Four months into the house ownership and my productivity of making it into a Harada home has definitely slowed down. Since my last post (in no particular order) I have:
Finished painting the wooden shelves for the fireplace meaning my TV and “ornaments” can go somewhere.
Learnt to drill. There are now 3 prints above my sideboard and a clock in the living room. I’ve got a bit of a thing about what “Art” people hang in their homes, in that I’m not a huge fan of the printed canvases of flowers, coffee cups or emotive life rule messages. They just seem to be everywhere at the moment and in the end just dilute the message or person meaning of the image. The 3 prints I have to admit are from Ikea and are posters of New York, London and Paris. I had some concerns I was being two faced and going against my own morals. However, my good friend Mike said as long as I know why I like them and can express it, then they are personal to me (he is wise at times). So…..I like them because I love the iconic buildings that all 3 have, New York with its sky scrapers, London with the Thames skyline Eye and Paris with the Eiffel Tower.
Changed the knobs on my bathroom cabinet. I think this will be the start of many, its surprising how many knobs one has scattered about the house. I’ve bought mustard yellow ones for my hatch doors, but unfortunately I’ve lost the excitement of painting things of white, so they are still residing in the tool box.
Sorted the garage. It was driving me mad, it was becoming a bit of a dumping ground a place to hide things out of my daily site. It felt like an ideal Sunday job, the shelves were washed down, the floor was swept, the random screws sorted and plant pots stacked. I was even joined by a local cat who lay on my drive It looks so much better in there but its a bit musty smelling, I question if it is too extreme to put a plug in air freshener out there.
Ordered a new sofa. This was made into a day trip! The Mike and I cycled from Letchworth to Stevenage to go round places like DFS, carpet right, bensons for beds etc. We found some hideous items, so had to cleanse our minds and souls with a cycle to Datchworth for a pub lunch. I was quite tempted by a grey sofa with red buttons in DFS, but was concerned it wouldn’t fit in with my current sofa or the room ambience. The following day after work I visited Laura Ashley because they had a 60% sale and its where my other sofa is from. I had a great chat with the sales assistant, I showed her photos of my lounge. She came up with lots of ideas, some I was not so keen on, but it was immense fun wandering about the store pointing at things I liked. In the end I settled for an Abingdon large 2 seater in Watson Natural, it won’t arrive until December but I’m excited.
The greatest achievement I feel though is that I now only have 2 boxes to unpack. I know 2 still remain but I am determined not to have them sat there unpacked for years to come. In an attempt to prevent this I have had the wooden boards in my roof removed so that I can not hoard and store stuff up there.
I’ve pondered what the cause of decrease in productivity is, and truth be told its down to many a thing. July and August seemed a whirlwind of hockey organisation for our yearly bonanza tournament. Being in its second year, I assumed people would be keen to secure a team etc and get things sorted but alas my expectations were not fulfilled and it was the same email chasing and last minute changes. August and September saw me on the organising committee of a 2 day work team build. Working with people from different disciplines definitely opens your mind to how differently people solve a problem or perceive the department in which you all work. Having said all that I thoroughly enjoyed both in the end and both events ran well. £3.5K profit for the hockey club and congratulatory pats on the back from colleagues that never used to talk to me. October has bought the start of the hockey season and with it captaincy of the ladies second team. The first week was hell, but it’s slowly getting easier, I’ve got a great vice for support and we are slowly getting on top of all the things we need to remember…though we definitely could do with some more wins.
In summary I am busy and I feel like I am achieving my goals, and that actually is a good place for me to be.
Isobel Harada 
We trust you were wearing safety googles and avoided standing shoeless in a bucket of water when using the new electric drill
Oh Father dear, what kind of idiot do you think I am?!? Need I remind you, who made that lovely bird table that has been standing tall in your garden for 15 years? Oh yes it was I, your perfect Daughter 🙂 x