Sunday 13 January 2019

"You don't know the meaning of hard work . . ."

The title of this post is something my late m.i.l. once told me, because I found it hard to keep on top of all the ironing, tidying etc when I had 3 children under five and we were living in a house which needed total modernisation.  I think it was because I refused to iron the thick heavy cotton sheets she had given me . . .  Anyway, down the years, when I have collapsed into bed totally exhausted from all the work I have done - such as several consecutive days of 14 hours housework, painting, gardening  etc when we have a viewing due -  that little homily comes back to me.  Today was one of them.  I made a start on clearing the stable yard after I had listened to the Archers omnibus (whilst ironing material and starting to cut it up for the patchwork border on an applique wall hanging).  It had a winter's worth of leaves and twigs and half-rotted leaves turning to mud, plus lots of green moss, and it's a long time since I was last doing a work-out with a yard broom. Here it is before I started - and it was actually worse than it looks here!)


I had actually swept a few leaves into piles here, before thinking ah yes, before and after photos!  The hardest job was getting the grass (foreground) from the cracks in the concrete  and I had to concede defeat on the two biggest clumps, but I will go in with a spade with a sharper edge tomorrow.  All the leaves filled four barrowloads, now heaped under the Elderberry bushes at the bottom of the yard.  I finished it off by swilling it down with several buckets of water, sweeping after each bucketful.  After:




The pony stables are next - I did make a start on this one, and have swept all the leaves out, identified a lathe which needs to be taken by the scrap man next time one turns up (though they tend to hunt in packs - you don't see one for a year, and then three come with just days in between them!), moved out the remains of the old chair at the back (which has been waiting 35 years for my husband to restore), the pallet has gone to the woodshed and sundry boxes are earmarked for the Tip.  A bag of old sheets (well used dustsheets) are going the same way.




There are several mirrors hanging about the place and I want to take those to the Tip too, but my husband (in a cranky mood because of STILL working on the shower room, and now having to lay down to fix the wooden covers over the pipework, which has made his back and hips sore) huffily told me that "someone would want to recycle those, as mirrors are so expensive to buy" and they needed to go into auction.  Personally I don't think it's worth the bother of even cleaning them (guess whose name would be on THAT job?) let alone the time and fuel to take them for what they would fetch, but what do I know?  


More junk in the middle stable (how many empty cardboard boxes do we need?!) but a little bit of treasure as 3 Victorian solid brass wall light holders on the right . . .  But another mirror too (there were 6 in all, but one is a decent one), the remains of an upright piano - sundry bits of which ended up being dismantled for fittings (and firewood).


Itsy's old stable - 3 mirrors in here (incl. the good overmantel mirror), my husband's old weightlifting bar and weights, an ancient useless sewing machine etc.  I will go through these tomorrow, pre-Tip visit . . .


One little gem turned up - this is a candle sconce, Registered design number 60, which ties it to the Great Exhibition where such a piece of ironwork was on display.  The pretty design shows when the candle support is empty and up.

Finally - those Victorian brass lamp holders . . .


I can see one of tomorrow's jobs will be polishing . . .

18 comments:

  1. The work involved in dealing with all this lot makes me tired before I start.

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    1. I'm actually finding it very therapeutic Pat - more ticks to shorten my "to do" list and sorting out the stables has needed doing for about 4 years now. I think I shall sleep well tonight though.

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  2. You have my total admiration. What a job, sorry jobs plural and like with most leading to more. Well done.

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    1. I'll let you into a secret Jill, I actually enjoy sweeping - comes from when I was doing my BHSAI training back in 1971, and we were told if we left one stem of hay or straw on the yard after sweeping it, we had to do it again! (Our instructor had been taught by someone from the Army, so they had very strict parameters).

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  3. When I'm overwhelmed by housework, I always think of my dear MIL who told me that Mother and Baby club was on a Monday but she wouldn't go until she had done all the weeks washing - boiling it up in the old copper. And, she had three children under 18 months old (my OH and his twin siblings, just a year older). She used to be very frugal too and I've learned many a lesson from her.

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  4. I'm trying to recall if eons ago I ironed our sheets! Nearly everything else had to be ironed, including pillowcases and handkerchiefs and all the fussy details of blouses and dresses. Jim's grandmother informed me that it was one thing to iron the collar and cuffs of a man's shirt, but it was 'a poor back that couldn't press any wrinkles on wearing!' Poor woman, she had 13 children to care for!
    I would rather tackle an outdoor cleanup than the rather disheartening array of clutter that can so quickly accumulate in a shed or storeroom. [Think dust, mildew, spiders, etc.] There comes that point where I can't be objective--I want it all to GO AWAY!

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    1. I always iron sheets now I have the time (though a big hit of several king size sheets and duvet covers is tiring!) I even iron teatowels, because I think that kills any residual "germs" which might have got at them from the air. (I think I'm losing the plot sometimes!!)

      Well done Jim's grandmother who just ironed the bits that showed! With 13 children, any cuts you can make had to be a positive.

      I have the inside Junk next . . . think Junk Room here (AGAIN) and moving my sewing things up to Bedroom 5 - though the bunk beds HAVE TO GO. I just want to be organized (finally) and be able to go and put my hand on something straight away.

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  5. Hello Vintage Maison. Gosh - 3 kids under 18 mths was demanding on energy and time! I can remember my mum doing the washing in the old copper in the corner of the scullery (she never called it the kitchen). I suppose mil thought I had nothing to complain about as her mum had had to take in laundry and work a 12 hour day (with 4 young children) after her husband was killed in WW1.

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  6. Sweeping is very theuraptic, Paul is always sweeping when the weather lets him, very Zen ;) Don't work too hard though on sifting through all the stuff that has piled up in the stables.

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    1. I agree - it was such a satisfying day yesterday, both outside and in (with the cutting out of my new project). I just have to persuade Keith that the Tip is the way to go!!

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    1. Plenty more to come in other stables, hay barn, cart shed etc!

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  8. Well done with all of that. Can't beat a before and after shot! I iron pillow cases and some tea towels but I don't iron duvet covers, I hang them over the banister, and we only have fitted sheets which fold up nicely. I rotate the duvets folded with the matching sheet and pillow cases inside and I get to them they are all ready to go on the bed quite flat.

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    1. Your idea with the bedding sounds a lot less labour-intensive Louise! I now have 3 more duvet sets waiting (washed this morning) as I stripped the bunk beds I'm going to offer for sale.

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  9. What gems to find though! I have a similar “Room of Plenty” to work through. Really dreading it but it has to be done and we are better for it afterwards.
    KJ

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    1. Hello KJ. A "Room of Plenty" sounds much better than Junk Room! I feel so much more positive for cracking on with this.

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  10. Well done with all you have done - you have been so busy and it looks really hard work! I do like the candle sconce you discovered. MY OH expects me to clear away all my "clutter" in the house but the state of our garage where he keeps tools and timber etc. etc. "just in case" is unbelievably awful!

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    1. Oh yes, those "just in case" things do pile up but you know, the moment we get rid of a pile, something we've chucked out ends up being needed a couple of weeks down the line - ALWAYS!

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