A quick few words and a picture before I go to bed.

Have caught up with a wonderful friend.  (They are the ones that are truly worth having - we all have them but sometimes don't know it until we lose them. True friends allow you to ramble and splurge out your words without engaging brain.  Cherish them.)

I talked to you tonight - you know who you are.

Book completely edited again.  Another print run done.  Printer wasn't too happy with me for using previously used paper, but then you have to recycle - it doesn't grow on trees you know...  Unless the printer was trying to give me feedback on my novel?

Will spend the weekend busy, occupied with doing something, missing out on the fabulous weather.  That is what most women of my ilk do and then wonder what happened.  Some things can really wait.  The world as they/we know it will not stop.  I know it but, who else is going to paint that room, or move the furniture, or replace the toilet roll?

Bought some wonderful aubergines.  Couldn't freeze them because the freezer is playing up (hey, it is a bit hot, so what do you expect?)  A friend had given me loads of jars.  So I made pickle.  A tad too much chilli but still delicious.

Just need a few friends who like fiendishly hot aubergine stuff in jars.

One door closes, another opens :)

The sun shines and the lawn gets cut,

The smiles widen and the heart gladdens;
What can be better - than that...?

(I don't do poetry).

Shame there wasn't any washing that needed to be done. Oh, well.

Two chapters remain to be edited.  Then another print.  And a read through.  Correct/edit.  Another print and pass on for friends to be honest, but sort of kind - no pressure.  Love them.

I have been working on the novel - honest!

  

Working on chapter 10 of Goods By Hand (may keep this title, who knows, not me, sometimes I change my mind just because I can), and when I have finished, half way house will have been reached. 

Yay....yippee....or whatever the modern term is.  They do keep changing don't they... 
(I love ellipsis).

Took a little time out last night to entertain friends.  The good news is that we are all still standing (or sitting at the moment to type this if I'm being honest) and nobody has been in touch to say they are moving abroad or changing their contact details.  So all is still well.  And the bonus is; the sun is out.  There is a song isn't there, The sun is out, the sky is blue, there's not a cloud....actually forget it, who in their right mind would invite the remainder?  However, it is a beautiful song and already I know I am going to remember it for the rest of the day.

Oh, well, back to food.

Starting with the nearest and dearest (have you checked out the price of rice recently?):
Boiled rice - every grain light, fluffy and separate.
Aubergine and potato curry.
Carrot, pea, potato and sweetcorn curry.
Chicken and green pepper curry.
Salad (barely touched - I wonder why?)
Spinach, onion, potato, aubergine pakora (none leftover - I wonder why?)

A good all round evening, with lots of intelligent conversation ranging from the personal to the political.  What better way to see in the weekend?

Forgot to mention, I also write and am currently editing my third novel.

First and second novels?

It's complicated but not unexplainable :)

Delaying the D.I.Y. (It isn't difficult!)

It can be worth it.

Take some potatoes, onions, aubergine, spinach, gram flour, yogurt, cooking oil and a few spices and the following will be the result:

Should there be any left, you are lucky.

Home Made Samosa

Made my first ever Samosas today.  Normally it is a choice between going to my mum's or the local supermarket (always disappointing), or a restaurant (better), and once a mini supermarket for Asians in Wolverhampton (not bad at all).

Made the pastry around lunch time and put it in the fridge (plain flour, oil, warm water).  Then cooked the potatoes and peas.  Made mash.  Flavoured with a bit of salt, garam masala and chili flakes.  Ensured it was well mixed and left to one side.  Filled the large steel pan a third full of  sunflower oil.

Went to the library because they had a visiting author.  Came home.  Around 8.30pm(ish) decided I was hungry. 

Delicious.

AIMS ARE EASILY OVERTAKEN BY LIFE.....

I have lost count of the number of days that have passed since I started the DIY mention.  I could look it up but that would be like a spoiler.

The hall is finished and looks good.  More roomy.  I really want to rearrange the furniture - that is a true love of mine - but daren't until I have help.  The back is too precious.

As money is tight, I treated myself to flowers - for my hard work - from my garden.  There is an excellent argument that the outdoors should stay there, but occasionally beauty has to be where the beholder is.

D.I.Y. Has To Be Good Exercise

All that stretching, reaching, bending, slapping, brushing, lugging, carrying....need I say more?  Cursing and crying...it is all worth it in the end. 

I still haven't finished the hall.  Reckon it is going to take one more day. The hardest bit to do so far has been the stair side wall.  Standing on the top of the ladder didn't help because the stairs were in the way.  It took a firm left hand grip on the banister and a shakily held over loaded paint brush, going onto tip toe and then a gritted teeth prayer.

That side of the hall is now finished.  Had to wash the floor a little after but I'm more concerned with the paint on my trousers.  Oh, well, I suppose you can't have too many 'gardening' trousers.

D.I.Y. follow up:

After two days the walls of the porch are done and the shoes are back in situ.  However, I had to make another shelf in the shoe rack.  There were visions of complications but I found some leftover pine and found it very easy to nail/screw into.  Not being able to remember what the pieces of wood came off, I should be more worried, but I'm not because no doubt I'll find out sometime and there will be absolutely nothing I'll be able to do about it (they had to be sawn to make them fit!).

