Business reception, to games room - then dining room!

So, when we bought the house, we bought it off a company called Southwest Learning.  They held conferences and seminars etc, and Barnados rented the offices in the top floor.   When it was up for sale it looked, and was very much a business, but it was so easy to see past all that and just imagine how awesome it could be! We knew we wanted it as soon as we pulled up into the driveway and then walking in and seeing a house full of offices, meeting rooms, stationery cupboards, disabled toilets and urinals, meeting rooms, fire extinguishers, office lighting.....didn't put us off one bit!! haha

At the end of our tour of the house, we ended up in what was a Reception Room, we sat down in with the estate agent and put an offer in on this house - a low...low offer.  An offer, we truly hoped would be accepted, it wasn't! But they came back with a counter offer we were very happy with!!

Anyway I digress....the pic below was the reception room............





Andy and the estate agent sat in the above 2 chairs....I sat across the room.  We were excited because not only had we known we wanted it when we drove up - we both knew each other were thinking the same thing - this could be so perfect!!

AGES AND A TON OF STRESS LATER....

When we moved in - this room looked awful.  The carpet was yuck - it had a bright patch where the reception desk had sat - showing how discoloured the carpet was in the rest of the room.  There were - as with every other room - hundreds of cables, run in trunking across the top and coming down into the room for phone lines and internet, and there were about 20 plug sockets on the surface of the walls (not sunk in).

Initially we used this as a games room - and it worked sooo well....

These pictures are from Xmas 2017, but we have had MANY good nights in that room!

HOWEVER.....a couple of months ago - I decided to move the games room into the living room - move the living room into the bottom of the kitchen (where the dining table was) and move the dining table into the games room!!

The new games room looks like this:

So....happy with the new games room, I went to work changing the old one into a dining room.  There were only a few weeks before Christmas, when family would descended and we would make use of the dining table!

The walls are pretty bad underneath the paper - and it is a definite candidate for a new plaster make-over.  However, this room comes low on the list of priorities (in terms of needs doing v financial cost), so - it got painted over the existing wallpaper, which is just lining paper-like, one wall got papered (its been years since I have done it, and they are very high ceilings - so I'm quite pleased I managed it so well on my own!), all the wood work got a new paint-job, and it got a new floor - ply board first, then laminate - which I swore I'd never buy - but it does seem much better quality now!

So - not as perfect as I'd like it................ One day I'll get to properly concentrate on this room, have more time and hopefully more money!

So it took about 3 weeks to do this room, I must have spent a large proportion of that time filling soooo many holes in the wall.........

Actually really like the new laminate (not as cheap as I thought) floor!

Christmas dinner!

So in the last 18 months, this room has been a Reception (business), Games room and now a dining room!

Been Even Longer....

Hi

So, I am sat at my laptop in the kitchen with sausages slowly cooking.  Lissa is visiting for the weekend and has gone out for a run.  Connor and Emily have gone out to take somebody else's dog for a walk? and Andy is still in bed!  I am feeling a little delicate after an awesome night last night.  We all had a few drinks and then went to the local constitutional club to play skittles!!  We tried it with helen and paul last weekend for Paul's birthday - and had such fun we decided to go back.  It was awesome lol.  You end up in a big long room on your own - so it is like a private party!

We left there and headed home last night - to discover music and a DJ in the pub next door so we drunkenly piled in there - and danced for a while - then came back home!  Fun and pizza was had - and I think we crashed about 1.30am.

Andy just got up....

I plan on eating a lot of food very soon - then think we are just gonna chill out for the day.  I thought I would just catch up on a here a little and put pictures of the latest house progress - I finally finished the annex bathroom and bedroom!!

I got it finished just in time for my folks visit - but my dad opened the window and when he closed it the window frame fell apart!!  My folks stayed for the week - because my dad was fitting a new door in the annex living room - a door he got built for me.  Me and Dad opened up the wall where a window was and my dad put the door in - it was a job that took all week.  It looks awesome and was a major piece of work needed for the annex.  Then yesterday we had a builder in who put a hole in the wall between the annex living room and dining room.  So the annex is really coming on now! Still looks like a building site at the moment though....

Anyway - I am gonna do a new post for the before and after pics for the annex bath/bedroom...soon it'll be living room and dining room!! exciting!!

It's been ages!!

HI

Well - I haven't updated this for ages and the honest reason - I completely forgot all about my blog!  It wasn't until Andy's Mum mentioned having read it that I thought - wow - how could have I forgotten all about it!!

So - I'm just going to write about the bits and bobs I can remember!!

The annex bathroom is what I have been working on and it went wrong in a lot of ways - but no so wrong that it will be a disaster (I hope).  The bathroom was fitted - all but the shower as I had to tile first.  The floor was fitted and is very uneven (I wrongly assumed that the guy would try and straighten it out but he didn't at all).  So everything in there has gaps or is propped up in one way or another.  Today I finished putting the tiles on all around the bath - but I have to grout etc.  I have put skirting boards in too - and the bath panel was so bendy and crap that I made wooden bath panels which I will tile after the shower has been put in.

