Cheery's buttling diary: tea in one hand, plant pot in the other, running shoes on

Pippilongstocking

Good morning my little plastering genius. I expect tips when I see you. :P

I'm so pleased you're finding pace with the house finally it takes forever. When we sold the flat, yes it really happenned even now we are saying things like, oh we should have done this or shall we do and do that, except if we did go now the lady would likely be quite annoyed! Its not his anymore.

Peoples expectations are all different too. We went for a total plain theme throughout and hte lady who bought the flat like me absolutely adores colour. Rampant colour at that.

It was funny she did say I never thought I'd buy a 'white and tasteful grey house' - it surely wasn't before we 'neutralised it'.



Hope you have fun today. I'm on a tidy up as people are coming for tea but want to get in the garden.

PS I don't think acorns taste very nice, from memory (tell me everyone didn't try and eat them as a child). I'm sure they look beautiful and taste lush as squashed though.

I now have an image of your house covered in giant squashes chickens peckign away.

Cheery_Daff

Yep, that's the vision I'm aiming for too

I have vivid memories of stirring a pan full of acorns in my grandma's garden, over and over :rotfl: nothing else, just whole acorns with a big spoon. Think we were pretending to be fairies or something

Plastering not progressing so far - I'm still in bed :rotfl:

Tee hee at you still wanting to pop round and do stuff to the flat we"re not going for completely white, more just not "undecorated and shabby" :rotfl: we liked it before but lots of that was about the furniture and other decorations etc - once we started to pack things away it just looked a big mess

But there are plenty of terraces like ours round here so we're trying to keep a bit of character with ours to make it a little bit unusual just not 'looks like a complete liability' unusual...

Right - porridge and plastering (will try not to get them mixed up...)

Cheery_Daff

Ok - porridge done
Tea done
Banks and YNAB done All behaving (since yesterday :rotfl: )

Mr Cheery still in bed so was trying to be quiet but I'm itching to start plastering so he's just going to have to get up I think Chimney breast covered in efflorescence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efflorescence

so first job is to get as much of that off as possible :eek: Then I confess I'm going to wang on a load of PVA and plaster over it - if we were staying I might have the roof redone but, er, we're not... Took 14 years for it to come through last time Mr Cheery did this so hopefully not causing too much of a problem for the new folks

Cheery_Daff

Urgh, behind the paint, some of the plaster is basically just dust... :eek: Literally just brushing it away with my hands, right down to the brick :eek: Trying not to accidentally create spy hole through to next door's bedroom :eek: Think I've got the bulk of the shaky bits off now but going to have to basically start from scratch over the brick in some places. BUt in other places it's impossible to get off, so I'm not going to force it!

Urgh.

Plasterer had an easy job - the bits I paid him to do were straight onto new plasterboard! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Phew - bricks and holes all filled in and covered up, and wall looking like a normal wall again (albeit a very soggy and not-really-flat-yet one :rotfl: :rotfl:

Just stopped for lunch - Mr Cheery made some rice, boiled eggs and spinach to go with yesterday's leftover curry which was all very yum

Just supping a nice cup of tea then will go up and see if it's all fallen off the walls again :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Hmm, well... Had a cup of tea, a phone call from sister (trying to persuade me to do another triathlon), and a small squabble with Mr Cheery He went out and I've abandoned the plastering I was doing (because there's a piece of beading I need which isn't here any more) and after a small period of sulking I have instead plastered the landing

Well, most of it anyway. It's all higgledy piggledy up and over doorways and on and off ladders and a right old pain. So I've done the biggest bit (which still involved lots of putting up and down of ladders and messing about) and now the first coat's on, I'm just having a quick cuppa before heading back to do the second coat.

I do like the satisfaction of plastering But I really do understand why plasterers have apprentices and plaster-mixing-machines The amount of time I spend stirring, running up and down ladders, popping back downstairs because I've forgotten something, moving ladders to get to the next bit, cleaning out buckets, washing trowels, etc etc etc :rotfl: :rotfl:

Shame I don't have any teenagers I could put to work really :rotfl: :rotfl:

Ah well, keeping me fit

But I tell you what - it's a LOT easier to plaster on top of plasterboard!! We did that on the course, then I came home and tried to plaster on top of 120 year old wonky walls and wondered why I just couldn't get a flat finish like on the course. Turns out I can So it was all the wall's fault, not mine

milasavesmoney

Loving the plastering saga! You make me smile every time.
Saga: long story of heroic achievement.
And saving the denarius at the save time! What's not to love!!

Acorn squash is shaped like an acorn and has yellow meat. It is not as flavorful as butternut so definitely needs to be roasted before being used and needs a flavorful sauce or soup to help it out. Similar texture to butternut. It should be a great way to use this in a curry dish.

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, acorn squash curry sounds fab Let us know how it goes :j

Mr Cheery came back from his forray with some veggie sausages, so I made the second butternut squash into 'chips', and had it with green beans, gravy and, er, Smash :rotfl: well, supermarket own brand instant mash because after all that squash chopping I just couldn't face chopping potatoes as well!

Anyway, Mr Cheery has finally left again so I'm off back up the ladder (finally!) For next plaster coat. Except the first one's all dried out so need to slap on some PVA first. Saga is indeed the right word Mila! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Back when I"ve done it

Cheery_Daff

Right - last plastering update (for today) I promise I'm glad you're enjoying the saga Mila (and indeed so am I ) but I fear the rest of the MSE community may well be getting bored with my diary pinging to the top of the list every five minutes :eek: (sorry folks)

So - 2nd coat on landing done, and all tools washed and put away :j :j Wonder if I should start adding up how much I've saved for each bit of plastering I do?? :rotfl:

Plasterer quoted £600 for bedroom ceiling (which was a nuisance and involved scaffolding), but only £150 for top of attic stairs (put new boards on then skimmed over, surface area probably only slightly bigger than I did tonight but balancing on a board over the stairs :eek: )

So let's say roughly £100 per wall on average, cos some are bigger and some smaller. And we'll go on area rather than time, since it's taking me about 3 times as long :rotfl: And obviously I don't have to pay an apprentice, but I do have to do all the prep and cleaning up myself!

So far then that's £400 saved :money: :money:

That makes me incredibly pleased :rotfl: :rotfl:

Got at least another 6 to do, and possibly more than that, depending on a few decisions that still need making, so we're quids in :rotfl:

Maybe I could justify paying an apprentice after all :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Evening chums :hello:

I confess that today I have done NO plastering whatsoever :eek:

However, I have...

* done a load of washing (but not hung it up yet)
* printed two lots of stuff off and put them in the right places
* replied to a work email that I'd forgotten about but which popped into head this morning
* been for a run
* met friend for lunch in the botanical gardens
* got chased by a squirrel :rotfl:
* been in at least 10 charity shops, and only bought a pair of jeans (£2.49) and an unopened small Body Shop body butter (£1.25)
* sat in botanical gardens again reading
* made and eaten tea

Not exactly the most productive day... Just going to put the kettle on then I'll be back with a list for tonight :eek: