Offcuts and EBay

I was right- my littlest girl was so taken by everything she saw at the zoo yesterday, that she described in very minute detail just about everything she saw and did there yesterday! This morning she continued the tale, as there were some bits she’d missed out!! It’s lovely to hear her- she’s a very chatty and cheerful little girl anyway, and usually fills me in on how her day has been without my needing to ask her, but even by her own standards she’s talking a lot about this trip!

Having just about managed to silence her long enough to get her through the school gate this morning, I walk back home and feel strangely alone. Most of the other parents I see on a daily basis were missing from the playground this morning as their children are away on the residential, and for the first time in a couple of weeks I’m actually returning to an empty house as everybody else is out at work and school. In theory this means I should have a good day and be able to get a lot done, but yet again it’s dull and bitterly cold with an icy wind blowing through the tiniest cracks, so it’s going to be difficult to get motivated.

I managed to get the recycling sorted first thing this morning, in time for Mike to take the boxes down the drive, and the washing up has been in soak since before school, so my day is going well so far. I put some music on for company, and accompanied by Take That I begin my day with the usual round of washing, washing up and breakfast. With absolutely no sign of the promise of spring we had the other day, I turn the heating up to thaw my cold hands, and then turn my attention to everything else I have left to occupy my time today.

Three or four years ago, while despairing over the amount of fabric scraps I was throwing away, I discovered that people sell similar things on eBay. I tried collecting all my offcuts for a few weeks until I had a reasonably sized bag full of scraps, and then advertised them for sale. I wasn’t too hopeful, but I advertised them as being for crafters or patchwork, explained in detail how small some of the pieces were, and showed as much detail of them as I could in the photos- however, I couldn’t see the attraction in buying them, or who they’d appeal to. However, I was proved wrong, and received lovely feedback about the variety of fabrics in the bag. Since then I have taken to collecting all my leftover scraps, keeping each bag to around 500g in weight, and when I have three or four bags ready I put them up for sale.

I currently have four and a half of these, so one of the jobs I really want to get done today is to get the complete bags onto eBay. I need to take good photos of them, so I begin by tipping out the contents of one onto the dining table. It takes a while to arrange the ‘heap’- it’s amazing how many fabrics curl round so all you can see is the wrong side when you want the brighter right side on show! Half an hour or so later and I have a good selection of photos showing each pile from different angles, to show as many of the fabrics as possible. Each bag is also now carefully tied and labelled, to correspond with the order the photos are in on the camera.

Loading the photos onto the description template I already have set up on my business eBay account won’t take very long to do, so I think I’ll do that over lunch rather that waste time sitting doing nothing while they upload. I’ve just decided to get on and have an early lunch when the phone rings, and to my pleasant surprise it’s our son from Canada. We don’t hear much from him, keeping in touch mainly through Facebook instead, which is both easier and cheaper! 

He’s currently in the very early stages of applying for permanent residency status over there, his two year working visa having recently expired. He fills me in on his current situation, what should happen next, and how long everything should take. And he also gets our little Grandson to come to the phone and talk to me- which nearly sets me off crying. At two and a half he’s now chatting non-stop and is a lively small child- when we saw him last he was only ten months old and still a young baby. 

The twenty minutes my son has allowed himself to phone for is soon up, and I come away from the phone feeling both happy that I’ve spoken to him, and sad that he’s so far away.

Having turned Take That down to answer the phone, it seems wrong to put the music straight back on again- it doesn’t seem to go with my mixed mood just at the moment, so I get on with making lunch instead. Not that I really feel like doing that either, so delay by sorting some of the rubbish out that always seems to collect on the kitchen worktops. It’s been driving me mad for weeks, but in my efforts to reclaim the house since being ill, it’s one thing that has had to take a back seat.

