Will Be Lovely When It's Done.......

 
We have to keep reminding ourselves during every ongoing "improvement" that the upheaval, hard work to prep and inconvenience will all be worth it in the end. Yes the toilet is still in the 'can't get any worse' stage but the painting isn't finished because Hubby had another two day fundraiser event and the plumber can't start until after the window is changed...... and this is windows week. 

Tuesday 

8:45am windows men arrived, Jake and Cameron. They started upstairs back of the house. Looks like two old windows out and one new window in without the glass. 

10am took a 20min break. 

11:30ish they took another short break having taken the third window out, put the new window in and glazed the first two. Seems to be going quite smoothly. Hope there's not too many breaks. 

I actually left them to it for the afternoon as I joined some friends at friendH's caravan for afternoon tea. Warm and sunny and we stayed outside for about three hours chatting and laughing. FriendH had filled her table with dainty sandwiches and pretty wrap rolls, scones with jam and cream, cake, biscuits, fruit and more. So lovely. 

When I got home the windows men had gone. Upstairs front and back was done. 

Wednesday 

The windows guys arrived at 9am and Hubby started them off with a snagging list from yesterday's work. Then the two front bay windows caused serious problems! 

Lots of worried conversations while they were holding it all together. Eventually they made a really secure and neat job of the new install. They also managed to replace the patio doors today, odd seeing totally clear doors as the old ones had motifs on that R and E had made for me when they were about three years old and they'd been there ever since. Might have to find something else so nobody walks into a closed door thinking it was open. 

We were told originally it would take three days, these two guys had it as a two day job on their job sheet, today they said they expected to be here till end of Friday. I told them we would hold them hostage till it's totally finished. 

Thursday

Up with the 7am alarm yet again! Yawn! They started with the lounge front bay when I was getting dressed and blowdrying my hair in the room directly above, it felt and sounded like a war zone! 😳

M called in at 10am to use our gym stuff. Really chilly in the house today with windows missing and doors open.  

I actually escaped again for a pub lunch with the team I used to work with. We last got together for our Christmas meal 2019 so it was really nice getting together. One of the others did take a couple of photos but I haven't seen them yet. 

When I got home there was a slice of yummy Victoria sponge that O had made and saved for me. Plus there had been a lot of progress on the windows and doors. Hubby informed me that their office had given them a new job for Friday and they had to finish ours today. They cleared up and vacuumed all over which took till 6pm and waited for us to go around and check everything before driving away. Hubby is really pleased with them, my small hands with poor grip finds all the handles really tight but hopefully they will get easier once all the seals bed in 🤞

Now we have the huge task of thoroughly cleaning the thick dust from their drilling etc, in every room, washing and ironing all the curtains and general putting everything back. 

I've also made a start on the apple crop, a lot less than other years.

These are always a bit rotten at the core, so it's peeling, chopping, quick dip in lemon juice, bagging and flat freezing. 

And last night was another "pandemic overdue" meet up with our friends, so another meal out. Been that sort of week.

Now off to Daughter's so till next week stay safe.

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Crumbs.........

 
Last weekend for me was quite uneventful. Hubby was on another fundraiser on Saturday and Sunday R started teaching me "Devil/Flower sticks". (Sorry R that's not a good photo of you) 

She's really good at it and patient with me as a complete beginner with very limited hand-eye coordination. The rest was mostly knitting as I'm so nearly finished my latest garment. Hopefully there will be a finished photo before I hit publish on this post on Saturday. 

Sunday following the CCC end of term BBQ social, M and O called in with leftover muffins for us to use up. 😋

Monday Hubby made a start on painting the toilet

and the guy, who is doing the plumbing and floor, came round to take measurements and discuss stuff (I left them to it). Then for dinner we had all the leftover Chinese that I'd frozen from my birthday dinner mmmmm.

Tuesday, even though there was a light drizzle, the men got together for a bike ride. 

In the afternoon we went to Glasswells and ordered the floor tiles which should be ready to collect in about a week. We are not having the grout lines or little pattern pieces, toilet is far too small for silly bits. 

Arrgggg!!! finished my knitting and tried it on and the collar kept rolling and the bottom border was all wavy. So Wednesday was spent mostly undoing both and starting them again! 

Quiz night for just the three of us. Better than last week with a score of 37.

