Tuesday 29 January 2013

Are You a Hoarder ...


Hello there! Many thanks as always for your comments on my last post. Looking out of the study window at the mo and it is very bleak out there - the rain soaked pavements and the grey sky, makes you want to be indoors wrapped up warm with a mug of hot tea! Are you a tea or coffee person or neither. Me, I'm a self confessed tea drinker. Oh, and I like hot chocolate with all the trimmings too! My waistline demonstrates this!

As I was walking around the house today, from room to room - should have been dusting, but what the hell, what struck me was the amount of recycled broken / chipped mugs I had storing pens, pencils, letter openers, rulers etc. I know that I cannot pass W H Smith or a good stationers without diving inside for a gander. I wondered how many pens I had and more importantly how many actually worked 'cos I can never find one that does when I want one!

Can you spot the nibbled pencils - this is the handiwork of our cat, Ruby - who likes to chew wood!


Then I started noticing that I have rather a lot of scissors. Is the plural for scissors the same as the singular, it must be.


Far too many bits of stationary - look there's even pens on the windowsill, too many for the pot!


There's a further two container load on the windowsill in the study! In fact, there's a third which is out of shot! Good old foxy, named, Rufus is guarding the new Cath Kidston notebook which I had to buy when shopping at Waitrose on Saturday. I will take it along to my Photography Course on Friday to keep my notes all in one place! Until I spot another nice notebook, no doubt! In fact, I could do another post on notebooks - I have quite a few tucked away in various drawers!

So, please do tell - are you a hoarder / collector and if so, what do you have too many of, and what do you like to collect?


Small, vintage fox terrier - only included as I saw him on the study desk looking sad and cute!


I ventured into the kitchen - yes there are more pots with pens! I won't bore you with those but with this orchid which I've had for at least 15 months - it has thrived on neglect! When we were away over the Summer I asked our cat sitter to water it and she overdid it, the poor plant looked half dead and was dropping its flowers when we came home, I really thought it was a goner but having once again given it a diet of hardly any water two to three times a week it has perked up.


And finally, the amaryllis which is very vibrant!


All photos taken on the manual setting!

Until next time,

June.

18 comments:

  1. My dad is very definitely a hoarder but I'm not quite that bad. I tend to 'save' things then have a blitz and take everything to the charity shop. I cant think of anything I would say I hoard, wool maybe but then that does come in handy!
    I love your furry toys!

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  2. I couldn't help noticing the very pretty mug on your 2nd photo, it reminds me of the old penguin books. I'm definitely a tea drinker but I don't see myself as an hoarder although I probably have more craft stuff than I should have. My new way of thinking is if I don't really need it or can't find a use for it then I don't buy it even if I really like it.

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  3. Hmmm, I wouldn't say I'm a hoarder, but I've got plenty of junk in the house. I'm not a coffee or tea drinker really, I have the odd cup of tea, and the odd cup of hot chocolate. I do love stationery though. I've recently rediscovered Filofax and I'm loving it, it's keeping me organised and on the straight and narrow, and you can buy lots of pretties to jazz it up too. I have two orchids and I only water them once a week. I've had them about five years now and they're always in flower for Christmas. I'm growing an amaryllis for the first time, but it doesn't look as though it's anywhere near flowering yet, I hope I'm not doing anything wrong. What a handsome chap Rufus is, you have some gorgeous softies around your house.

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  4. June, I'm a terrible hoarder and a collector of so much stuff eg tea towels, ladybird books, old puffin books, broken crockery from those beach, 70s floral bed sheets, Mmmmm, actually maybe that's all. Oh, I'm not as bad as I thought then. I love amaryllis. Xx

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  5. I loved all your photographs and the memories your narrative evokes. For a start I used to love going into W. H. Smith. There was one in Torquay I would visit frequently. I'm probably a hoarder but am busy trying to unhoard - difficult as our house is full of sentimental attachments and those I will never get rid of. I love your foxy and terrier. I collect teddy bears but haven't bought any lately, though people do give them to me as gifts - more sentimental attachments, especially as my oldest is one my parents gave me when I was a year old. He has pride of place as worn out as he is.

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  6. I love that you 'had to buy the Cath Kidston notebook'. That's me to a tee. I'm not a hoarder but John is, and he buys loads and loads of notebooks. Why I don't know. But it keeps him happy. I love having a good clear out but then I go down to the charity shop and buy more!
    Patricia x

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  7. Yes. My house is just the same, and most of the pens don't work when you want them to! I tend to stick to pencils in all the pots, but then have to have mammoth sharpening sessions!

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  8. I have been a horder but we are trying to declutter! We threw out so many pens a few weeks ago, I'm sure some of them dated back to when the children were small! Love your fox terrier and flowers.
    Sarah x

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  9. Oh yes, I am a hoarder, although can rarely find a pen when I need one! I've loads of old birthday cards, school reports, buttons (including my mother's button box), postcards, drawings, books, magazines, etc. It's the downside of never having moved house - all my treasures are here.

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  10. The photo of your amaryllis is brilliant - red flowers are well known for being difficult to capture.

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  11. I'm a bit of a hoarder as I hold on to things that people have given or passed down to me. I can throw or give away anything I've bought for myself but feel obliged to hold on to gifts and family heirlooms. The only thing I do collect or save rather than collect is theatre programmes - I have a huge box of them from almost every thing I've ever seen on stage since about 1965. My husband has a huge collection of fossils and flint tools and also a collection of old cameras. We both have loads of books. Like you I have three or four jars full of pens - most of which don't work:)

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  12. You can't claim to be a hoarder unless it takes over your house so that there is no room to walk about.

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  13. Definitely a tea drinker!
    I like notebooks too, I have a wicker basket full of them.
    Any kind of stationary I find hard to resist, I think it stems back to school days and getting excited over the new pencil case etc at the start of each year!
    Lisa x

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  14. Ahem...I might hoard a little bit....
    Best wishes
    Jenny

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  15. Hi June! So nice to have found your blog... I am your 100th Follower! Oh, I collect way too many things. But I am NOT a hoarder... nope. I am a "Collector of Collections". Yep. That's it.

    Love your photos of the flowers; I got a red amaryllis at Christmas - they are beautiful!

    I have drawers full of pens and pencils, yet, like you, can never seem to find one that works when I need it...

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  16. Rats; I should have signed in using my other Blogger account for my previous comment. Wanted to let you know that I've added you to my links page on my art blog so I will be sure to return!

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  17. Tea for me please ! Actually I have one here right now. It's 5.30 am & not 1.30 am like last night and I wanted to thank you for your lovely comment.

    Lovely post which made me smile at all your mugs of pens. I'm trying to think what I hoard - just stuff generally and cats !

    Your Fox Terrier reminds me of the lady I cared for with dementia. She had a fox terrier named Tina and hundreds of Fox Terrier ornaments ! I sometimes took Tina for walks and when the old lady died, her family asked if I'd like Tina but I couldn't take her. She went to a lovely home x

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  18. I think you can guess what I hoard ... yarn!

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