Tuesday Twaddle - 5/2/19

Well we had a meander on Monday so time for some twaddle on Tuesday.

Firstly, I cleaned the carpet!  I have been meaning to get this carpet done for weeks.  And weeks.  And yesterday I was so geared up for it - we acquired a wet and dry Vax machine from one of hubby's sisters, I was set to go.  I'd YouTubed the instructions.  I'd filled up the tank and went to assemble the hose etc and what?  Wait a minute? Where are the rigid sections of hose?  Nowhere to be seen!

This meant we never got them from SIL.  Everything has been kept together since it arrived.

You can imagine my frustration.  Especially when SIL said she didn't have them either BUT I was not going to be thwarted.  If I couldn't clean the carpet standing up as the tubes were missing, I would do it on my hands and knees!  I have been procrastinating for too long.  The tank is full, let's do this.

So it's done and it definitely looks cleaner.  I've now ordered the rigid tubes so that for the next carpet (oh yes I have others lined up for cleaning)  it will be an easier job.

Now I have to take Hubby shopping for a sofa bed.  I still want the option of being able to use the room for guests/grandchildren to sleep in while retaining the floor space for grandchildren to play.

Hubby likes going shopping.  Probably more than me.  (Yes he is a bit strange lol) The probability of us agreeing on a sofa bed is low.  Then we need new curtains.  The sooner we start this shopping expedition the better.  I have next Monday in mind.  (Grandson Noah and his parents will be here at the weekend so that's the next available day.)   I've had this plan in my head for a long time and finally I feel like I'm making progress.  I got bogged down in January.  I find it quite a hard month.  The anticlimax after Christmas, dark mornings and evenings, dreary weather.  Not great for keeping a positive mindset.  

No wonder I talk a lot of twaddle!  But then I have been conversing with an almost 2 year old today who is at the babbling stage.  Lots of words are recognisable, but lots are definitely not!  Although he does usually make himself understood.

Loving the peace & quiet

I've been at my laptop for a while now, posting on my blog, catching up with friends blogs, Facebook etc chilling in the garden.  It's still so warm out there and I'm enjoying just chilling and watching my new fairy lights come on as it's got dark.

I had to light the citronella candles and cover up to avoid the mosquitos but it was still relaxing.

I've had to retreat now as my laptop needed charging and I need to water the garden.  This weather is lovely but the garden is suffering.

Ups, Ups and downs

Don't you just love it when things go to plan or are easier than you think they're going to be?

Today I chased (again) the company that supplied our fridge.  We've only had the fridge since the end of March but already we have had 4 engineer visits and were waiting on a call back to fit a part.  This has been an ongoing saga and I will admit to not being very prompt at chasing things.  But this was getting ridiculous.

I was supposed to have received a call back yesterday but having heard nothing today I began by asking to speak to a Manager.  I was duly connected to a very reasonable man who eventually agreed with me that the fridge does not actually seem fit for purpose and should be exchanged.  I was expecting to have to fight my corner and I hate confrontation, even over the phone, so I was pleased that the matter has finally (hopefully) been resolved.  I just have to contact the orginal retailer to arrange the replacement.

Next I decided to return the recent items I bought for Nathan to the store.  We realised that they will still be too big for him when we go to Australia so it would be better to have a smaller size.  Well I hunted high and low for the receipt.  I don't know what I did with it as I know I had it recently and I'm usually very organised with them but today it seemed to have vanished into thin air.  I spent ages looking and in the end decided to hope it wouldn't be a problem, especially as all the tags were still on the clothes.  Well it was absolutely fine and they had all the 4 items in the smaller size so another job done.

I did a few more bits of shopping, including buying the latest John Grisham book out in paperback.  I don't buy many books these days but I needed to buy one for a book swap I'm doing and it was buy one get one half price.  Would be silly not to wouldn't it? 

I finished up by picking up something for dinner and then headed home.  That was when it went downhill.   The drive home was slow and frustrating, mainly because I forgot about the temporary traffic lights near our house that caused a hold up and potential road rage when some drivers were really impatient and irresponsible. Note to self  "Avoid that route when possible!"

Works in progress! 20/9/16

It seemed a good idea initially to get all the plastering that needs doing (ceilings of two rooms plus walls in one) but now I'm not so sure.  These are the rooms being done.

This one will be done as a guest room.

This one, which is a bit smaller will be my work room.  Not sure how much work I will get done in there but there is a bureau there for paperwork/computing and my sewing machine will go in there when it's finished.

 

However, as you can see both rooms are empty apart from the larger items of furniture.  And even those (wardrobes and chests of drawers) have been emptied.  Plastering is a messy job and the dust will get everywhere but I wanted to avoid it getting on things like my clothes, bedding etc.

I'm sure you can begin to imagine what the rest of my house looks like.  The stuff had to go somewhere!  The bed from the bigger room has been dismantled and is in the box room we use for storage - hopefully we won't want anything from the shelving in there just now as the mattress is in front of the shelves and you can't even get in the room!

Other items are either in my bedroom or in our lounge.  The whole house looks like a tip at the moment.   It will be another couple of days before the plaster is finished and then I can start on trying to restore some sort of order.  My son and his wife are due at the weekend but they will have to make do with just the mattress on the floor!  I will also have some of hubby's siblings and partners here at the weekend as we are going on a walk and then out for a meal locally for his sister's 60th birthday on Saturday.  Thankfully the kitchen/diner is unaffected by all of this.

My to do list has also grown somewhat.  As we emptied out the rooms I was making mental notes of things that needed to be sold/donated/trashed or just rehomed.  Some of it needs to be rehomed with our kids but that won't be happening in the immediate future.  One couple are currently living with us and the other two are both in rented properties without too much space.  

But despite all the chaos and mess I do actually feel more in control.  Getting this work done is the first step really on a long term project of getting the house how I want it post children.  There is a plan, although it's not going to be done quickly.  But that's ok.  One day, one job at a time. Well maybe not every day (there has to be blogging time) but I'm sure you get the idea.