The Happy Homemaker

Anyone who knows me would not peg me as someone overly bothered about house and home. Yes, I like things clean and relatively organized but it’s not something I obsess about. Until now, it would appear. See, last time I moved into a new house I had a ten year old, a seven year old and a five month old baby. Oh, and a brand new publishing contract with a big publisher and six months to finish my book. Things were flung into any old cupboard just to get them out of boxes, and we spent the next thirteen years wandering around, trying to figure out where things were and why they were housed there. And no, I never could muster the energy to rearrange anything.

This time however, it’s a different story. This kitchen will be organized, damn it. We’re having all the plates, cups, glasses etc on one side, all the dry goods on the other, and sundries (otherwise known as “the messy drawer”) away from the stove, dishwasher and fridge. Those drawers and cabinets are valuable real estate in any kitchen and shouldn’t be housing tape measures and hammers. Actually, I’m going to have to have a word with the Ball & Chain as there are screw drivers in one drawer which is not on, given that the garage is a mere ten feet from the kitchen. No excuse at all. (See, I’m so into it, I’m getting positively unpleasant.)

The fact that we only have four plates, four mugs, four knives, forks etc. doesn’t matter. I’ve left room for the mugs that will be arriving in 6-8 weeks and we are banning ourselves from buying anything till the container arrives. We’ll just look at the nice, organized empty spaces (allocations) in the kitchen cabinets, till that day (and hope that everything fits).

Ditto the shelves above the washer and dryer, which I have allocated for laundry supplies (at this point just one small bottle of Persil) and dog stuff. I may have to re-think the dog stuff as I ordered a giant bag of dry food which is causing visible strain to the shelf on which it sits. Sigh. At this point, the garage is going to be the go-to place for everything, including the twenty five boxes we have coming in a month or so. Where we are going to put everything I just don’t know.

So far we have spent the time waiting for the Virgin Media guy to come and fix the duff equipment we were sent, then waiting for him to come back a few hours later as the new stuff also wasn’t working(more on that later); waiting for the Argos delivery man to bring patio chair cushions that actually match (three days of random cushions being delivered); and going back and forth to Vodaphone having been rejected initially because our UK bank account (for which we had jumped through hoops) was tied to our US address and not our UK one.

The weather is lovely though, and we’ve been eating out most nights, making the best of it and pretending we’re on holiday. My gym membership kicks in next week, which is a good thing……..