Wednesday 17 June 2009

Why My Blog Has Been Neglected of Late!

Just popping in to explain the unscheduled blogging holiday I have had this last week or so! (And which will continue for the next few days I expect.)

The story goes like this - over a six month period an arty/crafty woman gradually spreads beyond the two spare but small bedrooms that form her creative (storage!) space into the study/guest room. It starts when the youngest son of the household finishes school and has a gap year before leaving home to pursue a higher education in Perth. It is possible because the guest room is only needed infrequently. Initially the "spread" just involves a large trestle table/surface area for projects, but over the months a significant flow of materials and supplies of every kind start following the woman who loves them.


Suddenly it is June and the woman's mum (who lives about a thousand kilometres away) is due for her annual visit and it becomes blindingly obvious that she will be sleeping on a couch in the lounge room unless a certain arty/crafty woman takes immediate action. The same woman reflects on the situation at night while trying to sleep and decides that she is feeling very disorganised and over-whelmed with her creative spaces and that a nice little clean-up and reorganisation is necessary (not a total blitz or anything, just a nice sedate reorganisation that involves chucking out junk and rubbish that sticks to this woman like glue - sensing maybe that a accumulative "recycling" type personality lives within?). It seems possible (at least in the middle of the night) to imagine a couple of days of the following week's recreation leave being sufficient to complete the task and still have enough time for more leisurely and pursuits with her mum.


So it starts on the evenings after work a few days before the crazed one's mum is due to arrive - everything that that should not have found even a temporary home in the guest room is moved to the lounge room "for sorting". Fortunately the household includes an incredibly tolerant and bemused husband and an 18 year old son who couldn't care less as long as their path to the kitchen is free and their activity room (the one with the computer, the Foxtel/bigger TV, the drums, the treadmill and the family bookcase etc etc) is left unscathed.


One very loved/loving mother arrives by train late on the evening of the 12th of June and immediately assesses the situation - this is not a holiday she is on, this is a mission! It starts the next day with a realization by both the crazed woman and loving mother that the task needs also to involve the "stuff" in the other two rooms as well. Days pass with both immersed in the task - amazing things are discovered (on the spectrum that caries from "oh my god - what was I thinking" to "WOW - how wonderful - I had forgotten about that tool/supply/material etc") and some progress is made.

By the evening of day four (last night) however, the task is seeming a little too big and a little too over-whelming and both the crazed woman and the loved mother are grateful that the wine supply is good and that the middle and younger sisters are out of eye-sight (on the other side of Australia and in Perth respectively) because both know they would be aghast at their mum and sisters' inability to chuck out/recycle/give-away 30 perfectly good strong handled brown paper bags. OR the reasoning behind the accumulation of boxes (and boxes) of superseded office letterhead paper (that just needs the letterhead cut off and then it will make perfectly good notepads for next to the phone for about 200+ years). OR the lovely wooden spoon handles that eventually fell off the Balinese cooking utensils bought on a family holiday a decade ago (but which could make really interesting art quilt hangers.) OR the 20 spare rolls of foam mounting tape tucked away in a box in a cupboard where they would never be found at a time when they were actually needed. And it goes on and on....


So today is day five and I have missed my blog so thought I would spend a little time sharing the chaos that is currently my life!! All of these photos, taken at 6am this morning (which is after we "tidied up last night!!) are not of the actual creative rooms themselves, just the overflow into the lounge-room and family dining area where I have set up trestle tables to save me squatting on the floor all the time (middle-aged thighs don't cope well with squatting for more than about 10 minutes a day!!). Ask me how I know...

And to finish on a creative note - all of the ATCs below are the ones I have received from the "recycled ribbon" challenge. Such great variety!!

(Clock-wise from the left - by Annie Laing, An Buskens, Doreen Grey & Carole Brungar)

Yesterday's mail brought this lovely package of music sheets and plastic lace (for sun-printing!!) which I had won on a give-away on Jo Wholohan's blog. I'm excited about this lace as I have been enjoying the sun-printing process and this lace is quite different to the ones I have managed to find. Jo's packaging is just gorgeous and she will be selling these through her etsy shop soon if you are interested.

16 comments:

Annie said...

Ummmmmmm! You win!!!! I thought I had some 'stuff'
Good luck and see you to night for a rest!

Jo Wholohan said...

:)) in glad you like it deb, sedning you happy thought for the clean up process!!! xx

Kasha Rolley said...

Debbi, so who is that woman? He, he, I can totally relate to your story, so funny though. I also like the reference to wine.

Gaye Todd said...

Hee hee.... :O) I am just lucky I don't have more rooms to take over otherwise you can bet I would!!

carole brungar said...

Hahaha, I can totally associate with this massive tidy up effort! Such fun, I bet you didn't realise crafting could be such hard work!
carole :)

Jen xo said...

lol!!! i can totally relate. i have really enjoyed reading your story!!Charlie asked me the other day what i was going to do with her room when she goes o/s next year!!lol jenxo

Doreen G said...

Could that crazed woman and the loved Mother come to my place when they are finished.
Not as much stuff in my house but if they would include the garage as well then it's about equal.

Dianne said...

OMG I could have written this post without the visiting mother! We are in the middle of a reno and I am facing the same dilemmas.

Julie H said...

Oh Debbi I would love your Mum if she would come and stay here next. She wouldn't even need to help much, just encourage me and undestand the problem. I have only one room so it could be achieved in a week.

Will provide loving dog to sympathise with her each time I groan in frustration and an endless supply of teabags if that helps (my addiction I buy them ALL the time - I may not need any for the rest of my life!).

kelsey said...

From one hoarder to another, good on you for having a clean out! It does make you feel really good after it's done...it's just the "doing" that's the annoying bit. Glad you and your Mum had an interesting time of her visit though, maybe this is something she couldn't have done with your sisters??? lol

Karin H said...

I'm sitting here giggling at your story Debbi, whilst cringing inside in recognition of my own 'problem'. Is your Mum available on a per week basis? I could definitely use some help here - there's 2 of us in a 4-bedroom house plus a 7x3m studio and we still have trouble finding somewhere to put stuff. I either need to do a massive cull and tidy or buy some proper useful shelving. Or both. Or build another large shed, seeing as there's room here. Yeah, that could work. *G* No - must be firm. Time to cull.

Jacqui Chimes said...

Just love it - so funny and so true

Sam Marshall said...

Lol! Loving those ATCs.

Anneke said...

nice to see the atc here again debbi
wishing you a wonderful weekend

Eliza said...

Debbi,

Welcome to my world of everything you said. Can I have your mum too as I lost my mum a few years back and she only lived 3ks away and I so miss her. I will feed her well and love her heaps. I will even drink wine with her as long as it is white and stay off the scotch unless she drinks that!

I understand totaly about the hoarding as I had a spare room with all that wonderful useful stuff in it and then oldest son wanted to move home. Stupid me said yes darling love to have you back. blimey was I on drugs at the time? must of been!

Sue McGettigan said...

Ah Debbi, I feel your pain :) Both the burn in the thighs from too much picking up off the floor, the need to weed out my 'stuff' which has crept onto a trestle table in family use areas, and the worry of having a loved/loving mother turn up to no place to sleep - same story, different side of the planet. Luckily my mum's not coming here, I'm going to meet her at my brother's instead - PHEW! When my brother and his girlfriend came to visit over Christmas they slept on the camper ...