The only other work I have done in the house is put a handle and lock on the door downstairs that will separate the annex from our house, fix the front door handle and the inner front door handle and errr.....there must be other stuff but I can't remember right now!!

I tried to catch up with my running challenge - I ran about 30km and then stopped again - might try to do some later today but I am very behind now!!

I have been putting weight on again - so I've only lost 9lb since xmas which sucks.

We went on a boat party with Helen and Paul - it was a work thing with Helen's colleagues - it was fun - we then went to the Spinny and back to Helen's.  I over indulged too much and ended up going to bed feeling very ill!!

It was Andy's birthday the Tuesday after that weekend and I did the same thing on the evening of his birthday and ended up in bed really early - so I feel like I ruined that for him!!

We went to Manchester on the Wednesday - Andy was working so I visited family.  Had a rare visit to Bev's at her new house.  Rare because she has not wanted me to visit when I have offered in the past and she can be difficult to get on with as she has been in a bad place.  It was great to actually meet up with her though and catch up - saw Tony, George and Megan too s that was nice.  I stayed over on the Wednesday night at Bev's - then went to see Joanne during the day - again that was really nice to sit and chat and catch up! Andrew and Lorna came over whilst I was there to say Hi - she is 30 weeks pregnant - and will be having a girl in November.  Probably the last baby of that generation as we are all too old now!!

I then went to my mum n dads, got showered and we went out fr a meal.  Anthony and Candice - and her 2 kids met us there - again - it was great to catch up with everybody!  So - I managed to see all my siblings during this short visit (apart from Helen who lives in my neck of the woods).

Friday - I went into Manchester town centre and walked around for a while waiting for Andy to finish work.  Was weird being in manchester city centre after so many years - so much I did not recognise!!  I met Andy and his colleague Chris for lunch - then I carried on hanging out around Manchester before meeting Andy again to make the long journey back home!

Andy's folks, John and Sylvia - also made the long journey to our house on the Friday and were there a few hours before we were - so I was stressing on the way back and we hit loads of traffic.  Finally got back and got to catch up with them - so it was definitely a good few days for family catch ups!

John and Sylv hadn't been to out house in almost a year and I was a bit disappointed that there was not loads of progress to show them - although I don't really remember what had and had not been done a year ago.  I wish I had been more prepared for their visit - and been able to make a nice meal and stuff (although I always mess up the most basic recipes when I do it for guests!).

We didn't go out or do anything special during their visit but we did go to our local pub (which we never do for some reason!), we played pool and darts, and just spent time together so that was really nice.

Andy had the Monday and Tuesday off - which Andy mostly spent not knowing what to do with himself lol.  He came to the tip with me and we went around the re-use shop and I bought a cool coffee table which has two table that come out and open up underneath it - somebody had started sanding it down and given up - so I got it for £10! Bargain!!  then we went to Wellington and looked around a place called Fuller Stuff!  Which funnily enough was absolutely full of stuff - from house clearances! Not as cheap as the shop at the tip - but fun to look around!

Today - Andy is working in London and is staying over tonight.  I spent the morning finishing putting the tiles up around the bath - and I'm now sat here doing this debating mixing up some grout and grouting the tiles over the sink....

I'm up to date!! lol

Amazing discovery!!!!

Hi

So - yesterday the floor in the annex bathroom was fitted - and I like it - and I think the colour on the walls looks fine!!  I am not going to rule out changing it though until it is all done - I just need the carpenter to turn up on Saturday to do the boxing in - and then the bathroom (apart from shower) can be fitted the following Tuesday - then I do tiling and shower goes in - and done! Bosh!

More exciting news is this:

Me, Andy and Connor were walking around the outside of the house - after me and Connor had completely emptied and reorganised the outside store, and we were talking about bring up concrete in the front garden to lay fast growing conifers at the front for more privacy...when Andy mentioned that he had found a grid that could lead to a cellar at the back of the house.  I knew about this discovery - I thought it was a square just about big enough to stand in, that was just like a large box - that had some electrics in it.  We had discussed that maybe it was a pump like the one Andy has in his basement room - that pumps water out should it rise too high.  Then, Andy said - no its not just a box - you can see it leads somewhere!! What!!! Why hadn't he told me this before!!  So - Connor said he wanted to go down in it and have a look!  I wanted him too!!  I didn't really expect much to be honest.  So Connor went down there....(the stick in his hand was to sort out cobwebs lol)

He went down there and said....its big....I'm like - what?? then he said - it is full of water....oh....

We passed him a large piece of old guttering for him to dip into the water to tell us how deep it was - I expected maybe a foot of water - nope - about 7 foot deep!  He also said that there was a square hole in the bottom where the water went REALLY deep.  I had to see this!!  So - he came out and I went down and OMG!!!  Look what we found.....