Several pairs of footwear are safely under the bed upstairs, some have gone to charity and a few that have only been worn a couple of times I might just try and car boot or ebay. Ebay will be a whole new experience. New technology and me, hmm, not always easy.  However, I have managed to upload that picture above and I did it without consulting friends.

The woodwork in the porch that connects the house to the porch still needs doing.  However, I have done the door frame that is at the very front of the house.  Unfortunately the gloss takes hours to dry.  And of course, it takes at least two coats.  When the front door was shut last thing at night the paint was still tacky which meant that when it was opened this morning, it took a tiny bit of paint with it.  The same will probably happen tonight.  Oh well. Might be repainting that particular spot for a few days to come!

I am not mad (my opinion) so please do not send for them to take me away.

Dialogue with self:

Q:  So why are you on here so early when you should be painting/decorating/writing the novel even? 
A:  It's too cold.
Q:  Doing something, any activity is warming.
A:  Actually it's Catch 22 surely?
Q:  I ask the questions.
A:  Be my guest.
Q:  Writer's in the past didn't have the luxury of central heating.
A:  Tell me something I don't know.  Wait, are you saying I'm a namby-pamby wimp? 
Q:  Well - er - actually...
A:  What, the cap fits?  Don't worry, it's true.  And this bit of writing?  It's a warm up. From this I'm going on to making a cup of tea and then settle down for real to work on the novel.  I've reached a difficult point in it and am not sure how to proceed.
Q:  You need help?
A:  Who doesn't!  Sorry about the exclamation mark, I try and keep a strict limit on them.
Q:  You're digressing.
A:  True.
Q:  Which novel are you struggling with and why?
A:  Goods By Hand (GBH).  It's finished but I'm changing the plot slightly. Trying to go back to the original idea for it.
Q:  Sounds simple enough.
A:  If only.  I want to avoid a complete rewrite, want to make it gel with what I've done on it so far.  And the seam keeps showing.
Q:  Aah, I see.  Can I help?
A:  Hope so.
Q:  Are you ready to start yet?
A:  Reckon so.  Thanks. 

PROJECT D.I.Y.

Well, it's certainly been a while since the last blog.  I'm a writer so coming up with excuses is no problem.  There are more than a dozen, trust me, but as I'm strapped for time I shall get straight down to it and see if I can write about a subject currently close to my heart.  Fingers crossed I don't get distracted (easily done for me) as I am addicted to multi-tasking.

Apologies in advance for typos....

Youngest child going to university.  Single mother has to sell up and move to a smaller place.  Irony:  House will be made beautiful again in order to sell it.  What exactly needs doing?  The list is so long that at least quarter of the ink in a biro would be used up.  How does it make the reluctant do it yourselfer (is there such a word?) feel?  Tired.

Week before Day 1 (below).  Contact a builder to come and do the jobs outside of the house that can't be done by a single mum with a dodgy back. Once the builder has been, done the work and been paid because he was a genuinely very nice man, then spend a few days admiring the fact that the outside work that has been waiting for sooooooo long has finally been done.  When the admiration is over, think about what shade the concrete/cement mix is and whether it is ready to be given its first coat of paint.  The undercoat.

Feel very relieved that the weather is slightly on the cold side and the work is drying slowly (the best way apparently otherwise it could crack).  Try not to panic that such a huge amount of painting (times two) awaits once its dried.  Check for paint brushes.  Throw away the old dried out ones. Go shopping for new ones as necessary.  Add the jobs to the list in great detail because when the 'ticking off' begins, the feeling of satisfaction will help improve the bad temper and tiredness.

Day before Day 1 (below).  Put the list onto the fridge door instead of carrying it around the house in a 'woe' is me kind of way.  Decide where to begin.  Drown the feeling of panic with a huge drink.

Day 1.
Decision made.  Starting work on the porch.  It's the overcrowded small entrance to the house.  The one the prospective buyers see after they have seen the driveway.  Try not to panic about the pigeon-pooped brickwork as someone withe a jet wash will be able to get that sorted and cleaned up.  I would love to send the bill to the pigeons but as that is impossible, perhaps send it to God because that is the person who created them?  A topic for another day.

Get the step ladder. Paint. Roller and tray. Paint brushes. Tub for rubbish. Mini stool for sitting on for when doing the low work. Find a long stick for mixing the paint.  Not a screw driver, they are not long enough. Rags.  Plenty of rags and two types of tissues.  Wiping up spillages and nose blowing (for the dust allergy).

Find the music, loads of music, as that helps calm this savage beast and find the extension leads to be able to play the music from a reasonable location so that it can be heard at higher than normal decibels.

Empty the porch of all the shoes. And then more shoes.  And some more. And don't forget the ankle boots. Oh and the knee high boots. The outside boots, and trainers, and then of course there's the various oddments of slippers that are worn and not so worn. Finally the floor is visible.
Hoover, dust, wipe and wash where possible.

Time for tea.  Day 1 start can be my next blog.  It is good for a writer to stop writing when he/she is in the flow.  I am certainly that.

Must ask my friend Milton about pictures for my blog: a ladder, paint pots and other paraphenalia, will add to help me get through this huge project.