Digging for victory

My phone is being especially dicky so we'll see how well this goes. 

Today was the girls' first day back at school, and hazels first day full time, which means that I will now have 6 of my own hours every day. I felt quite rudderless straight after dropping them off, and just made a coffee and stared onto space for a few minutes, the weight of that time pressing down on me. It didn't take long however for me to have a look around and see how much housework there was to get on with. And it was only after I began that I truly realised that getting this house in order is something that will take me weeks of solid work, not days. That's fine, I'm glad to have a focus, and something that is so good for the family. 

I spend today cleaning the kitchen, lounge and bathroom, fairly superficially really. I will go through the whole house like this making it comfortable, then phase two, beginning next week, will see me going through everything and getting rid of the whole bloody lot of it. 

The house already feels better, and though by the time I picked up the girls I was tired, I didn't feel like I had a whole load to carry on with once they were about. Instead after school we made pizzas and talked about the day. Now they are in the garden and I am having a ten minute rest. 

As I had planned, last week I dug up a chunk of the garden to use for vegetable beds. My neighbour keeps horses and let me help myself to some manure, so the only thing I have had to buy is some netting to keep the cats from using it as a toilet. Sadly it hasn't stopped then lying on my chard seedlings and squashing them flat. The space doesn't amount to much but I think with pots as well next year, and some careful planning, it will be a job worth doing.