Monday 11 February 2013

I can see the wood for the trees

The morning wasn't too good today, dull, overcast, and cold, so I stayed indoors and got on with the artwork. I must say it's coming together nicely now. I ran out of the yellow paint I was using, so had to continue with a slightly lighter shade of yellow. It looks quite good, so now I'm not sure that it needs any other colours. Have to think about it.
After lunch the weather picked up a bit so I carried on sorting the garage out. Here you can see what a mess it is, piles of wood everywhere, think I have a wood fetish, ha ha. A lot of this was collected from B & Q when I worked there. Some pallets were picked up from the back door of Wickes, the DIY store. They have a special pile where they put stuff they don't want, anyone can help themselves. If I see a nice pallet I can't drive past it without stopping to pick it up.
There is a paste table on the right, buried under stuff and about to collapse. Old kitchen cupboards come in handy for storing small stuff.
I've got stacks of blue plastic trays, retrieved from the skip outside the takeaway. They had mushrooms delivered in them and they are non returnable, so they get thrown away. 
Right, get some of the large items outside, so I have room to work.
That's a big improvement, long lengths of wood on the right hand side, lots of rubbish thrown out. Cardboard broken up and put in the recycling bin.
Timber sorted into lengths, oddments of pallets stacked up on the left.
Nice tidy stack of wood here, now I can see what I've got without having to shift a load of stuff.
The canes are stacked up on the right, ready for the runner beans. Now I can walk in without falling over things. Much better, job well done.  I must say I quite like my garage, well it's more a shed really. It's a bit tumbledown, but it serves it's purpose. I can do a bit of potting up in there if the weather isn't too good.
Library day today, so I took half an hour out to change my books. I'm a bit limited for choice in the van, as I only read non fiction, and they don't seem to get many new books in. Never mind, I managed to find four, just have to expand my horizons a bit more and read about new topics.
Dinner tonight was steamed brocolli, leeks, potatoes, and celeriac, with half a 99p cauliflower cheese Value ready meal. It was very nice, and oh so filling.
Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.

21 comments:

  1. Spent most of day as lodger coming to view, phone call at 2 pm when she was meant to arrive, she has found somewhere. Bugger spent most of day cleaning.

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  2. I could and do eat similar meals to you. At the moment we are working our way through a big tray of flat mushrooms cost £1, yesterday some were roughly chopped and mixed with 2 cooked beetroot, 2 elderly red peppers, an onion and a head of garlic, all chopped up sprayed with a little oil, seasoned and roasted. they ended up in large yorkshire puds with the last of a batch of lentil and barley soup. Ab Fab. Tonight they were in an omelette with half a pack of shropshire blue cheese, yellow stickered from £3.50 to 75p, a good shake of worcestershire sauce and a bag of salad on the side, 30p from £1.50.
    My shed is stuffed to the rafters and will be sorted next weekend, weather permitting.

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    1. Wish I could get more yellow sticker mushrooms, Pam, I love them, but I'm not paying full price.

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    2. What about the big value packs Ilona? Morrison's have 800g (I think) for about £1.50, works out around £2 a kilo.... You just have to cut off the bottom of the stem with the compost on it :0)

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  3. I need to get to my garage but too cold here at the moment. Dinner looks lovely - very, very frugal, I bet that cost less than a quid and healthy as well. You need something substantial after all that physical work.

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  4. I think Froogs was looking for a lodger so perhaps it's her comment.

    Would you like to come and tidy my shed too? One of those jobs I keep putting off.

    Wondering about all your wood, do you have a log burner or open fire?

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    1. Hi, no I don't have a log burner or open fire, I have gas central heating and a single gas fire in the living room. I like to have a stock of wood for small building projects. I built a shoe rack from pallets, an outside work table, raised veg beds, decking, and a greenhouse. All were free. Wood is usefull for all kinds of repair jobs.

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    2. A wooden greenhouse! Now that's a new invention!

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    3. I am brilliant at inventing :o)

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  5. I think I have garage envy now :-)

    More yummy food.

    Toni

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  6. You have really worked your tail off! Wish I had your energy.

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  7. Looking in your garage was like looking at my Dad's shed. It didn't matter where he went on his walks in Bridlington he would always come back with a piece of wood. Just in case he needed it lol. Always looked in skips and came back with something. Bless him.Kept him busy:)

    Sue R

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  8. I have been tidying my polytunnel which is my shed, effectively :-) I love my polytunnel

    You have done a lovely tidy job ibn your garage Ilona

    XXX Cw

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  9. I had some cauliflower cheese tonight which was courtesy of ****, destined for the bin, except I was given it before that happened! Trifles the other day and bread, although I'd rather eat my own, you don't look a gift loaf in the mouth, do you? Also a couple of cheese sandwiches which husband ate last night, (me looking on disapprovingly, as he had only eaten about 4 hours previously). I think men are greedy!

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  10. Meant to say, you could have your own little wood shop and sell bits in aid of the cats if you wanted?

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  11. You've done an amazing job of tidying up your garage!

    I share your love of reading - my monthly trips to the library are pure bliss.

    Your evening meal looks delish and very nutritious, we are having some cooler weather this week and I'm using my oven again - cooked baked apples last night.

    Cheryl

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  12. Here in the States most of our libraries have internet access to card carrying library members that can be accessed from home once it's set up. I was wondering if your library had internet and if you could set it up to access it at home. That way you could see what's available to check out and perhaps have it 'reserved' for you and placed on your library van the following week for pickup. It may entail going to the library proper and setting up an account with them based on your library card account but perhaps they'd do it over the phone.

    Worth a look see anyway.

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    1. That is an idea worth looking into, thanks for that. I can renew my books online, but not sure if I can access their database of book titles. I will ask.

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  13. Morning Ilona, from House fairy.
    Just having my breakfast of coffee and toast.
    Rebooted washing machine. It looks like I may be able to line dry a bit. Then on clothes horse.

    Glad to see you are tidying up, it makes a happy home.

    I de cluttered one drawer yesterday. It had my card making stuff in and other bits and bobs.
    I moved the card making things to a diffrent place vowing that is more accessible.
    I could make my own cards more and save on buying them.

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  14. You did a great job on your garage. I have a small wooden shed but no garage. I have so much stuff in that shed you can't imagine. The lawn mower alone takes up alot of floor space. I have to get in there this spring and sort things out and organize it better. Yours looks really nice and organized. Now you can see what you have. Sometimes we go buy something again and then we realize we already had one because we're not organized with our stuff and it's a waste of money.

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