Under the sink . . .

It wasn't absolutely diabolical, was it?  No, it wasn't, it was just rather untidy and disorganised.  It's a useful space that would be a lot more useful if it wasn't for the water softener - not that I'm complaining about that, far from it!  The main trouble was that you just couldn't tell what was in there and things were beginning to stack one on top of another.  Also, all the clothes washing things were being kept on the counter, not looking particularly 'right' there, just because there was no room underneath.

So out came everything.  I can't do anything about the pipery at the back but I did sweep out and then wash the floor of the cupboard.  Believe me, kneeling on a bit of granular salt is as painful as kneeling on a bit of glass.  Ouch!

Then things got sorted.  Can anyone tell me why I have three bottles of hob cleaner (which is also great for shining the sink!), two of window cleaner (that I don't use), goodness how many Vanish cleaning sticks, two Pledge aerosols, two Mr Muscle plughole cleaner thingies, several boxes of stuff to clean out the dishwasher and/or washing machine and so many scourers I won't need to get any more for years . . .?  No, nor can I . . .

. . .  see what I mean!



Anyhow, after lots of sorting, checking, chucking and wiping, here it is now:

It's never going to look pretty, it's not that sort of space, but it's now organised.  The washing stuff is on the left, things I won't need very often are all at the back and there's even space for the washing up liquid and spray cleaner which is currently in a nice white container to the left of the sink.


Several things went into my housework box.  I know it's hard to believe, but I do actually have a very organised box for general cleaning and housework.  It's really one of those open tool boxes with a handle and in it I have polish, cleaner, various cloths for all sorts of tasks, window cleaner, Dyson attachments and two socks.  Why socks?  You obviously didn't watch 'the Perfect Housewife' if you have to ask that!


And there's now one thing left out. 

It must have come with the range when it was put in, I'd never, ever buy such a titchy bottle of stuff.  And it's sitting on the side because I intend to use it later on.  Where did I put the de-icer that is next to it for size comparison purposes?  In the car, of course - what it was doing under the sink in the first place I will never know!


And I am NOT taking bets on how long it will stay like that, OK!!!


(In case anyone is wondering, those two switches on the left are my gloriously accessible stopcocks.  One for the mains water and one for the outside tap.  Reassuringly convenient.)

Saturday morning and the end of the year

. . . and I'm a bit later than usual, having slept on a bit more than usual and also having set to in the kitchen to do the first things on the daily checklist (empty the dishwasher and put EVERYTHING away - tick) and then to make some cheese biscuits for this evening.  The first lot is in the oven, the timer is ticking merrily beside me and the house is smelling fantastic!  As it's a special evening, I've used my fancy cutters and made little shapes of flowers, circles, stars and hearts which should look lovely on a decorative plate.

As I open my fridge door, I feel a great sense of satisfaction, sad person that I am.  Inside it all is in perfect order, jars are all within use by date, things are arranged logically instead of bunged wherever they will go and the shelves are sparkling clean!  I wonder how long that will last.  Next job on the list is the cupboard under the sink!  Ho hum!

I've decided to start my checklist on a Saturday, so the new one is sitting beside me, ready to go up on the fridge.  There's a new addition - it says 'ten books out or tidied'.  Anyone who has seen my book room will know exactly what that means!

Right, better go and put the second lot of cheesy things in, tidy up behind myself and start on that cupboard.  I might even take a before/after photo or two!

Friday morning

So here we are, on the last day of the Christmas break.  I don't count the weekend or the Bank Holiday as we'd get them anyway.  It's been a good break, despite a few hiccups of varying severities, and I feel that for once it hasn't all been frittered away on idleness.

Yesterday I didn't get done what I'd planned (i.e. sorting out the fridge) so that's on today's list, but I did get my bedroom sorted plus giving the kitchen a good tidy and clean and getting all the washing done and dried, so it wasn't exactly a waste of time and at the end of the day I had quite a sense of achievement. 

Someone pointed me in the way of an interesting blog, 'A Slob Comes Clean', which, from what I have already read, seems to be written by a girl after my own heart (even if it is American, it's not as overly American as some of them are which means I can relate to it better).  I know that at my age I really ought to have all those good habits ingrained and established, but I haven't (maybe something to do with spending most of my adult life at work rather than at home), so I'm hoping that some of the tips and advice will help.  For example, I now have a daily checklist up on the fridge and yesterday I was able to tick everything off.  Will it help longer term?  We will see but I guess I have my New Year Resolution!

