Miniature roses from one of my pots. They smell heavenly and I love the two different shades of pink of the two plants I bought. But there is some kind of disease affecting them. I’ve trimmed off the sickly leaves but don’t know what else to do… I’ve also moved the pots to the front of the house in case they like it better there, and I’m taking a twig to the nursery next week to see what they can recommend.

But back to the title… I got a cold last weekend, it started as a sore throat and I had two days where I couldn’t swallow. Then it went to my head, a drippy nose and sneezing all the time, with the added bonus of a dry cough. Eventually the drips turned into snot (lovely, I know, I love to share!), a blocked nose. I’m still headachy and have progressed to the joys of chesty coughs which come in bursts that hurt.

Oh happy happy days.

I’m told many people are sick on Paros with this cold/flu/not covid/virus thing. And I’m warned that it lingers. I’m not sure, but I did get some stuff from the chemist to ease the pain and lessen the cough… Let’s see how that goes.

My brother Peter and his girlfriend arrived in Athens yesterday (from Australia) and will be here next weekend and I don’t want this lingering then.

Meanwhile, since I was too sick to do much, I spent a lot of time watching makeover and declutter videos on YouTube.

I’m a regular declutterer with hoarding tendencies. I’m also an artist who likes to make things out of all kinds of other things, so I collect stuff to ‘make something with’.

Therefore, at least once a year I go through my cupboards, my craft and art supplies, my wardrobe and kitchen cupboards and get rid of anything that’s expired or I won’t use or wear.

But things are still too disorganised. Or maybe I should say that they become disorganised all too often, no matter how often I try to organise. Cause I’ve always got something ‘on the go’, or waiting for a spot to live, or to be moved on, or whatever.

Right now I can’t see my kitchen counter or the kitchen table yet, but I did go through and organise the bathroom and the living room bookcase.

So, since I’m more or less house bound while I get over this dastardly cold, and since I actually feel a little better today (when not racked with coughing fits) I decided to tackle the kitchen and get things organised in there…

And, like any creative with a shot of ADHD thrown in, I can’t clean, tidy and organise without leaving out ‘I will finish this’ or ‘I will get to this’ projects along the way, effectively never completely getting rid of the clutter.

However, I did a couple of tiny upcycles today to make my life FEEL a little more organised. Or at least ‘pretty’ organised. So here they are.

I was about to throw out these various plastic containers I had kept cause they’re handy for putting in leftover paint, bits of unfinished projects, etc. Instead I got out my trusty hot glue gun and some rope and started making them into better looking storage solutions.

This large ice cream tub was the first one I tackled, using thick cotton rope I had on hand.

I wrapped, glued, wrapped and glued my way around it till I looked like this:

The lid wasn’t my best work, in hindsight I should have treated this way differently, but it is what it is… The cost of this project came to about 4e plus quite a few glue sticks I had on hand, and the tub of ice cream which I had thoroughly enjoyed eating a while back.

This will now hold some of my bathroom accessories, things which aren’t used to often, but can now be hidden away.

Next I tackled one of the yogurt containers. This is a different rope and it turned out way nicer. I especially love the little loop on top.

This is now holding my phone chargers and Australian plug adaptors which always sit on my kitchen counter and add to the mess.

I actually love this one so much I’m buying more of that rope to do another similar container…

I used up the rest of the rope on two smaller containers: this small container to hold my rubber bands. Nicer than having them in a glass jar I think.

I did these small projects with minimal damage to myself thanks to these handy little hot glue gun finger sleeves I got from Temu. SO handy. If, like me, you only have the scalding hot hot HOT type of glue gun, you need these. Next time I buy a glue gun I’m going with the less dangerous, low heat type. Although now I have these, its no longer a matter of life or death.

Of course, all this was overseen by Vincent who kept one eye on me the whole time.

I’m off to continue on the tidying and organising and working on some of the ‘I’ll get to this’ projects.

I really hope this is the beginning of a creative period. I need one to feel better about myself.

z