Spring cleaning!!!!

It is the weekend and we have no plans save that I am on a culling and de-cluttering exercise with regard to my clothes.  We have very limited storage so it is hard to find homes for everything and when we first came over to live clothes for us were expensive and quite hard to come by so we brought everything with us 'just in case'.  Fortunately although our weight may have fluctuated a little most of the clothes that I brought over 8 years ago still fit although in some cases they appear to have provided a square meal for some moths.  I have purchased some anti moth smelly pellet thingys which do not smell like mothballs fortunately and should just scent the clothes and deter the moths if the claims on the packaging are correct.  My aspiration is to be the person with a wardrobe like the one on the right rather than the person that I am at the moment with a wardrobe like the one on the left although my wardrobe is about a third the size of that one.

I started with the chest of drawers and the drawers under the bed, sorting through everything there, throwing some items, putting some items away for charity and then placing all the remaining ones into boxes so that they sit neatly in the drawers and can be removed and perused easily.  Boo has put in an official complaint - he has enjoyed going to sleep in amongst my jumpers in a drawer under the bed and this luxury has now been taken away - he tried, failed, chuntered and exited in umbrage.

I completed all the drawers and the shoes.  Everything now neatly packed away and accessible.  I must admit that I did not get to the hanging items in the wardrobe - I need full strength and a good frame of mind to tackle this - I need to be strong and sensible - I fear that the oldest item on a hanger is fast approaching its 20th birthday - I cannot let sentiment stand in my way.

Whilst I am doing battle with drawers John looks on in admiration and encouragingly says "once you have done yours we can tackle mine!"  that is presumably the royal 'we' - I don't remember asking him to get involved with my project.

We were planning on going shopping but I wasn't really in the mood so suggested to John if I could find enough ingredients in the freezer, fridge and cupboards to rustle up a meal for tonight and our lunch with Mum tomorrow we could postpone the shopping and go on Monday - I didn't feel like going, I have been sleeping quite poorly for the last few nights for some reason - hormones don't help although at least I am not cold even though the bedroom struggles to reach double figures at times.

The cats were questioning the wisdom of my decision as they were concerned about whether or not a no-show at Paps today would mean they would be put on an enforced diet for a couple of days!!!  

They need not worry - their welfare is always uppermost in our minds and I had already pissed Boris off with drawer-gate so I daren't do it a second time with his food.  Minnie is, as always, totally unconcerned about the niff, naff and trivia of the day - she just sits on the window sill at meal times, accepts her food, generally eats it and then buggers off in a feline Greta Garbo 'I want to be Alone' sort of manner bless her.

Having completed the job in hand, save for the wardrobe hanging items, we decided to take a little drive over to the winery to fill John's very depleted wine rack.  We were not stopping although I was sorely tempted because now that vast building has central heating and the reception area was just toasty warm and very welcoming as were Yiannis and Maria who greeted us like long lost friends as they always do.  We returned with our box of 12 red and a free white which I will share with Mrs Veasey at some point in the future.

This is what a replenished wine rack looks like although I reckon it probably offended John with his OCD that there was one spare slot on the left hand side.  I was more offended by the fact that John took a photograph of the bottles and the older ones were covered in dust.  He said it was to prove to people that we do not drink them all at once I think it just shows what a shit housewife I am!

Scouring the ingredients available to me shouted CURRY and I was more than happy that this would allow me to try one of the lovely packs sent to us by Laura and Mark.  I chose to make a Passanda curry although somewhat unusually had to chose Pork as that was all that was available from the freezer.  I followed the recipe on the package but added a red pepper because I had one that needed eating up and a dollop of chopped chilli because John and I now eat food much spicier than we used to.

I had this bubbling away on the stove whilst John sat through yet another average Blades performance when they scraped a draw against Norwich.  They came from behind twice although somewhat luckily I would say - the last couple of times I have watched it has been uninspiring to say the least - they have been lucky and should consider themselves lucky to still be in a play off position.  From experience the play-offs have always proved a game too many and you can bet your bottom dollar that will be the case again should it happen.  Better surely to secure an automatic promotion spot - which they could be in quite easily but aren't - but what do I know?