Cleaning all the things

Today, I have cleaned all the things! Well, ok, maybe not all. But I have started, that counts for something, right? (If you haven't seen this Hyperbole and a Half post, you've clearly been living under a rock. Go read it now. In fact, read all of her blog, she's amazing. Then don't come back, because the comparison is not flattering to me!)

Anyway, assuming you did come back, welcome back. Have a couple of nice pictures of some mini-boats I took this morning.

 

 

My own epic struggle has not been so epic, nor so much of a struggle, yet. I have decided to try a new thing, and deal with the whole mess in bits, rather than doing it all, becoming knackered, and then hating everything because it's all too much. So far I have cleaned the bits that were the most visibly in need, and I've unpacked the boxes that were most in my way. (See, seeing small results motivates people - who knew all those L&D trainers and consultants were right after all?)

Tomorrow, I shall tackle the rest of the bathroom in its entirety. Once I have a clean bathroom, that's a third of the flat done. (At least - our bathroom seems proportionally big compared to the total flat size!) Then I shall tackle the bedroom, and after that I shall consider tackling the living room. This consideration may take a while, because God. Our living room.

Once that is clean, it will probably be time to start all over again - this is what I hate about cleaning. It never, ever ends. Even if no one's actually living in a place and getting it dirty, it gets itself dirty! Why dust - if I had a chance to ask one question, it might be that. (Though I'd regret it afterwards, I mean really, what a waste of a question. But still. Almost as bad as mosquitos, dust.)

Lastly, and more seriously, I have some bad news. The padlocks from the Pont des Arts appear to have spawned a Cote d'Azur branch of the species. Parasites, clutter, declarations of undying love, call it what you will. But it was bad enough when confined to one bridge in one city in one country. Since then it's started spreading to other bridges in Paris, and is widely present in other cities. And now, they've got as far as Monaco. It's like Pandemic 2, but with padlocks. Madagascar should consider closing its port...

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Sorting through old clothes...

Some of you may remember the trauma it was moving here, because of all the throwing out I had to do. (My books, my poor, lovely books.) Since we're being temporarily evicted (more on which later, no doubt), I'm having to sort through my clothes again because we still have too much stuff to sensibly move.

This time it's much easier.

It's helped by there being almost no clothes I can still fit into, and of those I can, I just don't like lots of them. Sorting out winter clothes in the middle of a Mediterranean summer helps, too - even with our air-conditioning on (and I am so, so pleased we live somewhere with air conditioning - even more so that the electricity is included in our rent...) it's still not the kind of weather where you really want to think too hard about coats. Throwing out sweaters is much easier in these kind of temperatures. And summer clothes, well, I have less of them to start with, and they take up less room anyway.

I have 2 big bin bags full of clothes to throw out. 100 litres of clothes. I wonder what else I can throw out while I'm in the mood...

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My book!

It has arrived! It looks so shiny and proper! There's some minor details that I would do differently next time - the text is a size or so too big, the paragraphs spacing is slightly too big; I'd use a serif font rather than a sans serif font. And, of course, it's not a finished text. But overall, I'm really pleased with it! It looks like a real book!

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Screenshot of a product page from my new website

In case you're wondering why I've gone quiet, it's not because I'm dead. I'm in the middle of learning how to make a website. I may never be able to open a text processor ever again...

I'm introducing a shopping cart, too, so you can buy directly from my website. Below is a screenshot one of the product pages. There will be one of those for each product, and of course, general category pages and links to my existing sites at Etsy, DaWanda and ALittleMarket. There will also be the general information pages, very similar to the ones I currently have.

What do you reckon? I can now see why web designers get paid a fortune, this is taking for ever - I'm learning a lot though!

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Strikes and general admin failure

My attempts to be a good citizen and pay my hospital bill today failed. I intended to go via the post office, where I apparently have An Exciting Package waiting for me, and then on into Nice to argue with the hospital that they really shouldn't be charging me at all.

Aware that this would be challenging, at best, I dressed up in my best French outfit (it's the best dress ever, black and white with French stripey bits at the top) and dug out my heels and set off into town. First stop: Post Office. There's a strike on today, so La Poste is closed. Come back tomorrow.

