Bits and Bobs

Haven't posted for a while, well that's not entirely true, couple of book reviews, No 9 in the Joe Pickett series from C.J. Box here and WRATH a John Reeves story from Kirkus MacGown here , oh, and my review of the latest Batman offering here .

SO, what else has been happening, well our eldest, Marie, was visiting last week with Peter and the kids, 6 year olds Charlie and Holly.  Now someone asked recently why I keep putting Charlie's name first when I write about them as they are twins and the same age and they thought I was just giving precedence to the dominant male.  Well, I assured the commenter, there was absolutely no dominant males in the extended Stronach, Kennedy, Ing clan,  The males are all subjugated by the dominant females - Ishbel, Marie, Jennifer, Mollie, Shannon, Holly and even almost two year old Lacey Mae, she just dominates with those big old eyes boring into you and then smiles, which normally gets her whatever she wants - and it was just that wee Charlie popped out first naturally and then Holly a while later  had to be delivered by Caesarean and ended up in a wee glass box for the next few days with all of us worrying if she was going to make it or not .... Ha, now six years later the WARRIOR Female dominates all in her field of vision and she is a little chancer, best described by this story from her mother, here .

Now as you will have noticed from Marie's post, they had a busy old week of it up in London, but not content with traipsing about the sights of the city all day, the thing you need to know about our eldest is that she has always been just a little hyperactive, even as a kid, always on the go, and so, on their return from the city did she put her feet up, have a drink, sit, chat, watch some TV even, read a book on her kindle maybe.... No, not a chance.  Door opens, kids rush to tell us what they have been up to during the day and still full of excitement, Peter rushes to put the kettle on or grab a bottle of wine Marie heads straight up stairs, I jest you not, and starts opening cupboards and pulling things out, gets down on hands and knees and is pulling things out from under beds.

I say things, more like belongings; Marie calls it rubbish, WHAT!

"Look at this, look at these, when was the last time you opened this cupboard, when was the last time you used this.....?"

Okay, I'll admit Ishbel and I have been married for 36 odd years and some of it may be that old, but that's not the point ....

Oh, yes it is she would retort, Oh! and under one bed she found one of those suck the air out of the bag thingys full of shirts and slacks and whatnots... "How long has this been under there?" she asked. " No idea" I responded. "Right, it's going then!" and I try and say......  and the hand would come up 'speak to the hand cos the rest of us aint listening'   She even found a couple of 'old' Kodak Brownie cameras in their original brown fabric cases. LP's, anyone remember them (Thank god she never got to the cupboard in the back hall I think there are a couple of hundred LP's in there), Star Trek posters from our thirty year old son Brian's love affair with that all those years ago and who flew the coup about 10 or 12 years ago.....  The list went on and on

Anyway to cut a long story short a lot of stuff went to the freegle site, some went to the local tip and some went to some folks we know who do market stalls, and while it all seemed quite painful at the time, by the end, it felt quite liberating.  Even the junk corner out by the back door was cleared up too! Oh! and she even phoned her sister, Jennifer and told her, "All the kids toys have been cleared from under the stairs, and what's left is in the rubber bins IN 'OUR' BEDROOM, when you visit make sure you PUT THEM BACK"  She does like to take charge and organise things, Holly, all over again.......

We now have almost clutter free, but not quite, bedrooms,  I am now tackling to finish off since Marie, Peter and the kids have departed. Ishbel cleared the 'airing' cupboard yesterday and sheets, blankets tablecloths and sundry other bits, again with some of them from 1976, all gone too.

Ishbel is worried that it will still be a mess when Julia R Barrett and Hubby arrive for a short visit from California next week, especially as the bathroom needs a makeover and, as we de-cluttered, some of the paper on the walls in the top hall took a hammering.... but I'm sure they wont mind....

Me I've been re-opening cupboards that have been cleared, and revisiting the back room in particular and marvelling at how clear it is but I suppose after years of 'collecting' the stuff that you do, most of it unintentionally and just by default, it's good to have a catalyst to change appear on the doorstep from time to time and to breathe in the taste of freshness instead of the musty and dusty coverings of age ..... and that 'spring cleaning' doesn't always need to take place in the spring time.


The Dominant Species:

Ishbel - The one who keeps me in check

Marie and Jennifer (Jenny was always blaming her big sis when they were kids - naughty - but I think Marie has forgiven her)

Cousins, Shannon and Holly 

The gorgeous Lacey Mae 

Mollie who guest blogs from time to time

And all of the above do make life pretty interesting for me, Peter and Steve...