Testing the breadbox theory

My desk is in a terrible state this morning and sitting here, feeling sorry for myself and woolly headed because of my cold, I thought it was time to do something about it.

I figured that it’s one of those minimum effort/maximum results kind of exercise – or at least, that’s what I hope.

I was further motivated by this article, found whilst I was procrastinating (mooching around the internet) and especially liked the idea to hide any stray post-it notes under the keyboard.

Except…

I thought of that one already!

It’s interesting that any “how to declutter” article includes pictures with empty – or nearly empty – shelves in it.  Now, if we had empty shelves and places to put things, perhaps our desks wouldn’t be quite so cluttered?  Which brings me to think that I ought to clear some space in the cupboards in my studio and empty a shelf or two…

Suddenly I feel even worse than I did when I began this series of thoughts.  Today is definitely one for the Breadbox Test and any further, deeper measures to declutter will have to wait for another day. 

It didn’t last long…

 

We woke to rain this morning.

Mr Blue Sky

Looking up heavenwards this morning, that Electric Light Orchestra tune was going through my mind.

Why did you have to hide away for so long?  (So Long!)

Well, me and the little pansy faces were smiling today, even if I have got the heaviest and most horrid of colds.  It was one of those mornings when it was good to go outside and feel the sunshine on my face and to breathe in the fresh air.

We haven’t quite got rid of all the scaffolding yet – or rather, it was all gone until a heavy rainstorm last week highlighted one last (please!) weak spot which will involve removing a couple of roof panels.

It was so good to look out over the green fields again and feel that those warm days can’t be far away, can they?

It was a fine morning to visit my own piece of art in the garden, created by my talented friend Paulene, who has an exhibition to hang today at the Menier Gallery with the wonderful title “Between a rock and a hard place”.

To admire the wonderful whorls of the ferns as they unscroll themselves and quietly take over a small corner of the garden.

And to observe the deep shadows in the stone walls, the beautiful sunshine bringing out all those little details that we overlook on an ordinary day.

Oh yes, Mr Blue Sky is living here today!

This week

It’s been a funny old week.  At times, the sun has come out and we’ve really believed that Spring is here.  At other times, we’ve sheltered from the downpours, gazed into the black clouds overhead and wondered when it will finally stop raining.  Just when we’ve sat back and felt relieved that we’ve had our roof repaired, there has been another steady dripdripdrip and our patience has been tested further.

A Bank Holiday meant a short working week, so we can’t quite believe it’s Friday!

 

A rainy holiday Monday was a good opportunity for me to play with my Craft Robo/Silhouette and to discover the “print and cut” feature.  Ooooh, what a clever trick that is!  I downloaded the library card above, printed it out and ran it through the Robo, watching amazed as the machine cut it out perfectly.  So clever!  (Mind you, I did think that having paid 99c for the file, they might have added a cut line to punch the hole, too)

On Tuesday I was working in Cirencester all day, and visited a new place for lunch. I’ve heard so many good things about Abbey Home Farm and my friends were correct, it is well worth a visit.

I went to Carmarthen on Wednesday, to judge the first round of the Rose Bowl competition for the Royal Welsh Show.  The entries were really good – and as always, it was fun to be with like minded friends.

One of the fun competitions was for a knitted Olympic athlete and there were some great entries for that.

I especially liked the swimmer – do you remember when we had to wear those rubber swimming caps with chin straps?!  I didn’t get to judge this competition so could simply stand back and enjoy the characters!

Last night, my dear friend Glenda did a wonderful demonstration of Italian Cooking for my WI, who couldn’t wait to get in there and taste it all!

Finally, today I had a meeting.  Yes, it required me to do the chocolate run to get us through it all!

Whilst I’ve been busy, my Hero has been making plans and booking hotels in four exciting cities.  We’ll visit bottom left next month, bottom right in the Autumn and the top two early next year.  Can you guess where we’re headed?

Heads down

I’ve been writing, watching, thinking and working during these last few days.  There’s not been much time to sit here and record my thoughts, upload pictures and mooch around doing this and that, here and there.  Everything has had a purpose, has been driven by an agenda of some sort and steadily, a backlog of things I’d like to do rather than things I ought to do has been building up.

There really has been too much of this…

And, most certainly, not enough of this!

But I’m lucky.  I really have nothing to complain about.  Those paper-intensive meetings don’t really feature large in my life, I’m usually there because I’ve chosen to be involved in something or other and, best of all, I’m sitting there amongst friends who share my interests and passions.

But I’ve noticed something which worries me of late.  My friends are feeling under pressure.  There’s too much work to do and not enough time to do it.  Margins have been cut, staff numbers reduced to a level where it’s starting to pinch.  Fewer smiles, more sighs and those “challenges” are beginning to appear more like the “problems” they used to be.

What’s interesting is that it’s the same in all my workplaces (because I don’t limit myself to just one!)

Of course, there are serious concerns right now.  We are all anxious about what the future might bring and there are all kinds of unanswered questions which leave us feeling vulnerable, unsure about where we’re heading and wondering who will be the next one to throw in the towel.  But there is one factor which seems to be making things more difficult for us all.

The weather!

I took this photo on the 26th March, in the garden at home.  Now, here we are at the beginning of May and I don’t think my toes have seen the fresh air since that day!  If only we could have a little sunshine on this, a Bank Holiday weekend, we might feel more optimistic?

Hmm.

At least it’s getting warmer!