Tuesday 4 - Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

1. What kind of home do you have and does it need repair or improvements this year? My house is a terraced house. Small hall, livingroom, open kitchen, toilet, stairs 2 large bedrooms, 1 small, bathroom open stairs Attic. Ouside: at the back ; a brick shed against the house. It's too large. And as my relationship is 25 years over and I am forced to be the caregiver, I am ready to move. (Want to live in the UK between mountain and ocean.) No opportunity at all, as there is a huge housing shortage. Need a new kitchen, the tiles in the bathroom redone, and some minor repairs and paint jobs. As I am the only person doing something it will be on the list next year too. Outside a tree needs to be removed. Can't afford it. 2. How do you accessorize your home inside and out? Plants, art, books, wall hangings, maybe music in the background? Inside: I used to have a lot of plants, but there is too much to take care of. I have some art on the wall that was bought years ago. Far too many books. A Tibetan altar in a Tibetan decorated corner.

Glass-art made for me
after my second baby, first daughter died.

Opposite corner. Lots of gifts and memories.
The tin on top is a plantbulb.

Outside: Front garden, plan in a circle of bricks, high shrubs and some trees. In spring the muscari provide the first colour, or the crocusses, followed by the tulips. Back garden: always a project. I love wild flowers and trees. The new neighbours wanted a tree to be gone...since then I don't have much pleasure being in the garden. They keep on looking what I am doing. Within the minute after I go outside their are peeking what I am doing. The small playhouse of the children is still close to the house. I want a gardenhouse in the back, and when it's as hot at last summer I need to sleep outside.

Most of the time the TV is on or I play music. I need to keep the noise from outside neutralized...one way or another.

3. What objects reside on your coffee table? Night stand? Side tables? Kitchen/Dining table?

• Coffee table: large plate with buddha statues and some Tibetan items. Right now a pot with a bulb. A lamp with some gifts hanging from it. Some small things which are gifts, and a pot with pens.
• Night stand: radio, small bookscase with nice booklets, items, small box with jewelry, and a basket with all sorts of stuff,
• Dining table...I wonder if itś still belowe the pile of stuff Mr. J has put there. If I empty the table he fills it within 5 minutes. Grrr...

4. Do you like your kitchen organized and with counters cleared off or do you prefer to have the things you use often out on counters? Do you mind what some might see as clutter or do you hate having to dig out tools and appliances when it comes time to use them? and prefer to have them within easy reach? I like my kitchen organised and with clean counters. With the things I often use at the same place. As I am not the only one in the house it's just a nice dream. It never happens. I hate it when other people see the clutter. It makes me feel I am failing.

I never had that problem, but it's growing the past years. Maybe it's due to the very opinionated society we're living in. People so easily judge others. A few years ago we had the police enter our house. Someone had reported we were growing drugs! At the time we still had two at home, and the stuff of all kids...so a rather full attick. The senior one was very disappointed there was absolutely nothing to be found. He commented on having a bag of clothes in the corner before the bathroom. I said I was cleaning the clothes that were donated by people for the refugees. So they would get freshly washed clothes. He had some strange smile... A few hours later I was called. He had reported us to the special care social team for a messy and fire-dangerous house, based on "bags with dirt" in front of th bedrooms!! There were coming. I said I wouldn't allow them into the house, they said they would come with the police. I told the woman to give me the chance to explain on the phone. So I told her that another group of strange people would upset my autistic son even more, and there was absolutely no bag of dirt in my house, just one bag with clothes for refugees that were about to go into the laundry machine. She wanted photos of the spaces in front of the bedrooms and I told her I would first inform myself about this invasion of privacy. I also told her to get in contact with our GP, as he not only knew us well, but had been visiting several times at unexpected moments. If she, after that, still wanted photos and the privacy authorities considered her request perfectly normal I would send her photos. I never heard from her again. But this all has hurt my feelings and made me feel uneasy in my own house. Now Mr. J needs more special attention, like the supervision of his use of breathing equipment during the night, I feel again that my house is not my home. It's the workplace for people.... People who can comment on the most tiny thing. So clutter is a real problem.

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About **Syl

Syl: "Life is a chain of challenges. Sometimes the largest challenges are we ourselves. Facing life, facing others and facing yourself requires either a worryless attitude or plain courage. Most of the time it is dealing with judgement. Maybe life is about getting rid of it."