22 Foxhole East

greent

Our BH jobs are theoretically finishing the decking project in the garden (or at least getting more of it done!), fence painting and filling/ rubbing down kitchen walls ready for painting (the kitchen painting not being done by us though )

I say theoretically because the weather forecast for here on the w/end is thunderstorms... Kitchen has to happen regardless, as painters are booked in and there is no other time!

kerri_gt

Yup - some BH DIY planned here too (assuming the weather holds as it's outside)

It's prob more economical to take everything to the tip in one go if you can fit it in the car so I vote for whacking the hole first.

greenbee

Go to the tip BEFORE the BH to avoid the queues. Or after, during term time... But yes to knocking the hole in the fireplace

f0xh0les

Well how Rock n Roll are we eh?:rotfl:

Today is the last day of football club for DS3 and 4.

I have my lists made for what I want to get done before the end of the month. They are in paper notebooks, on printouts, and on my phone. I have lists everywhere! More is done than is left undone each day, so I know I am making progress. Each day has its' own list.

Today will involve buying a microwave (£35) and looking for wooden headboards for 3 beds. If I do not find them, then it is 4rg0s and £38.99 each later - job done. That is the plan. Also need more cube storage, and I am going to put a wooden shelf on top, to make it look less like a load of 4rg0s cube units stuck together and will hide the radiator that DS1 barely turns on anyway. Heat can escape through the cube fronts if necessary. Top floor is mostly heated by the light from the skylights anyway. Not surprising the cannabis farm next door was doing so well. Even in the midst of winter it is toasty up there - until nightfall and then they love hot waterbottles and pjs and duvets, Plus all the heat from downstairs rises up to them. No need for radiators on the top floor.

I think I just want to feel like I have achieved something while the kids were off school. After all the relative stuff was out of the way, it was time to relax and recover. It is actually traumatising, going to visit them. I do not think I will be taking the kids back to the North again, and DH can sort his own arrangements with his parents. M-i-l has started on the frontal attack on DS1, soon he will be 16 and able to come over on his own yada yada yada. Step-Gran started on the same thing. He does not understand why they think he would want to go over on his own.

They do not realise that it is not a holiday to be bored out of your brain in someone else's house, with no discernable means of escape, and no regular food source:rotfl: Must be nice to think you are the best hosts ever, though.

She has asked DH (I am no longer spoken to) his plans for the October half term and maybe we could meet up in Wales. Funny, I tried that last year and had to cancel due to their muppetry. I don't really fancy losing any more money on deposits when they decide at the last minute they can't come after all. Bah! Enough about them, Let them get on with it.


So it is now the August bank holiday weekend. The last bank holiday before Xmas. One more week left and it will be September. One more week until payday. Autumn is near.

All kids' money has been paid back into their accounts. :j
I owe nothing. All credit cards paid off. Still in budget.:T:T

I am going to start September with a clean balance sheet, and a smaller list.
All kids back at school, and we are on the slide into Autumn and birthday season
- I have one in Sept, two in Oct, stepGran in Nov, one in Dec (Christmas Eve, Eve)and one on 2nd Feb. It feels like birthday cake every week!:rotfl: and everyone wants a different flavour and shape. It is never boring, but I must remember to wait until the cake is completely completely cool before filling and icing. We had quite a spectacular 4 tier black forest cake last year. Tasted amazing. Looked great at it came to the table, and then started listing badly during the meal :rotfl: next thing, landslide. :eek: more earthquake victim than leaning tower. Mudslide!! It is the thought that counts.
My cakes are the stuff of legend :T

I still need drinks bottles for the kids. Apart from that I am sorted for back to school next week.

DS3 has started his traditional pre- back to school The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings marathon, I am bored of - who was that one again? Why did he do that? Why is he kissing that Elf (cos she is Liv Tyler, duh!) Which one is that one? Which one? The one with the helmet on! Oh, that one's Dave.

Three down 2 to go. Should take us to BH Monday.

Right, off to get dressed and get on with it.
If I don't, nobody else will.

chumpy45

That's so funny, our households are so similar. We have just finished a Lord of the Rings marathon too. I was told off for complaining about Frodo who was annoying me for being so wimpish. Apparently if I haven't read all the books cover to cover, I should not be commenting. Fair enough - that's me told :rotfl: I am trying to summons the energy to put all the shopping away on my own as all the DSs are out. How very dare they?

f0xh0les

Twilight zone eh?

Cleaned bathrooms this morning (yawn) and hoovered, dropped 2 boys at football and went to the hospice charity shop. Found DS1 a brand new still wrapped mattress for his small double bed.£50, it had been up for £100 before. Bargain!

Also the very headboard I was looking at from 4rgos was there, but instead of £40 it was £15.

Went down to the second hand warehouse and bought a cherry red shiny daewoo microwave, still on sale for £70, mine was £35.

So I have made a start on the list, and found a few things on the list for less than I wanted to pay. Hooray!

f0xh0les

Busy busy day one of the three day project.