I don’t get far with it, but I clear enough to make a difference, and give me the motivation to carry on with it another time. Over a much later than planned lunch I finish the job of getting my offcuts bags onto eBay. I hope they sell well as normal, it really does seem like such a waste to throw all the scraps away, and there’s very little else I can do with them. They’re not exactly huge money spinners- I usually only make about £1 on them after all the fees, but at least they’re not going to landfill. At least, they’re not going there from my bin anyway! I finish the afternoon with a bit more cutting out, as I need to get my Easter dress made up and photographed for the website, and St. George’s Day is coming up soon too. Hopefully tomorrow there’ll be a chance for me to actually make them, but for now I’m back off down to the school for the next instalment of yesterday’s zoo adventure!

Time Flies...

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Spring, that is, which seems to have disappeared just as quickly as it began. This morning, although dry out, is overcast and threatening, and there’s a very icy wind blowing. Such a shame- the ‘African Animal’ children are off to the zoo today and it would have been nice for them not to have to be out in the freezing cold for once. I know they’ll all have a brilliant time, as all children seem to whatever the trip- just simply because they’re not in school. But after the promise of warmer weather to come that we had yesterday, it just seems a bit of a shame.

It’s chaos down outside the classroom when I drop my little girl off at school- there are over excited children and anxious looking parents milling about everywhere in the corridor- for some of the youngest children this is their first ever trip out with school. But the teacher in charge is calm, and obviously on top of the situation as she quietly organises the children into sitting down in the middle of the room. My daughter smiles and waves to me as I leave her, and I’m pleased to see she looks happy and relaxed She’s not usually very keen on coach journeys as although she rarely suffers from travel sickness, she very occasionally does feel ill. I think today though the prospect of maybe seeing a real live elephant has taken over from her usual worries!

I make the walk home with a heavy heart. I don’t like school trip days, never have and never will. Yes, I know that nowhere is one hundred percent safe, accidents can happen anywhere, as can fires etc. etc., but at least when the children are in school for the day I know exactly where they are- and how to get to them if they need me to! Fortunately, with a house full of things needing my attention, my mind is soon elsewhere and before I know it I glance at the clock and realise they’ll already have arrived at the zoo!

By eleven o’clock I give in and turn the heating back up. Yesterday there was no need to do so until after school time, so it’s quite disappointing to be feeling the cold again today- it’s amazing how much of a ‘feel good factor’ there is attached to one day of sunshine! My hands are cold through, so there’s little point in any early sewing today, but I have a fair bit of admin to get through so decide that’s the best place to start.

I really don’t know where time goes to. With my new stricter budgeting campaign, I’ve some work to add to the workings out I did last week- just a few extras like milk that needed buying by the end of the week, and Mike’s latest petrol fill up, so I start with that as its going round in my head too much to concentrate on anything else. 

Our second youngest daughter has a school concert next week, and I need to get the tickets bought. I look for the order form on the latest school newsletter and, having breathed a sigh of relief that the deadline for ordering is tomorrow, I print the form and write out the cheque. That then leads me to notice that there are a few newsletters I haven’t downloaded, so I head to the school website to find them. While on the website I take a look at the gallery of photos from the Christmas concert as I’ve been told by my daughter that she’s in some of them…

And so it goes on- before I know it it’s time for (an already late!) lunch, and I’ve only achieved a fraction of the things I wanted to this morning. I wouldn’t mind if like my dear husband, I ever got distracted by playing a game, or reading a book, or even by browsing the news. At least then I’d know where the day had disappeared to, but all I ever have to show from the six or so hours I have to myself is- nothing much! Only if I actually sew solidly from the time I get back from dropping off at school until afternoon pick up, or if the house is so dirty that my cleaning makes a noticeable difference, is there anything to actually say ‘that’s what I did today’!