Andy figured out that the pipes that went down into the deeper hole, were the pipes that used to lead into the house - it fed water to a couple of the bathrooms (including the annex one I'm currently doing up).  These bathrooms had notices in saying - NOT DRINKING water.  This water serviced these bathrooms when we moved in!  We took out the water tank and pipes when we put in hot water and now all our water comes directly from the mains!  So - we are guessing that it is fresh spring water - but has now flooded the room.

I went back to the 1898 house particulars because they mention cellars and a well....I found this passage in there....look at "Outbuildings"



It mentions bottle cellar - there is also mention of soft water cistern and pump. Although as far as I am concerned it doesn't quite match up in terms of where it is in (or under) the house.  Furthermore there is mention of pure spring water having connections to all parts of the house - that sounds more like what we found - but it states that is in the north west of the property - whereas what we found was east!

Anyway - we knew that in these particulars it states - in the basement are three good cellars - and we only have one, so we have been looking for the other two and thought we had found one.  Now I think we still have two hidden cellars and we have found the bottle store!  Saying that....somewhere else, I can't remember where I read that one of the cellars was a wine cellar...

This was the most exciting discovery we have found since we moved in!!  Today I am hoping to pick up a water pump to get the water out of there and see if we can see where a doorway used to be as I am not convinced they used to go in via the hole we found!

I'll keep you updated!!

So...I collected the water pump - got it home and me and Connor set to sorting it out - the hose was not long enough - meaning we'd have to keep hold of it and we knew it would take hours!!  But we set it up and came up with a method - use tent pegs to set the end of the hose into the ground, and use old guttering to take the water away from us! It was set up and working!!

It was exciting - and slow.  Well....it wasn't that slow I was just impatient.  After about 4 hours - it was about 8 inches deep and we decided it was time to figure out how we would get in!  It was a sheer drop from the entrance ledge we could just about squeeze into - we managed to squeeze the step ladders in and manourve them to the ledge (well Connor did - only one person can fit down there at a time) then when he tried to set the step ladders on the floor - it was too far down and he thought they would tip over!  With the use of a hose pipe through the top of the step ladders he managed it.  But as it was about 3 foot from the ledge to the top of the ladders it was difficult to get on the ladders - I got in behind Connor and grabbed him as he tried to get on - a lot of messing and uncertainty later he was on the ladders!  He then decided he wanted to go in! I thought that was the whole point!!  but he said - I need wellies!  So whilst balanced on the top of step ladders in this spooky dark room - he managed to get his trainers off and we passed him wellies - and then - he was in!!  He had a walk around and noticed day light from the far corner which is probably the air brick we can see on the other side of the house (annex entrance).  It was very cool indeed.  However, a bit depressing as well - not finding any doorways or other ways in - we realised we'd never be able to use this room! :-(

I have come to the conclusion that the room was only ever a water store.

catch up

Hi

So...its been ages.  What have I been doing? I have no idea!

The plastering was done in the annex bathroom and bedroom...so I have been painting in the bathroom - haven't started on the bedroom yet - and have no idea what colour to do it!  The bathroom however, I painted.  Three coats - one white then 2 blue.  I really liked it until ray (plasterer) saw it, and I said do you like the colour - and he just said no.  lol.  Like his honesty - but this morning the guys turned up to do the flooring - they haven't quite started laying it yet - but as soon as I saw the boxes outside the room  I thought - yeah that colour (on the walls) isn't going to work!  I think it is going to look too bright - but I'll see when the floor is in.  If it is wrong at least I can change it.

After Karl had finished the plastering in the bathroom - I noticed (not that it was hard to see!!) that behind the radiator there was an ugly piece of plasterboard just stuck in at the side!! I had no idea how to conceal it.  The problem was that - because the walls had plasterboard put on and then plastered - the wall stuck out more than the window sill.  I called Ray (Karls boss) and said I needed him to look at something Karl had left....I needed to know what on earth I could do to cover it!  He came and looked at it, and said - you just need to build a new window sill to go over the existing one - with a lip which will cover the gap between sill and radiator (and mess behind it)....oh is that all!!!  So...as Ray had left Connor behind and left me some wood - me  and Connor set to making a new one!  We had fun figuring it out...it was an odd shape so we had to get that right 1st....but we managed it well....then we fit it and cut out another piece of wood for the lip and fitted that...filled over the embedded screws and gave it a lick of paint and it looks awesome!  I'll put pics up when the bathroom is finished.

I finished the tiles in the back porch!!!  I've put that on this blog as a separate post - under house renovations!  So - I won't talk about it here - other than to say - it was a pain in the butt!!! But it is done! yay!

I also pulled all the carpet up in the games room - don't know if I have already mentioned that? But it has good boards under there - so I'll be sanding and sorting them out in the (hopefully) near future!  Unfortunately I have to make the annex stuff priority before I can start on that!

