On my bedside table...

* This is a collaborative post

I’ve realised lately that bedside tables are a very personal item, and more so than you’d think a piece of furniture could be. I mean it sits there alongside your bed, hopefully looking pretty but more importantly providing functionality whether that’s for a glass of water, your book, your jewellery, your teeth (no I’m not quite there yet!) or whatever.

But it seems there’s more to it than that. What we have on our bedside tables could affect how well we sleep. Looking at mine, I think I’m doomed…

MINE

When Furniture Village got in touch about this post my first thoughts were that it was just as well they hadn’t seen my bedside table, and then that it would be good to put my money where my mouth was, and actually do some decluttering.

I’m sure you can see from the photo above, that I like to have ‘stuff’ around me. And equally you can see from the photo below that MOH doesn’t so much. I think my bedside table drives him a little bit bonkers though…

HIS

So what did I discover?

If you read my post on Monday, this is the bit that’s a little embarrassing. I’m always proud of being a good ‘packer’ which is especially useful when having a small bag and plenty of clothes for a weekend away, and give me a suitcase and I can get more in it than most people. Seriously. And it’s a good skill to have.

However, perhaps not on my bedside table. Although i couldn’t help but feel a hint of embarrassed pride at how much had accumulated with relative ease.

There was a pile of books and notebooks, most of the books I’ve still not read but still want to. There was part of a crochet project, which I’d stowed there hurriedly in a last-minute pre-Christmas tidy up. I’d hoped to finish it before Christmas but didn’t quite manage it and haven’t touched it since.

A PILE OF BOOKS

As well as the books, there was a much larger pile of magazines, and on a range of topics.

A BIGGER PILE OF MAGAZINES

I’d even branched out and started to store shoeboxes next to my bedside table. Only two have shoes in, and one contains a handbag. The other two I was keeping in case I needed them, yeap you’ve guessed it to put more stuff in.

A SHOEBOX OR FIVE

And there was quite a few dust bunnies. Now even for me, there was little point getting this far and failing to have a thorough clean, so it was this part that had MOH asking if I was well. How rude. But anyway with the cleaning done, it was time to reload.

Reloading my bedside table

I started off with the completely clutter free version. And while it was tidy, it wasn’t me.

VERSION 1: IT’S LOOKING A LITTLE BARE

It didn’t seem right to me, to not make better use of the space below the table. And so, as I still have ambition to read those books, I decided to add those back. But then the pretty box didn’t fit, so that was removed, and I realised another rethink was needed.

VERSION 2: ADDING THE UNREAD BOOKS BACK

But there was still the magazines to do something with.  On my first sort through, the pile on the right in the top row were the only ones destined for the recycling bin.  Even I knew that wasn’t going to work, and so a couple of the other piles joined that.  The craft magazines found themselves a new home in the bookcase, as did one of the other piles which I’m hoping to use in a craft project or two.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THESE, THERE ARE RATHER A LOT THOUGH…

Which meant that the final pile made it back onto my bedside table. And the patterned box, which I wasn’t sure quite what to do with found a new home on the top of the table. So along with notebooks, and stuff, I’ve a thing for boxes, so having a stack of them here makes me happy.

THE FINAL VERSION: AH, THAT’S BETTER

So while I might not have stayed with the completely clutter free version, I’ve found a version that works for me. It is still much clearer than before, you can see the floor and the shoeboxes have moved into the spare bedroom, ahead of a clear out of my shoe cupboard. MOH is impressed, and I think he’ll be taking a look at his own bedside table now, as he’s not used to mine putting his to shame!

What are the essentials for your bedside table? And are you a clutter free fan or a reformed hoarder?

* This post is sponsored by Furniture Village but not endorsed by them. Any opinions or views expressed are personal to the author.

A peek into my garden and a to do list

After the wind blew the protective fleece off the agapanthus I was tempted out into the garden to tie it back on.  And actually, when I got out there it wasn’t as bad as thought - I managed to time it between the rain and the hail, which helped!  Sunday was definitely a day with four seasons, but even so it was just a quick peek to check to see if the wind had caused any more damage. 

Thankfully the answer was not much, there were a couple of small tree branches down, one from the large tree at the back of our garden and the plastic trugs needed rounding up. It’s not clear if the branch was dipue to the wind or to squirrel damage.  That’s a real thing, sometimes they get a tasting for a type of tree and nibble of the bark weakening branches, which eventually die and then fall.  I’m hoping it is the wind, not the squirrels - I think it’s a bit early for them, so it could be ok.  When we’ve experuthis before it’s been expensive, mainly because the tree man has to come in and work on all three of the larger trees.

While I was out there it was clear there are a few jobs to do, ones we should be doing and I’m sure you’ll have similar jobs too, so far on my list there’s:

1. Pick up the leaves from the beds, there’s some by the hare but there’s also some further up the garden where one of the foxes split the black sacks.

2. Start thinning the forget-me-nots, ours are prolific and if we don’t thin some now I dread to think how many there’ll be next year.

The forget-me-nots are starting to come through - there’s a clump of them in front of the grape hyacinth, and marching over the edging into the grass. This spot clearly gets the sun, and no doubt that’s encouraged them to start their takeover bid.