Having grabbed a quick lunch, I decide that today obviously is one of those days when admin and washing are determined to take over, so I abandon my ideas of getting any sewing done. By concentrating on changing over the washing on the airers, and getting all the little computer jobs done today, I’ll be freed up then for spending longer on the practical side of my little business. And anyway, I’m now back to feeling anxious as its nearly time for the children to be travelling back to school, I’m concerned in case my littlest didn’t travel well, but I’m looking forward to hearing all about the animals they saw today. I rather suspect I’ll get to spend the rest of the evening being followed around by a very chatty little girl- giving me a minute by minute account of her day!

The First Hint of Spring

This morning, for the first time this year, it actually looks as though spring may finally be around the corner. Although the sky is hazy, the sun is shining through, and although still quite cold, the real bitterness isn’t there after being so dominant throughout the winter. My eldest girl took her little sister to school again today as she is on a late shift at work, so I haven’t yet ventured out to see it for myself, but for once there was no icy blast coming in at me when I waved them off!

With the washing up done, and the washing machine happily working away, I glance out of the window while waiting for the computer to load. I’m tempted to think about maybe putting some washing out on the line today, as I can’t wait for the lovely ‘air dried’ smell that the laundry takes on, not to mention the fact that I can’t wait to not be surrounded by washing drying everywhere indoors! By this time last year I’d been hanging certain items out to dry for about four weeks, and so far there hasn’t been a single day when I could have. By the time the washing is ready, the weather may well have changed, but it’s a happy thought to start the day with.

Both my elder girls went off on the ten o’clock bus this morning, so between interruptions to see them off and to answer the phone to say they’ve got to town, I check my emails, website and Facebook page. Yesterday I did some work on my google ad for the charity dress, and added some more keywords to the campaign in the hope that people’s attention would be drawn to it as it’s Comic Relief night at the end of this week. Although I still haven’t sold any of the dress, its cheering to see that it has had far more interest over the last few hours than previously- hopefully now I will sell some.

By the time the washing’s finished, as I suspected, the feeling for hanging it out has waned. It’s still bright out with a hazy sun, but when I open the door and take a peek outside I can tell it’s still a little too cold for the washing to actually dry at all out there. If I had a load of bedding or towels I’d still be tempted, but with school uniforms and PE kits I’d only have to bring them in later and hang them on the airers anyway. Never mind, it won’t be long until I can put my washing out to dry… maybe.

Now that I have a bit of ‘spare’ time that has just been freed up I decide to have a quick run around with the vacuum cleaner. One major problem with keeping the cleaning nicely up to date is the fact that every tiny speck of dirt then shows up more- maybe a dirty house is easier to look after! Of course, the lovely early spring sun shining across everything only serves to show up every tiny speck of dust in detail- I can see where the idea of spring cleaning came from, as dull days just don’t show up dirt!

With downstairs once again dust free for a few minutes, and after a quick lunch I turn my attention once again to my sewing. I’ve still got the fabric for a little sheet cut out and ready, but that’s all. I’m not going to get a lot of time this afternoon for sewing, as once again time is running away from me but I decide to get some more cutting out done first as there’s one order still outstanding from when I was poorly. I’ve kept in touch with the customer, so there’s no problem, but I do want to just get it made up and sent out now. As part of the order is for a top and trousers set, I’d like to get the top made up as soon as I can as it’s one that will need me to hand sew a popper onto it as soon as I find a free evening.

With the fabric cut out, I manage to grab just enough time to make the little sheet. I’m not going to manage to get it out in the post this evening as everyone’s home too late, so I don’t bother with parcelling it up just yet, and anyway it’s time to fetch my littlest girl from school. They’re doing a week long project in school this week on African Animals, as some of the older ones are off on a residential tomorrow. My little girl is mad keen on elephants, so was very excited when she heard what they’d be doing! She chats away excitedly all the way home, telling me what they’ve done today, and then follows me around filling me in on extra details. Somehow I don’t think I’m going to get much more done today, so I lead the way into the kitchen where I can start preparing dinner, while she tells me all about how to make a paper-mache elephant…

Miserable Weather

So much for a warmer weekend! I said I’d only believe it if it happened, and it didn’t. Saturday started off foggy, dull and drizzly, and although officially a little warmer, the temperature never really made it into double figures. Even by the afternoon, when the sun actually decided to shine for a while, the temperature remained rather on the chilly side. 

