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!

:-)