END OF YEAR CONTEMPLATIONS

To close my blog for 2011, I shall look ahead to 2012. Since arriving 2 years ago, I have 'housekeepered' quite a bit - but not as much as I would have liked. I aimed to get the place spotless for dad. However, since his hospitalization, I have been a FT carer and not had enough time over for spring cleaning as much as I would like. I also aimed to have my black ceiling repainted, since it was removed and turned gray, to my dislike...

I can sigh over what has not been done or I can smile at what has been accomplished. We have a brand new shed, the first shower this house has seen in its 60+ years of existence, new bathroom flooring, a floor-runner vac, and a neat pantry among other delights. Thanks to my son, we managed to move Dad's bed and some other large pieces of furniture around. This made it a three bedroom home instead of 2, as we have used the lounge as an extra bedroom and outhouse/diningroom/darts room as a storeroom/unused lounge.

Looking ahead, what would I like to accomplish in 2012? Well, I would like to get some painting done for a start - the bathroom, toilet, my room and kitchen, perhaps. The upper rooms are probably in my color choice, as nobody else lives upstairs now my son has left - but the kitchen will be dad's color choice.

I would also like to smash out the kitchen side-of-sink closet and install a new sturdy piece to house the plastic draining board, buy a new kitchen table, and get myself a computer desk so I don't bump my knees every time I type....

The latter will wait til I earn some cash though, so here are them latest items I am throwing out of my room into the hands of whoever wishes to buy them!

for sale link

Finally, I will leave you with a couple of photos of my efforts to save my father's knees - a sucess with which he is pleased.

UNDER THE SINK - EW, GROTTY!

Dad's knees necessitated a change of plan. I have not yet thrown out the pile of dramatic stories I wrote as a teenager or misc. junk from my dressing table, nor have I painted my ceiling black or laid the lino on the toilet floor - first things first - dad's knees!

Using the kitchen as a bathroom in the morning, I can easily whip the washing up drainer out of the way and place tooth cleaning and shaving articles on the plastic draining board. I can pull the towel rail into place, amass items required for use on the table, and lay a bathroom mat on the floor in front of the bathing chair for elderly people. What I cannot currently do is ensure dad's knees fit under the sink enabling him to sit face on rather than sideways.

Looking inside this grotty white cupboard, we see a rather nasty task ahead of me...

 

I cleaned the floor under the grotty compost tub that I admittedly do not empty as often as I perhaps should. I have a new tub ready.... It only remains for me to remove the closet door, clean the walls as well as floor, and replace the compost tub with the new one - and Dad's knees will be happier. The remainder of these tasks are on tommorrow's agenda!

THE COLLECTIBLE MUGS

The mug collection actually occurred first on my list, due to my son asking if he could have one as a souvenir to take back to Australia with him. Naturally I agreed, and consequently arranged to empty the garlic and Kalanchoe plants from my windowsill into the yard, wash the mugs I had used to house these plants, and present him with those he desired.

 

This done, my son was presented with the two required mugs to return to Aussie with (although as it turns out he didnt have room and left them behind) and I was left with 7 'unwanted pieces of clutter'. They are therefore next on my list of 'stuff to sell' after the white vacuum. If any reader is interested - please get in touch via comments below or my Facebook album for sales items -

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150410358909141.365973.508649140&type=1&l=df58e6fa33

- if not, it is over to Facebook, then Craigslist & Gumtree, and finally onto Ebay...

I have also listed the vacuum cleaner and a few books at my Facebook 'For Sale' album and intend to delete the pictures as these items are sold, and add a few more items monthly until my teenage bedroom is empty of the old me and livable in by the middle-aged me!

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER FIXATIONS

Looking ahead, several jobs are on the agenda. I want to lay linoleum on the toilet floor, turn out my dressing table and sell my mugs before the years ends.

I have already talked about the lino and what lies ahead of me before laying it in the toilet - the hardest area yet. It is probably better left to an expert, but as I am the only one that will be using the toilet apart from visitors, I shall tackle the job myself and live with the results!

The dressing table is currently covered in white paint with avocado green handles. At one point in its long history it was simply wood. That was a long time ago, when it belonged to my grandmother - long since dead. It was passed down to my parents and then to me. I do not value it as an antique, although it is probably 100 years old or more. I simply need something into which to stash my hairbrush, neti-pot, nail clippers, first aid kit and other such stuff.