The daily checklist on the fridge door.  The other two are the recycling notices!

Later in the afternoon DD and DG came over.  DD grabbed some larger bits of card from the recycling sack (due to be collected today) and brought me round some purple sprouting broccoli from her garden - yum yum!  We popped off to Matalan to see what was in the sale and I found a winter jacket/anorak thing that was reduced from £40 to £8, which I was pleased with, plus some slippers, much needed in the colder weather, especially before the house heats up each morning.  I then went round to the gym to cancel my membership, something I've been intending to do for months.  I felt sad about this but I don't use it and it's just been a waste of money over the last months.

So today it's the daily checklist, the fridge and also I want to tackle the cupboard under the sink, which is dire!  I have to take the sheets and quilt covers round to Donna for ironing and I have a little bit of shopping to do too, so we have a few nibbles in for New Year's Eve.  Food is bacon and egg for breakfast (the bacon needs to be used up), turkey hotpot for lunch and something with the broccoli for dinner - I haven't thought what yet.

So I'd better go and start on the fridge, while my resolution is strong!  Planning?  What planning?

Thursday morning

I don't think I'm totally over that cold yet - at the moment I'm aching a bit.  Nothing too bad but it's getting me down rather.  Fortunately, I have enough going on to keep my mind off it, which is more than half the battle.

Well, the turkey is now no more and I have some useful single portions of roast turkey in gravy and turkey hotpot, not to mention some dripping and some stock which will be useful for soups.  Three cheers for freezers!   Today is the day to sort out the rest of the fridge as there are still some post Chrisrtmas things that either need eating or freezing.  I suspect my kitchen waste box will take a battering today.  Also today I have to finish washing and drying all the bedding from last weekend, as tomorrow it's going off to a lady for ironing - my New Year gift to myself.  And my bedroom needs attention too, or it will start becoming a dump again and that I do NOT want to happen.

And there's this little voice inside me that has been silent for a couple of weeks whispering 'planning'.  Oh, drat!!!!

Wednesday: rest of the day - an ongoing diary.

8:45:  I cannot believe how much meat there was left on the turkey.  It's provided a big meal for seven (one of the party is vegetarian), another big meal for four, Middle Brother and Parents have all gone home with loads of turkey, DD's cats have had a good ration and there's still piles to deal with.  The rest of the white meat has now been sliced (sort of) and what could be pulled off in chunks has been.  The rest, skin, bones and all, is slowly simmering away in my biggest pan.  There's a good bowl of turkey dripping and a large jug of gravy.  It may be an organic, free range, molto expensivo special purchase but it provides the basis for many a tasty meal and I am looking forward to a good dinner tonight of 'left over' turkey heated in its own gravy with potatoes and sweet potatoes roasted in turkey dripping, sprouts and cranberry sauce (home made, of course!).
I cannot understand why people don't make the most of the turkey (or chicken).  I know people who eat the breast meat, perhaps pull off the drumsticks and eat them and then the rest goes straight into the bin.  What an unnecessary waste of good food!
However, all is not shiny and perfect in Kitchen World.  I opened the cupboard that houses the washing machine only to discover that, to my shame, there's a pile of washing already in there.  Seeing as I have not opened that cupboard since last Friday . . . ooops!  It's now undergoing a quick wash to freshen it all up!  Oh, dear.
The coffee maker has passed another test - it's keeping the coffee piping hot.  Hotter than the old one did.  I'm trying to work out when I bought it and failing miserably.  I must have had it for a good decade or so.  Pretty good value for money, I would say.


10:25:   There's now a nice big pan of what will be turkey hotpot simmering away.  It's not the usually accepted version of hotpot with potato on the top, but basically a chunky (very chunky) soup that is a meal in itself.  It's a family tradition going back to my childhood and probably before, something that by brothers and I used to look forward to every year after Christmas.  I've used onion, potato, sweet potato, parsnip, swede, celery and carrot, all cut into chunks and first fried in a mixture of turkey and bacon fat before the turkey stock is added and the whole thing covered and brought to a gentle simmer.  Later on I will add some red lentils to give more flavour, colour and body, big chunks of turkey and whatever seasonings are required.  What doesn't get eaten in the next few days will freeze beautifully.  The whole house is smelling a lot like Christmas again.


11:10:  OK, so the carcass has had its first simmer, I've removed all the meat and the stock, bones and so on are now back on a very low heat to simmer for ages and ages to get as much flavour out of the bones as possible.  I think it's time I had my bath and got dressed.