Yet another Cystoscopy Friday morning, all clear and he's happy to do the next one in six months! He did give me the option if I wanted only three months or leave it at six but if I'm worried at all before then to phone through and they'll make an earlier appointment. I'm being very well looked after. 

At noon we met friendsR&S for lunch, lovely friends of over 30 years and great to see them. FriendR said it was his turn to pay so they chose Milsomes which are a chain but if you haven't any near you they are the more expensive upmarket bistro style. Drinks arrived quickly but food took ages.  FriendR and Hubby both had good meals I had burgers both over done and hard round the edges but OK, friendS's steak she didn't eat and said it was really tough. They did take it off the bill but disappointing. 

And finally the crumb-cardi is finished. Using only the leftover odds and ends of wool that I have. The buttons I made from potato, cut and thoroughly air dried then painted with nail varnish that was already here for years. So cost nothing but my time. 

Today Hubby is on another fundraiser. R will be in bed for another couple of hours. I've fed the dog and fed the fish in the pond so I'm off to look for what to knit next. Have a good week.

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A Smiley Week.......

 
Was quite a wet weekend so a couple of matinee films were watched. 

Thought this one was well acted by them all. 

 My birthday week started with a Turkish restaurant and close friends. FriendM brought a cake in and with candles lit and Happy Birthday playing through the speakers it was walked through the whole dining area towards me. Back to friendsM&P for afterwards drinks just like old times. 

Lots of cards and hundreds of social media messages. 

Gifts and flowers

A very special hand made double sided card from friend/neighbourT with this note

And a really lovely evening with Hubby, our children, their partners and all the grandchildren sharing a huge amount of Chinese takeaway, my first since 2019!

Took R and the dog home Monday and Friday they have moved in for another ten days! 

A line full of washing having a good blow, always makes me smile. 

Only thing we didn't really smile about was getting up one morning to see something had been digging up our plants. Curious to know what it was! 

Hope you've had lots to smile about.

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What Goes Around...........

 
Suddenly it's August! 

Strangely there's very little Olympics interest in this house. Not sure if it's the time difference, the pandemic controversy, the BBC coverage of little bits and pieces or the recent sports overload of Euro football and Wimbledon tennis or just that the weather is good enough for Hubby to have plenty of other things to do. I'm just checking most mornings for medals and headlines as I am proud of what Team GB achieve. 

We've always appreciated the community spirit of this close. We live at 28, however Hubby wouldn't dream of cutting back our side of our two hedges without doing the other side for 24 (which takes longer than our side). 25 also benefit as it's their main view. Hubby of course uses 27's shredder and here he's filling 23's bin, although he's often seen asking everyone who has bin space. 

Not sure I'll call this neighbour a friend anymore after she captured me on camera helping! Cruel but funny. 

Wednesday lunchtime met friendHG at The Sun Inn which is about 40mins from me and about the same for her. Loooong catchup chat which was lovely (last seen in person early 2019). This was my treat as part of friendHG's birthday present. 

When I got home Daughter was here with O, R and the dog. She was loading her car and roof box with all the camping stuff for her, E and boyfriend for the next five days at Harlequin Fayre. Daughter and O went home, R and the dog moved in here. 

When R has the dog here they sleep downstairs in the office and over the years she's had various temporary beds starting with the foam from the sunloungers, then Daughter's camp bed and last time the blow up airbed we'd bought to take to Spain last year (which was covid cancelled). This time Hubby made up her bed with the airbed, which he had to inflate in the garage as our pump only has the car cigar lighter plug (nothing is ever easy hahaha). First night at midnight R let me know her bed has gone flat, Daughter had taken the camp bed so R is back on the foam from the sunloungers! Next day Hubby tried pumping up the airbed again but now thinks the valve is damaged. I actually found a sofa bed for sale on our local fb second hand page and got quite excited getting details from the seller online, but it was about 20cm too big for the space we have. Best solution for R's comfort was Hubby grabbing the mattress off R's single bed upstairs and bringing that down. 

Friday morning had a blood test requested by GP as a regular check. In the afternoon met friendM at Kesgrave Hall for late lunch and good catchup chat. This was friendM's treat as part of my birthday present. 

Downstairs toilet refurbishment update probably isn't really worth mentioning because this week all that's happened is Hubby has plastered an area about the size of an A4 sheet of paper and he's received two out of the three parts that make up the new towel rail. 

I'm still doing hands-face-space and hope you are too!

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