EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

MistyMountainTop wrote: »

I remember weeks of not having a kitchen in our last house - I used the slow cooker quite a bit but we ended up buying a halogen cooker in the end. That was years ago but it worked really well and I ended up using it even after the kitchen was done so I didn't need to heat up the oven for something small.

Doing the washing up in the bathroom was the most frustrating thing for me, I think our kitchen sink was disconnected for 3 days.

I hope your kitchen refit goes smoothly and with as little disruption as possible!

Aargh yes it's the lack of a sink I'm dreading...we're covered on the cooking thing to a degree as our microwave is one of the combination/convection/grill ones - REALLY useful in the upcoming circumstance! Dave-The-Builder assures me that he'll leave at least a standpipe in place - he needs to in fairness as the kitchen is our only access to mains water. We've also negotiated for the washing machine to be left in position for as long as possible to minimise the time we're without that, although as we're keeping the machine that does need to be balanced off against the risk of damage.

We're hoping it will be no longer than a fortnight Misty.:eek: Any more than that and I think I'll be going mad! It's a multi step process though - his first job is to rip everything out, and do the chasing into walls for the electrics. He's also got to remove a section of double-thickness wall in front of the window and refinish with insulation board etc, and relocate the door a little too. Then electrician comes in and puts all the electricals in place. Then Dave can get cracking on with things like plumbing etc - again probably all chased back into the wall to an extent. then everything needs full plastering or at least skimming - including the ceiling. Then it's floor down, units in and all systems go.

Having written all that I'm all :eek: again! :rotfl:

Trying to decide what to do tomorrow. Was originally hoping for Scampton but there's no flying apparently so a rethink needed. Might head to Hendon for the RAF Museum - they've a new photographic exhibition opening to the public tomorrow and some friends of mine will have pics in that - including the one that won the "people's Choice" award last year. From there I could head back into central London in time for the Lynx Helicopter Flypast along the Thames in the afternoon....Tempting that as long as the weather isn't REALLY grey. Would be fairly budget friendly too - pretty much just travel and some form of snack for lunch...

*gulp* well I certainly hope ours doesn't go on that long Angel! :eek::eek::rotfl:

Batch cooked five and a half tubs of bolognese sauce over the weekend, and 2 double portions of shepherd's pie ('Spy!) mix too - the bol is now in the freezer aside from one which will be eaten tomorrow night and the 'Spy will get topped with mash tonight and then those will get frozen too - thanks to the oh-so-marvellous combi microwave both of those are nice easy ones to prep without a full kitchen. So that's a start anyway. We're already planning to just go away somewhere for the middle weekend - it may well tie in with something we already have planned anyway - and aside from that we'll probably choose to eat out somewhere cheap and cheerful for one night each week and have a takeaway for another. Hoping to keep "washing up in the bathroom" to a minimum! :rotfl:

Found our new fridge freezer at the weekend we think - annoyingly we are going to have to go with a white one we think as the one we wanted wasn't available in the Stainless steel finish we ideally wanted but that can't be helped. However the advantage to that is that white is over £100 cheaper so every cloud, and all that...

Cashed out £5.55 from Prolific Academic which arrived today so that's gone against the card. and with the DD as well that now puts me at a sub-1k balance on there so I'm extremely chuffed with that! :T Prolific is trotting along nicely now I've finally worked out how to use it as well - thanks to those who persuaded me it was worth persevering with!

Scott_Weiland wrote: »

Hmmmmmmm going to have to try P.A. since two of my usual payers are doing my head in.

Worth it - just make sure you do the prescreening questions otherwise you get pretty much nothing! :rotfl:

angelpye wrote: »

Hi EH, the food sounds well and truly in hand! Do you get notifications from PA? I don't and so it depends on me refreshing which is tedious. £15 waiting to pay out at the moment though

Nope - things come and go so fast I think it is just a case of keeping on refreshing isn't it. As you say tedious but...!

Heard from the builder this morning confirming his labour costs for the kitchen which we're happy with so it's definitely all systems go now - just need to hammer a start date out of him! I need to sit down and make a full list of all the things I'm going to need to get in hand for it as well I think - that might be a lunchtime job.

Also need a plan for this evening I think...something along the lines of:
- Change out of work clothes
- Get clothes ready for tomorrow
- Oven on
- Prep veggies for roasting
- Veggies in oven
- Upper body/weights workout to routine devised by Mr EH
- Collapse in a painful heap until veggies are roasted :rotfl:
- Finish sorting hi-res helicopter photos and dropbox
- email dropbox link to the person who needs it
- Cook sausages, eat dinner
- Clear memory cards
- pack camera bag
- sort out anything else I want for tomorrow and pop in bag by front door.
- Put clothes into front room and makeup/hairbrush into bathroom - MrEH will NOT want disturbing at 5.30am :eek:
- Throw a load into the washing machine to go through overnight
- Tidy kitchen

There's probably more stuff too - eek!

Scampton for the day tomorrow photographing those lovely Little Red Jets - and fingers crossed for the very first time so far this winter the weather looks like it might actually be properly favourable! :j:j:j About time I got some blue sky I say - bring that on. There is enough diesel in the car to take me there and back easily, and spends other than that will be limited to a sandwich I suspect. All good.

I'm nearing payout on Power Of Opinions and have to decide whether to cash out at 1,000 points - to a voucher, or wait for the extra 54 points and cash out to paypal. My original thought was vouchers but now I'm leaning more towards cold hard cash to be honest as the voucher options aren't brilliant, and I'm envisaging another £10 coming off the card balance...!