Blogtober 2023 : Day 14

Day 14 … we’re two weeks into October – that seems crazy, doesn’t it?

I was up early this morning making chocolate brownies for big daughter’s yoga day retreat which she had planned for today.  I wasn’t required for any other catering (unlike the weekend retreats she runs) but I thought that the brownies would be nicer made on the day than the day before.

I used this vegan brownie recipe from the Jane’s Patisserie website and whilst I know that there are lots of other excellent chefs and recipes out there, the ones from Jane’s Patisserie have never let me down so when I need cake (and especially one to suit particular dietary requirements), it’s my first port of call.

The only downside with this cake was that I wasn’t going to the retreat day so I didn’t get any! 🙂

Instead, I went to meet up with some friends at the Stitch Station cafe, and had a lovely morning chatting and knitting.

No prizes for guessing what I was knitting – I’ve got to get a move on if these socks are going to be ready before the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month! 🙂

When I got home, I was in two minds whether to carry on knitting or whether to try to tick something else off my decluttering list.  Everybody else was out and it seemed like a good enough time to empty the cupboard where we keep board games, the ironing board, the vacuum cleaner and lots of other stuff that generally ended up mostly on the floor and not on the shelves.

Oh my life – I took it all out of the cupboard (it used to be where the boiler was when we first moved into the house which is why it looks a bit basic) and spread it out on the floor – much like the team in the Sort Your Life Out TV show do, although they have the entire contents of somebody’s house in a warehouse – and I couldn’t believe how much of it there was!  There wasn’t a spare inch of carpet!

Ugh, that’s the moment when your heart sinks and you realise that somehow, it’s all got to go back in again.  I’m afraid I didn’t even consider taking a photo to show you, there was far too much mess!  There wasn’t going to be as much going back in though.  I knew we had lots of stuff in there that could probably go into the bin, and there were games that hadn’t been played for years so I’ve got those in a pile ready to go through them all with the girls to make sure that we’re ready to let them go to new homes.  And then I put it all back in, but it fitted remarkably well!

We still have a lot of games but we are a family that likes board games and these ones get played – the girls particularly liked the ones that had been mine when I was little when they were younger, so Downfall, Frustration and Othello got played at lot.  Now, the favourites tend to be Taboo, 5 Second Rule and Cluedo, and not so small daughter knows a surprising number of card games from her Guide and Ranger events so we often play those too.

The cupboard is more full now – the vacuum cleaner and ironing board are back in, and some crafting stuff belonging to the girls and a bag of yarn dye that I bought the very first time I went to Yarndale as I thought I might like to give it a go.  Was it the 10th or 11th Yarndale this year?  I can tell you that the dye is still in the bag and I have preferred to spend my money with experts who know what they’re doing with hand-dyeing yarn!

Finally for today, I know you’ll be disappointed if Astrid doesn’t feature and today she decided that she would be a Cat in a Dish – not so small daughter was out at work when I snapped this photo and I am not sure she would be too pleased to know that Astrid had been standing in her plant bowl on the window sill!

She’s a daft cat!

See you tomorrow! xx