22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

Been busy sealing plaster and painting everything white.  It will not stay white, but it is the best base for other colours to look the way they are meant to, and while the kids change their minds every other day as to what colour they want.

I have been given £200 by one of DHs family to go visit him while he is away, but I can't go as I have kids in school, and one of them has exams, and it is just not possible at that time. I will go visit them later on in the Summer instead.

So today I have used the money for woodworm treatment, masking tape, paint, loft stilts, insulation, and boards so the loft can be used for storage. I will add £100 to it to finish the jobs in January before I have a week of work.  

The money from the week of work will pay for the 4 top floor bedrooms to have new carpets, and possibly the stairs and landings,  all of which will also have been woodworm treatmented, and insulation put under the floorboards.   The top floor WILL  be completed in January. I am expecting the builders to return for plumbering and woodworkery next week, and the final window fittery should happen the following week. That leaves me one whole week before I am working to finish all the little jobs, and I will know for certain how much money I have left because I will have paid the builder!  Hooray!

Tomorrow is payday.  Finally.   I will do the car insurance for me and DH.  I have made a list of jobs I want to have done before the end of the year.  I do love a deadline. 

I have filled in the diary dates, and stuck a load on the new wall  calendar.  Feeling quite positive.  Finally it seems to be coming together.

KajiKita

You have worked so hard - lovely to hear of it all coming together 😊

KK

f0xh0les

But it is not payday.  Boo!  So it will be next week Tuesday before any money hits my bank account (insert rude word).

24 hour economy my left buttock.

f0xh0les

Thai butternut soup was lush.

I have spent 6 hours in my loft trying to scoop all the insulation into bags.  It is not easy - it appears to have been blown in, and very little is bigger than a small matchbox.  I am only just over half way through, It is disgustingly dirty, and to be honest, I am loving it!  up there, with my mask on.  They also added a lot of packing noodles.... as insulation... ???  Anyway, it will be finished tomorrow -  and then I can spray all the woodwork up there. Job done.  Electrician to finish his stuff next week, and then the loft stilts will go in and I will re-insulate and board it out.  It is very satisfying being able to see what you have cleared.  Weirdly.

Kids have all chosen their colours for their bedrooms.

KajiKita

Any kind of clearing is satisfying 😊
That was swift decisions on the pant colours! Did you threaten them with pink and unicorn sparkles or some such …? 😉😂

KK 

f0xh0les

Car insurances sorted.  Need to ring the old ones to cancel though. DHs policies are always there, mine never are. I have to ring up every time we insure with the same company.  It is so annoying.

foxandflowers

Happy New Year Foxy x

f0xh0les

Happy New Year you beautiful imaginary friends!

I have been quite busy.  I emptied the loft space and hoovered it (Mum! are you actually hoovering the ceiling?? they cried) sprayed all woodwork up there twice with woodworm killer (just in case), and have ordered new insulation rolls and screws and loft legs and boards to be delivered on Friday.  Then I will have a space for DH's empty box collection (how many monitors? How many printers?), and Xmas, and suitcases, and many other things. - a whole new room! - you just can't stand upright in it.   I will start that as soon as the bits are delivered.  DH has sneakily got football tickets for the FA cup match on Friday night, and is taking DS3 down to London Town to see my team play. 

 I will be in the loft, and then watching it on ITV4.  Priorities huh?

The builder chap is coming tomorrow to fit skirting boards and the door to the new room

The plumber chap is coming on Friday to fit the radiator in the new room

The window (allegedly) will arrive next week.

The Electrician I have not been told about nor the Plasterer ..

Won £175 on the PBs, so I am on an equivalent interest rate of 3.3% with 2 months left to go.

Sent an email to the ground rent people this morning saying 'come on now, this is ridiculous!' It seems to have worked, as the money is now in my account. £196.  Finally!

Went out and did a small food shop, could not face BeeNQ.  Came home and DH made another stunning soup for lunch, it was  leek, corn, and not chicken.  I did all the washing up (again) and then went up to the top floor and removed the horrible nasty nobbly brown carpet -that came with the house- and the underlay, and all the rods, nails, staples, tacks, more nails, tape, and dirt, and stripped the top landing outside the 3 bedrooms, the three stairs down to the landing with the new room door, and down the stairs to the middle floor.  All carpet pulled up, all hoovered, all washed down, and all woodwork treated  twice- again, there was no sign of woodworm, except possibly three holes on the very last tread,  but that could have been carpet tacks, but again, better safe than sorry, and I will be happier to put down new carpet on it, if I know I have done everything I can to make sure any uninvited lodgers are eradicated.   We will see if we notice any beetles in May when they reappear to breed.

I know our bedroom has had woodworm in the past, and it is on the list for a good dose of 'treatment', but with DS3 out of the house on Friday night, it seems a good time to empty and treat his room, and DS4's room-  because if I do his early, it should be dry by lunchtime, but DS4 can sleep on the sofa bed in the living room anyway.  It is  water based  and low smell, and is kid and dog safe after 2 hours, but still.  That will leave me only DS1s tiny bedroom left to treat on the top floor, and soon he will be in his new big room, so that can happen once he moves in.

So by the end of this weekend, I am hoping to have  a new storage loft with boarding, the new bedroom nearly ready to move into.... and everywhere else ready for decorating, and ready to be carpeted.

I think, after I have paid all the builder's invoices, I am going to have about £1000 left in the bank for decorating and carpets, and £78k shunted away in accounts where I cannot get to it.  

Hopefully work will start to pour in, and I will be able to make some money, because after the carpets and paint, begins Project Bathroom ......  watch this space, because it is finally happening!

LadyWithAPlan

f0xh0les said:

Happy New Year you beautiful imaginary friends!

Yes I am imaginary A frugal fairy that flies around MSE leaving glitter and PB win news £175 great (I won £25)
Happy new year!

f0xh0les

Roger the electrician (his name, not a request) arrived with his mate just before 8am, and I will have working lights and sockets by the end of today, yay!  no sign of Builder 2 who is supposed to be skirting and dooring. He would just get in Roger's way, probably. 

 But what do I know?  Funny how the attitude of the builder changes as soon as the job starts,