Undaunted, I continue up to the bus stop, where the tourists have formed an orderly queue. I briefly considered joining it, but decided my dress made me French enough to wander to the front, where I stood with all the real French people marvelling at the queue. The woman at the front of the queue went to great pains to point out to the guy standing next to me that this was a queue, and he should join the end of it. Once I'd translated for him, he looked incredulously at me, and smiled and nodded at her, ignoring her completely. She got more and more agitated, and he was more and more bewildered.

He let her get on the bus first, since it was obviously important to her, and she said to the bus driver, "This man is pushing in!" as if it were a crime worse than death.

He looked, confused, at the man next to me, who shrugged and said "Elle est bizarre, cette dame."

And she was, very odd. The nice English tourists behind her looked at me and the guy, burst out laughing and said "Do go ahead, we don't mind." We talked about the boat - it came from Southhampton, and was going around the Mediterranean. It actually sounds like a fairly pleasant way to spend time, if you don't end up having to deal with women like the one at The Front Of The Queue.

Arriving, eventually, in Nice, I made my way back to the hospital, going in the front entrance this time. It's got a lovely atrium inside, all sunlight and trees and things, rather fabulous. Following the signs for the Acceuil d'Urgences (A&E reception), I got as far as the Urgences department, then got lost and ended up wandering around with patients. A nice doctor opened a secret door for me and showed me where I ought to be going. I reckon my dress helped me not get shouted at. The woman behind the counter, however, just shrugged at me when I said I'd come to pay, and said "Les computeurs sont en panne. On ne peut pas prendre les paiements aujourd'hui." (The computers are broken, we can't take payments today.) She then told me to come back another day, or to just wait, I'd be sent a reminder eventually. Haphazard system, this...

Given the total failure to achieve anything I'd planned today, I decided to stop for a haircut. This is something I've been meaning to do for ages. And as I was wondering whether I ought to bother or just wait til I'm back in the UK, I saw a hairdressers advertising a walk-in service. (Is that what you call it in English? Where you don't need an appointment?) And they were that bored, they were practising on each other. So, in I went. For 35 euros, I now have a shorter, more grown up, more French hair cut and have found a hairdressers where they don't laugh at my complete inability to communicate hair terms, because they put it down to a language failure. I shall go back, sans aucun doute! (Ines B, 11 rue de l'Hotel des Postes, Tel: 04 93 13 85 85 if you're in Nice and desperately searching for a hairdresser.)

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My book, formatted

Subject to any major rewrites, which I'm unlikely to do in the next ten days (though you never know...) my book is 400 pages, now I've formatted it properly and put it on the right page size. Give it a proper cover, and it's going to at least *look* like a proper book, as long as no one reads it too closely...

I'm pleased with myself. I'll be even more pleased when it actually turns up and I can show you pictures of the shininess that is my very own book.

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New earrings

Today's been more productive than I expected! Putting off editing the monstrosity I've just finished writing has inspired me to make new shiny things; it's almost a win-win situation, except that the editing doesn't get done...

The first of today's new things is this pair of earrings. Made from dichroic glass and square copper wire, they measure 4cm from the top of the handmade ear wire and 1.5cm across.

Also, and I know I have your heartfelt sympathy, I'm sunburnt. Sitting on the balcony working all afternoon apparently has a downside - who knew?

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Story: The end

I think I've finally, finally finished my first draft of my book. I've got a couple of scenes to add in that I skipped (and cunningly wrote notes to myself in bright red, so I'd notice when I was rereading it, since I totally forgot about them) but I've written 7,300 words today, for a total of 93,686, and I think I'm done.

It's about time!

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Pendants and Earrings - a productive day in the sun!

(Cross posted to my jewellery, but I felt like sharing here, too... Why yes, I am putting off going running. However could you tell?)

Yesterday was a productive day! I made some new pieces and took some new photos of older pieces - a vast improvement!

Sterling silver and amber earrings:

Sterling silver and rose quartz earrings:

Sterling silver and hammered copper earrings:

Sterling silver, hammered copper and white Akoya pearl pendant:

Sterling silver and labradorite pendant:

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Being responsible instead of beach

I didn't get to the beach, because I had to go shopping instead. Oh, the humanity. I can tell you're all just outraged on my behalf. Anyway, we now have food - dinner for tonight will be salad nicoise - and I made a new pair of earrings:

Also, I saw this ad for the first time. It amuses me possibly even more than J'adore! La montagne!.

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Procrastination has never been so useful...

I started off the day feeling like I'd overslept because Paul went into work much earlier than he normally does. Very confusing, when you're half asleep...

