BecauseBethsaidso

I postponed my gardening plans yesterday because of a few brief showers in the morning. For no particular reason, I expected the weather to be better today. So when I woke during the night to heavy rain that went on for hours, I started regretting that I didn't deal with it yesterday. When I got up some hours later, the rain had stopped, but the world outside still looked grey and generally soggy. I abandoned my gardening plans and ensconced myself on the couch to watch TV and work on the current stash-busting crochet project. I'd decided to use up some odds and ends of cotton yarn by making a cushion cover. I had a particular concept in mind for this, but after extensive fiddling around I ended up with a fairly standard 'granny square' shape. After all, when you're bringing in a lot of colours it's probably best to use a simple pattern. Even making a simple square turned out to have its complications. I hadn't taken much notice when sortin

It was raining when I woke up this morning. This was unfortunate, since a) I had planned to spend the day working in the garden, and b) yesterday's washing was still hanging on the line. The rain didn't last all that long, but it was enough to discourage me from spending the day kneeling on a squelchy lawn. I spent an hour or two on the couch with my crochet, waiting to see what the weather would do. Since the grey dreariness looked like it would hang about for a few hours at least, I decided to wash the windows while they were out of direct sunlight. The windows were, as usual, utterly filthy: covered in a film of windblown muck accumulated over however long it's been since I last cleaned them. Window washing is one of those jobs I thoroughly dislike doing, mostly because I'm very bad at it. I always think I have done a decent job, and then the sun shines and it's all dribbles and smears. I'd almost prefer the dirt. Still, it's got to be done occasi

The plan for today was to deal with my mounting pile of feijoas. As usual, I was a bit late getting started: I find I've somehow established a routine whereby I toss and turn through the night and then sleep late into the morning. This does not bode well for going back to work next week. It was 10am before I got up, showered and dressed, and did a couple of loads of laundry (which, now I think of it, are still on the line. Whoops). Finally, I settled down with a coffee to peruse feijoa recipes and make some decisions. Beth (she who prompted this blog) had kindly sent me a variety of options. These were whittled down with regards to available ingredients and overall appeal. I was quite taken with an Annabel Langbein recipe called ' feijoa pan puff ', had developed a certain curiosity about something called ' feijoa fizz ' and was in two minds about making feijoa jam . At first, the jam sounded like an excellent idea. It would use up a whole kg of feijoas, plus

It must be pretty boring to read about bathroom painting three days in a row. What I can tell you is it's even more tedious spending that length of time doing the actual painting. When I hauled myself out of bed around nine this morning, I told myself sternly "you will be painting by 10 o'clock". It's important to be firm with yourself about these things. At 10.30, I started setting up for the day's painting. I'd had a look at yesterday's efforts and decided to do one more complete coat. The areas I masked yesterday made the job so much easier that I chose to tape a few more edges I hadn't bothered with previously. Never mind that they already had smeary overpaints on them, at least I wouldn't have to worry about making more. By the time I stopped for lunch, I'd completed the second coat. Compared to yesterday, the painting went remarkably smoothly: no setbacks, no disasters, and may I say I never stepped in the paint tray, which is p

After deciding I had no choice but to paint the whole bathroom, I spent yesterday evening preparing areas previously overlooked, dismantling removable fixtures and making a start on the paintwork. By the time I called it quits for the day, I'd done one coat in the dodgy corner, along above the window and bathroom cabinet, and the wall alongside the bath. It wasn't particularly tidy; I hadn't thinned the paint properly and it was difficult to work with. Also, I couldn't seem to keep a neat edge and kept getting paint in places it shouldn't be. Cleaning up smears and dribbles with an old cloth soon meant I was wiping more paint on than off. Fed up, I packed up for the night. It took me a while to get started this morning. I knew there was a fair amount of work to be done, and I wasn't all that eager to start it. I'd spent half the morning reading a book before I hauled myself off the couch and set to work. With yesterday's splatter struggles in mind,

I've lately developed a habit of standing in the bathroom, staring at the wall. (You may well ask. The reason for this behaviour will become apparent.) My bathroom is more than a little tired. It suffers from a combination of outdated fixings and the disturbingly poor DIY operations of a previous owner. When I first moved in, such small improvements as could be quickly achieved were completed by my industrious parents, but that was several years ago, and the room's condition has continued to deteriorate. The real problem is a lack of ventilation. There's no extraction fan; only a window to let out the inevitable moisture. To compound the issue, the walls are not tiled and moisture-proofed like a more modern bathroom, merely painted Gib like the rest of the house. What the room really needs is a complete renovation. That will happen one of these days, but it's hardly possible in the present circumstances. What I can do is try and affect some small cosmetic improv