Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

savingholmes said:

Hope you both have a good evening even if you are apart. Probably as well you have some company with the young decorator. Enjoy your WI meeting too. Hope the flooding doesn't stop your plans.

I love Mr F being at home @savingholmes but it's still nice to have the house to myself occasionally.  Fortunately the rain stopped several hours before I had to leave so there wasn't much standing water around.

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, you're so organised doing your Christmas meal plan! I'm very impressed. Yay to having the decorating finished! Is this all of it now, or is there still another room to do?

Hope you didn't get too wet with FDawg earlier... and fingers crossed Mr F stays safe x

More stress avoidance that being well organised @Cheery_Daff 😁  It makes me feel a bit more in control even if I'm not 😆
That will be most of the decorating done in the house (not including bathrooms) but we still have the annex to do.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

It's all go...

Young Decorator thinks he'll be finished tomorrow with perhaps a bit of finishing off Thursday Morning - that will be 2.5 days ahead of schedule and a saving of £325 🥳  Overall we'll come in about £950 less than the very worst case scenario I'd asked YD to quote for overall 🥳  I can put that towards blinds and curtains.

I contacted the window company to see what was happening about our new windows.  We booked them in April and paid a substantial deposit on the basis that they would be installed in September 😲  I did expect some delay due to bad weather and Covid.  However, I realised this morning that I haven't been contacted once by the company since I paid.  Not once in six months 😲 I've had to contact them and each time I've been told of a further delay.  The last estimate for installation I was given was November and they responded today with 'it will be several more weeks yet' 😡 I sent a note back saying how disappointed I was in the service and how I'd made it clear at the time of booking that I didn't want installation to happen during the winter.  The fitters are coming out tomorrow 😲😲😲  Bit short notice but I wasn't going to say no because who knows when they will be done otherwise.  I think the company has overstretched itself and I don't want to find myself picking up the pieces for that later on.  YD will still be here so able to touch up if they cause any damage to the paintwork.

Boiler man turned up yesterday afternoon.  I'd forgotten he was coming 😲  Well I hadn't forgotten - I'd just not realised that yesterday was 1 November 😆  The heating seems to be working very well now.

I made Potato Bread with Goats Cheese & Thyme yesterday which is now in the freezer ready for Twixmas.  Also Spiced Carrot & Lentil Soup which I've been having for lunch/supper.  I had some tortellini and pasta sauce from the freezer for supper last night.

Made it to the WI Committee meeting last night and didn't come away with too many extra responsibilities.  Tonight I have Writing Group and tomorrow I have Book Club - then Thursday I expect I'll need a lie down 😆

Oooh - think my Christmas crafting supplies have just arrived 🥳

Bye for now

Gx

Cheery_Daff

I expect you will need a lie down after that lot! 

Yay that the heating is sorted, and thank Young Decorator will be done soon! Pah to window company though, that's most annoying. Looks like they're operating in firefighting mode if they're sending someone tomorrow the minute you complained. What a shame. Hope they do a good job!

beanielou

So disapointing that the window company think that's ok.
Hope that all goes well.
Could YD do the bathrooms as he is finished early? 

savingholmes

Wow you certainly lit a fire under them. Hope that they do a good job. Good you have YD on hand.

New blinds sound nice... I must say I still really like the curtains you showed next to the yellow. Not sure it would work in my house but love the pattern.

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

I expect you will need a lie down after that lot! 

Yay that the heating is sorted, and thank Young Decorator will be done soon! Pah to window company though, that's most annoying. Looks like they're operating in firefighting mode if they're sending someone tomorrow the minute you complained. What a shame. Hope they do a good job!

Not that the heating is much use at the moment @Cheery_Daff as we currently have gaping holes where the windows used to be 🧊🥶🧊

beanielou said:

So disapointing that the window company think that's ok.
Hope that all goes well.
Could YD do the bathrooms as he is finished early? 

The bathrooms are a major project @beanielou as they need replacing.  They'll be our last savings goal after we get everything else done.

savingholmes said:

Wow you certainly lit a fire under them. Hope that they do a good job. Good you have YD on hand.

New blinds sound nice... I must say I still really like the curtains you showed next to the yellow. Not sure it would work in my house but love the pattern.

I'm feeling a little guilty about that now @savingholmes as the fitters are lovely and have been talking about how busy and stressful it's all been.  Having said that - what are the company thinking taking on more work than they can handle?  They should at least be giving realistic timescales.  We all know that bad weather and staff holidays and sickness have an impact on these things so they should be factoring that in.

The curtains are the Morris Strawberry Thief pattern.  It's one of my favourites and becoming a bit of a motif in the house.  I love the Arts & Crafts look and our place was built in 1900 so it suits the house.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Chaos!

The window fitters are here and have already removed four frames and put four new ones in.  There is a lot of drilling and disruption involved.  Young Decorator is also here on the landing and Mr F is in the living room watching telly (and trying to keep FDawg calm) as his study window has been taken out and there's nowhere else in the house he can work right now.

I have laid claim to the bedroom and am currently in bed, fully dressed with the electric blanket on.  I can escape here for an hour or two or until everyone starts demanding more tea 😆  I have Book Club this evening and have some prep to do for that so can use the time constructively at least.

I've got a couple of bagels out of the freezer for lunch as the kitchen is definitely not in working order right now.  We may opt for a takeaway later if we're still in chaos by supper time.

I need to pop out after lunch to pick up a prescription and some cash to pay YD when he finishes tomorrow.  So that's another escape route planned.  I hate having work done in the house - it upsets my equilibrium 😆  I keep telling myself it's only for a couple of days and then we'll have lovely new, water-tight and wind-proof windows in time for the winter.

Hmmmm - fitters have their radio on loud. I might need to find some headphones.

Fortune x

themadvix

Just focus on the fact that not only will the windows be done but YD won't be there for much longer and you'll have a water-tight, wind-proof *and* beautifully decorated house - that art nook is yours next week!

Cheery_Daff

Bed with the electric blanket on sounds like the perfect place to be! And remember you can always ask them to turn the radio down... 😉😁 Our lot have at least mostly got that bit sorted, as it REALLY bothers Mr Cheery, and there are no doors between where they are and where we are (a few days and we might just cope, but we're 2.5 months in now). Hope FDawg is ok, must be stressful for him too.

Fortune_Smiles

themadvix said:

Just focus on the fact that not only will the windows be done but YD won't be there for much longer and you'll have a water-tight, wind-proof *and* beautifully decorated house - that art nook is yours next week!

It will all be worth it in the end @themadvix and at least I'll have time to get the place properly cleaned up before the Christmas chaos starts 😆

Fortune x