook beds.   I worked out this morning that I could do this (only thing different is the imaginary chook beds): 

I can’t fit the dome on most of the left hand beds, as it’s too narrow, but at the end between the apple trees it widens out and I could squeeze it in.  This way I could have five or six beds, but I’m waiting to see how much walking space I need between the beds and the raised bed.  I intend to have some herbs in one of those wine barrel pots on the concrete, and the bit where I’ve written ‘still covered in ivy’ there will be a passionfruit vine along the fence, and I think I will plant some things like silverbeet and lettuce and celery there.  Things that I can pick the outer leaves of continiuosly.  It’s close to the back door, so I can just nip out for some for a salad or stif fry, which is nice. 

The hypothetical rabbit run is under the car port.  They dig, so I can’t have them on dirt, and that bit is concreted so it’s perfect. My plan is to build a walk-in height (for my convenience and also because they like to sit on the roof of their hutch) pvc structure, large enough to put their hutch in and still leave them room to run around it.  The guinea pig might even be able to go live with them.  That means that under the vernadah will be free for human seating.  And it will also be less damp, because the verandah is not water tight and when it rains heavily they get flooded.  Which they don’t mind too much (they have above-ground sleeping areas) but having the hutch there makes everything STAY damp, which is gross and annoying.  I’ve just got my tax return back (woohoo!) so I shall have to plan a trip to get the materials soon – I want to use bird wire, because the sparrows get in their food at the moment which is MOST annoying.

I’ve been reading Jackie French again, and I reckon I can get another tree in the back yard.  Maybe an orange tree?  Near the raised bed.  Maybe I’ll leave out that extra chook bed and make that a space for oranges.  Mmmmm nom.  I also reckon I can fit another tree out the front (quince?  Persimon? everything ever?).  Oh, here’s the front:

The weird rectangle the roses are in is the ‘driveway’.  I put it in inverted commas because, although it is a standard driveway, there only a little gate at the front and there is a stobey pole in front of that.  So really, it’s just a double path.  The roses are in the middle bit, and where one had died off I planted a natal plum, which is a shrub.  I have another one too but I haven’t figured out where ot put it, and it’s looking a bit sad in its tube.

I still have a blueberry and a blackcurrant to plant out the front, under the trees, and will probably order some more berries like strawberries and whatever else takes my fancy, and also some rhubarb.  I WAS going to have the nectarine in the same hole as the peach and the apricot, but diggers can’t find their own arse, so they ran out of stock before they filled my order.  I am never ordering anything larger than tubestock from them again, they were absolutely hopeless, and every time I tried to check up on it, no one knew what was happening.  ANYWAY.  Now I’m going to have a dwarf nectarine in front of the window somewhere – they only grow about 1.5m high, so it won’t block the sun.

I have the avocadoes, but it’s still too cold to plant them.  I am going to use them as a hedge, but they’ll need some wind protection there.  I figure I’ll just whip up some shade cloth screens for now, and I might end up putting up a trellis and haivng a passionfruit on there as well.  Or maybe a jasmine, since I LOVE them (it’s not summer without that smell) and that way people can’t just walk past my house and steal my avocadoes.  Or, if the kiwis don’t do very well out the back, I could have a kiwi there.  Lots to consider.

And, for making it this far, I give you a picture of my cat, all tired out from crocheting:

Some things that are not my garden

I was going to introduce myself to my neighbours last night, but I fell asleep in front of the fire after dinner.  Whoops.

We went to see inception on Saturday.  It was EXCELLENT!  And don’t believe people who tell you you ahve to concentrate.  It’s was complex, and it needed attention, but we were pretty hung over and it was totally followable.  And Leo and Jason Gordon-Levitt are all grown up!  Oh, the memories.  I heard a rumour that JGL is going to play the Joker, which I thought was ridiculous, but having seen him in Inception I think he’ll be great.  My favourite bit of the whole movie was the floaty hallway scene.  So. Cool.  Way cooler than the matrix!  I would totally recommend to everyone that you go see Inception.  It’s the best movie I’ve seen in a very very long time.

Well, I did also wathc the Royal Tenenbaums and Watchmen, last week.  I realise I’m well behind the eight ball with these.  I went to have a movie night with a friend, who had been suggesting I watch RT for about a year.  But I have an irrational hatred of both Gwyneth and Ben Stiller, so I was resisting.  I loved it, it was fantastic.  And I think anyone who’s had a complicated relationship with a parent will identify with the movie.  Also, I secretly adore both the Wilson brothers.  Aaaaaw. Anyway, all the characters were interesting, even the ones I didn’t like (predictably, Stiller and Paltrow’s characters).

