Productive

This weekend I was taken over by a curious force.


The force to do things.

I’m not really a lazy person at all, I find it incredibly difficult to sit still and do nothing, my hands have to be doing something, my mind has to be engaged and I can sit for at most about an hour before I have to get up and stretch my legs and do something. But even so, this force was something else.

It started on Friday night, I had a little plan in my head of what I was going to do – come in, start making my own curry (why have I never done this before?! Silly girl. Don’t need a jar, just a bit of curry paste!) and then while it was cooking, get in the shower and wash my hair. I’m a big fan of efficiency – why would I hang about for 40 minutes while my curry cooked when I could use that 40 minutes to do something useful.

And so it began.

I showered, I dusted and hoovered downstairs, I scrubbed the kitchen, did all the washing up, scrubbed the hob clean, I fluffed up cushions, I was content.

The trouble with these ‘Doing’ Binges is that they have a tendency to take over and go out of control and on Friday night I started making a list. A list of every little thing I needed to do in a weekend which was already going to be taken up with a day trip to Manchester on the Saturday. I cannot explain how much I love a good list, no better feeling than crossing things off a list so every tiny insignificant thing went on there. I was on fire.

And so this weekend I did the following:

- 2 loads of washing done, (1 load dried, sorted and put away)
- Got drunk on Gluhwein at the Christmas markets (note to self, eat breakfast before you get to Manchester, otherwise that stuff will go straight to your head)
 - Gave the patchwork blanket to its new owner (part of me wanted to make her open it there and then but I resisted) - Bought all my wrapping paper, gift boxes, shredded paper etc
- Wrapped all my Christmas presents (I always forget how long this takes, I was up until 1am doing it!)

- Made a Christmas Cake (yes purists I should have done it ages ago but I didn’t, so, you know, get over it.)

Don't worry, it's not anaemic, this is before I put it in the oven!

- Got my picture up on the wall finally after moving in 6 months ago (with the help of Dad who also broke one of the slats on my bed by putting his whole bloody weight on it. Brilliant.)
- Wrote my Christmas cards (I know that people say it’s cheaper to make them than buy them but I got 18 cards for £1.99 from The Card Factory which I thought was pretty damn good)
- Finished making a Christmas wreath (post to come on that later in the week)
- Uploaded photos on to my much neglected Flickr account (trying to get in practice because I want to do Project 365 next year!)
- Cleaned the house from top to bottom (you have to have a clean house before you start decorating)
- Started to get out the decorations ready to decorate the house on Tuesday
- Put some decorations up in my bedroom
- Watched the Coronation Street omnibus so I could finally understand what everyone’s been blathering on about (might not sound productive but I did it whilst....)
- Finished my Mum’s blanket (Yes. You did read that right.)

It felt rather amazing. I really don't like feeling like I haven't done anything and now I can rest easy knowing that everything is done, all that's left to do is post those presents to the people living far away and I am officially ready to sit back and let the festive cheer wash over me.

(And take photos of that blanket so I can crow about finishing it.)