Saturday 27 June 2009

Opening UP


Hi

I normally "sleep in" on Saturday and Sunday, but today, I was in the Supermarket at 8 a.m. Victor and his lovely wife Emma, and two gorgeous daughters were due to arrive at 11 a.m. and I wanted to make them a beautiful dinner.

I was up at 6, as even though I had a half day off work Thursday, still more housework needed to be done. I always either work hard, or relax on sofa, or swim in gym, or sleep, hence I get behind with housework so lots needed doing.

When they arrived Victor was quite hungry so I did a thrown together lunch to keep us going till dinner. We went for a long walk along a canal, and I'd planned to cook dinner when we got back. Thinking that walk would rustle up an appetite.

BUT when we got back, they needed to go so they'd be home at a reasonable time, so there was no time to make dinner, so I said can I at least fast forward to dessert. I issued dessert but as it was so so so hot (we have thunder and rain now, so it was the sticky heat that precedes that) I also gave them lots of water melon to hydrate them after the walk and for the long drive home.

Anyway, my lesson learned is that BEFORE we went for the walk, even though one little lady was asleep on the sofa, the other little lady did not fall asleep despite Victor rocking her in his arms for 30 minutes, so he asked if he could lie her on my bed (away from distractions). With head held low I had to admit that my bedroom was too messy for her to go in there. OH MY GOD, you could have dug a hole a 100 feet deep and I would have climbed right in. It wasn't about pride, and shame about my housekeeping skills - it wasn't! It was me... denying a 2 year old her afternoon nap. It struck like a knife in my heart, and I cannot get the wound out of my head.

Hence, I will tackle the bedroom like a demon tomorrow.

But what is odd is that I don't like to tidy the bedroom. When my Mum is coming at Xmas, I will spruce up the WHOLE flat, and always do the bedroom last, like out of obligation.... whereas I enjoy to do the rest of the flat.

I think the problem is that it has the decor we inherited from the previous owners and I DON'T LIKE IT. The only thing that motivates me to do housework is knowing how good it will look when finished.

I LOVE how the sitting room, kitchen, bathroom, and toilet look when spring-cleaned, but my bedroom I HATE.

So, I need to tidy it tomorrow, to cleanse my emotion of today and then, I need to plan a refurb.... I have been postponing a proper refurb as I am trying to be sensible in the run up to us having a ............. baby (yes, we are trying),,,,,,,,, but I cannot cope with how much I hate the bedroom anymore....... yuk yuk yuk.

We love everything about the flat (which is why we bought it) but the only room where I really don't like the ....... wallpaper...... is the bedroom and I don't like the carpet...... and I don't know if I like the BLUE colour scheme (it might not suit my feng shui - I must find out) AND we kept their wardrobes x 3 and dressing table and to be 100% honest, they are not my taste. BUT we moved in in August 8 years ago and got married in the same October, so we were glad for whatever came with the flat (newly decorated throughout). I can't replace something "for the sake of it" but EIGHT years later I think I SHOULD!!!

A bedroom should be a place you can get away TO not FROM.

Growing up, my bedroom was always my SANCTUARY - I was an only child and my Mum always made sure my room was gorgeous, BUT she packed it up while I was at Uni, because she was moving to Ireland. So although it had always been my safe corner of the world it was GONE in the blink of an eye without chance for a good bye.....
Yes it is an open wound. Given that my Mum went to Ireland in 1994, it is a wound I need to GET OVER.

Anyway, sorry this blog post is like me spilling my guts out on computer, but it was about time I did..................

If you have read as far as here, you must be mad........ no! seriously! thank you for reading........

Byeeeeeeee.

If I am here updating tomorrow it should be AFTER I tidy my bedroom!

Liska Life

xxxxxxxxxxxx

5 comments:

Susan said...

You need an emergency plan. Take it for the messiest girl around, I can relate. My hubs says I don't clean, I "hide". Yep, if friends are coming over and I need a room clean in a hurry, I grab up stuff from the offending room, place it in my bathtub and pull the shower curtain. I figure, if anyone is nosy enough to pull the shower curtain, they deserve what they get. Try it sometime!

Richard said...

He he he - Susan's comment made me smile - I can totally see you doing that and i can totally see myself wondering why the shower curtain is drawn and having a peek and then being in shock... LOL

Anyway, stop being silly... She was being stubborn and although tired, she refused to go to sleep - kids do stuff like that as you will one day experience first hand. Its very frustrating when they don't play ball but we adults have to accept that a lot of the time, even though we don't like to admit it, the kids are calling the shots! So, the request for the bedroom was simply to see if I could get her away from distractions and be on my own to convince her to sleep... it probably wouldn't have worked anyway. It's your house and you're allowed to be as messy as you like. She went to sleep in the car in the end and then carried on that nap in her bed.

And, we were disappointed that we couldn't stay for your second course but the truth of the matter is that your serving at lunch was quite sufficient for us and also, we did have to get going because of the girls so they could settle down and wind down for bed time. When you have kids, everything revolves around their wellbeing and as you know, Emma and I take our parenting very seriously and it has paid off so far cos our girls are gorgeous. Your steamed chicken and vegetables sounded lovely but we wouldn't have managed it - it's just gone 10pm and we have just finished having some beans on toast - we had nothing else since lunch and weren't hungry...

So, thank you for the lovely food, watermelon, walk along the canal and your hospitality. Stop feeling guilty and stop worrying - you're too hard on yourself sometimes. Just chill and have fun and take all that stuff out of your bedroom and throw it in the bath tub - That would be an interesting surprise for Charles when he decides to take a shower... he he he.

See you on Monday.

Victor

Richard said...

(It's the hubby login stealer again! )

I'm so sorry we made you feel bad Lisa - that's the last thing we ever wanted to do! I'm also really sorry we caused you to miss your lay in.

Your home is great, you have nothing to feel ashamed of and I hope you didn't feel like we were judging you in anyway. We just had a really nice time and would have loved to stay longer, but needs must - Next time, we'll all be on the timesheet, when we do it again (if you'd have us again, that is ;0)), we'll make it a late afternoon visit (so you can have your well deserved lay in and the girls their nap). That way we will be in time for dinner too(that chicken and veg did sound wonderful).

Please don't feel bad, we had a lovely time!!!

On the decorating front, if you feel so strongly about your room and am sure that it will lift your spirits to change it - go 4 it! I know the perfect person who loves dabbling in a bit of interior design, researching for the best price, organising, painting and decorating and comes real cheap (in fact payment can be arranged in the form of another yummy salmon salad and possibly a bit of babysitting)???!!

I'd jump at the chance to help you out. If I hadn't gone into teaching, my other passion would be something along the interior design line- I love all the decorating malarky and quite frankly It's about time my ole paintbrushes and jigsaw got an airing! he!he!

Make sure you get that lay in tomorrow otherwise I'll feel eternally guilty and once again 'STOP BEING SO DAMN HARD ON YOURSELF!'

Take care and big hugs!
Emma xxx

Richard said...

p.s - My least favourite room to clean is the bathroom, as soon as its clean, it gets dirty again ;0)

Emma

Unknown said...

Hi Liska! Welcome back and congratulations on your weight loss. I need to follow suit and get my butt in gear as well. My closet needs resuscitation. I fear that all the life has gone out of it. I keep telling myself that someday when I have money to spare when all the bills are paid... someday...