Thursdays are usually the day, when subject to being in the same town, I get together with my friend R for a bit of attic art and creativity. I was particularly looking forward to that this week since I felt in need of a bit of a pick me up.
Sadly, that wasn't to be since R had Covid. She's actually feeling a lot better than she has been but didn't want to risk spreading it around. Soooo disappointing for both of us.
To make the best of it we decided to have a bit of a catch up on Zoom, the plan being to do something creative in each other's company.
However, R was behind on a few work things and decided to tackle those and I just felt uninspired. My dirty and chaotic desk was screaming for my attention so I set to to sort that out.
It's been months since I've taken everything off and cleaned it so it was very grimy. And, turned out, it was a bonus not having R here as I was able to dump everything on her desk while I cleaned.
First I put a load of stuff away that had been sitting there for weeks. Then I went through a booklet that I'd kept as a reference for ideas for day trips I might like to do.
I removed the ones I was actually interested in and then was able to put out the booklet for recycling. I've now taken the papers downstairs and put them where I can see them so, hopefully, I'll be more likely to get out and about and visit these places.
With the desk emptied I set about cleaning it. Filthy doesn't begin to describe how mucky it was. Mainly dirt from the roof. It's slate and has very old wooden boards on the inside so a lot of dust gets through. And the obligatory coffee cup stains of course.
I was a bit concerned about those white areas when I took the photograph but when I poked them they seemed pretty solid. Considering what came off when I touched them I'm thinking it might be some salt laden moisture seeping in although there are no leaks. Thank goodness.
Next I set to cleaning all the bits I'd taken off and returning them to their proper place and, drum roll please, I now have a nice orderly and sparkly clean table to sit at.
Now I just need to get creating and, um, looking at that picture, it might not be a bad idea to organise those wires a bit better.
In the meantime here's a brain dump of attic projects on my mind that I could do:
- Christmas cards for Mum, Kids and Grandkids. (I started some last year that I ran out of time to finish so would like to get those completed this year).
- Birthday card for Grandson
- Birthday card for Mum
- Upcycled game Christmas banner
- Upcycled game birthday banner
- Advert calendar for the Grandkids (possibly too big a project to do and keep it enjoyable rather than stressful)
- Mini boxes with little notebooks inside - need to do a prototype of this and see how feasible/time consuming it is to make
- Sort out stuff I have already for the kids' stockings to see what's missing
- Make some personal notebooks or cards for the stockings
- More cleaning/sorting in the attic
- And, as always, all the stuff I have no idea about at the moment
I'm exhausted just writing all that, let alone doing it.
One step at a time, eh? One step at a time . . .