Renovations and Repayments.

gallygirl

Alex I expect Little LK is well a-bed by now, but if not, there is an owl perched on the edge of the nest, been there for a while

AlexLK

March Targets:

OSPREYS - CHECK. Son will be devastated if I keep forgeting, they come back and he misses following them until I remember.
Total Grocery Spend: £210/>£450. Don't seem to be able to spend my money ... What is wrong with me?
Surplus Money: £750/£750.
Going to bed at a reasonable time: 18/31.
Meditation: 19/31.
One new recipe per week: 3/4. Made a delicious Moroccan cous cous for lunch tomorrow. Was still making it at 10.15pm but it is very nice and I think my wife will be pleasantly surprised tomorrow.
Read three books: 0/3. Have read tonight but not enough to finish the book.
3 Things for Wednesday: 1. Be on time, 2. Find three things to smile about, 3. Get up in time to play some duets with my son before school.

3 Things for Tuesday: 1. Be on time,:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: 2. Find three things to smile about,1. The dogs meeting up for the first time in a few days, 2. Mother telling me I've done a good job re. business, 3. Pupil making progress with a difficult concept, 4. Son telling me we need to make Mummy a Mother's Day card. 3. Get up in time to play some duets with my son before school Hope to make this happen tomorrow. .

Counselling went as well as could be expected. My wife is not in a very good place, she's struggling with eating again and is waking very early. Apparently one of her colleagues isn't helping by winding her up about not going out on Friday nights. He is divorced and hardly has any contact with his children, so hardly an example to follow but I think this is probably where the upset about wanting to spend time with family came from.

-taff wrote: »

Glad to hear you sounding a lot chirpier these days.

I am trying.

gallygirl wrote: »

Alex I expect Little LK is well a-bed by now, but if not, there is an owl perched on the edge of the nest, been there for a while

He was in bed when you sent the message.

We are going to check ospreys together before bedtime from tomorrow as my wife wants to see them too. We're hoping to go to Rutland Water during the latter half of the Easter break too.

heartbreak_star

Is it a website you watch the ospreys on or do you have them nearby?

HBS x

Suffolk_lass

heartbreak_star wrote: »

Is it a website you watch the ospreys on or do you have them nearby?

HBS x

I know there is a webcam that the RSPB have up at Loch Garten but I think there is one at Rutland Water too

maman

Just back from a short holiday and scan read some of the week's posts Alex.

• pleased that you're looking forward to being surrounded by young women on your PGCE course.:D
• good news that you and MrsK will be able to compromise on the bathroom. I'm sure you can have a super shower and a Victorian look that will suit your home.
• Even more delighted that you are seeing it as a family home to live in and bring up LittleK in.:)
• sorry to hear that MrsK is struggling. Hope she can stay strong and ignore the colleague who's having a go at her about Friday evenings. Maybe you can spend some of the surplus grocery money going out together.
• I've been in Prague and Budapest for the past week so had a fair amount of goulash! At home I use Delia's recipe but not sure if you'd find it a bit spicy.

Debsnewbudget

The male osprey -33 is back at Rutland Water

http://www.ospreys.org.uk/webcam/

AlexLK

heartbreak_star wrote: »

Is it a website you watch the ospreys on or do you have them nearby?

HBS x

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I know there is a webcam that the RSPB have up at Loch Garten but I think there is one at Rutland Water too

Debsnewbudget wrote: »

The male osprey -33 is back at Rutland Water

http://www.ospreys.org.uk/webcam/

See Debs' post, HBS.

AlexLK

March Targets:

OSPREYS - CHECK. Seems like I was just in time! Son was pleased to hear about 33 being back.
Total Grocery Spend: £210/>£450. NSD today, too.
Surplus Money: £750/£750.
Going to bed at a reasonable time: 19/31.
Meditation: 20/31.
One new recipe per week: 3/4.
Read three books: 0/3. :rotfl: Will try again next month, I think.
3 Things for Thursday: 1. Be on time, 2. Find three things to smile about, 3. Get up in time to play some duets with my son before school.

Today was a bit of a failure in terms of the three things challenge.

maman wrote: »

Just back from a short holiday and scan read some of the week's posts Alex.

• pleased that you're looking forward to being surrounded by young women on your PGCE course.:D
• good news that you and MrsK will be able to compromise on the bathroom. I'm sure you can have a super shower and a Victorian look that will suit your home.
• Even more delighted that you are seeing it as a family home to live in and bring up LittleK in.:)
• sorry to hear that MrsK is struggling. Hope she can stay strong and ignore the colleague who's having a go at her about Friday evenings. Maybe you can spend some of the surplus grocery money going out together.
• I've been in Prague and Budapest for the past week so had a fair amount of goulash! At home I use Delia's recipe but not sure if you'd find it a bit spicy.

I did wonder where you'd got to! I hope you went to see the Estates Theatre.

:rotfl: Best one at the interview was about a 4/10... I'm fairly sure Mrs. K. is safe in that knowledge. Though, there is a 9 at volunteer school. However, she cannot deal with words beginning with the letters "th" and thinks I am a "posh ****" (yes, she actually said that and not in jest). So, on reflection, it does seem like I've made the right decision to keep Mrs. K..

The not so good news is we need to get the money together to pay for the bathroom job to be done. I let the bad memories cloud the good but there have been a lot of good memories made in this house. Whether I like it or not it has been my home for the majority of my adult life and my son loves it here. He actually said to me that this is his favourite place in the world.

Mrs. K. has been a little better today and I hope she stays strong too. She has mentioned wanting to go out as a couple and thinks our son would enjoy a weekend at my cousin's (she and her husband would be happy to have him). He would be happy to go as he would see it as something older children get to do but I think come the evening he'd struggle. He's obsessed with growing up and independence at the moment, or his idea of it! :rotfl:

I will check the Delia recipe out and its spice level. We are generally OK with a little spice. Goulash is something my son has never had before, so I think I will have a go, thank you.

Suffolk_lass

Hey Alex, have you agreed on a design and approach for the bathroom? I will set out my approach in case there is anything of use for you in there.

I measured ours very carefully because living in a thatched cottage, it is a non-standard rectangular box - one wall slopes down to just above the knee. I designed the layout so the sloping wall has the bath under it. This means we cannot stand up fully in the bath (not a problem as the convention remains sitting!) - it does mean a kind of rolling crouch to get in and out which is fine while we remain fit and bendy (my husband is 6'4 and although late 50s, he is stiffening up a bit). This meant I could just fit a 1000mm x 900mm shower in to the space where the bath had formerly been at right angles to the sloping wall.

I also moved the toilet and the washbasin. I hated the fact that the toilet backed on to the leaded light window (not frosted, obviously) with a psychological sticking of bums in the world's face. Anyway we swapped them over so I now look out of the window while using the washbasin!

All the design was despite (in spite of) the sucking in of breath through teeth by various potential contractors. In the end, I paid out kitchen-fitter (a trusted trader we had used several times for small general building projects when we lived 50 miles from here) and paid his time and fuel costs on top because I knew he would do what we wanted.

I found it quite good fun sourcing all the main things to be fitted. We were able to use the contractor's trader discount for things like waste pipes and fixings, but my research saved us over £4000 on a fully designed option. Very satisfying and I recommend it

AlexLK

Thanks, SL. Thatched cottage sounds lovely, though I think I'd find that bath would bring on some kind of claustrophobia and I'm certainly not 6'4". Might be worth considering if you are thinking of ever selling the cottage?

My wife will design the layout and we don't think it will be exactly as it is now. The room is a good size to work with. We will source all parts / materials. Not yet decided how much of the job we'll do ourselves.