Incomprehensible!!

How does it take me only one or two minutes to put boxes up in the attic, then half a day to take them down? On top of that, it will take at least a week to find a place for the boxes and to sort out their contents... but I have found a lot of old friends - the necklaces and bracelets from the 60s and 70s, my dolls, lots of materials, the children's toys etc etc. They are all going to end up in the garage, tidily parked on shelves which I have yet to put up. I blame my visit to Marie-Anne for this. Seeing her children play with the people men reminded me of my collection of them and I decided that they ought to be found and made accessible. But I am also going to sell a whole lot of things that I no longer need, so we also set up an ebay account for me.

So that is what is occupying my time at the moment, together with sorting out the garden: the veg patch is all dug and has salad crops growing in it, tomatoes, beans and some herbs are in the seed trays and I'm hoping they will grow!

Oh yes, and I have to admit that I am strongly addicted to reading at the moment - it is very difficult to stop. I wonder if this is a seasonal or terminal addiction?!! Just finished Joanne Harris's book 'The Lollipop Shoes', I love her books and really enjoyed this one.

It's so good to be able to do all of this!

Fiddling while I should be sorting out.

Do you like the oranges? I thought it was time to change things and as I am not going to be diverted from sorting out the garage for days on end, the changes will creep up on you! And yes ok, I now understand why Nero fiddled whilst Rome burned - much easier than dealing with the real problems in life!! Or as a certain firend always says - I rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic!!

The electricity meter is proving to be very funny! I switched the kettle on and the reading went down 200 KWh ...? I can only assume that the freezers switched out at that point - well I hope that is the case. I am also getting a lot more exercise as I dash to see how the reading has changed. (Oh what a sad person!!) The lightbulbs that we are being encouraged to use - energy saving thingies, barely register which is incredible, meanwhile the halogen ones eat up huge amounts of power, so I don't know if I can change those fittings - I will have to see about doing something to them.

Instead of furtling in the garage I sent out to Stafford will Jill yesterday. It is a local town that I have never been impressed by, and now I know why - I hadn't seen half of it!! It has a huge square and town hall with museum etc. And the best thing is the oldest grocery shop - one of the best I have been in for years. They even had fresh turmeric! (Curry today folks!!) As for the furnishing material shop - that was also excellent, I think I have solved the problem of getting more light into the kitchen, but I am not sure that the material I looked at is quite right for a kitchen. Shiny red might be a bit too much boudoir and not enough practical. I shall spend a day there and have a really good look. I will take my camera next time too.

Lots of post this morning!

I don't know about you, but I love getting things in the post and this morning was a bumper day! There was a card from Tami in Kentucky, which is a blue grass state - must look that up! I didn't realise that horse racing was quite so important to so many towns until this holiday and now the postcard which had racing horses on it.

There was also a present from my new electricity suppliers - a meter which shows how much electricity each machine in the house uses. Well! The computer screen uses 30 watts when starting up, then settles down to 10 watts - and that is just the first thing I have checked. I can see that there is going to be a lot of exercise gained by just finding out how much electricity is being used! I shall be intrigued to find out if the little red light on the television uses as much as we are told in the press. Gosh, it is going to be a manic day - doing things, then rushing to the monitor and checking up, and I know I shall have to have a note book beside it because I will never remember the readings. Boiling the kettle is supposed to be a really heavy user of power...

I think I am going to end up feeling that ignorance is bliss! I'll let you know which is the most guzzling item in the house, but I suspect it will take some time to find out. Perhaps I should try to feed the info into the blog, rather like the plastic bag counter.

Is this the season for Christmas trees?

Well, I think it probably isn't the right time of year to be talking about Christmas trees, but I am just recycling mine - the branches which are now dry are providing the kindling for hte nightly fire. The main trunk has been chopped up into logs to dry for burning next winter.

As well as all this I am attacking the weeds in the garden, planting the seeds and getting back to being at home. It is quite strange that I find I am missing eating breakfast with other people more than anything else from the holiday!! Strangely enough my wish to live near a diner might have come true recently - there is a small patch of land for sale near our estate which someone was trying to get permission to build a diner there. Now wouldn't that have been blissful? Blueberry pancakes and good coffee for breakfast...or fruit, then bacon, eggs and hash browns with maple syrup...

Dream on!! Planning permission was not granted.

I'm back!!

And ooooh, its cold, wet and grey. But 'Mustn't grumble,' to quote a certain personality! Its good to be back, despite the weather, things are good here.

Some of the things I missed were, good cheese, world news and the knowledge that people driving behind me would take responsibility for their own overtaking when driving. The last two points are easy to sort out, but I haave had to ration my cheese buying since getting - it was becoming rather like a buying and eating frenzy!!

I really appreciated the friendliness of the New Zealanders - they greeted me whilst out walking and invariably came to offer help if I looked at all lost.This is something that I think we are losing - although I discovered yesterday that people are much friendlier if you are walking with a dog!! It ws also wonderfully warm out there. Come on summer!!

At the moment I don't have much news, the domestic thingslike piles of post, dust and Christmas decorations need dealing with. The decorations are waiting in their boxes for space in the garage - which needs emptying. And so it goes on. I've even got piles in my garage LOL!!