Monday

Good morning, gentle readers.  After a very wet day, we've had a wet night too but no very high winds, thank goodness.  I think it's high winds that scare me more than any other kind of weather we get round here.  Blizzards (if only) we can stay cosy through, we don't flood here but wind can be quite frightening when it really gets going so thank goodness it doesn't, all that often.

I forgot to mention yesterday but I got a letter on Saturday from the pensions people, letting me know about the winter fuel payment.  Very nice too.  For decades I have not needed much heating during the day because I've been at work.  Even last year, I was still at school rather a lot for one reason or another around this time and, anyway, it was ridiculously mild.  This year it means that I can turn up the daytime heating a little bit, if needed, without too many worries about the cost.  Reassuring, isn't it?

I really got stuck into the yellow room yesterday.  I'm doing it in three phases.

Phase 1 is sorting the books (so many books!) into keep, chuck, try to sell on Facebook and donate.  That's what I was doing yesterday and it's not finished yet although I've made great inroads into it all.
I have a whole load of lovely hardback craft books that I really am not going to use again.  For a while I belonged to one of these book clubs that sent a book every month, you see.
I also have stacks and stacks of recipe books and tomorrow I will be deciding which to keep.  The classics are staying - the Delias, the Lawsons, etc, but the National Trust shop type books will be scrutinised very carefully.  Some of them I have never used a recipe from at all.  Much better for someone else to benefit.
These quality, good condition hardbacks will go onto our Facebook local selling page.  If I get a bit for them, it will be good and I can give any money to KittyStitches to buy resources.  All the rest can go to the Charity shop.  Beth has offered to help me get them there, an offer I have gratefully accepted, bless her.  Some (the definites) will go tomorrow afternoon and they are stacked in those big, square supermarket bags.

Phase 2 is then sorting the books I want to keep into themes, authors, etc.  I have a lot of Miss Reed, a lot of Dick Frances, a fair number of 'children's' books, cookery books, craft books, etc.
Once all the clutter has gone, that will be comparatively easy and quite a pleasant task.  I've already got a sort of mental list of books I want to read again before Christmas and the Nigella Christmas book is already in the bedroom for this evening's read-to-sleep.

Phase 3 is The Cupboard and anything else.  It's the big, over the stairs cupboard and I dread to think what I will find at the back:  Beth suggested I might find relics from my son't childhood as it was his room, but I do hope not..  Once sorted, it will be a great storage space though!  I know that there's a very old computer monitor - a really, really old one, which will have to go to the dump, plus some manky old pillows that I wouldn't want to use so I wouldn't be giving them to any of my guests.  I have a feeling that right at the back there's a box of photos going right back to my children's childhood and maybe before then.  If that is so, I will take one evening and a bottle of wine to sort them all out and decide which ones should be kept.  Maybe Beth will help with that one.

I may still be in phase 1 but already I can see daylight.  There were a whole load of very, very out of date educational-type books which would be good for nobody and those I gleefully threw out!  It felt great!

That was more or less what I did yesterday, on and off, with computer breaks from time to time.  It wasn't nearly as dusty as I though it would be, I suppose because that room is usually closed off and no-one goes in there much.

So today will be more of the same really.  Beth's coming over and we shall do some stuff for our Christmas stall and someone is coming to repair (or replace???) the shower this morning.  This afternoon we will take a trip to the charity shop and I'm hoping she will help me photograph the books for the Facebook page too.  This evening I will clear a pile of books from the bed and then I can get going sorting out all my so-called 'children's books'.

Food:
B:  bacon and something (the bacon needs using), apple
L:  leek and potato soup, fruit
D:  I have some tomato soup left over from yesterday so I shall see if I can find some cooked chicken in the freezer and some veg and make a pasta sauce with it all.

Have a good day, everyone, and I hope you stay warm and dry.