So...other than the work on the house...I have been eating lots and not running...so I'm putting weight on again! I think it is because when I work on the house all day I have no energy left to exercise or cook - so we get take-out! but it has to change!! 

We've had a few good pool nights and Helen and Paul have been around - which is always fun but nothing else of note to talk about....

back porch tiling project!

I also finished the tiles!!!  It was a nightmare right from the beginning to the end!  When we first took up the carpet tiles and saw that it had been "repaired" with ugly big black tiles I had no idea how we would sort it out.  A year later I had done so many DIY projects I thought - I can do that!  So...I knocked out the big black tiles...then some of the broken original ones.  Then I found that they wouldn't come out easily - and I broke others trying to get them out!  Then I realised that new tiles with stick up too high - so I had to break up the concrete underneath - which dislodged and broke more tiles - the area I had to re-tile got bigger and bigger!!  Meanwhile, I struggled to buy replacements - found the right size in reproduction tiles - but the white was actually cream and nowhere near the right colour - also the while ones were slightly bigger than the black ones.  I had to start searching repeatedly looking for original ones being sold.  I went and looked at some - but they were grey!  Eventually somebody was selling them online and I sent a broken one of mine to check the colour - they said they didn't match.  I asked for a pic and thought - that will do!! BUT I ended up paying about £80 for 14 white tiles - he charged me £25 for a 'small order' and £25 for postage!  Anyway - they were mm's too big!  So I had to shave off two edges with the wet tile cutter!

So - I had to lay more concrete in the gap as bringing up the old concrete had gone down to dirt and too deep.  I hadn't done this before - and in hindsight I really should have used more!

When it came to laying the tiles - I had to use so much adhesive because it was too deep.  I should have stopped and used more concrete - but I didn't really realise until it was too late.  The tiles are so tightly packed together I had difficulty getting them in - and they kept sinking in - in the adhesive!  Basically it was so stressful - but I finished it - and just hoped they'd be okay when dry!

Here are the pics!!

This is a 'before'pic.  You can see the large black tiles put it, but other bits were damaged too.

So - I started taking the tiles out....

This is how big the hole ended up after I had dug up the concrete - and broke and dislodged other tiles!!

as you can see the concrete underneath was too high - and tiles kept getting broken!

Anyway - this is how it turned out!!

You can see - on the bottom half of this pic - the slightly different colour white and new looking black tiles!

So - just need to do some grouting now!!  All in all, a major stressful pain in the butt - but good enough to 'use' the floor!

Friday/Saturday

So - I was up at 6am - and we were out by 6.40am and on our way to Bracknell.  Andy was going to work and me to Lissa's.

I got to Lissa about 9.15am - and got to see her new house!!  They have been there a while now but it was the first time I  have got to see it!  Its a lovely little house in Egham. More importantly its their own place to do what they like with! Not sharing with anybody etc.  They have been working with Antony's parents on the double garage they have at the bottom of the garden to turn it into a bar/xbox play room/gym.  Its an awesome extra space they have in addition to the house!

So - had a tour of the house, gave Lissa her pressies, drank coffee (received a call off our Bev, and she was gonna come and see us this weekend but I was at Lissa's!).  Then me and Lissa decided to go out for a run.  Lissa is an exercise addict - and I was getting behind on my running challenge.  She mentioned just running 5k around the streets - but i could see that Windsor |great park was only about 4 miles away - so we drove there to run.  We drove in and then realised we needed to pay to get out and we hadn't brought any money or bank cards with us! Luckily they had contactless which Lissa was able to use with her phone!

So - I had read that there was a route around the park which was about 7k - and we looked on the map when we got there (and took a pic of it) and decided our route!  I was crap to start with - just really struggled even at a slow pace - I was quite annoyed at myself....but it got a bit better after a few kilometres.  Then it started raining - then it started RAINING RAINING lol - torrential heavy flooding type rain - and thunder and lightening lol.  It was ace! haha loved it - made running even more fun!  We were trying to see the way on my phone but I was so soaked I couldn't get my phone to respond half the time!  So - we went the wrong way at one point - not far from the end - took us up a hill too - coming back and going the right way meant that in the end we ran 10.5km.  So we were really pleased that we'd ended up doing a long run! 

We got back to Lissa's, had a shower, got ready - sat down feeling good - and opened the prosecco!  After an hour or so Andy arrived in a taxi and we greeted him at the door with a cold cider!  Andy got the tour and made some suggestions in the man-cave lol.  Then a little while later Antony got back - with snack - which we all dug into - and then we played a game - and then cards and had loads of fun!!  I was just getting too tired in the end - which was annoying - but all in all - a great time - great to see them and catch up and see the house etc. (I have to say all nice things as Lissa is the only person that reads this blog!! haha) Just kidding! Everything was awesome - and we will do it again - be nice to do it when Andy has to go to Bracknell.  Even if Lissa has to work - I can keep myself occupied and meet her for lunch - and then we can stay over friday night and come back Saturday.  I don't know how she feel about it but we could do that fairly regularly (in case u r worried Lissa - it would be about every 4-6 weeks)

So - after not much sleep (cos I ended up on the couch cos Andy was snoring - then Lissa ended up there too cos Antony was snoring - then Lissa was throwing up haha)....they made us an awesome breakfast - then we headed home.  I tried and failed to sleep in the car - we got home and I tried to get some sleep - but got hardly any - then Helen and paul came around!

