Ok firstly, the shop is back.

I would love some big fanfare! Some big ta-da about that, but there isn’t one. The shop is just open again.

There is a ton of stock that still needs to be added, (and will be added, bit by bit), but that big chunk of time I felt I needed to get everything up and perfect keeps refusing to materialise, so you get something more resembling reality: The shop is open. There will be more stock in there soon, bit by bit, and more stock on its way.

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Right now I feel very back to basics. We have been in our house nearly two years and there is still huge things to do – all the decorating, the kitchen, the bathroom, the electrics (soon), the secondary glazing, built-in storage, refurbishing existing storage…  I love our house and I’m planning for us to be here for a long time, but it’s still a big work in progress.

It’s a much bigger job than I ever thought it would be.

Anyway the point is, when living and parenting and working all at home it’s easy to get bogged down. To be made miserable by the lack of storage, by the very old wallpaper, by the carpets that I would happily rip up were it not for the fact that the floors underneath (at this point – most of the easy carpets are GONE. Hurrah!) are painted, and painted with gloss so that has to go before we can varnish, and taking the paint off takes a long time that we don’t currently have…

Sorry I lost myself for a moment.

Anyway for a little while, and with the shut shop hanging over me, I got a bit sad and felt a bit hopeless.

BUT… I turned back to the things that have helped in the past –

• my timer (so that I’m just doing a tiny bit at a time rather than trying to do everything in one go)
• making small lists and ticking them off
• making lists of things I’ve actually done so that I can see what I’ve achieved on days when it’s all dirty nappies and stopping small children from jumping on each other and pulling hair
• just doing one job at a time rather than three things at once
• there are LOTS of charity shops around here so it’s easy to get stuff re-homed

…and slowly, very slowly, I’m trying to do what I can to sort things out a bit more.

And sometimes it feels hopeless and sometimes it doesn’t.

Today I can see the top of the sideboard, and though it isn’t totally clear, it doesn’t need to be. It’s neat and I know what is going on with the few things that are there.  It’s as clear as it was when I worked on it yesterday, which means when I work on something else in the same room I will be moving forwards.

Hello moving forwards. I know I will pass you going the other way in a day or two, because I live in a house of tiny children and a million jobs that need doing, and it’s rained for most of the month… but I will also see you again going… well, forwards. And that feels good.

Onward Ho.