All I Want For Crepemas Is Youth

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Phew

I have had enough of my lot AGAIN. Since nobody wants to leave the house I am off to see an exhibition at Tate Britain under the faint guise of Work, via lunch with MrsS.

Hmm, from what I've read about that Kondo stuff, she seems to be a teensy bit OCD-ish and I find her attitudes somewhat soulless and unrealistic - at least for those of us who live in multi-person households. One person's clutter is another's beloved stuff. My dining room and garage are given over to dh's music/speaker crap and he is simply entirely incapable of maintaining any kind of order for any length of time. It is a massive waste of everyone's time spending hours clearing and sorting, because he will have it back to a big dusty pile of clutter within a month. Been there, done that. Although I am guilty of just scooping up his stuff from the dining room and plonking it down in the garage. As long as I can access the freezer and tumble-drier in the garage without barking my shins, I am good with that.

Also, whilst I am generally extremely unsentimental about stuff and am always taking things to the tip/charity shop/giving them away to friends and relatives, I have occasionally ended up regretting over-zealous de-cluttering, as it is entirely possible that at a particular time you will think you have no connection/use for a particular object or item of clothing, only to find a few years later that you really shouldn't have thrown it out. Although maybe I just don't relate to the Kondo thing because, despite surface appearance of the piles of dusty clutter in my house, I am ferociously and weirdly organised and pretty much always know where the important stuff is (and get in an almighty tizz if anything is not in the right place ).

I have the Boden demographic arse - but I can't remember the last time I looked at the website or even opened their catalogue.

De- clutter hmm... , take down tree, hmm... No time, have to wait until 8th. (Ahhhh what will happen if I go over 5th or whatever it is?). Usually down on News Year as I get sick of it.

Flying tres early doors tomorrow....

MI isn't MrsS supposed to be at work

Rudy your 'I can't find it' made me laugh!

Dp is also an untidy sod but when he decides to clean hoes all zen and no one can find anything. The less said about ds the better.....

BD

Dear god, I am SO GLAD Christmas is over. It's an absolute effing trial every year. We got through the important bits unscathed, no major rows, and everyone seems relatively happy with the way things went. Phew.

I have great admiration for those of you who have to spend extended periods with families and in-laws. I couldn't do that without being done for murder. Luckily, I barely have any in-laws and as dh chooses to ignore his relatives, I ignore them too. We get away with just meeting my family for various lunches. And even that causes a certain amount of stress - e.g. getting dd out of the bloody house on time yesterday for lunch with aunt and uncle - didn't happen, so we had to go in 2 cars - grrrrrrr. We used to have a massive big gathering of the extended family for one day, but the last time I tried to organise one of those (mainly to please the older generation), there was a breakaway faction that had a hissy fit and I decided not to ever bother trying again. Dd says she misses the big do, but I suspect that is not entirely true and she would play silly buggers when it came to getting her there just the same.

I like to get the Christmas stuff down and put away ASAP, but will restrain myself until New Year's day.

Happy hols, BD!

Now in the traffic jam that is the M6 on the way to PIL and I already have my earphones in to drown out the moaning/banter/bickering. MIL will nor be happy as DH said we would be there about now and we are about an hour and a half away. And DD wants to leave at midday tomorrow. I foresee a selfish teen tantrum on the horizon.

I always take down the dec's on NY DAY and would love to live a Kondoish life, if it wasn't for the rest of the household. DH doesn't tidy/clean anything properly, hence why I pay our lovely cleaner.

I aspire to Kondo, and we are decluttering like mad atm. Dh is very handy at zooming off in the car with bootfuls of clutter for the charity shop.

I did once have an MNer in to help de-clutter; she was starting up in business so she offered a free session in return for a positive quote on her site, iirc. She was absolutely bloody fab, and I keep meaning to have her back. Don't be afraid of such people, they know they have to be sensitive. Best thing about my one was that she kept admiring my really nice stuff. [easily flattered]

Does anyone have a hotel recommendation for central Paris in Jan? We're only staying one night, so it doesn't have to be as cheap as usual though tbh we've liked all the basic places we've stayed in.

Waiting for visitors to arrive, trains from the North badly delayed by floods and high winds.

Auriga, we are driving (currently on M42) and it is really terrible

I will definitely need to declutter before DS and family move in during March.

BD, enjoy your break. Crem, how are things in NI? The winds appeared to be awful overnight. I hope your visitors arrive safely. Auriga.

I am feeling very depressed - the friend who has been missing since Boxing Day still hasn't turned up, and was last seen on CCTV down by the Tyne in Newcastle. I am fearing the worst, but hoping I am jumping to conclusions.