As for yesterday, the fog seemed to set in by early morning and didn’t seem to want to shift. We drove to church in the drizzle, and dropped our son at a friend’s house on the way home in thick fog. Every time I looked out of the window the mist seemed denser, the drizzle heavier, and within minutes of our return home we’d turned the heating up. The sun didn’t come out all day.

This morning starts out the same as yesterday, and doesn’t show any sign of improving. I don’t have to make the walk down to school this morning as Mike’s got the day off, and I can’t really say I’m too sorry! Our eldest girl has the day off too today, and we watch as he walks down the drive with our littlest- they’re already wet through by the time they reach the road.

There’s a whole load of washing up from yesterday evening to do this morning- a certain person last night said they were going to do it, then having never got around to it promised they’d do it today, but not trusting him to do so and feeling very irritated by the state of the kitchen, I set to and fill the sink. Fortunately my biggest girl is on hand with the tea towel so together we make fairly light work of what is potentially a big job. The washing machine is already going, so afterwards I take my breakfast to the dining room and check up on my emails etc. while my daughter finds a programme she wants to catch up with on the television. Mike meanwhile is happily reading, and looks like he’s intending to spend most of the day doing so.

It’s still dull and raining out, and just like yesterday it isn’t long before I resort to turning the heating back up. I always find it difficult to get anything done when I’m feeling cold, and after having such a good couple of weeks where I achieved such a lot I don’t then want to waste today. Yesterday was a bit like that, but at least it was the weekend, and so by rights should have been a chance to take things easy and spend time together. I did at least manage to finish the Tesco online order, plan meals for the next couple of weeks, and made a cake with my littlest girl as we had lots of over ripe-bananas I didn’t want to throw away- so I guess it wasn’t really such a wasted day!

On Saturday I kept up the good feeling from the week- in the afternoon I spent some time in the study, or ‘storage room’ as it currently is. This is where most of the boxes of items from the house have been left, while waiting for me to get a chance to sort them out. It’s a very time consuming, and often emotionally hard job, as the salvage ‘experts’ brought in to help us after the fire filled every box with a completely random assortment of things- any given box can contain anything from damp rubbish, to something precious that got ruined, to something that someone has been longing to find and is actually still usable. It’s a job that I really need to be in the correct frame of mind for- unfortunately though on Saturday my heart wasn’t in it, and I didn’t really get a lot done. Having managed to finally get back in there and face it for the first time since Christmas though, hopefully it’ll now be easier to carry on with the task over the next few weeks.

Today, despite the rain and the cold and the fact that Mike has now moved from the living room into the dining room- with his book still attached, I’m having quite a productive day. I have a couple of seams to mend on his work trousers, which gives me the excuse to get the sewing machine out earlier than usual. Seams done, it only feels right to carry on sewing now. The house is all fairly clean, even after everyone being around all weekend, so there is nothing pressing that can’t wait another day or two- and I do have a large pile of bedding fabric cut out still from last week which I really need to get made up.

Before it’s even quite reached lunchtime I have two little pink blankets made up and ready to send out- one is a complete order on its own, the other needs bedding to go with it, which I’m going to do this afternoon. Lunchtime is a little strange- there had been an idea of going out for a drive up onto the hills as we sometimes do when Mike’s around, but with such heavy fog hanging around there seems to be little point as we’re hardly likely to be able to appreciate the view! Therefore we all end up eating different things at different times, as no one could decide what to make to suit everyone. It may sometimes seem a bit too quiet when everyone’s out at work and school, but it’s far easier to make decisions on food when it’s just me!

