Thursday

It’s recycling and black bag rubbish day again- just what I needed to face first thing on a cold and dark winter’s morning! At least this week I remember it before taking our littlest to school, so I can make a start on collecting the rubbish up beforehand. Mike was supposed to be working from home today, which would have left me free to sort it all out before getting up, and would have meant my working day could have started earlier. However, meetings got changed around and he has to go in to the office this morning, and he leaves just as I’m sitting on the cold kitchen floor, waist deep in recycling.

I manage to get all the bins emptied and the bag ready to go out, before eating a very hurried breakfast, but at least I can drop the bag at the end of the driveway on the way down to school. When I get back I sort out as much recycling as I can, and by the time it’s all put out, the washing’s going, and the  breakfast dishes done its nearly eleven o’clock- again. The post has arrived, and I know the yellow trimmings that I ordered yesterday have come, so as soon as I get a chance I grab a cup of tea and open my parcels.

The yellow ric rac is lovely and bright, and the yellow lace is a lovely sunset colour. Unfortunately, but as I suspected they might, they don’t particularly go together very well, and the ric rac actually looks almost green against the yellow of the flowers on the fabric. I think it may be time for a rethink. I’ve got a very short length of orange ric rac left over from a previous outfit, and holding it against the fabric confirms that it is the right colour to use. As I want the dress to be a bit more special, I don’t want to end up just using ric rac around the hem as well, but when I place the new yellow lace against the orange ric rac I’m pleasantly surprised at how well they complement each other. Problem solved- now I just have to amend the dress description with the revised trimming colours.

I parcel up the Christmas dress order I finished yesterday, ready for posting this evening and as I do so I notice how few postal bags I have left. I always buy them from the same eBay shop as they have very good customer service, and are very speedy with delivery- which also happens to be free. Generally I receive my parcels from them by the next day, but I always order around lunchtime and I’m not sure when their cut off time is. As I’ve only actually got one more bag in the size I use most, and several more orders I want to make and send out in the next few days, I abandon my parcel wrapping and head over to eBay. It’s nearly half past one, and for delivery next day I need to order by two, so I’m pleased to see I have plenty of time. I order the bags, and some parcel labels as I’m nearly out of them too, and then finish wrapping my parcel.

After his rescheduled morning, Mike arrives home with a sandwich lunch which, as it is a lot later than planned, is very welcome! After eating, Mike sets himself up working at the end of the table and I try to get on with some of the sewing that’s waiting by the sewing machine. However, I’m finding it hard to get going this afternoon- it’s nearly time for the children to start arriving home from school, and for me to start cooking dinner so I know that whatever I begin working on will soon have to be abandoned for the day… or more likely the next few days, as we have visitors due for the weekend and I’ll have to spend at least part of tomorrow finding some space for them…