Tag: boxes

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Living more simply

As each box slowly gets unpacked I feel more weighed down by the stuff that we’ve accumulated over our lifetimes.

To be fair, it’s the accumulation of two lives and two households that couldn’t be sifted and streamlined before we left London because we were in lockdown, with no tips or charity shops taking anything.

And it’s also the result of lives lived fully, of travel, and children, and passions. Things just attach themselves to you as you move through these life experiences.

But oh lord, so much stuff. It feels quite overwhelming, and we’ve only just started.

Sensible me says just sort a box at a time. Keep, throw or donate. Do it gradually and you’ll get there. Don’t panic.

Overwhelmed me says why oh why do we have four thousand sheets all in different and unspecified sizes? I know that they’d come in useful as dust sheets for the studio or several other uses, but I am determined not to cram this house to the rafters. Determined.

We will streamline. We will simplify. We do not need all of this stuff. Someone would welcome it, I’m sure.

Deep breaths. I can see several trips to the local charity shops and a massive shed sale on the horizon very soon..

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The last few weeks

Despite not having a joiner to finish the skirting boards, which are unceremoniously piled up in the living room, or the door linings and architraves, or a plasterer to finish the stairwell, we’re still making progress.

Chaos, building supplies, painted walls!

Good friends have helped with coats of paint in the bedroom, the upstairs bathroom, landing, dining room and kitchen. Andy is so much better at painting than I am, and so much more efficient, that a weeks work has resulted in a huge difference. It’s all starting to look dangerously white..

I’m hoping against hope that there will be enough rooms ready for us to move in over the next month. We’ve had surprisingly mild weather for the time of year, but it can’t last. We had snow on the hills at this point two years ago when we first moved here, so it may be delayed, but it’s surely coming.

Kitchen being painted

Husband has been fitting lights and sockets in the house and will move onto the bathrooms next. If we can get basic facilities up and running we can move in and enjoy the warmth. It’s already a comfortable and constant temperature compared to the caravan.

First wall light in

As we continue the build and start making plans for our first family Christmas for the last few years, I’m aware of how much we still have to do to finish it, but moving in feels very close now.

Whilst all this happens, life also goes on. The deer fencing for the vegetable and orchard area of the croft has arrived. I’m not quite sure when it will get installed, but it will at some point. We have a friends birthday coming up and I’ve baked her a pear, brandy and orange pie.

Because why not.

Pear pie