 

My dressing table is currently filled with stuff and the stuff that is crammed on top - albeit in neat piles - needs to fit inside. I recall emptying the top drawer to fill with hair accessories, womens' items, nail-clippers, and the like and this is usable as is - but I have yet to tackle the bottom two drawers. More emptying and trashing to go...

One is seemingly filled with stories I typed/wrote out as a teenager and some art books filled with cartoon, hippie, crazy-techno designs along with philosophical and artsy drawings, water colors, and biro designs. The other drawer appears to contain a fruit bowl, penknife, and assorted bits and pieces of 'stuff' - all of which must be sorted out and either thrown out or sold.

 

Talking of selling items, my mug collection is far from useful to me as a middle-aged woman. As a teen, it was something to collect, but now I have use only for one mug in which to deposit my morning coffee! I had been recycling them as plant pots - but they were messy and untidy and cluttered up the sill - I would much rather have a single pot plant or vase on the sill and sell the mugs. Firstly, I took out the Kalanchoe and garlic plants and rinsed them clean - my son wanted one to take back to Australia with him today. The rest, I shall sell shortly....

THE PANTRY

From time to time I like to do a spot of spring cleaning - with more emphasis on spring than clean!! One of my favorite 'chores' is that of turning out the pantry. I really enjoy re-sorting all the items into logical order and seeing them neatly in place....

It is not MY pantry. It is father's. However, I am the only person that uses the pantry - seeing as I do all the shopping/cooking. My son keeps his supplies in his room and my dad is not able to locate ingredients, stand up while things are mixed AND boiled/baked/stirred/fried/etc, AND add finishing garnishes... though I am sure if I put the teabags and milk out he could manage the kettle and spoon to make himself a cuppa.

 

We start with a picture of how it was - then of in between - before how it actually ended up. I also included a photo of the fridge-freezer, in case anyone is worried about the lack of fresh produce in our household! 

 

FURTHER LINOLEUM USAGE

Having plenty of linoleum over after laying the new bathroom floor, I began to use it in pieces. First to benefit was the bathroom windowsill, closely followed by my father's bedside cabinet. Next up is to be the toilet floor - a nightmare!

 

Starting with a view of the remaining lino and continuing onto the windowsill before, during, and after linoleum being glued down....

 

The bathroom looks much more classy with a floor and windowsill to match - but there is much to be done, including fixing chipped wall plaster, a much needed coat of paint, and a few more little touches, before the room is pleasant.

The last two photos show me laying a piece of lino as a table mat to avoid the wood being spoiled by spilled cuppas on Dad's bedside cabinet.

I decided to postpone the toilet floor until after my son returned to Australia, as having us both out of the toilet for 3-4 hours is somewhat difficult considering the amount of ginger beer and cola - not to mention cider once fortnightly - that he consumes. Ahead, lies the task of removing dust-ridden carpet patches and old newspaper, cleaning and drying the wooden floorboards, laying the linoleum halfway and then cutting around the toilet itself. (I shudder, yes THAT can wait until late November or beyond...)

THE SHED ERECTION SAGA -3

Two of my cousins agreed to help get the roof and door on in exchange for a meal and appeared to do so one day a week or three later. 

 

The photo shows one of the trio up a ladder, another owner of a pair of legs in the shed and another pair of unidentifiable legs outside - I cannot recall which legs belonged to whom. However, by the time the day was over, the shed would have a roof and a door. Counting, you may count me, my son, a neighbor, and two cousins as 5 - and I mentioned it took 6 of us to complete the job. This is because another neighbor - the one who had offered us bricks - had to be called upon for the use of their battery drill. Although he did little actual work, without this item my son may not have managed to persuade my cousins to get the roof and door attached. We rewarded him with a beer for his trouble.

Finally, we had a sort of shed. The door opened inwards - I am not sure if it should or not - and there were small holes where my son had got annoyed at panels falling out and 'smashed' at them a little. I managed to be of use at last and patched the holes with left over bits of plastic from the shelf. My son completed the job by getting silicone all over his hands whilst patching holes and gaps all over...

