My older daughter has been sharing a room with her three year old sister since she was born. As there is a six-year age gap and Belle is now 9, the time has come for her to have a space of her own. Thanks to an extension, Belle was able to take over our old room. It needed a fair amount of work doing, however. This was the room before I embarked on the overhaul: Continue reading
I resolved at the beginning of the year that 2013 was going to be the year that I decluttered and sorted the house out. After tackling the kitchen, I decided the girls room should be next. Mini and Belle have shared a room for years and their shelves ended up looking like this:
In my last post, I confessed to the awfulness of my kitchen. Fed up, and unable to look at it any longer, I set aside a day to embark on a massive decluttering operation. I emptied out cupboards, cleaned and ended up with six dustbins bags full of ‘stuff’ either to be taken to the tip, given to charity or to be recycled.
A few of the horrors I unearthed…
Goodness knows how long this onion had been in the cupboard…
Suggestions for what this may have been welcome!
Crisp anyone?!
I now have boxes for batteries, baskets for tools, a draw for baking equipment, my tins all face the front and even my glass cupboard demonstrates a tinge of OCD symmetry. Now, the awful drawer and cupboard in my last post looks like this:
A place for everything…
Not a stray crisp in sight!
Just to balance the awful pictures from earlier, here’s some lovely things to be found in my kitchen:
A special gift from a lovely friend
My Emma Bridgewater cups. Only to be used on special occasions!
So that’s my kitchen sorted. For now. My next mission is to train my family to put things back in their correct place.
A task easier said than done…
A gorgeous sparkly new year always fills me with a sense of optimism and determination. This really is going to be the year that I go from Domestic Disgrace to Goddess.
My resolve was sealed today after a spontaneous invitation to a friends house for lunch. When inviting us, Emma said it wouldn’t be anything special, just some soup from the freezer. Honestly, it was a feast. Home made soup, crusty bread, cheese, ham, wine…just perfect.
But what was especially enlightening was how easy Emma made it all seem. I realized that there are so many reasons why I tend not to do spontaneous invitations. First of all, I never had anything to provide in a hurry, and cooking is a little daunting due to lack of skill. Secondly, my kitchen just isn’t organized enough for it. My drawers are full to bursting and I struggle to find what I need. When I open the cupboard containing cups, I move to the side to avoid being hit by a beaker or lid. My glasses are all smeared from the dishwasher and I don’t possess a water jug.
All this is going to change. They say the first step to recovery is admitting there is a problem, so here goes. These are my kitchen cupboards in their current state:
You can see why it’s embarrassing having people round. I can’t lay my hands on what I need and have nothing to offer from my freezer except potato waffles and Fab lollies.
I want my house to be one that I’m proud of. One that’s geared up for spontaneous invitations. So, things are going to be changing around here. I’m about to embark on an intensive decluttering mission, and am hoping to end up with an organized, beautiful home.
Home magazines…form an orderly queue please.
And if your home could do with a little ‘reorganizing’, why not join me? We could motivate each other. I should warn you though. I do have a slightly competitive side…
You may think that being a Domestic Disgrace means I shy away from having people round for dinner. It did, until I came up with a cunning plan. It’s genius, even if I do say so myself. I don’t cook, yet people go away thinking I’m some sort of culinary guru. Continue reading
During my journey from Domestic Disgrace to Goddess, I will be asking for monthly challenges. This scares me slightly as I’m not sure what you lovely people might suggest I do!
I really am domestically challenged. My Mother-In-Law despairs of me and reminds me of this on a regular basis. The other day my friend told me she had chutney on the stove, with a smile on her face, knowing this was a completely alien concept to me. I told her ”Just you wait…by the end of the year, I’ll be making chutney of my own.” Even her son laughed. You see, I’m known around these parts for my domestic inadequacies. Continue reading
For those that are new to this blog, I am attempting to turn from Domestic Disgrace to Domestic Goddess in a year. Part of my journey involves learning to cook. I am quite proud of my accomplishments so far, having learnt to cook a chicken dish without a gloopy sauce and sausage hotpot. It did become apparent last week that I have a distinct lack of necessary equipment, so I will be asking Father Christmas for a frying pan and casserole dish this year. I’m sure as I go on, I will discover more and more things to add to the list. Continue reading
My daughter happily did her homework this week. It was to write a perfect paragraph about her favourite hobby. Belle chose to write about baking: Continue reading
Last week I asked for chicken recipes, as we tend to eat chicken either plain roasted or accompanied by a thick gloopy sauce out of a tin. I had some lovely entries which I have bookmarked, but the one that really made my eyes light up was Mummy Barrow’s Chicken Thing. Why did it particularly catch my attention? Because the lovely lady uses words such as ‘sling’ and ‘shove’ in the instructions. This I can relate to! Continue reading
First of all, thank you to those who offered chicken recipes last week. There are some great ones there, and I’ve even learnt what it means to sautee something! I’ve written my list of ingredients for the chosen recipe and will be giving it a try tomorrow… Continue reading