By the time lunch is finished with it’s getting well on into the afternoon so I get straight on with making up the little quilt and pillow. Although I have two volunteers to pick up my youngest from school this afternoon, I will have to stop soon after that anyway to cook dinner, so I’m glad it’s just a straightforward task that I have to do. Mike finally stops reading for long enough to complete just one of the many jobs on his list for today, and heads off to the tip with all the recycling we can’t put out at the roadside- much to our eldest girl’s dismay as this now leaves her to make the walk down to school in the now-much-heavier rain!

Bedding set completed, I just about have the time to wrap both parcels ready for sending out. Hopefully Mike will have the time to drop them at the post office when he takes our littlest to Brownies later. After a good afternoon’s sewing though, it’s now time to pack up and prepare dinner- and besides, I’m now down to only one item cut out ready for sewing. Looks like it could be another day of cutting out for me tomorrow!

Simple Aims, Positive Results

It’s sunny this morning, and still really cold outside, but for the first time this week it looks as though the weather might just consider warming up a bit. According to last night’s forecast we’ve got a warmer weekend coming up, but I’m not going to believe that until I feel it!

My head is definitely a lot clearer today- that list making over the last couple of days seems to have done the trick! I hadn’t even realised that I had so much ‘stuff’ that needed to be sorted out, until I began to write it all down and start to work through it. This morning as I walk my daughter to school I am able to make a clear and simple plan for the day- not that I live much by plans, as they so often get changed for one reason or another. But my aims for today are simple, if a bit time consuming.

Firstly the obvious and everyday jobs- wash the breakfast dishes, load the washing machine and tumble drier, check for dry clothes on the airers and replace with wet… then a quick breakfast and a check of my emails and website etc.

Secondly I want to catch up with this blog. On Tuesday I wrote about how pleased I was that I’d managed to catch up with writing it and that even if I didn’t get each post published on time, it didn’t matter as long as I wrote each day’s entry at the right time. I never learn- almost as soon as I’d put the words down life (or more specifically, my ‘to do’ lists!) started to get in the way once again and the last couple of days have so far been written in note form only. 

They’re still more complete than the notes I’ve managed previously, but they do need writing out properly before I can post them. The fact that I’ve done more work towards each day almost counts against me and gives me extra work to do, as it would seem a waste of time to ignore the drafted notes and skip a couple of days! It takes a while, but before I know it it’s nearly lunchtime and I have the last two days of my life written down and ready for publishing online.

I’m on a bit of a roll, and really feel like I’m beginning to get somewhere with all this sorting out and catching up with things. As I’m not particularly hungry yet I decide to get on with the third thing I want to achieve today- cleaning the bathrooms. Having got so behind with the housework while I was ill, and then having had such an intensive catch up last week I’m determined not to fall behind with any of it again. 

With two cloakrooms and the main bathroom to work through, I set myself a target of an hour to complete all three. I’m not sure quite how realistic that is, but I make a mental note of the time and then get on with the task in hand. Three shiny bathrooms later, and I’m pleasantly surprised to see that I’ve only gone over by ten minutes- and some of that was taken up with having to stop and answer the phone to Mike!

By now I am hungry, so I take a few minutes out for a sit down and a look through the orders I have for working through. It’s been a couple of days since I got any actual sewing done, so that’s my fourth task for the day. It’s getting quite late in the afternoon, so I know I won’t get much done today but I do need to make up the little blanket to complete the order I was working through on Tuesday. Once finished I take both the blanket and the bedding set upstairs- ready to be photographed once I come back from picking up my littlest girl from school.

It’s still sunny out, if not much warmer, so after a pleasant stroll down to the school I spread the bedding sets out on the bright pink throw I bought as a background for indoor photos. Catching the light from the sun, they look lovely and bright and for once it takes me no time to take photos I’m pleased with. I’ll add them to the item descriptions later on or tomorrow, so for now I’ve just one task left to complete- making a fish pie for tea that doesn’t taste too much of fish, so no one complains! This could be the one task I fail with today…