Shall I say that we now have a functional shed that is more or less waterproof. I cannot get half the junk my dad had in the old shed in the new one, as there is a floor patch that gets damp AND less room overall AND the door opens inwards - but I can safely say that the majority of garden tools and other items that will be used in the future are now safe.

THE SHED ERECTION SAGA -2

Coming back to it, he decided to use some free bricks the neighbor over the back had offered to us to make a better base.

 

We then tried to erect the shed for a second time - and once again, failed. Help was obviously required.

Calling on a neighbor, the two of them managed to get the base and sides erected and stabilized. They also managed to saw and apply the former floor to make a sturdier base. (The former shed had been 8X6, whilst this one was 6X4.) The neighbor could offer no more time than 4-5 hours and shot off before I could offer them a beer for their troubles. The roof, door, and shelf would have to wait til another day as my son could get very little further solo.

It was not my son's fault - had the walls been in single pieces rather than panels to be slotted in, either of us could have managed alone, definitely with the two of us at it. It was not a job a single human could manage. So, we called upon the family...

THE SHED ERECTION SAGA -1

The shed saga demands a chapter of its own...

For circa a year, I nagged my father to buy a new shed or repair his old one. There were holes in the roof and it needed a good tidy out. Finally persuading him, he glanced through a few options and decided on a plastic shed - labeled 'easy to erect' - hmm... THAT is a matter of opinion - it actually took six people to erect our new shed - and even now it is far from perfect...

Firstly, my son and I tackled the job after he dismantled the old shed

 

He also leveled the soil that would become the new floor for us.

 

I let him figure it out as the instruction guide did not make sense to me - it was a list of numbers and letters referring to pieces and there were more than 100 parts with little instruction as to what to do with the parts. My son did a very good solo job of assembling the base and side posts - until it came to slotting in the side/rear panels. When one wall had been slotted into place and he began on the next, the first wall would fall out. Lacking the time to continue, and my lacking the time to hold two things while he tried something else, he dismantled the shed to try again another day.

THE HALLWAY and cheap flooring offer

I recently solved one of my father's problems - that of bumping into a sticking out coat. Each time he moved from his bedsit, the former lounge, to the kitchen, now additionally his bathroom, he got his walking frame stuck. 

 This became ...

 

previously, but there was more work to be done.

I suggested moving the hallway mirror above the phone table - and trading place with the coat hangers - this would allow the annoying coat to be hung on a hangar with its cousins instead of slumped over a chair...

Dad agreed, so I moved the two hangings across the room from one another. It now not only solves the coat-Dad problem, but some of mine. I found it difficult to reach behind the phone table to select a jacket for father or coat for me - and very little room to hang my coats. Now that I have purchased a thick winter coat, I would have had to keep it in my room - but now, I can hang it up out of MY way.

Additionally, it looks nicer to have the coats hung up above the shoes - more like a hallway. Finally, it also looks better with the mirror over the phone table - seeing as noone actually uses the mirror these days.

By the way, if anyone in the UK is interested in purchasing new flooring, I have a discount voucher available that needs to be used by the end of the year - let me know!

NEW VACUUM!

As explained when talking about the bathroom, I thought my new vacuum was having problems or blowing the fuse. As it turned out to be the socket, I suddenly wondered - perhaps that was what had been wrong with the old vacuum - perhaps I had not needed to buy a new one after all!

Testing it, the old white upright vac did indeed work - OOPSIES!

I am glad that adventure happened though - as I had planned to buy a floor-runner vac ever since arrival. I don't like the upright type, finding them too bulky and heavy and difficult to use. A floor-runner is much easier and what I have used for circa 20 years while in Aussie. I can get into corners, under chairs and tables, and carry it around in one hand while using it with the other. I do not regret the purchase.

However, it does mean that we have 3 unused vacs littering the house -

as well as my nice new one (new one on left) 

The little red one works - but creates a lot of dust and is difficult to clean. The big white one puffs out dust as it goes and won't access corners or under furniture without moving things. The yellow THING does not do anyTHING more than make a funny noise, if that.

Plans are to toss out the yellow one, dispose somehow of the red one, and clean up and sell the white one - after all, I do have 3-4 unused bags for that and it does still work properly - if you like big chunky uprights.... any offers?

THE BATHROOM SAGA – new flooring 7

The linoleum required gluing down. This was obvious when noting it shifted slightly each and every day. I purchased two tubes of extra strong glue and managed to warn my son not to go into the bathroom for 2-3 hours. Luckily, he had decided to pushbike ride to Hazelmere and back, taking several hours, anyways.

This difficult task was done by firstly placing the lino in perfect position and then lifting a corner to move a 1/4 into the air at a time. I covered the hole-ridden vinyl linoleum below in squidges of glue and relaid the new linoleum on top of the gum. Luckily, this and a quick pat down sufficed. I am now ready to chop a chunk up for the windowsill and then move on with what is left over to the next place - the toilet.

This is going to be much more difficult. Currently there are pieces of carpet over newspaper over floorboards. Therefore, if I try to glue linoleum down, it will be directly onto the dusty floorboards below....

This is the end of the bathroom saga - for now!

THE BATHROOM SAGA – new flooring 6

The final cleaning began and ended on my father's 88^th birthday. I then unrolled part of the lino and marked it off at 70, 50, 50 – to make 170cm. I had to place the roll on my bed to have enough room to cut straight – as on the floor it rolled up or bumped into walls.

 

Snipping along the red line between markings either side, left me with a large piece of linoleum to cover the bathroom floor and underneath father's commode. Snipping this into the two pieces required, I merely had to remove everything from the bathroom and begin to lay the lino.

It seemed to be an almost perfect fit – except that at the door it would not go under the furry brush bit father had fixed to the door. I had therefore to trim the edge by the door and it therefore looks a little ragged. Otherwise, the lino fitted fine. The only other snipping needed was a small inlet for two nails that stuck up by the bath and trimming down one side where the width of the room varied between 117 and 118cm. I then measured and snipped the other piece to perfection and laid it down to make an unwalled en suite in dad's bedsit.

 

There is enough over to tackle the toilet, and from the looks of the roll, make several door mats or a roll of lino for the floor in the pink n white room! It seems to be much larger than the 2mx260m piece that I ordered...

THE BATHROOM SAGA – new flooring 5

On Friday, two days after the lino was delivered, I got tools from the shed and began to scrape old wallpaper from the wall which had been enclosed in the closet. I figured that even if it looked ugly, it needed to be done before cleaning up.

It took me 3 shifts of around 10-15 minutes each. I was not being lazy, but once again, my father's meals got in the way. First I had to heat up a pair of crumpets and deliver them to him – and later on remove the empty plate and tray...

I began to wipe over the wall, pipes, ledge, floor, and undersink – only to find the next hindrance. The white paint was flaking off and the mucky gunk behind the pipes was too much for one cloth. Having a sinus headache building up, I decided to postpone in order to tackle a thorough cleaning Saturday.

THE BATHROOM SAGA – new flooring 4

The lino arrived at 2-30pm on the day it should, and despite being told it would need to be carried in from the kerbside, it was delivered to the door. It was fairly heavy but more bulky than weighty.

I managed to drag it into the hallway while I finished doing whatever I was doing – and then proceeded to lever it upstairs. This was a case of balancing the roll upwards on one foot to swing it from floor to stairs, and then 'kicking' it up one stair at a time whilst heave-ho-ing it with my arms. At the top, I twisted it onto the upper hallway and slid it against the wall – to be ignored until needed. I had to do a few more jobs first...

THE BATHROOM SAGA – new flooring 3

I called the electrician in September when the power outted for a third time – while I was NOT using the vacuum or socket. He assured me that it was OK to leave the wires uncovered, that they were only for earthing/grounding and it wouldn't matter. I could therefore proceed.

The next two things to happen were the ripping out of the bathroom closet and the arrival of the enormous roll of lino. To rip out the closet, I selected what I thought to be appropriate tools from the shed and oiled and dried them overnight. In the morning, I began!

Firstly, I wrenched off the door – that was easy enough as it was only hanging on by three tiny rusty hinges. I removed the door and began on the side to the left. This was also pretty easy and came off in a single piece with minor leverage. I then took a lunch break – not because I am a lazy old sod but because Dad needed to eat his lunch even if I could wait for my own.

 

Later on, I returned and managed to remove the rest of the white wooden construction that must have been there for a few decades. In fact, I cannot recall as far back as my childhood, but I believe it was there before I left for Australia in 1988...