Mortgage Free - so good they'll do it twice! Wynnvegas aiming for the big house

Froggy-G

OH & I shout Hello back to Moyra !! :j:j
Hope you two are having a great weekend.. How was the fish & chips @ Champneys thsi week?

You might have have to go off the Vegas strip in order to see a brand new show.. The boxing sounds good, however it could be over after 20 seconds or so..

Cheers
Froggy :cool:

wynnvegas

Ndi matsheloni avhudi Froggy,

Weekend was good. We finally had our "anniversary" (I don't buy into the premise as we're neither married nor do we have any intention to ever be) dinner at Champanay yesterday. It was spoiled in a minor fashion by the idiots around us spouting all the nonsense of the day (from bigoted football chat to the latest goings on with some wee boy from Britain's Got Another Bloody Simon Cowell Programme). The food was great as always (particularly impressive as the menu isn't actually all that decent - it's not often that I can't find anything to tackle on a pudding menu. As you know - cheese doesn't qualify as pudding in my book! The service has never been particularly good at Champanay which only makes a stronger case for the cooking as I keep going back despite all it's shortcomings. Might leave it for a wee whilst just now though - could do with losing a few pounds and monster fish and masses of chips aren't conducive to that effiort!!

I've decided to make an effort with the boxing. A British fighter in a world championship match who just so happens to be fighting when we're there is enough of a rarity (although we did nearly luck out with Mayweather v Pacquiao a couple of years ago until they pulled the plug) to convince me that we should have a crack at it. With the lack of headline shows in the summer, we'll have to venture off the beaten track a litle bit to get out entertainment fix.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Morning All,

Great weekend. Decent weather, seen some friends and family as always, an anniversary dinner snuck in on Sunday, more or less completely finished the spare room (onto that presently) and, whilst everything was going swimmingly, Moyra decided to take advantage of my contentment by suggesting a trip to my own personal hell. Stupidly, I agreed...

Anyway, the spare room. We're going to frame one of the smaller jigsaws that we've done and get it hung on the wall in the spare room. It's a stunning picture of the colosseum - I'll get a picture of it up when it's framed and hung. We're struggling with the main wall though. Moyra wants to put a photo frame up that is effectively an in memorium selection of photos of grannies, grandads and my dad. I'd rather get the various bits and pieces we got from them or that meant something to them (my Papa's snooker cue and snooker team jersey, my Granny's Bible etc) framed in a bespoke presentation box with a little inset photo of them. I'm conscious that putting that type of stuff in the spare room might well freak people out when they're staying. Any opinions?

My personal hell, for those of you who are wondering, is the marmite-esque big blue box that is Ikea. I'm convinced yet that following the yellow brick road with the arrows leads people to some sort of Viking concentration camp. Thankfully, breaking out of the place would be easy as the walls would no doubt be made of cheap chipboard held together by wee wooden sticks. Moyra loves the place and I detest it with a quiet mumbling vengeance. We picked up a living room table to house my oft-moved about fancy Monopoly set and the iphones, ipods and anything else in the house that may ever need charged, a bedside unit to finish the furnishings of the spare room and a wider, taller chest of drawers to fit Moyra's many and varied (now seasonally arranged) clothes.

Bizarrely, whilst I had thrown all the toys out of the pram at the prospect of going, we seen things that we both agreed on (although Moyra is adamant that the big house will have those stupid opaque backlit cupboards all round the place and it's really not happening) and we seen a stunning black kitchen. It was mainly the massive island / storage thingy / seating thingy that sold us on it. With a wee bit of a redesign to fit in my big range cooker, that would be absolutely perfect. It was this type of thing - http://sognisorrisi.blogspot.com/2011/02/ikeas-glamorous-black-country-kitchen.html - needs a bit more space that we currently have! As the big house kitchen / dining room is currently planned to be 43ft long, we'll fit this type of thing and a nice dining table without too much hassle.

More bizarrely, I decided, in a fit of ridiculous inspiration, to have a crack at building the lot myself. I'm in no way trained or able to do this type of thing and I have so little confidence in my ability to do anything remotely DIY that I went through high school craft, design and technology delegating my practical assignments to the better people in the class. Having built literally nothing ever, I don't know what posessed me to have a shot. It didn't go all that badly though. The living room table is up and doing a fine job of holding things (although the middle shelf is a bit wobblier than it possibly should be (Billy 1 - Ikea 0), the bedside unit it up (albeit with only one drawer as I hammered with a bit too much gusto with the second drawer and disintegrated the thing (Billy 1 - Ikea 1) - that will now go into our room as my bedside unit for my radio and I'll keep my books in the hole where the bottom drawer should be so it will yet serve a purpose and the chest of drawers (a fairly massive undertaking for someone of my limited ability) is up and, to a large extent working. We'll ignore the fact that I've managed to put something on backwards so that the final bit just won't fit the way it should and rejoice in the glory that all the drawers work with the only downside that it's possible to see into the twop two drawers where Moyra keeps all our holiday kit - not a big deal to us so I'm calling it a creditable draw. I'm amazed at myself for having a go and even more so that I enjoyed the whole thing. Me and being willing and nearly able to put things together is a surprisingly positive outcome of the weekend. I may yet even go back on my own tomorrow whilst I'm on it to pick up the Billy bookcase for the library.

