Sweeping clean

Remember all that spring cleaning earlier in the year? It kind of ground to a halt. But we’re trying to get going again – or at least, a bit more clean and tidy.

A new broom sweeps clean, we’re told – and when you’re sweeping the same mess (or variants on it), sometimes you just give up. Or stop. Or hide those final few things that you can’t find homes for, because you can’t quite face doing any more that day.

One good thing is that we are finally putting pictures back up. We’ve lived with fairly clear walls for about a year, after finishing off all our building work (and the aftermath of putting things into new homes afterwards).

The wondrous height chart has a new home outside the bathroom. Now we can check where Junior Reader is up to – as tall as a red postbox? Bigger than a crocodile’s open mouth? Larger than an emperor penguin? (Better find out quick.)

We’ve finally agreed on what is going where for pictures and about half of them are up. Including framing a teatowel with this design – if you’re unsure why, read this post on the importance of Creamola Foam.

We are sweeping clean a bit on bedding – new pillows all round, after nearly 15 years’ wear (for some of us). Now to find a reasonably eco way to use the old stuffings. (I’m thinking stuffed toys, and possibly homemade quilts? That won’t happen overnight though.)

My mum and I have done a deal on some sheets and towels, extending the largesse of my granny’s linen cupboard a bit further.

And in a slightly different ‘reuse’ mood, our two blown-down fence panels have now made their way to join the wood pile at my parents, where they will be efficiently turned into heat for them (and maybe for us, when it’s wood stove season there again).

Nothing like a bit of swapping too to get the eco juices flowing. So I pass on some of Junior Reader’s clothes, now outgrown; I then get an invite to help clear someone else’s stash a bit. Which means that we now have some Hairy Maclary jigsaws. Bonus.

And Junior Reader has a monster-making project for school. That ought to clear at least three cardboard boxes. (I think.)

It’s little by little, but the broom is finally in motion again.

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