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I continued with the Tibetan gold painting around the front door and window and have now finished the lower hall except for one strip near the floor behind the phone cabinet. The window is looking how I want it now, displaying the Tibetan gold paint rather than an 'everybody has this' white frame, as I mentioned in a former blog post.

I had to use a piece of cardboard when painting the window to ensure the paint did not go on the window itself. I simply placed the card on the window glass, and painted the surround, slopping onto the card. After a few patches, I had to replace the card though, as it got soggy at the edge and the sogginess went through onto the glass anyway. I therefore had to quickly smudge off any excess paint before having golden colored window glass!

Here is a shot of the finished window/phone area, once all the paint was dry and I had replaced the wiped over mirro and platter hangings. Another job I did, although minor, made for an increase in pleasurable sighting. I moved the pot plants on my windowsill slightly, into a new order on the tray and dusted the sill around them.

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Yes, I did my favorite chore yet again! The food is now moving along quite nicely, used mostly from the main shelf with a left to right mode of choosing what is next on the next shelf up to retain best before dates. And I have moved on from laziness and got back to doing some more work on the house and yard.

As you can see from this picture, I have now snipped back the camelia that lives right outside the front door. However, I admit I have yet to remove the plants that have grown up from upon the door mat!!

I have been enjoying the kitchen, which was the first room to be redecorated. I have in fact been using it quite a lot. This next photo shows one Sunday's baking efforts, but can anyone guess which miniloaf is for me and which for the birds?

The last shot I am sharing with you today is of my kitchen windowsill. It is so very different to how it used to be. Much tidier, more useful, and uncluttered now, or at least it would be if the geranium that usually hangs on the wall was not getting its daily dose of sunlight next the kettle! It does not live there, merely vacation there on sunny days....

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The reason that there has not been much news lately is primarily because I have not done much to the house or yard lately, other than weeding a little in the veg plots. I currently have a half dozen tomatoes, a potato, 2 beans, a hoard of radishes and 7 garlic plants surfaced and growing, and plenty of seeds not yet showing.

 

I have now however continued with the next stage of painting lower hallway trim. Whether or not I left the window surround white or painted it was a personal choice, due to the fact that it was made of a material that did not require painting to stay looking fresh. I decided I would rather it were Tibetan Gold than white, though.

I have had little luck with selling excess stuff. Ebay presented me with a few troublesome customers who won bids only to announce that they did not realize it was collection only, and one worse. One lady made such a fuss about her purchase that I have decided not to continue selling at Ebay. I find the fees excessive, but had planned to sell some stuff that did not have much value there until this incident.

I am now concentrating on Craigslist and the local selling page at Facebook. Gumtree gets zero response and unfortunately Craigslist appears to be much the same. I have also decided to host a garage sale in order to hurry along the clearing out of the spare room so that i can progress to painting it, just in case I opt on getting a lodger rather than PT local work when my funds run out.

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April arrived to its final week. The windowsill was arranged as I wished and I turned my attention, as best weather permitted, to other matters in the house and yard. My accounts are still showing a positivity, thankfully, so there remains no rush to search for employment. I do however soon plot to recreate a resume, to be ready, just in case an ideal PT local job opens up in the village.

One small chore I recently did was to tidy up the three piles of unread books in my bedroom. I now have one pile in the order in which I plan to read them, followed by two neat and tidy piles waiting. I have actually been reading quite a lot these past couple of months, as readers of my book blog will perhaps have noticed. 

In the yard, things are coming along well. Here you can see the two rose bushes that I pruned rather severely are shooting out strong. The yellow rose bush is in bud with at least 5 flowers due any day, as we come to the last 23 days of the month. I also tidied and cleaned the kitchen windowsill before April closed. As you can see, I have 2 tomato seedlings in pots. I put them in the kitchen in case the ones outside got gobbled up, as they all did last year. However, both of the ones I have transplanted are still doing well at the moment.

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The second weekend of April arrived and still being sunny if slightly chilly I began yet again to work on upgrading this establishment that I now own. I cut back most of the brambles in the front yard, cut back some of the overgrow on the cotoneaster, snipped a few pieces of ivy and other unwanted stuff, and threw it all into the center of the front yard.

The plot is to cut out anything that I do not want and let grow everything else, this year. Next year, I aim to reposition things to the exterior while leaving the center free to be piled with cuttings, weeds and natural cuttings/debris. Another observation of the exterior wall was given, to ascertain if any further polyfillaing was required, due to the damp patches still appearing in the spare room. There appear to be only two small holes, so perhaps the yukky/unwanted insulation is to blame...

I was somewhat lazy in regard to continuing with painting, predominantly due to spring doziness and too many things to do away from home. Shopping/hiking, village dos, visiting friends, etc, took over my time.

My windowsill was tidied after the repotted geraniums were reassembled. Minor chores were occupying me. There was another resort of the pantry, the Ebaying~off of 48 books and a couple of small items, and a few odds and ends to be done in the yard.....