We played pool - got take out - had a good laugh - a good time as usual - and I got to bed about 1.30am.  That was good going cos when they turned up I was tired and felt a bit yuck - but I felt fine after a while.  I got the sleep I craved and didn't wake up until 10am! :-)

Monday - Thursday

Hi

Well I'm writing this on Sunday and I have no idea what I did Monday to Thursday.

here are a few of the things I remember!

I ripped up all the carpet in the games room - the carpet was horrible and stained and you can see where the old reception desk was because it was the only bit of the carpet that looked its original colour.  So I ripped it all up and took it to the tip.  Underneath was floor boards - all the same with no big boards in it - yay! However some have been stained dark and others have not - so all of it will have to be sanded back - a BIG job especially as the pool table is in there!  This is something that won't get done for ages!!

I also did one part of the tiling in the back porch! quite stressful but finally have some tiles actually down - and I'm really pleased with it!  I have another section to do - the main section - the biggest part!  Dreading it - and can't wait for it to be done at the same time.

I have been on the phone to my dad a lot too - as I was getting measurements again for the door that is to be fitted in the back annex room - leading to outside.  I think he has everything he needs now and he is coming to fit it in September.

I have been on to the plasterer about how he needs to stop prioritizing other jobs and come and get mine down as I've waited 4-5 weeks now and the floor will be fitted soon! 

I had a carpenter round about the boxing in needing doing in the bathroom, the door frame in the kitchen annex and a door fitting internally.

I've been testing more floor dyes trying to figure out what I am going to do in the hallway!

Thursday, I went out shopping for something to take to Lissa and Antony as a house warming pressie - I got them some outdoor plants (Rosemary, Oregano and Bay) a cat plant pot for outside, some fake roses for a vase, a bottle opener that goes on the wall and a sign, for their man-cave where they are having a bar and a couple of ornamental bottles! 

Thursday night we got ready to get up very early friday morning ....

Sunday - Totnes 10k

So - I was up at 8.30 - and we were out just after 9am - making our way to Totnes for a 10K run/race.  I thought I had received an email saying - if you are not used to hills you might want to do some training - but when I went back to try and find this - all I could find about the course was a statement saying 'mostly flat'.  So...I assumed the email about the hills must have been about another course.

It was difficult to tell when we got there as you could not see the course at all - where it was going to go or anything. 

I was nervous - it was very hot - probably the hottest I've ever run in and no clouds.  There were a lot of people - and most looked really fit and slim - like proper runners lol. 

We were off....we went across a field and out...straight to a standstill as there was gridlock! I thought straight away - well this isn't going to be a personal best! Once through it was quite narrow so you could only go the pace of the people in front.  It would widen out a bit and then go narrow again - and a few times we would be walking.  There were also steps that I had to walk (probably would anyway!).  It was gorgeous scenery! The trail would be rocky one minute, then huge tree roots - so not too easy to run - then there was a massive hill! Felt more like rock climbing rather than a run!!  The down hill bit - where I would normally try and make up time - was single file so i couldn't really run full pelt like I usually do.  It was fun! I say that now - I know at the time I didn't really think so hahah.  Eventually I started to be able to hear the guy on the microphone in the field at the finish line - and it sounded far away lol.  I was quite knackered and couldn't really manage much of a sprint on the way in - my time was 1hr 15m....quite bad! But not considering the queues and hills and terrain! 

So - I was still a little disappointed with my time - but quite happy too - that I had done it!

We wasted no time - got back to the car and back home!  I decided to have a lounge in the bath for a while - which was really nice.

We didn't really do much after that - watched a film in the evening....

Saturday

So today we had yet another lazy day...although we did spend quite a bot of time putting up and testing our new 65 inch TV which is massive!!

You can't really appreciate how big it is really - because the fireplace is massive too....

We then got some stuff together and hiked down to the bottom of the garden for a BBQ with Connor and Emily.  It was good and I was starving - but the wasps were a bit of a problem which is eird as they have never bothered us before!

After that we decided to play cards but not before playing pool as we left last nights games as a draw.  I think Andy and Connor won lol.  

We then played cards and a board game called Scrawl - and at 12.30 I went to bed cos I had to get up early the next day for a 10k run I was very worried about....

Thursday/Friday

Thursday - the little kitties seemed a lot better!

I carried on trying to do the tiling - and I have managed the last of the concrete - all that is left is to actually put the tiles in!  The only problem is that it is like a green house in the back porch and I am worried that the adhesive will dry too quickly!

