A high-achievement weekend

To make up for past laziness, I knocked off a pile of random chores on the weekend, helped by beautiful blue skies ... and watching several episodes of Marie Kondo on Netflix on Friday night. I turned out my sock drawer, my undie drawer, my scarves and all my shoes; found three bags of stuff to donate and cleared the top of the chest of drawers. It is all very tidy now (and WILL REMAIN that way, I swear). 

We went to IKEA to buy a couple of plastic tubs so the boys can finally put away their Lego and Dr Who figures. I already put the Beyblades up on the local Buy Nothing group where they went in an instant! I am hopeful of getting number one son to part with the K'nex; I think there are lots of boys who would enjoy it. At IKEA we also got a soft mattress topper for the spare bed, some outdoor furniture stain/oil and a pink breakfast dish to replace my favourite cereal bowl that number two smashed last week. I found the exact same replacement so was very happy, and number two did penance by being penned in the back seat by the mattress topper, and the dog cage that we forgot to take out before we left the house.

Next job was to re-stain the outdoor furniture, which certainly looks much better now. I just did the tops and sides, and will flip it over and do the bottoms after it has all dried. A bit fiddly but quite satisfying.

And I went for the first run in four months which just about killed me. Every bit of my body said "WTF are you DOING" and seized up in protest; so I probably actually ran about ten minutes of the half hour, in maximum three minute bursts. Never mind, I know it will come good, eventually. I am a bit creaky today though. Canberra was very lovely - warm and sunny but an autumn nip in the air and autumn colours on the trees.

Other jobs included failing at making muesli (forgot about it, burnt to a crisp) and failing at clearing the drain in the upstairs hand basin. Actually I did succeed in clearing the drain, where I failed was forgetting that I had tried to clean it with baking soda and vinegar last weekend. So I poured down the super industrial cleaner with massive warnings all over it saying "DO NOT COMBINE WITH OTHER CHEMICALS" and "HIGHLY TOXIC ACID", and then it hit the baking soda residue and started foaming and making a terrifically hideous smell. I bolted - "Suburban Mother Killed in Bizarre Drain Gas Horror" - then went back in half an hour later. The smell took twenty four hours to dissipate but the drain now runs unbelievably well.