Moyra has volunteered me tomorrow to go into her school to have a chat with some of the senior kiddies about their career options. I've got a talk on a career in I.T. to do in the morning with about 20 and a chat with 25 about Business Management in the afternoon. I wish my school has done something like this as it would have been really helpful to get an insight into the real world of work at that age. I've got strict rules not to say anything that might shame Moyra to her pupils so I need to watch what I say but it should be a bit of fun - more variety than my Tuesday mornings generally hold.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Evening All,

As a quick addendum to the diatribe above, a successful attempt to resolve the issue with the new chest of drawers mean a last minute winner! Billy 2 - Ikea 1!!!

Cheers

Billy

Froggy-G

wynnvegas wrote: »

Evening All,

As a quick addendum to the diatribe above, a successful attempt to resolve the issue with the new chest of drawers mean a last minute winner! Billy 2 - Ikea 1!!!

Cheers

Billy

The above will have to be verified by a panel of expert judges

gallygirl

wynnvegas wrote: »

(my Papa's snooker cue and snooker team jersey, my Granny's Bible etc) framed in a bespoke presentation box with a little inset photo of them. I'm conscious that putting that type of stuff in the spare room might well freak people out when they're staying. Any opinions?

Yup, I think it's lovely and will be happy to sleep there when you finally invite your long-lost relative (remember you're supposed to be adopting me )

wynnvegas wrote: »

More bizarrely, I decided, in a fit of ridiculous inspiration, to have a crack at building the lot myself.

Ok, so I read this as you having decided to build the new house yourself

wynnvegas wrote: »

I'm in no way trained or able to do this type of thing and I have so little confidence in my ability to do anything remotely DIY that I went through high school craft, design and technology delegating my practical assignments to the better people in the class. Having built literally nothing ever, I don't know what posessed me to have a shot. It didn't go all that badly though. The living room table is up and doing a fine job of holding things (although the middle shelf is a bit wobblier than it possibly should be (Billy 1 - Ikea 0), the bedside unit it up (albeit with only one drawer as I hammered with a bit too much gusto with the second drawer and disintegrated the thing (Billy 1 - Ikea 1) - that will now go into our room as my bedside unit for my radio and I'll keep my books in the hole where the bottom drawer should be so it will yet serve a purpose and the chest of drawers (a fairly massive undertaking for someone of my limited ability) is up and, to a large extent working. We'll ignore the fact that I've managed to put something on backwards so that the final bit just won't fit the way it should and rejoice in the glory that all the drawers work with the only downside that it's possible to see into the twop two drawers where Moyra keeps all our holiday kit - not a big deal to us so I'm calling it a creditable draw. I'm amazed at myself for having a go and even more so that I enjoyed the whole thing. Me and being willing and nearly able to put things together is a surprisingly positive outcome of the weekend. I may yet even go back on my own tomorrow whilst I'm on it to pick up the Billy bookcase for the library.

Maybe it's just as well it wasn't the house you were talking about :rotfl:

wynnvegas

Kuyonara Froggy,

I've clearly got Gally coming round to vouch for a complete and correctly built chest of drawers! She'll be able to verify what has been termed tonight as "my second to none joinery brilliance" - ever the example of modesty! I'm going to pop back to Ikea tomorrow for the Billy bookcase after my warnings to the kiddies to avoid the nasty world of work as much and for as long as possible.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hiya Gally,

Good god - it might be a bit of a stretch from a couple of wee units to the big house. I won't be half as scared to pitch in now though. I was always going to play as project manager and labourer but I could yet look to get a lot more skilled in this game.

As to the newly decked out spare room, you're welcome anytime. I'll have a good crack at ensuring we put our display cases out fittingly. I found a gold watch my Granny got me when I graduated when we were cleaning out the library today so I'll stick that in alongside her bible and a photo of us together.

Cheers,

Billy

[Deleted User]

Well done on the Ikea success Billy!
I have to say having gone for the first time a year or so ago it wasnt the utopia I had hoped! though they did have some pretty displays! As someone else who DIY is not thier strong point I am mightily impressed on the building skills!

Good luck with the talks today- sounds like a great idea and also wish our schools had done that kind of insight into careers!

Sounds like things are coming together for the Vegas trip too! Somewhere Id like to go once the MF plan is a bit further down the line!

Froggy-G

wynnvegas wrote: »

Anyway, the spare room. We're going to frame one of the smaller jigsaws that we've done and get it hung on the wall in the spare room. It's a stunning picture of the colosseum - I'll get a picture of it up when it's framed and hung. We're struggling with the main wall though. Moyra wants to put a photo frame up that is effectively an in memorium selection of photos of grannies, grandads and my dad. I'd rather get the various bits and pieces we got from them or that meant something to them (my Papa's snooker cue and snooker team jersey, my Granny's Bible etc) framed in a bespoke presentation box with a little inset photo of them. I'm conscious that putting that type of stuff in the spare room might well freak people out when they're staying. Any opinions?

Përshëndetje Billy

Regarding the above.. I think its a great idea..What a way to remember the people close to you both.. OH & I have pictures around the house, and I keep one of my Grandads cap as well.. I don't think it would freak anybody staying there.. After all its your house...

Froggy :cool:

Ps: Can't believe you are going back to Ikea.. At least make an excuse, and tell us you are picking up an "Ikea Family Discount card" (available free throughout the store) so you get discounts on your purchases...:rotfl: