Scrubbing up

Continuing in the spirit of Getting Things Done and making our space tidier, cleaner, smarter and more comfortable we spent a lot of the last weekend doing a job that has been on the list for a while.

The largest bedroom in our house has been used jointly as Will's office, as he works from home, and my workspace for my art. I have a large 6ft desk and for a while was using this valuable space every day. However, since becoming pregnant I haven't had the time or energy to work on my art so this became a wasted space, and instead of being useful was just a 6ft platform for gathering Stuff.

On Saturday I cleared the desk and put it in the garage - it will be great for food if we have summer parties - , chucked out what could be chucked, gave away what could be given away, and made a good start at organising everything else. There is a lot that I don't want to get rid of as will continue with the art when the time is right, and I also have a lot of craft stuff that will be fun when the kiddies are a little older.

I wish I had a before picture as it was shocking! But here is the after, now a little play area for Ivy as we do spend a part of most days upstairs cleaning and keeping Will company.  

I cleared off the mantle in the lounge which had a lot of indoor bulbs that have been looking quite tatty because I didn't water them the whole time I was ill! I will give up on these and plant them in the garden, they will be beautiful next year. I bought a couple of candlestick holders from Lidl that were discounted to £2 because the packaging was damaged, and they have brightened up the space. 

This is long overdue, but I had to take a photo of the amazing quilt that Pam made for us for Christmas. It has been on our bed ever since with the matching cushion and I adore it! It is exactly my colours.

It is a grey and grizzly day today. I have to go out mid-morning as me and Ivy for for a walk every day so she can nap, and in the afternoon for baby group. Apart from that I intend to barricade us in against the elements, keep the tea flowing and do very little!

Starting early

After being away for most of last week we have spent this week, and especially the weekend getting everything back in order and beginning early on our spring cleaning.
We stayed with my MIL last week who has cats and dogs, so everything we took with us had to be washed (with a small child, this amounts to quite a lot!) as well as the sheets from having visitors right before we left and generally catching up on laundry from my illness, so last week was a frenzy of washing and drying (all in the tumble as the weather has mostly been cold and stinking.)
A job that has been on The List for a long time is sorting out locks for the kitchen cupboards, and this is something I finally took care of this week. They arrived today and Will has now fitted them - fab news as not only can we now put everything back in the cupboards and off the counters/wherever Ivy has taken and left things - but we were also able to put all of the doorknobs back on the cupboards, which we took off a few months ago thinking that would deter Ivy (har har har).
Will has listed his large chest of drawers on ebay and plans to build something better suited to the space once that sells which is exciting, and I have requested that when he gets a chance he builds something matching for the tall skinny alcove to the side of the chimney breast in the bedroom for all my knick-knacks.
My sister in law has given me a huge bag of reusable nappies that she never got into with her little one unfortunately, and a friend has just given me a bundle of baby clothes so we are feeling quite set on that front - only 5 months to go now!
Although we have a few things on weekends we are hoping to spend the next couple of months restoring order to the house, getting rid of more things we don't need, and getting everywhere really spanking - especially replacing things that are tatty or beyond repair. It's really nice to think that by the time the new baby comes along we'll be all sorted - no prospect of buying a house on the horizon as there was with Ivy, we can just be settled and sorted and get on with it.
On that note, yesterday was the anniversary of us completing on our home - happy day!
We celebrated today by taking Ivy swimming for the first time at the local pool - mixed response - and then going to the pizza hut in Swansea who now do vegan pizza. I drove us everywhere and remained unflapped even after lots of wrong turns, hill starts and dead ends in ponty, and a sheep coming straight for me when I was doing 60 on the ponty road! A definite development.
Over and out for now.

Big (little) news

I'm back! (again!!)
Yes, here I am. Another long absence from buy-less-live-slowing, and with good reason once again:

Yep, we've got something cooking, and in six months time we'll have another little bundle of bonkerness in our family!
I've not been well again for the last couple of months with morning (all day) sickness, and then caught one of these winter viruses going around that struck me down for 3 weeks over Christmas. On the mend now and I'm sure I'll be fighting fit in no time.
We've not been up to that much lately as a result. I have been very lucky and sold quite a few paintings and a couple of drawings (with another possible two sales on the horizon) which have covered my outgoings. Creative work will have to stop or at least slow down for a while as any spare time I have is needed for resting.
We've been working on a couple of home improvements - painting the damp kitchen with moisture resistant paint which will hopefully make a difference, and finally replacing the curtain, which just wasn't working for us, with a new blind.

Not buying less at all but we've also replaced our beloved 70s sofa with a new sofa bed. It made practical sense as we were after a sofa bed really anyway and the coarse wool of the orange sofa was difficult to keep clean with a sticky toddler. The new sofa has really smartened up the room and we love it, but I'd be lying if  I said I didn't have a little wobble as we said goodbye the the old one.
The couple who bought the matching chair from us in summer were very keen to take the sofa off our hands.

That's it for now really. Life carries on as ever - slow and peaceful. There is a lot more winter to get through and we are looking forward to the longer days and a bit of sunshine.
I have hired a doula - something I couldn't afford to do last time - and am looking forward to feeling better and preparing for the arrival of the newbie.