Greetings friends,  on a cold, grey, wet Monday morning – a wonderful time to sit down and write a long overdue blog post!

April turned out to be a very busy month that saw me spending very little time in my ‘Create Joy’ room.  I mostly entered it to sort through the stuff that was being temporarily stored in there while the sort out and make over was going on.

I returned home from my trip to Wellington on the 4th of April and threw myself into my make-over with zest.  These things usually take me no longer than a few days but his time it dragged on for the rest of the month.

Having had my appetite whetted for sorting and decluttering with the first garage sale I found I went to the next level.  I became ruthless.  Anything that lived in a box or the back of a cupboard because one day it might be useful, or if it was being kept for the day when my beach cottage miraculously appears, was sent to live somewhere else.

The sort out is complete.  The make over is complete.  Orlando has laid claim to his new favourite sleeping position.  The kitchen is burbling away happily producing trays of alfalfa sprouts, bottles of kombucha and milk kefir and even water kefir which turns out to be a remarkably tasty, fizzy, ginger-beer like pro-biotic drink!  Who knew!!

The garden has been tidied and sorted to survive winter’s sun-less days and to keep the lettuce and spinach coming for as long as possible.

The wardrobe has been halved, the shoe supply though has doubled….. really cute red suede ankle boots, grey calf length boots, brown lace inset boots [my favourites]  and some cute little house shoes…..

The month was not without it’s challenges.  Good Friday saw a huge downpour of rain hit us and my conservatory quite forgot its reason for being and thought it was a sieve.  For 48 hours there was a big noisy cool air dehumidifier blasting the heck out of the place to dry it all out.  Never-the-less two woven cotton rugs were ruined along with several items that were being stored there while the indoor chaos was in process.  Still, the upshot was that got rid of more stuff – and the conservatory is now pristinely empty except for one treadmill machine waiting to be listed on Trademe!  Anyone want a treadmill?  🙂

April was also the month that saw my hours on Skype skyrocket with fun international blogging friends get-togethers, and even more Happy Mail arrive.

Linne at A Random Harvest has recently opened an Etsy store where she is selling the lovely silk, hand-dyed scarves she makes and I decided to shout myself a couple because the colours are so gorgeous, and because I wanted to support her new enterprise.  In her inimitable fashion Linne added a few extras to the package and made me wait while she made a little something extra.  The package arrived early on the last Monday of the month and, as we had decided to Skype for the opening of it, I had to wait a further four days while Linne got herself ready to Skype.  Anyone who follows A Random Harvest will be aware of the ongoing practising of ‘Anticipation’ that Linne conducts in her blog posts – I am now a graduate of her classes!

Even Orlando got impatient  “It is ever going to be opened?”

But eventually, the following month,  🙂  the big day arrived

Here is Linne, after inspecting the seal on the package and pronouncing herself satisfied that no undue tampering or peeking had taken place

Now that was pretty much the end of my photographing of the process – I was far too busy unpacking and oohing and aahing over the contents.  I also got to have a chat with Linnes 92 year old mother – an amazingly young and vibrant being who had contributed a hand knitted bag holder for the kitchen.  One of those super-dooper handy little things that you never knew you needed until you have one 🙂

Here are a few photos of the contents laid out  a day or two after the visit with Linne when I realised I had nothing to show you:

There were originally two huge Canadian chocolates, but one got eaten 🙂

And here are the scarves.  I ordered the green and blue ones and was completely surprised to see the beautiful amethyst one also included.  Made of silk, tie-dyed by Linne and with handstitched edges.  Just beautiful!

And here is the ‘little extra something’ a beautifully made cushion, Linne’s contribution to my make-over, being canoodled up to by a sleepy kitty

And now it is May.  I know because Kris Kristofferson has been and gone and I was looking forward to that for over four months.  As YD said, we have now seen the last of our legends and can die happy 🙂

The weather is decidedly wintery, the house is ready for anything, I have shoes to go anywhere in and there can be no more prevaricating.  Work can begin in the Create Joy Room.  One Contented Crafter Organiser will be up for grabs soon.  Stay tuned folks.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!