I have accomplished such a lot this week and I feel really great, even if there were some sluggish moments. Wednesday I had no power all day and it was a bit frustrating.  It really makes you realise how much we take having power for granted.  So no sewing at all that day,  no heating - at least it wasn't cold, no washing got done, no vacuuming, no eftpos.  I did have a moment were I wondered how was I going to get the car out of the garage, till I remembered there was a cord I could pull to manually open the garage door.  Thank goodness for my iphone so I still had internet.  So what did I do all day??  Well I cut out two new dresses, I packed the orders I had finished and made a trip to the Post Office to send them and I went to the bank to deposit some money. I read my book and I pottered around tidying up the book shelves. Thanks to the little gas cooker I found  in the garage and I was able to boil water so at least I could have something hot to drink - I felt like I was camping in my house.

Thursday I was in catch up mode and spent the day sewing to get the dresses I'd cut out the day before finished. I must say they both look great.  One is for a giveaway being held on Facebook by Night Owl Creations.

Thursday was also a 2nd - in that it was 2 months since Roy passed away.  Boy it seems so much longer.  It might sound a bit harsh but I am glad that Roy is no longer here - don't get me wrong I miss him very much and think about him daily, but I am glad for his sake that he no longer has to struggle with an illness that was slowly but surely robbing him of his vitality and zest for life.  He is now in a better place and I too am in a good place emotionally. I still have tears but I am comfortable within myself and I am moving forward with confidence.

On Friday Aimee and Noah came to stay for the weekend.  Together we did something that I felt I was now ready to face and that was to pack up Roy's clothes.  It was actually much easier than I had thought it would be as I found that there was no sentimental value attached to them.  We sorted as we went and all the good stuff will be donated to the Hospice Op shop - in fact there is a huge pile now of stuff to go to them in the garage so the car is once again housed in the carport.

The clear-out on Sat got me going and over the last 2 days I have attacked the office and now  it looks neat and tidy. My kinda space.  The pile for the Op shop have trebled in size and I might still find more to add to it.  I have gone through all the books that Roy had purchased with the plan to sell them on TradeMe - I have weeded out those that probably won't sell for much and they have been added to the Op shop pile.  I still have plenty left to sell and made a start at listing some last night.

I guess all this cleaning out is a bit about me claiming the house as mine - not that I am trying to remove all traces of Roy, but I don't need to keep all his stuff in order to remember him.  I have put aside special things that were his but most of it is just stuff and like the clothes has no sentimental value to me.  I guess it's all part of moving forward.

I did have another first this week - the car needed a warrant and having never done this before I sorted it all out and am happy to report that she passed with flying colours.  Having said that I was told that the car needs a service and a new cam belt as she has almost reached 100,000 km.  Better start saving as it's going to cost about $500+.  The guys down at the car yard were I get the servicing done were lovely and even gave me a loan car while they worked on mine.

The other thing I have organised this week is the course I am planning to do through the Open Polytech - a diploma in Information and Library Studies level 5. There are 6 papers but at the moment I am only going to do 1.  I want to see if it's what I really want to do and also see how it goes.  I haven't studied anything since High School which was many moons ago and the idea of having to write essays and referencing is a bit scary.  The course starts in November.

Not only have I been cleaning up 'physical' stuff I have also been cleaning up the computer and the laptop - again removing un-needed stuff that belonged to Roy.  It got me thinking how easy it is to send 'stuff' to the recycling bin, then delete it and it's gone forever, shame we can't do the same with some of the 'stuff' we end up storing in our minds.  I guess that 'stuff' is what makes us the people that we are.  The things we have experienced throughout our lives both good and bad make us stronger, but we do need to make sure that we don't pollute our minds with the wrong kind of 'stuff', because once it's there it can't be deleted, the memory of it may fade over time but it's still there - forever!!

Well I think that's it for this week.  Time for a cup of my lovely new proper peppermint tea and sit with my feet up and sew on some buttons.  I've lost count how many times I've been up and down the stairs today - needless to say I've had a good work out, Jack however hasn't as we haven't been to the dog park since Saturday.  Maybe tomorrow, but looking at the weather forecast it's not looking to promising.  Might just need to do some housework instead.

Until next time.

Love and blessings
Jolanda