Catch up on half term week

So........................................ I had hoped to do a bit of a catch up blog yesterday but I ran out of time. I had loads of house work to do and piles of washing and ironing, those of you that read the blog I did do yesterday will know that was eventful!

It took ages to get the house straight and the way I like it. Tell me something........why is it that I can cook a full roast dinner without a mark on the cooker and yet when Simon does it the cooker looks like it hasn't been cleaned in 6 months?

When I returned on Sunday, after the wicked witch and the other outlaw had gone, the house looked........ not too bad. It looked like things had been cleared up. Hmmmmm. Simon’s idea of that and mine are 2 very different things. I discovered today that it was only on the surface that things looked OK!

I was also missing half a joint of lamb. Simon had decided to cook a large joint that my Dad had given us. I said it was too large but he said not to worry we could have some kind of left over dish on Monday. I fancied trying something different so spent half an hour looking up recipes for lamb. Guess what? When I went in search of it.........nothing! I emailed Simon to say “what did you do with the meat that is for tonight’s dinner”? They ate the whole lot! OK, Coralie and the boys were here too but it was BIG. Simon claims it shrunk. Not letting him cook any more! So that was a disappointment. We ended up having fish cakes instead for last nights dinner, not quite the same thing.

The half term week flew by. It started off well with a visit from my sister, her husband Pete and my Dad. It was the first time Dad had been to our new house and I think he was pleased with what he saw. We had tried to get the living room finished but the chimney breast still needed another coat of paint. Oh that reminds me, I never did post the photos of the new carpet............

We have had the same carpet laid in the living room and through the hall and up the stairs and landing. We are pleased with it. Well we were....................... Someone stupidly decided to put fresh rosemary on to the fire which caused some spitting and crackling and it shot a lump of coal over the guard and across the room. We now have a burn on the new carpet. I was SO upset. It is by the door, so visible. We are trying to decide if we should claim on the insurance but I am not sure if I can bear the upheaval of having it all refitted.

We went on the Monday to a wood yard to order the wood to replace that nasty white painted ply wood on the fire place. Simon chose sweet chestnut. I must admit that to me it just looked like lumps of wood.........not very nice. He assures me it will be lovely when it is done. He is good with wood so I am sure it will be. They delivered it on Friday morning.

Simon ended up having 4 separate doctors appointments over the week. It was a whole palaver but he has now had his B12 so hopefully he will be feeling a bit better for a few weeks. We also both had dentist appointments and the dogs had to go to the vet for their annual injections. We did lots of running around.

On Thursday we had Evan and Ellie here for their first sleep over in this house. It was lovely. They were so good. They played really nicely, ate all that was put in front of them, enjoyed their bath and then went straight to sleep no problems. They were up at 7.30am which we could have done without but it could have been worse. Sam collected Ellie really early on Friday so Evan was here on his own until Coralie came to collect him with Flynn. We had a very nice time with her and both boys for a few hours.

On Saturday we had intended to go to the auction at Wisbech but got up too late. It is going to be about an hours drive from here. We ended up going to the auction house in Bourne which is only 5 miles. We went on the off chance as it is every other week and we didn't know if it would be on. It was. It is different to the Wisbech auction as it has a proper sitting down area. It also has lots of stuff outside. It was very interesting but as it had already started we didn’t have any opportunity to view.

They have a viewing day on a Friday from 3-6pm so we think we will do that in future. The prices seemed quite good and although we don't need anything we were wondering about the possibility of maybe buying stuff to resell on eBay. As an example they sold several different fridge freezers for £2, £4 and another one for £5. When I had to sell mine after we moved I sold it on eBay for £110. So we could make a good profit. We shall see.

Saturday afternoon I dyed my hair. I missed my hair appointment a few weeks ago and it was beginning to look quite bad, lots of grey. I am not sure where to go, so for now I just used a home dye kit. It worked quite well, the grey is gone.

While I was doing my hair Simon moved my Acer tree to it's final position and also my butler sink. When we moved, the removal people could not lift the sink so it had to be emptied out. I was really cross about that as it was established. I need to refill it now and get myself some new alpine plants.

He also put up my bird feeding station but not my bird boxes..........yet. I think it will be too late to get any nesting birds this year. We had to go to the allotment to fetch my feeder. We have a lot of garden stuff stored at the allotment which we will need to gradually begin to fetch over here. We have so much still to do. The garden is going to take several years I think.

On the Monday of half term Simon hired a small lorry and went with a friend of his to Nottingham to pick up the concrete garage panels. They are now all stacked up down the side of the house. It was a long day. He left at 7.45am and he wasn’t finished until around 9pm. They took forever to unload. He is pleased with them though.

As soon as he gets the fireplace done and the wardrobes built in our bedroom he will begin on his garage extension.

He has been working in the garage marking out all the wood for the wardrobes and getting it all cut to size. It is quite a job. Over the weekend he was cutting a curve on the edge of the shelves. Last night he was out there cutting the wood for the fire place. Tonight he has a parents evening so nothing will be done as he won't be in until about 8.30pm. He will be tired and will probably go to bed early. At least I don’t have to cook as he is going to have dinner at school at lunch time. Don't know what I shall eat.

So there is my catch up on the last week. It was OK. We did get stuff done but not as much as we had hoped. There were good things like my Dad visiting and the grandchildrens sleepover. There were not such good things, such as our eldest being a pain and causing upset and of course the outlaws. Mind you I did get to visit my old friend Ed who I haven't seen for over 3 months which was good.

OK, now I have you caught up on our goings on it is time for me to get a coffee and then I have online banking to do and then it is an afternoon of sewing I think.