59/365: Dump My Junk Day 28

Day 28 - 28 keys.  I have a massive collection of old keys, most of which I'm keeping for the time being, but these are definitely going.  They've all been painted by a previous owner and I can't be bothered to clean them up.

Total items this month = 406

58/365: Dump My Junk Day 27

Day 27 - 27 assorted videos and DVDs.

Total items this month = 378

Winter Photographic Scavenger Hunt | February Linky

It's time for another link up to see how everyone is getting on with the Winter Photographic Scavenger Hunt.  It finishes on March 21st so we only have just over three weeks to complete the list.

 

Today I'm sharing my photos for four of the prompts, which leaves me six more to find.

 

No 1 | Reflection in Water.  These were taken at Great Chalfield Manor.

 

 

 

No 12 | Silhouette, taken in Bristol

 

No 15 | Bunting, the first one taken at Great Chalfield Manor and the others taken in one of my schools.

 

No 17 | Texture, both taken at Great Chalfield Manor.



 

 

Please add a link to your latest Winter Scavenger Hunt post, so that we can all visit your blog to offer encouragement as you hunt for those last elusive ones to complete the list!  



57/365: Dump My Junk Day 26

Day 24 - 1 clapperboard, 2 microphone sets, 1 thermometer, 1 cokin filter, 1 army belt and 4 khaki bandoliers, 2 tins, 1 pipe, 1 clock, 3 audio tapes, 1 pack of record cards, 2 notebooks, 1 tin of pennies, 1 negative viewer thing (not sure what this really does!), 1 medical scissor clamps, 1 stainless spatula and 2 rolls of solar film.

Total items this month = 351

The Alphabet Project | G is for Glass

G is for Glass

Linking with PODcast's The Alphabet Project.

Photo Pairs

It's time for Helena's Photo Pairs again and this week my linked photos are ...

DAY & NIGHT

 

 

56/365: Dump My Junk Day 25

Day 25 - 5 old crafting magazines, 2 collector's model cars, 1 Vivitar flash attachment, 1 radio cap, 1 flying helmet, 9 Wii games, 4 Wii accessories, 1 set DVDs and 1 catalogue.

 

Total items this month = 325

55/365: Dump My Junk Day 24

Day 24 - 2 books, 21 card games and 1 Monopoly game.

Total items this month = 300

Me on Monday

Pieris flowers in my garden - just a random photo and nothing to do with my Monday at all (except that I took the photo today!), but they are pretty and I thought you'd enjoy something cheerful to look at.

So, back to today.  It has been back to teaching after the half term holiday on a cold, wet day to a school where the heating wasn't working properly. It's been a day for teaching, or trying to teach, young children whose minds were very firmly still in holiday mode and who couldn't even come up with any good reasons why they hadn't practiced properly ... quite disappointing really, as usually they are much more creative with their excuses!

 

It's been a day of getting wet and then working in a cold room and just feeling completely miserable as I drove home.  I'm okay now though. I've had a hot bath, a couple of mugs of coffee and have stopped feeling sorry for myself.  I can't face going out tonight so have planned a takeaway delivery (Indian, of course), followed by an evening curled up on the sofa with a blanket and some nibbles.  I'll watch the finale of Broadchurch on TV, finish reading Wolf Hall and then take myself off to bed.  Tomorrow can only be better!

 

As for my weekend, you can read about my Saturday here, and Sunday was pretty much the same, but minus the laundry and cooking different foods.

 

Linking with Sian's From High in the Sky.

54/365: Dump My Junk Day 23

Day 23 - 23 curtain rings, plus the rest ... there's about 80 in total, all too old and brittle to use!

 

Total items this month = 276

53/365: Dump My Junk Day 22

Day 21 - 2 curtains, 14 towels, 1 tablecloth and 5 keys that don't fit any of the doors in this house.

 

Total items this month = 253

My Day In Photos | Saturday 21st February 2015

I'm joining in again with Photo an Hour, organised by Jane and Louise.

8:00am | There was no band practice today as it's half term so I had a more leisurely start to the day.  I didn't get out of bed until 7:30, had a quick shower and was downstairs about 8:00ish.  For once on a Saturday morning I wasn't in a rush and had time to sit at the table for a relaxed breakfast. 

9:00am | Time to start preparing the vegetables ready to make some meals to go in the freezer.

10:00am | Still in the kitchen and in between stirring various pots bubbling away on the hob, I started catching up with the laundry.  This was the last load, which luckily didn't need to be ironed, a task I detest!

11:00am | I decided I deserved a break and a mug of coffee.  I'm reading Wolf Hall for one of the book groups I go to.

12:00noon | I opted for an early lunch - beans on toast, much needed comfort food. I live alone, so I'm allowed to read at the table!

1:00pm | Back home after a quick trip to Sainsburys.  I treated myself to some new slippers and some summer shoes, which I'm telling you about because you can't see them in this photo!

 

2:00pm | I needed some fresh air so grabbed the camera and went for a short walk to find and photograph some street plants for a blog post I wanted to write.

3:00pm | I'd finished my daily 15 minutes decluttering and written the blog post, and settled down for a break and a snack  - coffee and an Easter biscuit, the first one I've had in years.  It was good, but not as good as I'd remembered - not sure if that is my memory playing tricks, or whether it wasn't the same sort as Mum used to buy.

