Busy busy

Aren't these fab? Found them in poundland (guess how much they were!) They are like a small laundry basket and perfect for around the house. My medicine area in the kitchen was misbehaving, and it was showing. As i am quite short and i house it all on a top shelf i had to hoist myself up on the counter if i wanted a proper look at what was up there, and there was lots up there! So I purged and sorted and popped it all in these baskets. No climbing to get a paracetamol, i can reach these, and pull down the one i want with no trouble. Plastering the children's scraps has never been easier!

I even further arranged under my sink with them. They are in both sides and everything is in groups so i can pull out what i need. Also if i have more than i can fit in these baskets, i know i have too much stuff.

I am looking forward to having a weekends rest. Last weekend involved lots of toing and froing, and a charity walk along Southend pier. We do this every year, the kids enjoy it and they all get a medal which they love.
This weekend has been even worse. With visits to Mum's, yoga class, hubby doing a training course and a trip to a friends stud dog. It's time again for puppies (woohoo, my favourite time of year) Both momiji the maltese and Kitty the yorkie are ready. I am going to burst with gooey glitter hearts every time i see both their puppies playing together.
Momiji's last litter had two girls. This was moomin who went to live in London with a yoga instructor.

 

Kitty, though tiny, tends to have very good sized litters. Her first litter had five pups and last years litter had six! She is a super fantastic mummy and i am so proud of her.

From the last litter we kept Patch, and re named her Khali. She is over a year old now. Time goes so fast. It really is beautiful to have a dog you helped into the world and saw grow from a teeny tiny thing. She is a complete nut case, and bestest friends with our biewer yorkshire terrier Aya.

under the sink

The girls room is looking so so much better. We have come up with a plan to deal with all those dreaded soft toys, and i want to get that completed before i show. So far i am super proud.
During the moments when there is nothing i can do on a large scale i have been tackling the smaller spaces. I am purging and sorting, and then afterwards thinking up ideas and finding the correct storage boxes for the spaces. One of the places i have purged and organized is under the sink. Now i know at least half of us have an area there so confused we try our hardest not to open it if we have company.
I have been collecting newspapers for in the budgie cage and for cleaning windows, but i think perhaps i have collected a few too many!!

As for candles. We used to have wall mounted candle holders in our past three houses, so we used to go through a lot. This house we haven't put them up, so i am only really going through the tea lights. I like candles, so my logic says if it's useful AND i like it, i keep it. So i will be on a hunt for some nice candle holders for tall candles.

Not too bad, i think. Need a couple more of the correct size storage boxes for under here and then i will be happy. The box next to the candles is for light bulbs, when energy saving light bulbs first arrived we was told they would last for years and years, haven't seen it yet.

The poor yellow plastic of my labelling machine normally sees no love, but as most cleaning products you can buy are yellow and green it fits perfectly in here.

First hurdle reached.

I have managed to sort out the room and remove everything for bin and recycle. Everything we are keeping is all back in the room, in some sort of order. But not a good one. As you can see the storage we have is not the best. I mean it would be fine for one child, but we really need to be making more use of the walls. I can not wait to bring this all together.

We need a better way to house the large pieces of playmobil. My kids love playmobil and play with it a lot.

The top bunk belongs to the teenager. It is so full of stuff i don't want to go near it. But my plans for room organization includes her, and she will have her own spaces for all her junk (and oh boy does she have some junk)
Are you ready for some photos of during, and if i am completely honest with myself the before photos would not be much better than this.

And for good measure, here is some cake!

One room half down.

My B12 arrived Saturday, so i am topping my level back up, hopefully i will start getting out of bed on my own again. Was so tired over the weekend i spent a lot of time resting, but as it's Monday now i am back to work, housework! I spent the whole of last week on the girls room, and now have a living room with six large bin bags full of give away stuff. I had almost as much rubbish discovered too. I plan to get a photo tomorrow, but i am not where i want to be with the room. Hubby is off work next week so we will be taking a trip or two to ikea. I have picked out new furniture for the room and have sized everything up for plans for workable storage. I am quite excited. I will of course share photos of what is done next week.

