Forgot to say it's Sarah's birthday on Monday, so tomorrow we're going out for a little celebration - I'm taking Sarah, Thalia, Amelia (Sarah's friend from nursery) and Billie (from school - apparently Sarah's new "best friend" now that Millie has moved away) to have pizza & go to the cinema - to see A Cinderella Story. Actually, it should be fun (as opposed to Olivia's party, which is end of October, and will involve up to 25 4 & 5 year olds... - not in my house, I hasten to add!)

Ok, FINALLY got the rest of the pictures up on the kitchen page of our website. I know it's been a while, but well, I'm a busy person :)

I also put up some photos from Ireland on the main album page. So, there you go! More later.

This is on the first day of school (for Olivia), which was last Monday - Alex looks a bit worried by the whole thing, poor chap. 

Well, I know I'm a slug about blogging, and about updating the kitchen renovation page, but here's a picture to tide you over until I get it updated - some time this week. It's more or less done (I keep saying that, I know!) I need another coat of paint on the ceiling & to do the edges where the walls meet the ceiling. And we need a new floor - but that was waiting for the painting. Oh, and did I mention we are going to do just a little more work we hadn't decided on originally :) ? One more unit to the right of the dryer - we thought it might be too high there, as there's a low window, but actually, it will be ok, so Andy's going to come back and fit it for us when we have the stuff. But it certainly looks different! 

Sorry to be a slug about blogging - I do have a good excuse this weekend, though, as I was not near a computer for the entire weekend - more on that later. Kitchen is nearly nearly done now, only we've decided to add one more bit we weren't going to do originally - another unit next to where the tumble dryer is. I had originally thought the counter would be too high to carry on there, but we've decided it would look more finished to go a little further & round the counter off. Also, another unit (small drawers) would be useful. It may be a few weeks before that's sorted, though.

Anyway, both kids and Geoff seem to have survived the weekend without me, which is good & Olivia starts Reception tomorrow, which is also good. She's quite excited, and really, she needs to be back in school - it was quite a long summer break anyway, and for the Reception kids, it's been even longer. And for the parents, too! I'll try to catch up with news & kitchen stuff tomorrow or the next day, but there's still a lot to do putting the house in order & cleaning, as well as other things to catch up with. If anyone finds a place where they hand out extra time, do be sure to let me know, as I could certainly use some...

So, we're back from Ireland (which was great, more later on that), and kitchen is nearly done, just a few little bits (and my painting to come) - I have photos, but am too tired tonight to fuss with getting them out of the camera. Maybe tomorrow.

Back to school today, for Sarah, though Olivia doesn't go until Monday. Also, first day of Brownies, which is new - she did Rainbows before, but although they are technically supposed to be 7 for Brownies, the leader let her go up early as Thalia was going up, too. Olivia is looking forward to starting Rainbows after she turns 5 - not until the 2nd half of the term, which is a good thing, as it will give her a chance to settle into school.

Not much else - I have to have a root filling (root canal) next week, as I have an abcess in one of my teeth - developed it while on holiday in Ireland of course - well, I'm sure it was developing for some time, but of course that's when it became really bad - talk about serious pain - I woke up at 3 in the morning & it was so painful I wasn't sure whether to cry or throw up. I didn't do either, in the end, but it was a close call! I've seen the dentist today & he's given me some antibiotics to get rid of the infection & made an appointment to sort it next week, when the infection has cleared & also, when he has a longer appointment available - they are really good about seeing you in an emergency, but they are short appointments, for obvious reasons. And the REALLY good news is that depending on how much of the tooth is left (it's quite a big filling in it already), he might have to put a crown on to finish it off. Maybe I'll get lucky & there will be enough tooth left to hold a regular filling - I've had two crowns in the past 2 years, and frankly, that's plenty. I haven't had a new filling for years, but of course the old ones can break or get a little decay at the edges, which means they need redoing, and eventually, you just run out of tooth - hence crowns.

OK, that's enough, didn't intend to go on about dentistry for ages - sorry!

