Operation Musical Chairs 3: More flat surfaces

Another unexpected visit from mum (yes they happen on Saturdays lol so aren't really unexpected, except I forget and have a lovely surprise) led to the tidying up of the multiple piles of paperwork in the Living Room this weekend. And a great deal of hilarity, so I had a lovely day yesterday despite feeling somewhat unwell.

So this is what it looked like last week: total chaos everywhere except the Hall Desk (confusingly I don't have a Hall, but it's retained the name in our family) which astonishingly remained an empty flat surface hurrah!

Hall Table Tidied Last Week

And this is how it looks now I've tracked down the bamboo box to put the plants on (discourages the cats from investigating), and also put the bowl with Dried Lavender in it on there.

Hall Table with the Right Stuff in the Right Place. Done!

If I was doing the January Cure task of putting ornaments away and clearing surfaces, then it wouldn't be finished, but as all my cupboards are full and nowhere to put things away at present. It's done. I realise with hindsight I've been a sucker for large display bowls, whilst not being enough of a sucker for flat surfaces to put them on. Oops!

I'm ridiculously proud that it stayed in that state for a whole week! And will continue to do so as everyting on that side of the room now has a sort of home to live in. Especially because the Carers have promised NOT to put anything on it to help me keep it empty-ish. Aren't they lovely!

Mum also tidied up the looming landslide of books for ebay and packaging supplies that were threatening to overwhem the armchair next to the desk yesterday. Much easier to keep under control now!

This is how the 'dining table aka crafting area' looked last week:

Hmmm no space for dust to settle over there!

Bit of a shambles. There was tax return stuff on the table, and on the wheelchair and left over christmas stuff and paperwork on the Food Trolley - which was actually a major annoyance, I was ending up eating stuff that I was likely to spill sitting on the kitchen floor, which isn't ideal!

Anyway, after Mum did all the musclework and I did all the yes, no, and directing to various piles, this is what we ended up with - look! surfaces to be used! and dusted!

Oh look! tidyness!

 So I can now use the Food Trolley to get my dinner from the kitchen to my overbed table for eating in sensible comfort. Also it means I can have cups of tea on my sofa again.

And I have the half of the table not covered in boxes of things I need to hand when I am doing crafting/paperwork. And there's a small box of cards I need to send to people on the wheelchair so I do that BEFORE I start anything new.  The Tax Files are all in a box, the filing needs actually doing and then it can go upstairs and I have a box of stuff I can just put on ebay to get me started on top of that.

In other news, the Bloom & Wild succulents - well the propagation is failing, particularly with the lovely furry succulent, which was looking somewhat worse for wear after mum absent mindedly put another plant on top of it.

Hmmm I really should maybe throw that middle one away!

And I'm not convinced I really need to try and regrow the almost dead fern and the succulent leaves, but I'm going to wait and see for a fortnight

Not very pretty....

After mum doing all that I ran out of puff and lay on the floor thinking 'time for a nap'.

Mum offered to put away the filing pile in the A-Z file upstairs - and decided to check where things would be filed. Lucky she did, because me airily saying 'oh it's just according to the Aphabet' wasn't strictly true. It went like this:

Mum - So Lois, this is from JD Williams - does it go under J or W?
Me- No it goes under R for Receipt. It's cos I bought something.
Mum - oh. ok. How about this one, it's a round robin from a friend?
Me - oh that goes under C for Christmas. It came in a Christmas Card.
Mum - right ok. How about this one, it's a letter from social services about your Occupational Therapist?
Me - oh that goes under C for Cripple.
Mum starts looking slightly askance at me for my categories. And we start giggling.
Mum - hmm. So this one, about your Carers goes under C for Carers?
Me - Actually no, C for Cripple as well, but the same letter so it's yes really.
Mum - and this credit card bill? Goes under C as well?
Me - Yes, but not because it's a credit card, but because it's a provider that starts with C.
Mum - Do you have an extra large space for all the C filing?
Me - No, it's a bit of a squeeze it's true!
Mum - so this John Lewis paperwork - goes under L for Lewis?
Me - Um. No J for John.
Mum - and this TMobile bill? T?
Yes - for Telephone and for TMobile, so if you find a BT bill for the landline, that goes under Telephone too.
Mum - Not B for BT?
Me - No. I'm not sure why, but I'm used to it now.
(Cue muttering from mum)
Mum - and this one from the government about disability benefits? B for benefits?
Mum & Me together chorus - of course not! C for Cripple!
*we both fall about laughing and fail to do any more tidying up for quite some time*
Mum - and this one about Ivorcat? and this bill for Tabithacat
Me - C for Cat
And so it went on, long pauses as we howled with laughter as we realised how, erm, unique my filing system is interspersed with short bouts of activity, until eventually mum navigated my byzantine and illogical system and took it  upstairs and put it all away.

When she came down she said, but what about that big pile of papers underneath the filing tray on top of the A-Z file upstairs? Oh I said, I'm concentrating on the Living Room first, we'll do those in a few months.....

I'm not entirely sure why, but mum did say that she'd be sending dad along to help with the filing in future, something about she now understood why he came back looking a bit shell shocked last time. Chortle. I think she'd have preferred to tackle the ironing mountain.....

An ancient schoolroom slidey door cupboard. That is tidy!

The top of the cupboard is looking nice and tidy too. And I very much like the idea that the Dog is sailing across the stars (The plate is called Eclipse by Poole Pottery). The Dog is from Shirley Vauvelle a very talented ceramicist. I won him in an FB competition she ran. I love the gentle whimsy of her work.  To win I had to give it a name. Unfortunately I can't remember what it was.... Looking Ahead maybe? Anyway. You can find her HERE.

A Shirley Vauvelle Dog I won in a FB competition

Oh and finally, I have decided which cutout will be next for the Kitchen Window. For February for Valentine's. This:

Design is from Brother SnC Project Book, you can find it online at their UK website

It can be 12 inches wide and 24 inches long, cos I'll do it using the machine. I think red card would be nice.But first I need to measure the window. Which will have to be from outside, because the 'probably' broken washing machine is in the way inside and can't go back until after it's fixed because you need to unhang the radiator to get it in & out. Nothing's ever simple in my house! It's true things all happen at once!

I've run out of puff again, shortly me and the Food Trolley shall journey to the kitchen for a nice cup of tea - Camomile or maybe Earl Grey or even Spiced. But first, a nap. I am very much going to enjoy not feeling like everything was totally out of control and just about to topple on me, or the cats.

There's an unexpected freedom in disability equipment!