True test

I ran out of B12 at the weekend. (not the folic acid the doctor gave me, he made sure i had enough for a year!!) This is proving to be the true test of 'if'. Since running out, the chest pains have not returned (yay). But a couple of other problems slowly are. Everyday this week, i have again not been able to get out of bed. First couple of days it did not even dawn on me why. Even Outtake asked about it. I had been getting myself out of bed the past few weeks, even during a school holiday when i had no real need to. I've felt a lot more weakness in my muscles from doing things (friday i made a huge birthday cake by hand, yesterday i couldn't even manage batter for pan cakes!) A little headache has bumped through a couple of times. Also today the numbness and pins and needles have most definitely returned. It's got to the point i am looking out the window waiting for mr (or ms) postman to bring my B12!!.
But i continue on with the house. I am on day four of the girls room. It is like a black hole. The amount of rubbish i have found in there is unbelievable. I am truly ashamed i let it get this bad. I have a lot of plans for making it more functional, for making the whole house more functional. So that even when i have bad days it's obvious to the family how to keep the home running well. I will share photos along the way (some with before photos, but really admitting my space got so out of hand is hard, i am horrified)

making confessions and admitting defeat

I'm not well. I haven't been well for a long time. It's a stupid kind of not well. Even i think so. I am not being sick, i have not grown a new head or lost a limb, i doubt i will die anytime soon. But i am unwell all the same, and ready to tell people instead of hiding it. Maybe i am ready to share because i am seeing light at the end of the tunnel, it's shinning pretty bright right now. That illness is fatigue. Well at least it began being apparent as fatigue.It began after i had Spud (ten years ago now) The health visitor was convinced i had postnatal depression, in fact she claimed i was the worst she had seen, and the doctor gave me a course of antidepressants, though i told them over and over i was not unhappy, infact very happy, i just couldn't bring myself to 'do' anything. I didn't want to curl up in a ball and cry, i wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep. After that one course i didn't take anymore, they didn't do anything. That was the start, it wasn't bad then, and i could carry on with the nagging feeling to sit down. But it has got worse through the years, and picked up more symptoms, or perhaps the symptoms have gotten worse and so i am more aware of them. The years have brought some tears, and i have felt frustration, embarrassment, shame. I have gone from a very organized person to someone that rests amongst chaos. I do the very least i can, sometimes even the washing up is too much.
I have at last found a doctor that seems to want to help, instead of looking at me suspiciously (one doctor even rolled their eyes at me). Maybe he listened because by this point I had started to lose my hair too, i don't know. But he has said he is on this journey with me now to  make me feel better. And, he noticed something out of place in my blood test that has began me along a road that could well be that journey. My folic acid was deficient. I eat large amount of veg and fruit and all things that contain folic acid, so this made no sense. He had me eat even more and tested again, still deficient. This has got me looking into folic acid and it's 'sister' vitamin B12. My doctor is not convinced yet (as in the uk you have to be very deficient of B12 before the NHS will explore and medicate) but he has given me a lovely huge dose of folic acid, ten times more than i can get over the counter. But B12 i can get over the counter in a high dose, and so i have. 5mg which i take twice a day under my tongue (incase i am not absorbing well in my stomach i might at least get some from under my tongue). I have been taking it for a month now and i have seen huge improvements. Within two days my chest pains had all gone, i can get out of bed in the morning without Outtake dragging me, my skin has completely cleared of both spots and dry skin, no headaches (which i was having daily), no ringing in my ears, my muscles do not fatigue as quick, pins and needles have lessened. I started taking folic acid a week ago and noted even more improvements. Folic acid has acted just like i would imagine a antidepressant would and i have spent the days smiling. I feel so optimistic and excited, it's great!!! I made it through a period with 0 pmt or pms! I have even had relief from conditions that have always bothered me. Like migraines, i have never had a period without a migraine ever, yet this time nothing, not even a hint. So much has changed, I feel like shouting to the world how beautiful everything is.
Only one down side. Ten years worth of mess and chaos i feel i want to fix. The whole house is now upside down as i tackle it and get my organized groove back on.
Oh i so pray this is it. I want to be well for my husband, children, dogs, home and me.