2x2 cube made and put in DS4s room. Fills the hole nicely and he will be able to fill the unfilled holes with his birthday and Xmas presents. win/win

2x3 cube x 2 made and put in DS1s room, still need a pine shelf to put on top (job for tomorrow). Looks fab, he has also requested hooks for the back of his door. I happen to have a bit left over from the hall coat rack that I already screwed the remaining hooks, and handily there is an excess on both sides of it, so I can just cut that down a bit, sand, quick coat of paint and it is done (will complete tomorrow), headboard need a coat of white as the resin from the knots is starting to show through, easy fix, will complete tomorrow and attach to bed. His new mattress is a definite hit. I may never see him again, his room is now so much to his liking. Cheeky swine was surprised when I brought the cube units upstairs to assemble, he said he thought we were just talking about it, and it would not happen for 18 months like everything else. Rotter!!!
DS3 went to table tennis this morning, DS4 woke late, complained he was too tired to go, and has basically thrown a baby tantrum about a milllion times over absolutely nothing.
He hates me, he hates his room, he hates his bed yada yada yada . Everything is unfair, he is starving, we are mean, he will never eat again...... (yawwwwwn).
Will see if he goes to junior park run with us tomorrow. Not holding out much hope as DS3 beat him by quite a margin last week, and I could not help keep his pace as, although I remembered to use the stupid inhaler, I forgot to take the hayfever meds, and I was a coughing mess by half a km in and had to drop out. So he sulked quite a lot, and DS3 was a bit too happy with his time, at him, iyswim. Oh the joys.

Anyway, the furniture delivery was here by 7.10am, then ping pong, cleaning the kitchen (DS1 used all the hot water last night in his bath) then the bank, market, supermarket, charity shop, back home, unpack, lunch, upstairs and furniture making, finds me at 5pm back downstairs and feeling knackered.

DH is making falafel and it smells gorgeous.

So I am going to go get the packaging and clean up quickly before I lose the will to shift off this sofa for anyone or anything else tonight.

Will also do a food inventory tonight for the coming week. I got all the stuff I think I will need for lunchboxes for 3 days, x 4 people.

Right, clean up. Now.

f0xh0les

Another day where things were achieved!! although I may have broken my skull,

Got up at 6.20 again, an hour before my alarm went off (I took it downstairs with me, I am not that anti-social) just woke up, wide awake and ready to get on with it. Must be the blessed darkness and the cooler weather.

Two lovely coffees later, still no kids, got to 8.00 and DS3 appeared looking bleary eyed and knackered, DS4 appeared twenty minutes later and then they started on breakfast, so they were too late to go to parkrun by the time they had finished. Both looked exhausted so I let it go. They will need to be poked awake by the time school comes around on Wednesday, they have been up at half six all holiday long. School week and suddenly everyone develops sleeping sickness.

So, while they all lay around the house on various screens I folded all the laundry, and returned to owners, sorted 3 bags of stained clothes for cloth recycling, went to B&Cue and bought 2 lengths of skirting board and a large bit of pine for the top of DS1s new cube shelves. Some chalk paint for the headboard and the door hook thing, and came back home via Aldi.

Painted coat hook thing and headboard and made lunch, It was dry by the end of it.

Shortened door hook rack, put on DS1s door, cut pine to size and now the storage units look great. Attached headboard (bodge) to DS1s bed. Fixed his under bed drawer that he had managed to trash. Amazing what can be achieved by a determined woman and a bit of 2 x 4. He was impressed anyway.
I fear I am giving him an unrealistic impression of what most women are like.
So I made him hoover the sawdust up on his bedroom floor.

Replaced DS3s bedroom lightbulb which had blown, when? no idea, he never mentioned it until yesterday, then said he had been telling me for months. I have no recollection of this, I suspect he may be exagerating. Anyway , I now only have 8 surplus bayonet lightbulbs from the stash I found in weird places when we moved it over 2 years ago, they will be used up eventually and then it is eco lightbulbs all the way. I have about 10 screw in lightbulbs which are enormous, goodness only knows where you are supposed to stick something that size, maybe some kind of dentists' lamp? Or a miniature sun? I dunno.

Still plenty of stuff on the list to do. But then again, lots of jobs have been done. If I get the tv aerial fixed on the top floor, then DS1s room is competely done.

The rain has hammered down since 9.30, it has barely stopped. I got utterly soaked trying to load 240cm lengths of wood into the car. Good old N1ssan M1cras. Like a blimmin' Tardis, my car. You have to see it to believe it.

While messing about finding the lightbulbs I thought I would be nice and safe and use the ladder instead of balancing ontop of whatever I could find, so I put the ladder up, and climbed the first rung and smashed the top of my skull off the door head jamb - that horizontal bit at the top (of the door, not my head). Ouch. Horrible cracky noise in neck when you do that, . I will not ever do that again, lesson learned. I would not recommend it.

DH has embroidered a peacock today, it is very pretty, and made a soup that did not go down well with the 2 smallest.

List for tomorrow compiled, I have a plan and a direction to be moving in.

Onwards!!

chumpy45

As ever, your energy is inspirational. Ouch to the head banging. Hope you're not too sore tomorrow. Take it easy.

wishingthemortgaheaway

Once again. You are awesome.
I have extracted a blu Ray player from the 'media station' that is the height of my practical skills for the day.

I don't know how you fit so much into a day.