16:50:  And there is now a pot of turkey soup/hotpot/whatever you call it, a container of turkey scraps for DD's cats and a lovely bowl of stock.  Since I didn't have any lunch, I guess I will have some of the hotpot for dinner and the planned meal can wait.

And now I'm signing off.

Wednesday morning

Bin day today.  Bin day is usually Monday but, what with Christmas and the New Year, the collection days are going to be more than a bit unsettled for a while, both for the usual black bin rubbish and for all the recycling stuff.  There seems to much to recycle nowadays.  Card goes in one sack, paper in another.  Garden rubbish goes in the brown bin.  Plastic goes in the plastic bags provided.  Metal and glass must be put in the green box.  Finally, food waste now has its own bin too - a small grey bin into which you have to put a special (provided) bag which, when full, is tied at the top and placed into a slightly larger green container which is kept outside and has a secure lid to keep the rats out (shudder).  I was well pleased to see that over the last six days, with a household of eight to feed for much of the time, I only needed to throw away one bag's worth of food waste and some of that was peelings I couldn't be bothered to take to the compost heap.

So, anyway, yesterday I remembered and out to the front went the black bin, the brown bin and the kitchen waste bin.  Now I have to remember the card sack and the green box on Friday.  It's always harder to remember when the usual routines are disrupted.

I was on a mission yesterday.  Over the last three or four days I became aware that after I had made a pot of coffee, around the bottom of the coffee maker there was a little puddle of clear water.  At first I thought I must have spilt a little as I poured the cold water into the coffee maker but on Monday it was evident that the machine was actually leaking and, when we investigated, there was a split in the plastic casing.  Darn it, it's been a good coffee maker over the years, giving honourable service time and time again but now, sadly, it needs to go to that great big coffee plantation in the sky.
So, my mission was to get another filter coffee makers.  Thank goodness my needs are simple because there is such a choice ranging from bog standard water in, coffee out machines to ones that make seven different kinds of coffee while you toast your bread (and with price tags to match).  As far as I am concerned, all I want is a machine that happily accepts ground coffee and water one end and gives me a pot of steaming hot coffee the other end; no need for fancy timers, strength settings or anything like that.  Good old Google, where would we be without it?  I found what I wanted and decided to look in Comet first before ordering online if necessary,  That was a silly decision - as I drove up to Comet, the access road was chock-a-block with queues stretching for several hundred metres.  Fortunately I was able to do a quick lane change and head off the opposite way towards Sainsburys where I was able to get exactly what I wanted, reduced too.  I'm drinking my first mug of coffee from it at the moment and realise I need to up the amount of coffee I put in, as it's bigger than my old one and makes quite a lot more coffee.  I will learn!

That was yesterday's big adventure.  The other main event was that my parents went home and I now have the house to myself.  Yesterday evening was rather lonely really, but I slept very well and was able to keep my bedroom door open all night, something I like to do but can't really when there are visitors staying.

And today's big task will be Dealing With The Turkey.  The annual and enjoyable exercise in frugality, making the very most of every little bit of turkey that can be extracted from the carcass.  I will slice the remaining white meat, take off as much of the brown as I can and then the rest will simmer for hours and hours in my big pot until the remaining meat has fallen off and the bones and other inedible bits can be thrown away.  The stock will reduce down to a strong jelly and be frozen in small portions and the meat will be frozen in gravy for future use.  All this using up turns a pretty expensive purchase into much better value for money, apart from the fun of it all.

Better get started, I suppose.  Have a good day, one and all.

Target Tuesday

These target days come round so quickly!

Last week's were:

• To continue to sort out the books.  That was a silly one, seeing as my brother has been using the yellow bedroom where all the books are, but I did manage to sort a few more and will continue to do so this week.
• To declutter the cupboard under the stairs.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha .  Er - no!
• Keep working on keeping my bedroom tidy.  Actually this one is OK - there's a few bits and bobs in there that belong in another bedroom but which were moved out because of my guests, but that's OK.  I really hope I am getting there with my bedroom.

So on to this week.  I think it's the two that have carried over plus a necessary one.

• To continue to sort out the books
• To declutter the cupboard under the stairs
• To generally sort out the house after Christmas - this involved just little things but plenty of them.  I suppose the washing isn't a little thing but I'm getting an enterprising local lady to do the ironing for me (she runs a small business from home).