Off to Ireland tomorrow (early) for a long weekend to see Cathi, Dave, Aine and Aisling, who I've not met before, as she's only 10 weeks old or so. Long drive, but will be fun once we get there. Hopefully the kids will sleep some in the car, as we're getting a very early start. And when we get back, the kitchen will be done. Hurrah. Or rather, the builders will be done - I'll still have to put stuff away, paint, etc. I've probably said that before, but I have rather a one track mind at the moment. Not surprisingly. And it's back to school the day after we get back as well, so it's going to be a busy week...

Well, most of the plastering is done now, except for one bit above some cupboards where he's putting up a panel to hide the stuff at the back (leftover chimney breast, pipes, etc). And he even put some doors on some of the units today, so it's beginning to look finished. Sort of. 

Spent most of today doing decorating type stuff - put lining paper on the one wall I'm bothering to paper - this is the stud wall behind the fridge which is in a location likely to get bumped, so I thought best to paper it. It was a bit of a pain, though, as the end of the wall is only about 4 inches wide, which makes papering it fiddly. Looks ok, though, and I'm painting over it anyway. Did some painting in the dining room and some preliminary painting in the kitchen - as it's all new plaster, I wanted to put a base coat of thinned paint (half and half with water) on before painting - just to keep the plaster from soaking up so much paint. Sarah helped, which she thought was really fun. The main problem with kids is that by the time they are old enough to really be helpful with stuff like that, or housework, they no longer have any interest in doing it!

Anyway, I will eventually paint the kitchen walls all over with a roller (except maybe above the cupboards - I might have to use a brush there!) to make the coverage even & smooth, but not until the builders are done plastering and making a mess and stuff. Eventually I will also repaint the whole dining room and also the computer room (they join together) but I can't do all that until the kitchen is done because all the stuff from the kitchen is piled in those other two rooms, so I can't actually get to most of the walls... And of course, I'll have to do the ceiling as well. Must check and see if I have a roller with a long handle! Anyway, it felt productive, which was good...

So, here's what I found when I came downstairs to my kitchen this morning - he was at least 10cm long (4 inches) - I didn't get the tape measure out and measure him, but that unit he's on the edge of is 60cm deep... Luckily, there are lots of large, deep buckets around at the moment, so I was able to move him outside without too much danger of him jumping out onto me - I don't really like to kill spiders, but neither do I want them crawling on me. I'm funny that way... Anyway, he (or maybe it was a "she" - who knows) is the same kind of spider we sometimes get in the bathtub, so I wonder if he was in the ceiling/bathroom floor & came out when there was no ceiling yesterday. Whatever. Glad he was on the counter, not the floor as I usually come down barefoot & I sure wouldn't have wanted to step on him! 

End of week two in the kitchen, and it's really coming on apace. (I can't believe I just used the word "apace".) Monday is a holiday, so the builder(s) won't be back until Tuesday, but there's not a lot left - a bit of plastering still and some electrical work - at the moment we only have about 3 working outlets in the kitchen, which is slightly inconvenient. They still have to hang all the doors for the units, though most of the shelves are in (I did that myself this afternoon, to get them out of the living room). Of course, even once they finish, it will still need painting (which I am doing myself) and a new floor (no point in doing that until everything else is done, including the painting). But it won't be long until it's at the point where we can use it - I'm looking forward to putting all the stuff back! Of course, I won't be able to find anything once I put it away, but it will still be much better than having it all stacked up in boxes in the computer room. All the stuff like the wall rails with hanging whatsits will also have to wait until the painting is done, but that's the sort of stuff I can do myself - only a few screws involved.

So, here's the state of the kitchen today. The walls look dark because the plaster hasn't dried yet. You can see the new boiler on the wall and the new hob (stove) - also the old cooker is still there because the oven isn't connected yet, so he doesn't want to leave us without an oven, bless him. . The washing machine is pulled out because he's still working on the electrical outlets in that end of the kitchen, but it will go where it is, just pushed all the way back. You can see the drier in place, too, to the right of the sink. Progress... 