Watchmen was also fantastic.  I didn’t know anything about the series, although the manpanion has said he will lend me the comics.  I totally didn’t predict the ending, which is unusual for me in hollywood movies.  Well, I picked the bad guy, but turns out by the end I liked him the best.  And as a history nerd, I found it fascinating – I laughed at many things which I companion gave me funny looks about (not unusual, I admit).

I went swimming last Thursday.  My bus goes past the Adelaide Aquatic centre so I just stopped off and went for a swim.  I haven’t swum properly for years!  I’ve mucked around in the ocean, etc, but not swum laps.  It was fantastic, even if it did take my body about a half an hour to sort itself out and remember how to do it properly.  I’m going to try to get a swim in once a week, because it does make such a big difference to how I feel.  Partly because it’s winter and I sit on my arse all day, so exercise feels fantastic.  And partly because there is just something about being in water, about putting my head under it and seeing that cool blueness stretching out, that is so so revitalising.  And if I can figure out where the spa/sauna is in the aquatic centere, even better! (I know it’s in there somewhere)

Here is the only pic I have of the snapdragon mitts. 

I was going to snap a photo of my sister wearing them, and also the Peak’s Island Hood, but her last days in country were such a mad panic I didn’t bother.  The shot of the hood blocking is too dark and fuzzy to bother with.  Oh, well.

And here is a photo of my cat in a weird position, looking mad.

Thankyou for playing.

Spring?

Technically, it’s spring.  Not month-wise, but nature-wise.  It’s still wet and windy and freezingly cold, but increasingly there’s that little puff of promise.  Some days I can even smell the spring inside.

I got out in the garden a bit this weekend.  It was great.  My bulbs are growing, although it looks like only the tulips and grape hyacinths at this stage. I hope the others kick in soon.  And I hope they flower soon, my garden could use a bit of colour.

My bare root fruit trees from Yalca are putting out teeny little leaf buds.  I discovered this early one morning last week, and I let out an involuntary ‘squee!’ in the almost-darkness of the morning.  Whoops, sorry, new neighbours.  There is somethign magical about this.  You plant a stick, and a month later, it is GROWING.  I mean, obviously it is growing.  But it was brown and stick like!  And now there are Things Happening!  And I haven’t done anything to it, it’s doing it itself.

I thought at first it was just the cherry tree, but I had a closer look last weekend it’s everything except the apples and the kiwis.  Even the stone fruit which was only heeled in and got properly planted this week (very tardy) have teeny buds.  And the mulberry has actual little leaves.  I realise this is thrilling to no one but me, but that’s what my blog is for, so shoosh.  Every time I walked past a tree (which was lots of times because I am not an organised gardener, and had to keep running back and forth for tools) I would bend down to look.  And every time that little bit of green unfurling itself would take my breath right away.  Incredible.

I am particularly excited about the raspberries, for some reason.  Maybe because I wasn’t sure they’d grow where I planted them under a banksia type tree that sheds lots of leaves.  There was nothing growing there when I planted them, although now there are PLENTY of weeds to keep them company.  Maybe because the trees looked like trees, but the raspberries look like twigs that some idiot has stuck in the ground. Or maybe because OMG YOU GUYS RASPBERRIES!  I LOVE raspberries – well, all berries, really.  But I don’t bother buying them ever because they are so expensive and so hard to find good ones, it’s always just disappointing.  So I really really hope they grow well, although of course I won’t get any to eat for a year or two.  I have two avocado trees waiting until the soil is warm enough to plant them, and I picked the buds off of them.  It broke my heart (avocadoes!) but it had to be done.

I’m making myself a little diagram of what has gone in where.  When I check up my failing memory and make sure I haven’t left things out I will post it here for your unutterable delight!  You cannot help but be thrilled!

That was a joke.  It’s mostly because I can’t remember my own name half the time, and need to store this information somewhere.

I got a compost bin built last weekend.  I had the base and side of a crib that I got at hard rubbish at the old house, and recently scored a packing crate.  I asked S if he could dig holes for the star pickets, as he brought his nifty hole digger to finally plant the stone fruit.  Never give a job to a perfectionist.  I gave up helping and did some weeding, and a half an hour later I had a compost bin to put said weeds in.  The old, temporary compost bin which turned out to be in an inconvenient position has been covered over and left to moulder.  It’s mostly kitchen scraps and it’s been taking a month or so to compost.  I think it will probably go a bit faster, covered.  Which is good because I have some garden beds to dig, and they are mostly filled with rubble at the moment, so I shall be needing some compost.