4:00pm | I sorted through the post.  I'd dealt with the boring stuff when it arrived this morning, but this was the fun stuff - my National Trust membership (I almost feel like a grown up now!) and a what's on booklet for Salisbury City Hall. I didn't see anything I fancied at the City Hall, except for the one event I've already booked, but I did find plenty of places I want to visit in the National Trust booklet, so I started planning my summer break from teaching.

 

5:00pm | I wrote and published my street plant post, then carried on reading various blogs, drinking coffee and enjoying a bit of chilli chocolate, my latest indulgence. 



6:00pm | Back in the kitchen, I prepared my evening meal and divided the, now cold, morning's efforts into containers and put them in the freezer.

 

7:00pm | I ate my meal in the living room, watching a repeat of Flog It! on the TV.

8:00pm | I did the washing up and tidied the kitchen, then curled up on the sofa to read some more of Wolf Hall. 

9:00pm | I ended the evening catching up with the posts on The View From LL2. I've been hooked on the Serial podcast and have been following a couple of bloggers who have been analysing the case.

 

That was the last photo of the day.  After I finished on the laptop, I settled down for some more reading and didn't go to bed until just before midnight.  All in all, a relaxing and enjoyable day.

Street Plants

Lucy who blogs at Loose and Leafy, has a theory "that in every street there are flowers and lawns and trees and . . . it's just a matter of adjusting your sense of scale and looking for them."  These aren't the trees and shrubs planted by the council ... according to Lucy, 'they don't count!'; street plants are the ones that have seeded themselves and are growing where they really shouldn't be.

 

Today I felt in need of some fresh air, so I took myself off for a quick fifteen minute walk around the estate to see if I could spot any street plants.  I didn't think I was going to be lucky but on the way back home I spotted these three.

52/365: Dump My Junk Day 21

Day 21 - 1 book bag, 1 cleaning brush, 2 rechargeable batteries (I don't have a charger that size), 2 book-ends, 1 map book, 1 waste basket and 13 coat hangers.

 

Total items this month = 231

51/365: Dump My Junk Day 20

Day 20 - the first 20 books in the Agatha Raisin series.  I thought these had gone years ago but I found them packed away in a box.  I don't want to read them again so will sell them as a set on eBay.

 

Total items this month = 210

50/365: Dump My Junk Day 19

Day 19 - some pegs, the front plate of a car radio (but the rest of the radio went with the car years ago!), 1 pair of glasses, 1 set of broken earphones, 1 part box of ear buds, 1 broken watch, 1 tape, 1 set of Harry Potter postcards, 1 spare tray for a printer I no longer have, 1 empty cardboard box (why?), plus 9 spare handles for the saucepan set we got rid of years ago.

 

Total items this month = 190

49/365: Dump My Junk Day 18

Day 18 - 18 pieces of concert programmes, greetings cards (both mine and Ced's) and thank-you cards from ex-pupils.  There's actually a lot more of this sort of thing around the house and the majority of it is going; I've decided that I'm only going to keep a few precious cards from family, close friends and from Ced.  I'll always have the memories, I'll still have the photos, but I no longer feel the need to fill cupboards with things that I never look at from one year to the next.

 

Total items this month = 171

Photo Pairs

I sacrificed my diet to get the linked photos for Helena's Photo Pairs this week, but it was worth every single calorie that passed my lips.  Sorry the photos aren't sharp, but I was concentrating more on the cheesecake than the actual focusing of the images!  I give you ...

 

BEFORE & AFTER

 

The Alphabet Project | F is for Feathers

F is for feathers - they're tiny, the biggest ones are about 1.5cms long.

Linking with PODcast's The Alphabet Project

48/365: Dump My Junk Day 17

Day 17 - 1 pair of useless tongs, 1 carving knife, 1 carving fork, 1 ice cream scoop, 3 screw fit light bulbs I can't use anywhere in this house, 1 watering can rose, 1 tea spoon, 1 rusty nutcracker, 2 empty bottles (I have no idea why they are still here), 1 leaky drinks bottle, 2 enamel dishes, 1 pastry brush that has seen better days and 1 peeler that hurts my hand every time I use it!

 

Total items this month = 153

Winter Photographic Scavenger Hunt | Shadow & Partly Built New Building

I'm sharing some more photos for the Winter Photographic Scavenger Hunt.

No 18 - shadow.  The first one was taken in Bristol and the other two are at Great Chalfield Manor.

the shadows of a bench, a signpost and a lamp post

shadows under a tree by the moat at Great Chalfield Manor

shadows from the leaded window in the church at Great Chalfield Manor

No 14 - partly built new building.  This particular building is in Trowbridge, one of many on the new estate where I'd originally planned to buy a house.

taken early in the morning before the builders arrived to start work

Me on Monday

Look at the weather ... it's obviously a stay at home, get on with the housework and the decluttering sort of day.  But ... I lie!  It's really a stay in the warm, curl up with yummy snacks, read some more of Wolf Hall and stay in my jimjams sort of day. Bliss!

It was an odd sort of weekend.  It's half term so there was no band practice on Saturday and I missed it; it put me out for the rest of the day, I think I'm becoming a creature of habit! So Saturday was mostly spent at home decluttering but my heart wasn't really in it - that something's missing sort of feeling - followed by a Sunday mostly spent fretting because there was no access to the Internet for about 9 hours and I needed to submit my invoices online.  All done now and next time I won't leave it so late, but I always say that.  I never learn!

 

Hope you all have a good Monday and a lovely rest of the week.

 

Linking up with Sian at From High in the Sky