Saturday 9 March 2013

Getting high on flash fumes...I wish!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, winter comes back like a fierce predator and nips you on the neb.
I kick started my spring cleaning this week thinking that spring was here to stay,
how wrong was I?!
I managed to completely gut the kitchen and scrubbed all those manky surfaces that I never normally get around to doing. 
The top of all the cupboards, skirting boards, ceiling, walls and underneath the fridge, washing machine & cooker.
Spring cleaning is the proverbial can of worms, cleaning one corner makes the rest of the room look even more filthy and there's no bleeding end to it either.
After five hours of almost scrubbing your fingers to the bone, you think it's all done, so you boil the kettle to make a cup of celebratory tea, sit down to admire the fruits of your arduous toil only to find that the underneath of the blinking cupboard needs a jolly good scrub too, argh!
The skirting boards laugh in your face and the knobs of the cooker flip the bird in your general direction..."Hehehe, missed a bit!"
We've lived in this flat for over ten years, we rent, so in all that time it hasn't been decorated and it is really starting to show now. 
Everywhere you look something is flaking, corroding, peeling, cracking, breaking or is already broken.
I try to make it look nice but it really needs more than me donning marigolds for a week on a cleaning mission, it needs money spent on it.
It needs new carpets, new kitchen, new bathroom and a proper decorator coming in and giving the place a long overdue face lift. 
This is the big draw back when renting, you are having to wait until your landlord sees it fit to do something about it, which in my experience tends to be NEVER or just after you've moved out! 
It may sound as I'm making excuses but it is truthfully nigh-on impossible to get this place looking clean even if I spend days on my knees scrubbing till my hands are almost falling off and my lungs are getting sore from breathing in flash fumes.
You do what you can and that's all you can do, eh?!

It was drizzling all day today and even though we made our daily jaunt up to feed little Lilo and the other birds it was just way to dreich to get the camera out to shoot some outfit pics in the park.
We quickly nipped out onto the balcony when we got back home to snap a couple...
Vintage 70s lurex leaf print kaftan dress, vintage boots, Ankh earrings & gloves.
I bought this Miss Jeannie dress from a market in July last year and today was its first outing.
I used to have one in teal blue that was sadly a bit too big for me so I sold on eBay back in 2005. 
These were  the auction pics...
Wearing this frock with my Ankh earrings today made me think of Egypt. 
It is almost a year since we went there now.
I totally fell for the place, the lovely people, the awesome diving  and the totally amazing scenery.
Here are a few of the pics from the two little desert photo sessions that Mark and I did. 
If you want to see more you can either go back and check my April posts of last year or have a peek in this folder that I made on facebook :)
Hope that the start of your weekend went off with a bang and that the rest of it will be fantabulous too :)
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXx



10 comments:

thorne garnet said...

FIRST!!!!!!

Cool that you found the same dress in 2 different colors.

I hate doing housework, I'd rather dig holes in the yard .

Ulla-Marie said...

Oh! That image from desert where you have a hood - awesome! I'm curious ... Which part of Sweden is "home" to you? If any?

Frocktasia said...

Ulla, I grew up in Orkelljunga and Astorp in Skane till I was ten then we moved to Akersberga near Stockholm and lived there for four years. Then it was off to Orebro, where mum, dad, one of my sisters, niece and one of my brothers still live today. I also lived in Malmo and studied in Lund for a year. As to which place in Sweden I consider home? I've always had a great affection for the south of Sweden, I still speak with a quasi-skane accent, so where I ever to return to live in the old homeland, it would probably be somewhere in the south. When I go to visit it is usually Orebro but I wouldn't call that "home" as I have never had any great affection for the place besides the fact that some of my family live there...x

PinkCheetahVintage said...

Stunning Egypt pics!!! Love your Jennie dress with the brown vintage boots. Ughhh cleaning. I'm horrid about it :(
becky

freckleface said...

Spring cleaning already? Good Lord, I need a bit more reviving sunshine before I get involved in that. Yes, you can only do so much in private rented property. I bet your little flat is lovely though.

Egypt, how lovely. Your glittery kaftans look great. xxx

Trees said...

We live in a rented flat too - its been nearly 2 years now and it really needs some work. But on the upside I figure if I spill something on the carpet the landlord will never know as its so stained as it is :P I love your frock and I'm so jealous of your trip to Egypt! Its on my list of places to visit.

Panty Buns said...

Be careful with those fumes! Kudos for your Spring cleaning endeavors (I wish I had your gumption) but take care not to ever mix bleach with ammonia because the resulting gases can be deadly.

Your Vintage 70s lurex leaf print kaftan dress is gorgeous!

I loved the Bangles and their song Walk Like an Egyptian. I also loved their song Eternal Flame sung by their lead singer Susanna Hoffs (LOVE).


Ulla-Marie said...

Den där rackarns barndomen påverkar mycket av det som sen visar sig bli "ens smak", så jag kan förstå att det var Skåne som liksom fastnade. Noterar att du missade Hälsingland trots att du täckte upp ett helt gäng landskap.

Frocktasia said...

Ulla-Marie, jag har besokt Halsingland nar jag var liten, vi har slaktingar i Gansvik i Vasternorrland och brukade varje sommar bli instuvade i bilen med talt och spritkok etc for att aka pa semester och halsa pa slaktingarna norrover. Sverige ar verkligen vackert pa sommaren och jag skulle tycka att det var super kul att gora en san dar riktigt Svensk talt semester igen nu i vuxen alder :)

Miss Simmonds Says said...

well done for spring clean, I really should get my arse in gear! I love all those dresses, they look stunning on you. The last dress/tunic thing is just beautiful