It has thus been re-christened the 'Non-Sitting Room.'
Even though there are piles of books and magazines and my intentions are good and I've managed to rid it of the toys that were in it - tubs of train track, Scaletrix, building blocks, a child's desk, copious drawing materials and Play Doh - so that the atmosphere would feel less like a play room and more like one for actually relaxing and, erm, sitting in, it gets to the end of almost every day and I find myself going in only to turn off the lamps and tell myself off for not having got around to actually having parked myself in there.
It's where the TV resides, so you'd think that would be an attraction, but that's something that really only comes on at week-ends for the kids. I try to sit with them and watch Britain's Got Talent or a movie but will be on the go cooking or ironing or faffing still. Switching off completely and sitting on the sofa to read and / or listen to music is generally just in my dreams. It could be said that I don't really lounge in my lounge!
And an ex-boyfriend's mother used to tell me that airports had lounges, not houses. She instilled in me the need to say 'Sitting room.'
This is a habit that many years later I still don't dare to break, but the much more recently acquired one is that I get tethered to the lap top in the coldest room in the house - our kitchen with the, you know, 'I'll just take a look at my messages' ten minutes that turns into two hours, instead of picking it up and sticking it where it belongs - on top of my lap in my newly inviting sitting room.
This comes with a bonus of raising my legs onto what used to be known as a pouffe, but is now more fashionably only ever called a footstool or storage stool. It even houses the blankets for extra comfort - but I suffer from that peculiarly British female thing of feeling guilt induced wretchedness if we're not running around or doing something constructive - even if it's just writing or reading work related stuff.
Also, my lap top has actrually seen better days and I've been resisting the need for a new one - mainly because it will come with a whole new operating system to get my head around. I've had a gander at a Guide to Windows 8 though - which is what it would be - and it actually looks really exciting!
Although you can still use it in the traditional manner of a mouse and keyboard - it incorporates the touch screen technology we're now used to on our smartphones and tablets. There is talk of Tiles and chat about a Charms Bar and, most importantly, there are improved parental controls - which, in our house, are looking increasingly urgent as the eldest becomes amazingly proficient. You can pinch, expand and swipe and I'm going to have to face it and keep learning and, for this, comfort is going to be key - or,at my age, even crucial!
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| My new babies! |
She's such an authoritave but humorous author, and the bits I've dipped into already speak as though she's reading my mind! Having contributed to her first book and knowing her as I do, because she lives in Brighton, I'm a loyal fan and can hear her thoughtful and intelligent but self- deprecating tone telling it like it is. Those of us who buy / have bought the book are in for a treat.
There is every good guilt-free reason, therefore, to break my bad habit of not sitting in my non-sitting room. There are some sofas in there with my name on - although, not literally, obviously - that would be weird.
So I'm going in!
What kind of bad habits have you inadvertently developed?
Thank you to all of you who nominated me in the #Bibs 2015 Best Writer Category. I'm thrilled to have made it to the shortlist and it would be awesome to make it into the final five. If you can find it in your heart to vote me through, then please click HERE. (Thank you very, very much!).
