Thursday 28 August 2014

Let's sit and have a cup of tea

I will be at the door waiting for you as I see you come up the garden path.  The dog will be doing her crazy, twirling dance to show just how excited she is that we have visitors again.  She'll want to be showing off the new fur-cut she had this morning at the groomers!  Let's go through to the conservatory, the sound of the rain on the glass roof is somehow relaxing and calming.  The kettle's boiled, the cups are ready, how do you fancy some ground coffee that we brought back from a rather lovely Italian deli in Edinburgh?  I'll just put a few biscuits on the plate and apologise for the fact that Rachel's birthday cake is long gone!

We have definitely passed from Summer to Autumn haven't we?  The temperature has dropped and it's obvious that it's time to dig out those warmer clothes.  The change in the air makes we wonder ... Can I ask you what your feelings are towards change?  I sometimes find it hard to accept the need for change, yet once changes have been made I wonder what I was bothered about.  There are a lot of changes on the cards here and it is not until I contemplate what is about to change that I realise how secure in my routines I am.

Firstly I have got to get my head around the fact that I have to go back to work next week! So things have got to change to accommodate that - I am going to have to get up and get myself more organised earlier in the mornings.  No long post-breakfast dog walks I'm afraid.  No more leisurely days spent on a sewing machine.  But there does come a point where I do feel I need more structure to my days and going back to work will certainly achieve that.  I've taken on a few new projects at work and it will be interesting to see how they dovetail into my existing jobs.

This weekend our son returns from Edinburgh along with all his worldly possessions.  Where will we put it all?  We have had two years of arranging our routines around 3 of us and a dog and it will take a little while to change those routines to factor in another person (who may not want to wait for his dinner until the 6.18 from Tottenham Hale arrives back in town with his sister on board).  Grocery shopping will definitely be changing and different ingredients bought to accommodate another person's likes and dislikes.
 
Trying to make space for all Jon's possessions has led to much clearing and sorting in his room and one half of the garage.  I need to apply this de-cluttering to other areas of the house; the study in particular.  There is a corner in there that houses two large storage bags of scrapbooking card, a tote bag full of equipment and another bag - I'm not sure what's in that one, it's buried beneath the others and hasn't seen the light of day for quite a while (which probably indicates that I could quite easily live without any of the forgotten goodies inside).  I've changed the way in which I channel my creative skills.  I haven't scrapbooked for months yet my sewing machine is almost a permanent fixture by the dining room table.  So perhaps I need to tidy those unused paper related things away somewhere safe, and replace them with fabrics, ribbons and threads which are being used regularly.  I'm not ready to discard them, who knows when I might change my mind about what to do in my spare time?
 
I've changed my eating habits and that's a good thing.  I've now lost 12 pounds at Slimming World and feel much better for it.  I'm close to my goal now and am happy to find that my clothes fit much better; those pounds creep on one at a time and it's easy not to notice until all your waistbands are a little snug!  Another bonus is that some of my clothes are now too big which means a little retail therapy is in order - happy days!
 
I guess it is good to shake things up a bit now and again and start of the new academic year is a good place to start.  With that in mind, I guess it won't be long until Abi is heading back up north to uni again so let's pop over there to see how she is getting on. 

10 comments:

Louise H said...

You're so right about change - I have to admit to being more than a little nervous about my new job but I'm sure after a few weeks I will be settled in and feel like I have been there ages.
I had to smile at the return of your son means changes to the grocery shop. My son's are 14 and I am waiting for the day we can cook one meal without having to provide at least one alternative item.
Well done on the weight loss, it's never easy to shed those extra pounds. I look forward to sharing another cuppa next month.

Theresa said...

I absolutely hate change, which is a disaster considering my husband's career, which has us moving every 4 years or so. It takes me at least a year to settle, but you are right - afterwards you think, what was I fussing about? Rotating craft supplies is good, when you fancy going back to scrapbooking all those old supplies will be new again!!

ally said...

Look forward to what you make.

scrappyjacky said...

Lovely to have tea with you,Deb....I'm not a great lover of change either....but it's part of life.of course.

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Wow, Deb, you do have a lot of change coming on. I know you'll roll with it though, and I trust that it will all be wonderful. Don't be so quick to get rid of all of your paper crafting supplies! I've gone through times when I thought I wouldn't come back to it and I have time and time again!

BTW - when I read at the beginning of your post if I'd fancy some ground coffee from the Italian deli I thought, "No, but I'd sure fancy some of your homemade sloe gin." ;o)

Abi said...

Congratulations on losing in slimming world! It made me laugh to read your post about changes. I am notoriously bad about changes, as the boy knows only too well. I have, what he calls, "a wobble" a few days before anything new, such as heading back to uni for another year. Like you though, once I'm there, I can't see why on earth I was worried!

Sian said...

My two always like to say "Mum's not good with change" so I guess it must be true. It's funny how quickly a new normal becomes normal though. I know it's going to be strange when TTO leaves again next week..and yet we did find a routine last year without him. It's hard! We're moving stuff out of here at the moment..he's trying to work out if his Grandpa's desk will fit in the car and up the stairs to the new flat

Jane said...

well done on the weight loss and thanks for the coffee x

Beverly said...

Congrats on the weight loss, no easy task! It will be wonderful having everyone home but it definitely takes some adjustment and compromise on everyone's part. Our lives hit the routine track hard this week which hopefully means I will be more productive.

alexa said...

Many congratulations on losing the weight you've wanted to! That sounds like a good place to be as a new school year starts. Hoping the changes are all positive; it sounds strange to hear of all these young people coming back home after 3 years of college/uni - so different to my generation where we left at eighteen and our parents didn't expect us at home every again except as a visitor ... It's been lovely popping in and I hope the clutter-clearing goes well- I have done a ton of this myself!