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Day 13, the lowdown:
- new door bells procured: zero
- loads of washing done and dried: two and a half (thank you so much T&C for letting us use your house as a launderette!! We shall endeavour to finally plumb in our own washing machine this weekend!)
- bird feeders filled and hung up: three
- new doors fitted (NOT by myself!): four
I am slightly tipsy writing this. In fact, both Hendrik and I are ever so slightly tipsy. I just learnt that that is by far the most pleasant state to be in while stripping wallpaper. Such a shame we had to stop so as not to annoy the neighbours at this hour. I could have gone on for hours without realising what a mindless task it is...
In other news, the previous owners have agreed to send someone to clear the loft and garage. Success! And Willem was back at nursery today which means my sanity has had a chance to recover. Only one child on hip for most of today. Very relaxing! (You guys must be beginning to think I am one of these Earth Mother types who are glued to their children 24/7. NOT THE CASE! The only reason I am carrying children around a lot of the day rather than letting them get on with their stuff on the floor is that there is no floor in large stretches of the house. Many of the floorboards are up or at least loose for Dave to do his wiring thing, and there are nails and screws EVERYWHERE which means that there just isn't anywhere safe for the kiddos to play. And as some of you may dimly remember I already have one tick against me with Social Services. I really don't fancy another conversation of 'that kind' with the Health Visitor...)
Well, well, well, we're finally back in the 21st century! Broadband is
connected and we even have a landline phone. Amazing! I can now actually
look at builders' quotes without needing to get my magnifying glass
out. Wicked!
The first lot of new internal doors arrived this
morning and apparently the carpenter is going to spend all day tomorrow
fitting them. And we're having skirting
boards in two of the bedrooms. Not that that was particularly high on my
list of priorities, but it seems our builder has been delayed on
another job and thought he'd do us a favour if at least we saw some
progress on other fronts.
Tim and Corinne might be rocking up
to give us a hand again on Saturday and, while I can't think of anything
nicer, I am slightly apprehensive, as it'll become very apparent just
how little progress we have made since they were last here. All I can
say is: sick children. I really don't know how on earth to get on to
wallpaper stripping and hole filling with a baby and a toddler who both
seem glued to my hips.
In other news: our new road is
really growing on me. Not only have we now met several of our neighbours
and all of them without exception have heartily welcomed us to the
neighbourhood. No, we also have just discovered an alleyway leading from
almost opposite our house to a football-field-cum-mini-playground
and further onto the primary school. Ace! Ah, and then there is the
lady riding her horse down the street. Two sightings of her so far.
Curiouser and curiouser...
The
British Summer has finally arrived. It has been raining cats and dogs
all day. Our feet now make squelching noises when we plod across our
front lawn from caravan to house and back, and we can sometimes hardly
hear each other over the drum roll of the raindrops on the roof of the
camper. The whole camping experience is suddenly very authentic - and
not in a good way! It wouldn't be that bad if the kids weren't this
whiny. It's seriously hard to keep them entertained and distracted from
their various malaises when all you have to work with are 6sqm. All I
long for is beds AND a table to be up at the same time. Am I being
overly demanding?
Sick
children and caravan life don't go together. You can't have a bed out
for your poorly preschooler at the same time as having the table up for a
decent cuppa/meal/working on project spreadsheets.
What kept me
from losing it completely today was some decent catch-up with my girlies
in the afternoon (I hope I kept my little tykes far enough away from
your lot so as not to spread the lurgy!)
What's really nice about living in our own driveway, by the way, is
that we've got a panoramic view of our new road. It's a bit like sitting
in an oversized bay window. We're quickly picking up on the habits of
our neighbours and can tell who belongs to which car/house.
Nothing more to report. Just still desperate for the BT man to come and
connect our broadband and phone (note my priorities!) to take us back
into 21st century. Apparently Wednesday's the day!...
Right,
our bedroom is now finally cleared of all traces of manky wallpaper. Am
I imagining it or is it actually smelling a bit less??
Willem is a
bit ill, so he was allowed to watch DVDs most of the day, while we
tried to get on with stuff. Astonishingly, he aborted Toy Story several
times in favour of jigsaw puzzles. Only snag: he doesn't like doing them
on his own. On the one hand that's
really sweet. I like nothing better than doing jigsaws with him. On the
other hand we really could have done with longer productive slots.
Thank heavens Korjian, our lovely neighbour from Princes Street, popped
in for a couple of hours for a tour of the house and to entertain Mats,
which helped a lot!
Not much else to report. I just hope Willem is fine again tomorrow so he can go to nursery...