See those leaves behind those lime green euphorbias? Yes they need to come up too - they’re the ones there courtesy of the foxes. It’s a dry spot so I suspect they thought about setting up home, or even a daytime snooze spot there, but thankfully thought better of it. We’re hearing the foxes screeching again in the garden at night, another thing for the list is:

3. Check/change the battery in the fox scarer.

I don’t want them settling in the garden, they make a dreadful mess and I want to be able to leave the doors open when the weather’s good confident that we won’t have unwanted visitors. I’ve a feeling that next door’s cat won’t be shy about coming in.

There’s plenty of yellow blooms appearing too, which you’ll know will please me. There’s the Kerria (above) that’s popped through from next door and is really getting established in a number of spots. It’s easy to see why it’s often called the pom-pom plant isn’t it?

Our forsythia tree is also in full bloom and we can see this blaze of yellow from the house. When it stops flowering though, then it’s time to give it a trim. I think we missed this one last year, so this one is definitely going on the list, and now I’ve got my new ladder, that will get an outing too.

4. Trim the forsythia tree when it finishes flowering.

And yes, here’s a peek into the greenhouse. Peek in is about all we can do at the moment as it’s rather full. The trugs have been rounded up and stored here to avoid recovering them from wherever the wind fancies. I didn’t get to do as much in the greenhouse last year as I hoped, but this year I’m hoping to put those plans into place, rearranging the inside to provide more growing space, moving some of the storage space to the small shed we brought back from the allotment (which should be going on the list, but I’m saving that one until it’s a bit warmer and we don’t mind spending more hours out there).

5. Fight my way into the greenhouse, sort it out and rearrange it to provide more growing space.

6. Tidy the hellebores when they’re past their best, and nurture new seedlings that I discover while doing this.

At the back of the garden the rhubarb in the pot is already doing well and looking, well, looking like rhubarb.  Though by rights, this should be a relatively light rhubarb year as the advice is to not cut the stems in the year after it’s been moved, which when they’re looking this good already, is a real shame.

7.  Collect the fallen branches for the green bin.

8. Trim the pyracantha which seems to have two antennae heading straight for the cherry tree.

9. Cut the ivy out of the cherry tree, which has taken hold again.

10. Sort out some seeds to sow!

I’m sure though there’s plenty more to add, but for now let’s keep it to ten. What’s on your gardening list right now?

Reflecting on my week #75

The good news is the hat I bought in Norfolk is exactly the same colour as the outfit I had in mind. Both are a deep coral-ly red, though the outfit also has white spots on, so i won’t look like an oversized tangerine or similar. The less good news is that it’s a little tight, so I need to do something about that. Thankfully though I think that’s doable, with eating a little less and being a little more active.

And so to put my money where my mouth is, this weekend I dug out my exercise gear and a DVD. I’ve even tried them both out for size - and survived - and have come up with a cunning plan to enable me to avoid prancing around the living room, instead prancing around the spare bedroom which I think has a little more privacy, and is definitely less likely to have a double decker bus full of people watching!

It has been quite a while since these have had any use, I’m sorry to say and while I walk to work, I’ve not been doing much else. Which is bad. But I’m hoping that will all change, so by being more active and eating more carefully - by which I mean eating less, as recently I tracked what I ate in a day and it’s true, doing this is quite enlightening, and for all the wrong reasons.

I don’t believe there is any wrong food, but clearly some foods are more filling and less calorific than others, and so it’s these that we’ll be aiming to eat more of. MOH, of course, is none the wiser about this upcoming change, but he’s an easy going sort so I’m sure he’ll cope. Remember when we tried the 5:2 diet and on fast days his lunch was a tuna melt? That’s when I discovered he doesn’t do calorie counting, and to be fair neither do I. We’re much better at taking our lunch to work lately, and that will help as I find when I’m busy and haven’t planned food I leave it to the last minute and then grab whatever’s available.

The plan is to do thirty minutes of aerobics exercise a day for six weeks. Thankfully the eldest niece’s wedding is in eight weeks, so that should be doable and the rewards (as well as having a less snug outfit) will be a new pair of shoes and a matching handbag.

Along with all the weather this weekend, I’ve had a weekend of catching up and domesticity. Despite what I’ve written above there’s also been a plum crumble and some tasty food. Eating healthily doesn’t mean we need to eat dull food, does it? I know for me, it will mean less bread (which is a shame), less potatoes (which I can cope more easily with) and much more vegetables (which is fine, as long as I remember to buy them!), and it means planning ahead. I’ve a freezer full of food, and plenty in the store cupboard so it shouldn’t be that hard.

Like many people around the country I’ve been following the chaos in Parliament, I’m not going to comment any more on that, but it seems that it’s evident that the media are keen to have us believing we should be stockpiling in case it is ‘no deal’ - MOH and I had one of those what if conversations about what we should stockpile, and as a result now have plans to go to Majestic during the week. Priorities, right?

I’ve a couple of posts coming up this week that I’m really quite pleased with, and for different reasons. The first is later today and I’m sharing a stunning, new print, which I think is very me. The second will be on here tomorrow, and it’s one that had MOH asking if I was well, and while it’s one that’s a little embarrassing, it’s also quite rewarding - I’ll not share any more now, you’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out what I mean…