I have found some chickens that I wish to buy.  They are Bantam Langshans, and I will probably be picking them up this Saturday.  So the other important job last weekend was to build a roost in The Dodgiest Chicken Dome Ever™, and stabalise it a bit.  It was nice to have that done.  I could really do with the chooks to help with the weeding – the bloody three cornered jacks are spreading and flowering.  There are just too many to dig up manually, although they appear to only be growing in one area.  So I’ll get the chooks in to eat them and then cover that over, I think, so they can’t ruin my summer.

I also did general pottering, pruning, watering, fertilising.  I got another binload of ivy down off of the fence.  One more lot to go, but it’ll be the hardest.  Some genius put a bit of concrete reinforcing mesh in there and the ivy has grown all through it.  Most annoying.  But then I can start growing some veggies in the bed under it, I reckon.  Tomatoes!  It’s almost time for tomatoes!  Planting, anyway.  MAN, I am tired of shitty winter tomatoes.

 Well, there is a lot of text here and not many photos, and that makes me nervous, so here are some photos of the $3 granny square blanket that I mentioned some time ago.

Because I am so super observant, I didn’t even notice that the squares have a pattern until I took a photo of it.

Isn’t it pretty?  It’s the perfect couch blanket.  Oh, and look, there are those poor neglected hexagon middles in a neat line along the top of the couch.  Haven’t been doing much crafting lately, to be honest.  No time, no time!  I seriously don’t understand how people with children manage to get anything done, ever.  Seriously.  When?  When do you have time?

Lurking

My computer is still broken.  I have missed it about once.  This is mostly on account of being very busy, I guess.  My sister is GONE and while I do miss her, it is so so lovely having my space back.  Although I keep finding things of hers.  On the saturday she left, I asked ‘are you going to pack up your furniture’ and she said ‘no, is that ok?’.  Um, NO, but we have to leave in an hour to catch your plane and you are still packing, so I guess it has to be.  When I packed up her bed the next weekend, I found about 10 socks underneath it in a pile.  I put them in a box, just like that, attached dustbunnies and all.  Because I am a heartless bitch, I guess.

Anyway, I’ve been sorting and cleaning and generally reclaiming my space, in between working and socialising and all the other things I apparently do.

On Saturday, I turned this:

Into this:

An almost-craftroom, painted in ‘applegate’.

Everything that was hiding under my bed came out from under it, and the spare matress replaced it.  And the dust was swept up and Monday morning was the first morning in a fortnight I didn’t have a coughing fit after my shower, so that’s a plus.  My fabric stash is in the meatsafe you can see, and my yarn stash is on the wooden shelves next to it, sorted into two big bins of 8ply, one of 12 ply, and one of 5ply.  And also my basket of fancy yarn.  I have a lot of yarn, it turns out.  And fabric, too, for someone who doesn’t really sew.  I would really like to use enough of it that I can fit all the extra craft bits (two boxes of paper craft, one of beads, the tatting stuff, you get the idea) into those shelves. 

The computer desk is on the right of the photo, with the as yet unfixed computer on it.  Gotta do something about that.  And the pile of boxes to the left of the shot will be replaced by nice new sewing desk as soon as I get my tax return back.

I also turned this

Into this

And then into this

And then I filled it with books.  The bookshelf on the right almost fits all my fiction books, and the stripey one would fit all my non fiction, if the craft books and magazines weren’t taking up half of it.

This is what you see if you stand with your back to those shelves and fave the other way, and also if you are me holding a camera.

I really love my house quite a bit.  Hmmm, must paint that door, except I’ve burnt through the entire 4 litre can of ‘peplum’ white. 

I’ve planted trees and shrubs in the front garden, and bulbs are coming up in the back.  No photos of those, apparently.  I am going to have to write down what I planted where, and then blog it for when I loose that piece of paper.

And as of last night, I officially have neighbours.  Someone has moved into the other half of my semi-detached house.  I haven’t met them yet, I got home late from dinner with friends, but their cars were there and I could hear a woman laughing, faintly, through the walls.  It made me a little bit sad… my little house isn’t as private an island as before.  Hopefully they are nice and not too judgemental of my sower-sob filled front garden.