I decided to go and do a 10K run because I've not done any running for ages (Sat 27th on the 10K race).  It was warm and humid out and I really struggled! I decided to take a little short cut home and ended up adding .5k to the distance - so I did 10.5k - in what was probably one of my slowest times ever - so i am really worried for the 10k race I have this Sunday in Totnes!!

Friday - I did very little - although I am constantly looking for decorating ideas for the annex bedroom and bathroom.

Emily got a job! It is a HR apprentice/intern job at Tauntons private school - it is only £16k a year - but HR is something that is really good to get into.  I sat down with them - basically making a plan for saving money.  I've said to them that they have until about February 2019 which is when I want the annex up and running - before then they should go and see a mortgage advisor and see if they could get a mortgage in their situation or if not, what they would have to do.  If they are unable to get a mortgage by Feb or shortly after - then they can rent cheaply and still save.  When I spoke to Andy about this later - he was saying - they could still be here while we have the annex - they'd just need to use our kitchen.  I'm surprised, lol, I thought Andy would be saying - they'll have been here long enough by then! However, he, like me, wants to help them out - and we would not just chuck them out come February - as long as they are working hard and working towards their goals, saving like mad and not pissing us off by then!

Was chatting to Lissa on messenger - she has been having work done on the double garage they have at the end of the garden - turning it into a bar - chill out area and gym - looks like it will be pretty awesome!

Friday night - I made Thai chicken curry - and we left it for later and played pool with Connor and Emily - me and Emily teamed up this time and won the first 4 games hahah - Connor was getting annoyed at playing so badly and Emily did a victory dance in his face everytime we won lol - which probably didn't help - but they eventually pulled it back ad we ended the night at 7 games each!

Wednesday - vets :-(

Well - last night we had the nightmare of not being able to let the cats have food after 10pm ready for their trip to the vets today (May and Mercky).

I got up early and had cuddles with Mercky - and then they were taken to the vets - I was tempted to cancel as I did not want to put them through it!!  I found it heart breaking - and I think the woman on reception who was making me sign forms saying I understand that anesthetic was a risk - could tell I was upset.  She said to me just before I left - don't worry they will get lots of love - and that was enough to set me off, I couldn't really speak and I rushed of barely keeping it together.  I got home and cried.

So now I am sat here updating this trying not to think of my poor babies!!  If anything bad happens I'll not cope because they are so lovely and sweet and affectionate!!!  I need to call them at 12 - and possibly collect them at 1pm.  It is now 10.30.

I need to get on with the work on the tiles.

Oh! I forgot to mention - Adam called me last night to say he has looked at jobs in taunton and realises that he could get a well paid HR job and Erika could commute to Bristol airport (they both currently work at Heathrow airport) and they could get so much more for their money in terms of a house! So...erika's flat is up for sale at the moment, and they are planning on moving here!!  That sounded awesome until he said - plus we want kids and you'd be around for child care!  I didn't say what I thought which was I DONT THINK SO!!!! Maybe I should have done - and set their expectations! As much as I want grandkids - I don't want to be looking after kids after doing that already for 20 years!  If Adam reads this - sorry!!  But its da truth!!

He also said - if I get a job down there before we sort the house out I've live with you Mon-Fri and come home at the weekend.  Oh.  Will you? He didn't ask or anything! I am sure we could accommodate - but with Connor and Emily here - and me wanting to sort out the holiday let it might be tricky!

So - I could end up with both Connor and Adam living close to me - which would be awesome - especially when they have their own homes lol.  Although Connor and Emily still want to be closer to Bristol.  Then there is Lissa....I wish wish wish that she would move here! We could go to fitness classes together and go running - and chat and have a really close relationship! BUT she went and bought a house in Surrey - and I really think that even in the future Antony would hold her back from moving here even if she wanted to.  I can't blame them - can't expect them to move so far away just because we did - but it would be really awesome if they did!!  To have them all around me would be great (just not all in my house! hahaha)

Anyway - I should go and do something before I have to collect my poor babies who dont understand why ppl are doing nasty things to them....

I'll update later

So I mixed some concrete and put it in the bigger hole where the tiles were to go - its not easy because it sets really quickly - I'm going to have to mix some more and put that on top - but I'll do that tomorrow...

So - we picked the the kitties at 3pm - they had both needed the hernia op as well as the spay - cost nearly £400!  Anyway - we couldn't really assess how they were until we got home - and they were so much worse than itsy and Bitsy had been!  They walked as if in pain, and were so quiet and obviously very uncomfortable - I felt SOOO BAD - I felt like a monster doing that to them! Mercky would not leave her scar alone so I had to put a collar on her, which she obviously hated.  They were very dozy so I tried to just let them sleep.  Their scars are right up the middle of their stomach - the others had scars on their flank - and I think this is worse!

I spent the afternoon - in the living room and Mercky went to sleep on me - she seemed in a really deep sleep so the anesthetic was still obviously in her system. 

We watched a film in the evening but I couldn't last - I'm obvs not used to getting up early!!

