Saturday

Waking up on Saturday morning, after a busy and eventful week, but also one filled with a lot of procrastination, I decided on the spur of the moment that I needed to do something about the state of our house. It has been a bit neglected since Christmas as I haven't really done a whole lot of cleaning.  I cleaned the living room after taking down the decorations, but not much else had got done, other than keeping on top of the daily washing up, wiping down and laundry tasks.

As a consequence, the state of the house was starting to bother me, so after spending an hour in bed with my latest book (got to be done) and once OH and LB had headed out with the dog, I decided it was time to just stop worrying about the mess and get on and do something about it.  I always find it easier if I've got the house to myself, as I have a free rein.

I didn't even bother with breakfast.  I just threw some old clothes on and got started.  I did a general pick up and sorted some dirty laundry before getting out the hoover and tackling the upstairs, stairs, landings, hall and kitchen floors.  I wiped down all the cupboard fronts in the kitchen. The dog had made them a bit of a mess shaking herself off after muddy walks. I then mopped the wooden floors in the hall, stairs and kitchen, cleaned  and mopped the downstairs toilet and upstairs bathroom and replaced the towels.

After 3 hours of non-stop cleaning, it felt so good to be back in control of my house.  I hate that feeling I get when everything is getting on top of me.  I rewarded myself with a late brunch of a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea.  It doesn't take a lot to get your world back on track, just a bit of focus and some elbow grease.

There are still jobs that I want to do, such as deep clean my kitchen cupboards and worktops, clean the reception rooms and blitz our bedroom, but for now my panic over the state of the house has been quelled for a while.

The remainder of the day was spent cleaning a couple of pairs of leather boots that I wear all of the time, one of which had been really neglected and was looking very scruffy and muddy.  They came up very well and I've returned them to my wardrobe for the first time in over a year. They usually get thrown in the shoe box in the hall and used for dog walking, but  I've decided I like them because they are so comfortable and easy to wear and I want to prolong their life as long as possible, which means taking more care of them,

Later, after walking the dog and putting away some clean laundry, I got a shower and got changed and we went out for supper and to the cinema to see the new film about Jackie Kennedy, starring Natalie Portman. (LB was sleeping over at a friend's house, so we had a rare night to ourselves).  I'm not sure we made the right choice of film, but it was a nice mix of getting things done and taking time out for ourselves.