Well, someday I'll write about something other than my kitchen. But not just yet. Today they spent most of the day doing plastering, which is good, because it means the walls might be dry enough by the weekend for me to do some painting. My main decision now will be whether to paint straight onto the plaster, or whether to put lining paper up first. I know which is easier! But it might be more sensible to do the paper. I dunno, can't decide. The painting will take at least two coats (the first being thinned paint or PVA mixed with water to help keep the plaster from soaking up too much realy paint). If I papered first, I wouldn't necessarily need as many coats of paint, but I'd need to paper it, which isn't that hard, just a bit of a fiddle. Ho hum, decisions decisions. (And such exciting ones, too!)

They did the boiler today - took the old one out and put them new one in, so there doesn't really look like much difference in the kitchen, but it was a major job, so it's nice to have it done. They still have to take out part of the old chimney breast - tomorrow - but once that's done, the rest of the units can go in, which means not only will the kitchen look really different, but the dining room will too, as there won't be two huge tall units in there blocking the light. I can't wait!

Well, another day, and more progress. Today they mainly worked on the plumbing & the sink and associated countertop & units. And the result is, a working sink. Hoorah. Photos on the website. Nothing much else of interest happening - my life IS my kitchen at the moment...

Just a quickie tonight, as I can't really sit straight at my computer to type without first shifting a large quantity of appliances/appliance boxes. And I can't be bothered. The sideways typing thing is okay for about half an hour, but it's beginning to get on my nerves... Anyway. New pictures posted on the kitchen page for your edification. Or amusement. Or whatever.

Today's main accomplishment, though, was more or less finishing off moving the girls' room to the loft room - formerly the guest room. I didn't get any pictures yet, but I'll do that tomorrow. They are really excited about it, and actually, it looks great. It's really spacious and should hopefully provide lots of places for them to contain their stuff. Of which they have a huge amount. For those of you who have stayed in the room, you might be interested to know that I turned the bed around so that it's under the windows, with the headboard against the space between the cupboards on that side (where the futon was - we got rid of the futon). I was going to put the two new dressers against the space, but they were incredibly heavy once I got them assembled, so I decided they'd go better against the wall, as I'll need to get the Christmas stuff out occasionally (that's what's now in the space between the cupboards). Those of you who haven't stayed in the room are finding this totally confusing - pictures tomorrow, I promise.

Anyway, they are sleeping in their new bed tonight, and are really thrilled. We'll see how it goes, but I have high hopes. And Alex's room looks really empty, except for Alex & his cot full of teddy bears...

I was going to put another kitchen photo up, but decided that was boring & this was much cuter. Kitchen pics later, though, as they spent a lot of time today assembling the units, so it looks kind of fun. And crowded. Anyway, this one is on the beach at Brancater, in Norfolk.  

Well, at the end of day 2 of the kitchen renovation, we had fewer cabinets on the wall, and no window - he hasn't taken the door out yet, as the weather is supposed to be awful, pouring rain and whatnot, so he's hoping for a less wet day before doing that. Perhaps today!

Oh and by the way, I have updated our kitchen page on the website, so there's more fun kitchen stuff there!

Finally got around to updating the website with new photos. I still have to sort the holiday photos, but at least I've done everything before that point. The problem with the holiday ones is I've got one set on regular film (I have a photo disc, but I still have to integrate them) and a bunch from my mom's photos, some of which I'll want to scan in and upload. Not a big deal, but means lots of fiddling around and I'm just too lazy to do any more tonight.

Oh, by the way - notice the new-look blog? Decided it was time for something simpler & fresher - maybe it's the kitchen remodelling spilling over into other sections of my life. And it's so easy to change your whole template on blogger that I couldn't really resist. Makes up for the tons of boxes piled up everywhere in the rest of my life!

Here's the girls inside a large sculpture at Wisley RHS Gardens, yesterday. Anything that can be climbed on, they will...