Missing in action....

It has been almost 2 weeks since I last posted, for a mixture of reasons. We have been very busy, but not with all the usual summer type fun, more the kind of things that are meant to happen in Spring...ie cleaning!
The book, Organized Simplicity, that I mentioned in an earlier post, has been what's kept me away from my blog, through sheer determination to once and for all declutter my house from top to bottom.
We have tried to follow the 10 day plan from the book, not completely successfully as I am a creature of habit, and have my own way of approaching these things, but it has been a good general guide for the process.
The first step I followed to the letter; which is to go through every room and area of your house and just scan it for items that you know to be rubbish, or not needed/wanted anymore. No sorting or sifting, just going for what is clearly visible. I was surprised how much stuff there was in this category. Some was literally rubbish. The rest was either for recycling, charity shops or to sell. I am hoping that a friends offer to help me with a boot sale still stands.........I really need to do one, and the company (and her big car) would be much appreciated!
I have had to spend a lot of time in our new craft room trying to fit many many items into their new homes. It has been quite a trial and still not finished. Despite having a chest with 19 drawers in it, I am struggling to place the last few items. I know the room needs to be fit for purpose, and I am definitely in favour of 'a place for everything and everything in its place', but I don't want the room to look cluttered. It already is much more full than the original photo's show. One great addition is our new table. I have been looking for the perfect one for ages. Originally I had been looking at beautiful old pine scrub top tables, but when we mapped them out on the floor, they seemed to take up far too much space, and we were already enjoying the roominess! We didn't want to go for too small a table either, as we have been looking forward to a good sized work area for sewing, jigsaw puzzles, art etc etc. In the end I came across a really sturdy plastic table, 5 feet long, with the added bonus of folding legs. Now we are all happy that we can have the best of both worlds!
The decluttering and organising saga will continue, it just has to fit in with my energy levels, and making sure we all have some fun times too before Phil's new term at work starts.

After all feeling quite a degree of cabin fever, we did manage to get out in the sunshine for a few hours, and caught up with a close friend that I hadn't seen for far too long.
We went to one of our favourite haunts, Cockington Country Park.

There are many different aspects to Cockington. I would happily wander through the park all day, but William & Grace always have a different agenda. So on this occasion we tried to squeeze in a little bit of what everyone fancied. After a short wander the play area was a must........

Actually, I must admit, if I weren't depriving other children, I could also happily while away a fair bit of time in one of these swings!
Ice cream was also on their agenda, so we obliged and managed to force down a treat ourselves before having a quick look around the craft studios and then wandering back through the beautiful countryside.

We have also had to find space for a very special visitor this week. Grace and Fred have become firm friends........

We have never been able to have pets as I have severe allergies to animal hair and fur. Grace absolutely loves animals and has been desperate to have a pet, so I am very grateful to our lovely friend for letting us look after a completely hairless, and very amusing Fred for a week or so! He's quite adventurous, is Fred and there really is never a dull moment. He is even fascinating when he's asleep.

Fred also has a few naughty habits......like urinating in his drinking water, and releasing wind in quite a noisy way....(trying to put it politely!) This has of course caused much amusement amongst the younger members of the household!!

He LOVES his food and wolfs it down every morning.


We will actually quite miss Fred when he goes home, and wish that we could have a tortoise of our own, but we have no garden to speak of.
Having said that, I think Fred has had quite an influence on our Daughter, especially her reading material........

Who knew poo could be SO fascinating?! Still, it cheered Grace up yesterday as William went off for a long awaited sleepover with his friend. Grace was quite upset not to be having this kind of fun, so she made a den in her room with her pretty wigwam, and we treated her to a DVD and some popcorn.

We had planned to have a proper family day out today, but the weather has not been kind so far. We are hoping for the sun to shine through later so that we can get out for some fun..... somewhere!