"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

greenbee

Dealt with the venison last night and filled a whole lot of kongs too.

Today I've done pilates, been for a walk, talked to some neighbours, eaten some apple, peanut butter, and prunes with my coffee and not much else. And I've just been told by the cats that they need lunch, so stinky will need a kong, and I'll go out and shift some more wood before making some soup as I want to get the outside stuff done so I can stick some laundry on and have a shower.

greenbee

One load of wood moved, two garden waste bins filled with prunings from shrubs in the front garden. Snowdrops and crocuses admired… still haven't decided whether to order a whole lot more or just move the ones here that are in the wrong places. Lunch eaten (soup). DW on. Second walk done, load of kindling moved, and one barrowload of woodchip taken to the compost area (only about a billion left to go).

I should probably have a shower and sort out laundry for overnight/tomorrow so I don't get a backlog, and make sure I have food organised for the week for me and the animals. And light the fire and lie on the sofa and read a book…

greenbee

Wasn't enough laundry to bother with, but I do have some clean laundry to put away at bedtime.

Proper food again this evening as there were leftovers from Friday. And pre-cooked meals taken of the freezer for the next few days. Veg roasted while supper was cooking, and some fish taken out to defrost too.

Stripey cat now happily eating venison, so the cat food bill will go down (venison is considerably cheaper). There are some kongs to fill and the DW to empty before bedtime. And the roast veg to put away, beans to soak, and the dog to empty. And I'd like to have a bath as well.

New cat flap being fitted tomorrow. I have both a small and a medium - the difference in size is ridiculous. So I think we'll stick with small. However, we may have to go up a size for the microchip one if not-Fatty gets any bigger.

Decorator on Tuesday to redo the bits of the bathroom affected by the replacement of the bath panel. Heating engineer also here on Tuesday.

greenbee

Up early (for me) and Pilates done before feeding time. Builders currently here installing a cat flap into the garage so I can move the cat loos, and also confirm what I need for the building regs paperwork so that can be sent off.

Messaged neighbour who is supposed to be doing the posts round the patio to ask whether we could add another two to the project (seeing as he hasn't actually been and done the first four yet). Hopefully it will prod him into action.

Dog walk is delayed while I wait for the builders to finish - Stinky is unimpressed. Cats are unimpressed with a. the weather b. people in the utility room making noise/mess and leaving stuff everywhere so they can't get to their food or their door.

greenbee

Dog had a short walk once the builders were finished, but decorator then turned up to check the paint needed for tomorrow and do the filling in preparation. He's got to buy a bit more paint, but I keep the empty cans so I remember what colours have been used.

Utility room needs a sort out now the cat flap is in (currently closed up), and the garage is going to need a sort out. But workshop will need sorting out first so the garage can be emptied.

greenbee

Big ensuite is finally finished as decorator has been and painted the bath panel and end wall. He also repaired the water damaged window sill in the front bedroom. I still need to put pictures up in the ensuite, but it's looking so much better. Decorator is going to do some external stuff over the summer, and will then have the garage conversion and back of the house to do at the end of the year.

Gardener was also here, so newly dug beds have been cardboarded (need more cardboard), raspberry supports are in, raspberries are cut back and beds weeded.

Heat pump engineer was also here, so hopefully I'll have a design and estimate soon. It's not going to be cheap… but at least it'll be worked out. And he doesn't want too much space for the plant room either!

Just waiting for the replacement pump for the septic tank to arrive so I can talk to the electrician (he'll be needed to help with that, so no point contacting him yet). Tomorrow is day 5 from when they emailed, so if it isn't dispatched tomorrow I'll chase. I'm also hoping the hall curtains (which were due mid-Jan and have already been chased once) will turn up soon.

Replied to an email from the hospital that arrived a couple of weeks ago. Have an environment agency letter to respond to via email (there's a report of sewage issues in our road - nothing to do with my system as it doesn't actually drain into the place where the issue is, but hopefully they're going to investigate properly, not just rely on everyone saying 'nothing to do with me').

Oh… I also went food shopping and spent a small fortune on not much - all real food (fruit, veg, yogurt etc). Eating still going pretty well. Pilates still being done daily and hopefully improving. Also mostly fitting in a short dog walk as well as a long one.

beanielou

Glad the work is finished for now. Have lots of cardboard!

EssexHebridean

You really are motoring through all the stuff with the house - I'm in awe allowing it took us 2 years to hang quite a number of pictures!

greenbee

The thing is EH I don't really want to spend 10 years with a poky office and a kitchen that's impossible to enjoy cooking in. And cheap grey vinyl flooring that traps dirt and is impossible to clean. Plus Stinky needs to be able to come in through the utility room and not the kitchen in weather like today. I'm not looking forward to the bills… I think I should be able to afford the to get the conversion done, the loo moved, the utility room sorted out, the heat pump in and the floor tiling through the garden room/larder/kitchen/utility/bootroom, but the kitchen, office flooring, and decorating may have to wait unless I'm lucky with a Premium Bond or two.

Weekend needs to involve giving the garage a good clearout so I can move the cat loos into it and get them used to going in there (chances are they'll then move in there… I might see whether I can setup a dog crate on the garage side with the litter trays in it) and then ruin their lives by letting Stinky into the utility room…

Redo's snowdrops have started coming up in the orchard, and I obviously remembered to move some crocuses last year too.

There are lots more crocuses coming up in the veg plot, so I'll move those to the front by the drive, along with most of the snowdrops from the beds (some of them will be added to the orchard).

greenbee

Must remember to a. submit an expenses claim for my work travel insurance and b. cancel the auto-renewal on it…

Also chase for replacement septic tank pump - they said 2-5 working days to dispatch on 4th Feb, so we're now past that. And I'd like to know when it will turn up so that I can book the drain man and the electrician to replace the old one!