A large step into the unknown.

I suspect I have bitten off more than I can chew. The alternative is that I have just begun to create a monster. I was feeling so pleased with myself as slowly, slowly, my old skills were beginning to return. I am gaining confidence in creating and improving the blog. So that is a step in the right direction - keep the old grey cells churning over and use existing but buried skills gained in my former life as a librarian when I used blogs as routine. Amazing how quickly your skills vanish and with them your confidence.

So now I am taking a great leap into the unknown by going public so I shall feel even more committed to keeping myself on track and the posts up to date. Trouble is that the time spent on tweaking the blog means time away from the renovations. Next week there will be even less time because I go back to routines left off for the school holidays namely, Thursday mornings helping out at Mainly Music and Friday morning at Alliance Française for my French language class then Sunday morning taking the Sunday School class.

Today I have filled out the page giving details of all the residents of the house and added photos of them all. Having done this I then promised on the page right there for all to see that I will type up the patterns and post them on the site so they can be downloaded by anyone interested. See how I keep setting myself up for more tasks ? So I will have plenty to do to while away my retirement and hopefully provide other mini-knitters with something to knit up for their dolls. Actually starting to feel excited about it all. Another thought is that I really need to improve my photographic skills and up the quality of the illustrations on the site.

This morning I was on the hospital run as my beloved had to go in for a checkup CT scan and other tests. Fortunately it is not far to drive but it does eat into the morning as you can't settle to do other things.

However I heaved the house up on to four of my cat-enhanced dining room chairs so I can get inside it more easily for the next parts of the process. At present it is lying on the front verandah like a huge beached whale with the vacuum cleaner poised beside it. Soon I will clean it out ready to begin the painting tomorrow. Today I will see if it is possible to complete the blanket for the bed and read more of the French mystery I am enjoying. I plan to write up a review of it, Un lieu uncertain by Fred Vargas. That will serve as part of the report on my vacation I need to prepare for class next Friday. It is an excellent crime novel so I shall be seeking out more of  her works in the Alliance library. By the way there are translations in English of her novels should anyone like to read them.

As you can see not much room to manoeuvre here

Personal renovation

It seems to me that by the time I finish attempting to get my 10,000 steps for the day in there is not much left of the day. I suspect that I need to tweak a couple of things here. One - get up early and get the walk done and duster before showering and eating my breakfast.  Sorry Jessica, this means you get tossed of the bed earlier each day. Cats should be up and about also anyway. Secondly -  I hope I can walk faster. Does walking more actually help you to walk faster eventually? The other problem at the moment is that by the time I have walked I just don't seem to be able to settle down to the house renovations.

Time to create a schedule I think. So tomorrow I plan to attempt an earlier start and then commit to starting on the painting task.

I am also thinking of actually typing up some of my knitting designs and posting them here for others. This does of course mean that I will have to knit them up again one by one to "prove" the pattern. I want to redo this one in another colour for Serena, the mother doll in the house.

So once I have hunted out the original pattern I shall get to work and then put it up. In the meantime I am experimenting with an adaptation of a blanket pattern to knit up some blankets for all the small bed. I must also get to work assembling the beds for the girls' room. I think I should be able to assemble them first and then paint them after.

Time to start back again

September 21, 2015

I knew it was a long time since my last post but I didn't realise it was quite so long. It has been a long  and "interesting" year, but hopefully times will now prove slightly less challenging and I can get back  to renovations of the house and myself.

I did get up at 6.30 this morning and set out for an hour long walk along the bike path. I was supposed to lose 5 kilograms last year but instead I gained 5. So now I need to lose 10. Well off to a good start I hope. It certainly charged up my batteries and I reluctantly have to admit that I do feel better.

Put through 3 loads of washing. While that was going on I watched the French news on SBS, then knitted up almost half another square for the rugs for Knitting for Brisbane's Needy folk. Just need to relearn how to crochet them together. Mopped out the litres of water which leaked into T's car during the latest rain. Then, wonder of wonders felt the time had come to resume the house renovations. I had put off doing this for some time as I was feeling very discouraged and wondered if I really should just write the entire project off and dig out the kit from the spare room to commence an entirely new house.

While I was working on the house last year I had taken it out to the front deck where it is cool in summer and there is plenty of room to work in. The big draw back is that it is open to the air with a very unfortunate result. At the end of the summer the house looked like this.

It looked more like the haunted and derelict house that it is at the moment but is not the look I was aiming for. Would be great for Halloween though.  To say I was discouraged would be to put it mildly. Small wonder that I wheeled it away to an obscure corner, threw a rug over it and attempted to put it out of my mind. However going back to BMEA this year and then finally getting to the Open Day yesterday where I got some items for the kitchen and two lights for the lounge room perked up my interest again.

And now today with this surge of energy I got to work. I have at least made a start on it. Great stuff that Ajax spray and wipe.

So, an hour or two later and I think I have made a fair start to recovering it. I may allow myself to have little rest now and retire to to a little more on the squares for the rug. But now I know that I will get on with this project and with my self renovation. One day soon the kitchen in the little house will look something like this

Well not exactly but this gives an idea of the colour scheme planned and the rug has inspired me so I will make one like it. I will paint the little kitchen chairs I made at the last meeting this lovely blue and hunt through my box of fat quarters for suitable blue fabric for the windows. So off for my relaxing afternoon and it will not be so long between posts now. I promise you and myself. A bientot, mes amis.