Tuesday

So - I decided that there was nothing but my own reluctance stopping me from trying to finish the restoration/tiling in the back porch - so I bit the bullet.  OMG....it turned into a nightmare.

Where the tiles needed to be put in - the ground was too high so the tiles stuck up - so I had to drill out the concrete from underneath - this had the effect of breaking some of the good tiles and dislodging some of them...the ones that came away would need tile adhesive to put them back in which would mean that they also would stick up too high so I had to drill out the concrete there too - which meant more would dislodge - so the area got bigger and bigger and so did the collateral damage!!  I then had to go out and buy concrete to lay back in the holes because I had got down to dirt and didn't know if tile adhesive would be stable enough on its own. 

So - initially as we took the carpet tiles up it looked like this:

You can see where bigger black tiles had been put in - and it was these and some broken ones i wanted to replace - at the moment it looks like this (be prepared to be shocked)

This is where a tile was dislodged - so now I have to get the concrete bit out from underneath:

and this is what happens!!!

So - it has basically been a nightmare!!!  I don't even know now if I have enough tiles to replace the ones that I have broken in this process - and even if I do I'm going to have to get the tile cutter out again as they are 1-2mm too big!!

I finished feeling quite disheartened and worried that I'm never going to get this done - or get it done well!!

I was supposed to go to running club and didn't bother - instead we drank gin and ordered take-out so all in all not a good day!

Sunday/Monday

I've grouped these days together as very little happened.  Once Helen and paul had gone me and Andy did very little on Sunday - well Andy might have achieved a lot as far as i know - in his studio.  But I was mega lazy and did naff-all!

Monday - I decided to go around the house with a note book - and write down everything that needed doing in each room.  It took ages!  I only managed the ground floor!  There are so many jobs to do!! It made me realise that there are a lot of things that I could be getting on with.

I decided to go to carpetright and look at a floor for the bathroom (annex) as they did our main bathroom - and might have availability sooner than the guy that did the kitchen.  I ended up choosing a floor and booking it in for 20th August.  I'm not going to put a pic up in case something very rare happens and either Andy, Helen or Paul look at this blog.  I am keeping it from them to do a 'reveal' when it is done!  Hopefully the plastering will be done by then (better had be - been waiting about 4 weeks now since the day he said - yeah we should be there one day next week!)

So - need to get the plastering done - then some painting - and boxing in - then the floor - then the bathroom can go in - then I'll do the tiling and finish the painting - then it will be done! yay!!  Hoping to get the plastering done in the bedroom too (annex) so i can paint and get a new carpet - get the lighting changed - buy the furniture - then that will be done too!!

Then I need to start on the down stairs (living room and dining room) - then I'll have all the outside bits to do - like the entrance and garden etc.  Its quite exciting and will be awesome having all that section of the house done - but I'm getting carried away! I just need to concentrate on the bathroom for now!

Anyway - went to bed thinking - right tomorrow I need to get on with something!

Saturday - fake festival

Had a nice sleep in this morning! Then chilled out - we were going to the fake festival and Connor and Emily, Helen and Paul were all coming - the first band wasn't until 6pm so we had all day to be lazy!

At about 12 noon, I was practically in PJ's and sat playing - when Andy came in and said - have you seen the messages? I said no....

Helen and Paul were 5 minutes away - the first band is not at 6pm it is at 1pm!!  Before I could get ready or anything they turned up! lol.  So I got ready - and we chilled for a bit - Andy and Paul in the studio and me and helen just catching up - as we decided that we didn't care about the first band anyway!  We headed off at about 2.30pm and when we got there Blondie was on - didn't sound great tbh....we all got drinks tokens and a drink from the bar and went and sat outside.  Helen and Paul - being helen and Paul - had chairs and blankets etc....we well....didn't lol.  They did share though!!  We csat there having a laugh and could see black cloud looming - them the heavens opened and there was a mad rush to get inside the big tent - got soaked whilst there was grid-lock!  After a while the sun came out again - and we all went back out.  this happened quite a few times during the day!

The Chilli peppers were the next band - and they were alright....then there was Depech Mode who none of us cared about.  At 8pm it was Queen - which was really good!! Was just great to hear Queen songs although they did play - Days of our Lives - which is what they released when freddy Mercury was dying - so that made me cry a bit!  (Mercky and may are named after Queen's freddie Mercury and Brain May) I'm a massive fan!

Who was next? err.....oh yeah Oasis.  I hadn't realised how many big hits they had....

After this - we headed home - in the dark across fields - Helen decided she wanted a wee and fell into a big ditch lol.  She also got stung by nettles - which still hurt the next morning!

When we got back - we sat in the kitchen for ages chatting and laughing and trying to come up with.... well I need to explain first - a couple of weeks ago we were at Helen and Pauls and Paul asked - are you odd or even? we ended up having a big discussion about it - deciding that we were all odd apart from Andy and possibly Emily - who were even.  We laughed about the fact that it had no real definition - anyway tonight we took it way further asking - are you left or right? up or down? smooth or rough etc.  We came up with loads and talked about how it could be made into a board game! haha  My black board ended up looking like this:

Eventually we got too tired and went to bed!

