Light the fire...

woodfired

lucielle said:

Sounds like you're having a lovely time.  Hadn't heard the word brook for a loooong time!
L

We are thanks L and our brook is officially a brook not a stream, it is "(village name) Brook".  

Today has been weird weather-wise, alternating rapidly between glorious sunshine and heavy downpours.  I popped into the house to make a coffee for DH and I, left my wellies outside on the back doorstep and when I came back out they were soaking wet - in blazing sunshine though.  Weird.  So the wellies are now in the greenhouse drying out, they are fur lined so may take a while.  Meanwhile, in the garden,  I cut off all the trusses of tomatoes from the outdoor plants as they are not doing so well as the nights are much colder now.  I've brought the unripe toms inside to ripen and chopped up all of the plants and popped in the green bin, I've stored away the canes and pots ready for next year.  I've also cut back my pumpkin plants as instructed by gardeners world, hopefully the fruit will ripen in time, and chopped down my dwarf bean plants (leaving the roots).  The green bin is now full ready for Thursday. 

I've made a chicken and bacon casserole for dinner tonight, the veg is prepped and the potatoes to go with it so I can relax this afternoon.  I used half a pack of bacon as lardons so I chopped the remaining half pack and popped in a freezer bag and then did the same with a couple of manky leeks.  These are now in the freezer as I had spotted some cooked chicken thigh meat in there so I can make a quick pie for dinner one night if all the ingredients are prepped and ready to go.  Off to meal plan the rest of the week. WF.x

savingholmes

Glad you are still loving your new home. The painting sounds like it will have really freshened things up.

woodfired

We really are SH, I knew we would love it but I didn't realise just how much!  Thank you.

Small steps this week; called SKY and added a call package as they were charging extortionate rates for even local calls   last month's call charges were over £30!!  A £10 call package should fix that.  Also knocked off DH's sports package he added whilst it was on offer so that will more than offset the call package charge.
Water meter install booked for Thursday.
Cooked a huge chilli with mince that was on it's last day from the shop.  This was dinner last night and will be tonight as I am at work all day today, for the first time since April!  I didn't come in til 9am as I had to get the children to school but I used the time wisely this morning, was up at 6.30am, showered and dressed.  I managed to put a load of washing on, empty the dishwasher, tidy the bedrooms, wipe down the bathroom and hoover all through downstairs whilst organising the children for school.  I will thank myself later when I go home to a clean and tidy house!
Anyway, I suppose I had better go and do some work!  Have a good day.

savingholmes

Very organised. You'll be snuggling down for xmas soon... 

woodfired

Morning,

What a fabulous few days we have had weather wise.  I have taken the opportunity to start painting the exterior of the house and the windows.  The house is white render but it is in poor shape in some places, particularly the front elevation so we have decided to have it re-done on the front before the winter weather sets in.  The windows all need some attention too, they are going to have the mastik sealant replaced and then a coat of 6 year guaranteed F&B pigeon eggshell, they are good quality hardwood windows but some are very inaccessible without scaffolding and so need some TLC. 
I'm looking forward to this as the windows are currently black and I think some new render and fresh paint will make it much prettier! It will also be more water tight hopefully. I'll try to post a 'before' pic shortly.

I have also ordered some special paint to paint my corian or quartz? worktops.  They are sky blue at the moment and we have cream&blue tiles and cream units.  I'm going to try to paint the worktops and tiles white (may need to re-tile) and the units either a grey or sage green.  Its a very expensive kitchen clearly, its just a bit dated now.  I feel like I am painting anything that doesn't move at the moment.

savingholmes

W1lk0 tile paint was ace in my kitchen - I used two gloss rollers - one to slap it on - and one to then go over it quickly to get a nice finish.

woodfired

Unfortunately the tile painting has not gone well.  The paint is ok and so is the finish but the tiles are 'rustic' and badly fitted, now they are all one colour this shows up quite dramatically ie. corners sticking out here and there, wonky lines etc etc.  We are going to need to re-tile.  It's ok though, I just want simple white metro style which won't break the bank and will hopefully look clean and smart when done.  I must admit it has made me re-think painting the worktops, we can replace the tiles for under £100 but the worktops are hideously expensive corian with full moulded sink and everything.  If I make a mess of those it will be a very expensive mistake.  I'm going to re-tile and then I may be able to live with them, despite the ugly tiles, the white paint has definitely improved the feel of the kitchen and the blue worktop feels less overpowering now we've covered the rest of the blue.  The kitchen of my dreams is a sagey grey/green shaker with sleek white worktop but I may have to wait a while longer!

Elsewhere I am madly painting the exterior windows, all 25 of them! Most of those are comprised of 3-5 mullions too - so lots and lots of windows to paint.
The scaffolding has gone up on one part of the front of the house ready for the re-rendering job, we decided the paint job wasn't enough as the render blown in quite a few places and patched very badly in others.  We have researched K Rend as we like the finish but we know of a couple of houses where it is badly stained after only a few years.  Apparently it needs quite a bit of maintenance, such as spraying with silicone to protect it, each year.  This house is so ridiculously tall and the front porch is a very wide span that prevents ladder access higher up that this sort of maintenance isn't practical.  We have to have scaffolding/cherry picker for access up there.  Instead, we are going for traditional render but we are going to invest in some top quality paint that is guaranteed for 10 years.  This will work out much cheaper than the K Rend even factoring in the cost of the paint.  Whilst the scaffolding is up I can get DH to renovate the inaccessible windows and I can then paint them.  This old house is going to look fabulous in a few weeks! 

Hazelnutty

Sounds really positive WF - it's amazing how much difference these jobs make to the whole 'feel' of a place.

savingholmes

Great progress. Invest to save

woodfired

Having a frugal week this week, spinning things out and making do.
I made a huge roast dinner on sunday, cooked 4 lamb shanks i picked up on offer last week.  We split 2 between us (still had leftovers) and froze the other two in gravy once cooked for another day.   I made huge quantities of veg as I always do (cannot cook a small roast dinner), I think it stems from hailing from a large family.  In particular there was loads of cauli and broccoli in white sauce so last night I mashed the cauli and broccoli into the sauce, added loads of mature cheddar and some parmesan then stirred into pasta to make a cheesy pasta bake and it was lovely.  The kids really enjoyed it and it got some veg into them without them really noticing. 

I also used up two tins of pie filling bought in lockdown.  Apple and gooseberry tins have been sitting in the cupboard for ages so I livened them up with bit of lemon juice and a touch of sugar as they were a little bland, then made into a crumble which was very acceptable considering it's origins .


Monday was DS' birthday, I made a bit of food as family dropped in here and there over the course of the afternoon/evening, we are still eating up cake and other bits.  I am going to freeze some homemade sausage rolls as they are popular with guests but only I really like them in the immediate family and they are not good on the waistline!

I made a point of sitting in front of the fire last night with the candles lit, snacks and wine to hand, to watch the bake off.  I always love bake off, as much for the scenic shots of wildlife and the spring/summer weather as the nights draw in, as the baking itself and I'm looking forward to the escapism of it all this year in particular.  I'm trying to surround myself with 'normal' in the hope that I/we don't get too bogged down and fed up at the increased restrictions.  In our little bubble at home, all is well with the world and I am very thankful for that.xx