So, I started reading back my story - the first parts of it are actually quite good, I was surprised. The idea was to read through, remember who my characters are, and then be able to write the rest of it at least vaguely in the same voice. It kind of worked - I started writing the next chapter, where they disappear off into the desert, on their way to the Palace in the neighbouring country to get reinforcements before the Revolution. Then I decided to get up, with a vague intention to clean my teeth, get breakfast and come back to bed to do the rest of the story.

I got distracted. After cleaning the bath and the bathroom sink, I decided to clean the kitchen, while I was at it. The sink and cooker and kitchen floor now sparkle. Then I took out the rubbish. Then I started sorting the clean clothes into "winter" and "summer" - "winter" are now sitting in bin bags in the spare room. 3 bin bags. Big bin bags. "Summer" clothes now all fit in the wardrobe. I've tidied up the bedroom shelves, too, so Paul now has another shelf for his clothes, my jewellery stuff is balanced somewhat precariously on the top shelf, but that's ok, it can grow into piles up there without hitting a shelf above it. I even sorted the socks into matching pairs. And did the washing up. And another load of laundry. And finally had breakfast. And now I'm here instead of writing. I shall at least get my little band of revolutionaries to the Palace, before going to the beach... If I don't, shout at me!

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Productivity part whatever

Today, unlike yesterday, I have been productive. I've hoovered, scrubbed the floor and kitchen, done laundry and the washing up, written wedding invitations and remembered to put suncream on. Now I'm going to sit in the sunshine with coffee, and consider writing more of my story. Maybe. I'm thinking to scrap the whole thing entirely, but it's at very nearly 70,000 words. Seems a shame to kill it now...

I do, of course, need to go to the post office and actually *post* the invitations I've written. That would be a good idea, since they're not doing a lot of good here on the table. After coffee. Definitely.

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Crochet

At the risk of turning into my grandmother, I took up crochet a while ago. Some of you may remember me mentioning it. I've got lots of bits of crochet around the flat now, but I finally turned one of them into something useful: behold, my lovely little bag. It fits my wallet, my passport and my iPod in it - what more do I need?

Right way round:

Inside out:

You will no doubt be awed by the button and the quality of the inside stitching. I actually think the inside stitching is fairly good, given that I had to make my own needle. And my own button, since we don't seem to have any spares.

You can tell I work in metal, not fabric, can't you?

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Productivity continued

I amaze even myself, sometimes...

Instead of going back to bed, I had breakfast on the balcony, and then finished the below pendant.

Then we walked to Nice, via the coastal path - incredibly pretty, but best not attempted in flipflops. Learn from my mistakes, people of the internet. We finished our walk at Kookaburra in Nice, which is a fantastic Australian pub, and Nick, the guy who runs it, is brilliant. We go there when we've got spare money, the food is fabulous - today we had kangaroo pie. The chef deserves a medal, because it rocked.

Kangaroo pie:

Photos from the coastal path:

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In which I do running for the first time...

Oh ye of little faith. You thought I'd have lost interest already, didn't you? Well, I have completed my first running today. Be impressed!

Admittedly, more experienced runners would struggle to recognise the shambling bastardised lurching I did today as running. But I know it was running. And it didn't kill me. Or break my new shoes. Success all round! And I get some nice scenery to look at - the programme takes me all the way to St Jean Cap Ferrat.

In case anyone else is interested in joining me on my mission to fitness (or, indeed, has found this through googling Couch to 5k - in which case, I apologise in advance for the rest of this blog...) these are the podcasts I'm using. (Don't look at me like that. The alternatives were Christian rock, or techno. You'd have chosen the same.)

Now I shall go and shower and eat breakfast and be productive. It's not even 9:30 yet! I have the whole day ahead of me!

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A better day

Today has been productive! So far, I've made breakfast, done two loads of laundry, been to the pharmacy, half made dinner, hoovered, and taken lots of photos of jewellery.

New photos of old work:

New work:

All the new kambaba pendants are up for grabs, so if you want one, let me know... First come, first served.

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A productive day

Today has been what passes for a productive day round these parts. I've done another load of laundry, another load of dishes, written 1600 words of my story sitting in the sunshine on the beach, got slightly sunburnt, and made a new pendant. And it's only half past 3. What miracles the rest of the day might hold!

(That or I'll go back to bed. It's a hard life.)

Pic of new pendant, made of argentium sterling silver wire and blue glass beads:

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