Friday - back home

So...we drove home from the tree house - and almost straight away - did nothing lol.  Andy went down into the studio and I watched the last of Wentworth prison - whilst uploading pics from my camera. 

I had missed the cats so much - so it was nice to get my cuddles from Mercky who is the only one really who cuddles all the time - she also paddy-paws my arms whilst sucking on my skin!  It is so sweet - and sometimes painful! Its a little worrying why she does this - one theory is that she was taken from her mother too soon which I would totally believe because when I went to get her at just 8 weeks old the guy had an even younger kitten - and he didn't have the parents - his mother who lived far away did.  I hate the thought of these tiny kittens being taken from their mother so young...

Anyway - she purrs loads when she does it so it makes her happy - and me - proper bonding time!!

In the evening we played pool with Connor and Emily and were up until about 2am - we knew we could sleep in Saturday morning

Thursday - Tintagel Castle, tree house stay and gin making lesson!

Hi!

Today we had to be up and out quite early - we had to leave the apartment by 10am.  We went and got some breakfast before heading out to Tintagel castle.  It turned out to be a really nice day - but there were so many steps up and down!! I loved it lol.

There was not much of the actual castle left.  But whilst we were looking around - I finally decided what my super power would be if I had one lol.  I would love to be able to see back in time - not necessarily travel in time - but to be an observer.  I got to thinking how awesome it would be to see the whole castle and the people that lived in it...then started thinking - imagine Rome! Or our house in 1790 - and especially how it looked inside - the decor and the people - the land!!  In the end I just got really pissed off because I can't do any of these things and will never be able to!!

Anyway...we left Tingagel at around 2.15pm to head to the tree house we had booked for the night!  We eventually found it down the most narrow country lane I've ever witnessed!  We met with Shona, who had been working making lavender oil - and the smell was amazing!  She led us into a field - along a line of trees and to our tree house!  It looked awesome - with a little table outside and a rope/tyre swing outside (which I was told was 17 years old so not really safe to swing on) - so when she had gone I had a go! lol

The tree house was up quite a few steps - 18 foot high I believe - and inside was small! It was quaint and sweet but you couldn't really spend more than one night there!  Outside (back down steps) was basically a shed with a porta-loo and a shower.  Andy was NOT happy about the loo because, he explained, as a bloke his dangly bits touched the bottom as it was so shallow (he explained how he had to use sanitising hand wash on his bits lol).

Basically it felt like camping!  

So - at 4.30ish we made our way back to where we met Shona - in a wooden building - full of jars of stuff, and spices and all sorts of things!  She explained that they make candles, perfume and gin - and that making perfume was not too different than making gin!

There were four Swedish ppl joining us but they were late - so she took us around - what looked like overgrowness - but she knew exactly what every plant was!  We picked lavender, chives, roses...oh god I am so rubbish - we picked loads of things - all of which could be added to the gin!

Then she explained to us that Gin is basically made from Vodka - as Vodka is basically just alcohol with nothing added!  It was 60% Vodka however as you lose some alcohol in the distilling process.  To that we added juniper berries, cinnamon and angel root?  Then we could choose what other ingredients we wanted.  The Swedish people arrived at about this point - and caught up with us.  

Here are some of the things that I chose for my gin (on the paper) I tried to go for a floral flavour

Then we all took turns distilling the gin - it was simmered - the alcohol would come off first - followed by the water.  I was weird because you tasted the gin and then the water - and then you mixed them.  Everybody tasted each others gin - so it was really interesting - but because you didn't taste them all side by side it was difficult to really compare.  They were all awesome though!!

Andy's turn....

After a really good educational time - that left us determined to buy our own distillery stuff - we went back to the tree house and very soon after we were brought lots of yummity food!!

We then got cozy in the tree house - and drank gin and tonic whilst we had a game of snakes and ladders lol...then I kicked Andy's butt at cards!

We went to sleep quite early - and had a great night sleep!!  The next morning - very soon after I woke up - we heard a 'Hello!' and we had been brought a full English breakfast!!

We polished that off - got packed up - and headed home!

:-) 

Wednesday - New Quay, Cornwall

We eventually decided that we could not be bothered to go anywhere today - not out of New Quay anyway - we went into the town - and played in arcades for a while lol.  It was just 2p machines - but we had loads of fun! Won a few trashy cheap bits of rubbish lol.  This is what we won!

The seagulls were so sweet with their babies!!

I finally got my cornish pasty for lunch - and it was lush!!!!

We went and spent a couple of hours in a bar - sitting outside in the sun over looking the sea - it was so nice!!  We didn't leave there until quite late - we then went on a bit of a pub crawl!!  Didn't get wasted or anything....