sunday 15th April cont.

Hi,

Well I know I've already posted on here today but I've just had a chat with my eldest son Adam.  He made me laugh properly moaning about his disaster of a fry-up this morning.  He was NOT laughing I should add...he said he burnt the sausages, and because his non-stick frying pan is not non-stick anymore he melted butter for the mushrooms, added the mushrooms and the instantly stuck to the pan.  Then he had a proper rant about the tesco bacon he got delivered being so thin and rubbish that he could not get the slices out - so he screwed it all up in his hand and threw it in the frying pan! hahah...he also burnt the eggs.  Sounds an amazing breakfast eh!

He then spent quite a while telling me about the recipes he's been trying and the things he has been (successfully) cooking, and I thought - wow I'm getting old.  My kids are sharing recipes and all domesticated!! 

So I then called Connor who I haven't really spoken to since Christmas...I started the call saying Nothing Owned! which is what he used to do to me all the time - I refrained from saying it and then putting the phone down hahaha!

Anyway - he is doing well, but is hating his job, which was only something he got quickly to start getting some money in when he moved to Southampton (in a warehouse).  He is struggling because he doesn't know what to do with his life.  He is a chef by trade but hates the unsocial hours.  He lives with Emily who is doing a Master Degree (and she hasn't started her dissertation yet! that stresses me out! lol).  When she finishes in August they are looking to move again - either to Cardiff where her parents live or Bristol - that'll be good because they'll be closer to us.  I miss Connor loads - I see him the least because he doesn't drive and is always skint.

So then me and Lissa had a chat...about the blog as she has started on (lilbeetroot.blogspot) I guess she has picked that name because she is so little and as soon as the sun comes out she looks like a beetroot lol.  I kept trying to tell her stuff and she was like...yeah I read that on your blog lol.

Then...Adam called back as he wanted to tell me that Spyro and Crash bandicoot is out on the playstation - and I used to play that loads! He might be coming over next Monday/Tuesday with Erika so that'll be cool.

So all I have done all day is talk to the kids and write this blog! Its now 3.30pm - I am feeling very lazy!  Andy is down in his studio, doing his music stuff so he's happy! Andy and Paul used to be in a band and do all sorts of music stuff together and that stopped for years because Helen and Paul moved to Devon and we were in Surrey - but now we are closer they have started it again.  Great to hear them back together again. 

I'd better stop writing because I could go on forever....

House Renovations

I wanted to show on here some of the things we have done with the house, and continue to do so as we do more.  So below shows the journey that we went on with the kitchen!!

Here is a before picture...this is from before we moved in.  This is how we saw it right up until we moved in, with a projector on the ceiling, and white boards on the wall and the awful office lights.

We obviously spent a long time deciding how we were going to do the kitchen, and originally it was supposed to be at the garden end of the room but we couldn't get the waste pipes out, so we had to flip it and put it in on the opposite side of the room.  Getting all the water pipes, waste, electrics and everything in here was a pain and involved many discussions with the plumber/electrician.  In the end we had to try and go under the panels, we had to run electrics to the island and across the room by making troughs in the concrete floor...

The office lights were a pain - left big holes in the ceiling.  We put in spot lights and lights to run over the island.

The actual kitchen going in was so exciting.  It was a Magnet kitchen and the design had been many months in the making.  The cabinets went in but the quartz had to wait.  The pic below is from when then came to do the template for the quartz.  We were so excited just to see the template as it gave us some idea of what the kitchen would look like with worktops rather than looking at empty cabinets.

And then... the kitchen was in - but ceiling, floor and paining had not been done yet.  We moved in and used the kitchen like this for quite a while before the rest of it was finished.

The decision on the flooring was probably one of the most difficult decisions to make.  I wanted solid wood, but then we were told that it would expand and contract and wouldn't do well with water spills...we went to laminate with a thick solid top on it, but it seems to scratch easily.  Eventually decided on Amtico but which one...dark wood...oak? I kept coming back to the dark wood and now its in...I don't question whether it was the right decision or not because it's too late now!

I then had to fill the holes in the ceiling from the office lights, paint the ceiling and paint the walls.  In was a major pain in the butt....but THEN IT WAS DONE!!!  If you compare this to the original office picture it is actually amazing what we achieved!

This is a picture from magnet - this is how we perceived the kitchen to look before we started - its at the other end of the kitchen and so was flipped around - but I think it is a pretty accurate picture of our end result! (it is from a different angle however)

Sunday 15th April

Morning!

Well I had a late night binge watching a new series called Lost in Space - a remake of an old series from the 1960's.  Then in the night the kittens came in and Mercky snuggled up right under my neck for a bit purring which was lovely! Then they both decided to run riot so I ended up chucking em out so I could get more sleep!

When I did get up I was faced with Mercky walking around the kitchen dragging her butt on the floor, wiping poo everywhere!! Thought only dogs did that!! I ended up wiping her butt for her and cleaning it up!! Nice start to the day!!

Really pleased with my run yesterday - I managed the 10km which put me at just under 5km ahead on my YVSTY challenge.  I can even afford a day off today :-)

Andy is still in bed.  I don't mind that at all - he has to get up so early for work all week, it is nice that he catches up a bit at the weekend.  It is 11.26am so I might wake him up with a bacon sandwich at 12. 

Lost 1lb today - makes my total 8lb.  That sounds alright until you realise that it has taken me since 2nd Jan to lose that!  I actually lost 8lb ages ago - then put it on, then lost it etc. etc.  Around Christmas time I was the heaviest i'd EVER been and I think I still am.  I hate it - makes me look really old and frumpy.  However, if you read back to my posts from 2010/2011 you will see that I haven't changed at all.  I diet and exercise, then drink and eat. I do well then sabotage it.  One day I'll get some real discipline.  Wasn't last night though because we had take-out burger (A new place called Moody Burgers - amazing!) and if I am honest - we had it the night before too!!!  So yeah - I'm crap and it is a good job I burn so many calories running or I'd truly be Jabba the hut.

Andy just got up - guess he missed out on the breakfast in bed!!

Until laters....