Oh no NU
A friend of mine posted about a friend of hers missing before Christmas too

Friends run away from me if the word de-clutter is metioned. 14 moves in 25 years have made me very ruthless.

NU - so sorry to hear about your friend.

Oh, NU. I am so sorry.

I have looked at Art and am of course now in the Tate caff. Interesting exhibition

Ho Ho Ho crepeys.

Mrs s - the more I hear of your (d)H the more of a See You Next Tuesday he sounds. I hope he has s member of purest gold. And that we only hear the bad stuff...

I am glad to be at home. Christmas time with the parents is highly depressing. Dad has barely no short term memory, and spends most of the time looking for his glasses. Which have a string for him to put around his neck, but he takes them off anyway. He believes that last time he lost them they were posted back through the front door. This seems unlikely.

Mum is grumpy and in pain with her knee, and miserable at her increasingly isolated existence, due to it being more trouble than it's worth to get dad out. Sis and I spent a lot of the time there tutting at the filthy state of the house, to which which their cleaner seems to turn a blind eye. Previously lovely nephews are turning into surly spoilt brats glued to their iPads.

On the plus side MiL seems to have ralliied, and is no longer at death's door. Perhaps in the foyer. From where she is, madly, wondering about organising a New Years party. The denial is strong in this one.

Talking of which, just been to see Star Wars again with DS, and his BFF and cool mum. Just as good the second time.

We're supposed to be going to Kew Gardens this evening to see the lights. However, it is listing down. And the direct train line is broken. So I think we might stay in with a good film instead...

...if that sort of thing ('Artist and empire') interests you.

Herbs my friend said that Kew thing is fantastic. But maybe not in the heavy rain!

We are at DMILs. When presented with a calendar with family photos on, she said "oh is it one like last year?" and put it down. My DM (despite not being the full ticket) looked at it for 10mins, asking where each one was taken, etc. It has her DS and DGC on FFS

I have posted in an S&B thread. Why? WHY? I rather like clothes as it happens but I am so not S&B. They all wear Ladyclothes and Ladyshoes and have Ladyhair.

And go for Lady jogs?

DD1 having a crisis as was rejected for a job because she flunked the online psychometric test. The sort of thing that says "strong argument, weak argument etc". She has banned BF from the her room on the grounds he's too cheerful and knows nothing. It's true she's not experienced in this sort of test.

NU - hope your friend turns up safe and sound.

Auriga - my DB stayed in a nice mid range hotel in rue des Mathurins, Hotel Cordelia opposite the theatre (although he said it was a bit noisy).

Phew...trying to catch up. MrsS on your behalf. DH does that almost never, but he has this thing of not introducing me if we meet a work colleague of his or a member of a board he might be on...or a similarly important Arse stuffed shirt. I just stand there like a lemon. My current and cunning plan for dealing with it in the future where the possibility can be foreseen....is to wear the "hello rabbi red dress" or similar.

monty it's unbelievable how, even when we are grown up we want to have our parents be proud of us. How hurtful for your DH. I mean what does she want?

stropps I hereby invite you to a Jewish Christmas. We take the bits we like ( largely the eating ) and leave what we don't like as being Against The Religion.

BD Bon voyage. I wish you a peaceful and lovely break.

tilly I have the same with respective DM and DMIL. The latter is always at best, indifferent to what ever she is given. DM loved the calendar we gave her last year...similar to what you've done. dS2 put it together on an Apple site with photos of all the DGC. Good luck with the visit. You are brave. Motorways, teens and inlaws are three perfect things to put in room 101.

herbs I think you deserve a cosy evening in doors after that family visit. So sorry. We have been there. but glad Mil situation is a bit less imminent.

mi I will look at your thread. There is always the shelter of this one if the ladyness gets overwhelming. You can come back here and be a non lady crepe.

After a last minute decision last night DH, DD and I are at the flat. dS2 is home alone ...he's very tired from all the shows and has to tackle mocks revision, and since he's nearly 18 and DS1 is on call, we have left him behind.
he also has not one but two NYE parties tomorrow night and we have bugger all We had a brilliant run down due, I'm sure to my insistence on shunning the m25 and using A roads, with a nice stop in a pub half way down. Then a bracing walk along a very angry coast line and late lunch out. Now cosying up back at base.

X post hatty . What do these tests show anyway. I despair of selection procedures these days. BFF and I were both laying the other day as we did the M&S recruitment online test for a laugh. We both failed...

Laughing, not laying

Thanks all...
M25 was remarkably clear this afternoon.

I am trying to book an Indian for tomorrow night - Dp has curry withdrawal symptoms.

MrsS I'd lamp your d H......