Baby Steps

Very little to report on the house after the weekend. Mainly as on Friday and Saturday we were a little preoccupied by this:


This....

And this.....

But mainly this....

Despite the lack of house action, we had a lovely time with the above, riding on trains, decorating the furniture with Pollock-style yoghurt art and becoming the target for a rather violent human coconut shy. Owww Denise! Stop throwing it so hard...I mean it...quit it....let the kids have a go....

Up very early on Sunday morning for the first Brownbacks race at Lee Quarry. T'husbands mate, Dave, was at the door soon after the sun came up and t'husband was in the shower (yes I know t'husband up early - amazing how he manages it when he wants to!) so I had to answer the door in a state that wasn't really suitable for guests. Dave was very kind though and rather than telling me that I looked as you'd expect at 6am on a Sunday said in his slight Brummie accent 'What's with the mismatched jammies?'. Jammies is now my new favourite name for my night attire....however, I think he is hardly one to comment when he spent the day looking like this...

Dave's on the right and someone described his get-up as a hip hop bin man. I shall now be mainly calling him the Notorious B.I.N. The above photo is for Jenny who has long suspected t'husband sometimes feels the need to wear a high-vis vest. In this instance he is not wearing it for pleasure or to ensure people listen to him. Look again....this time he means business...'official' business...

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and once I had got over the shock it was wonderful being up as I love the light at that time in the morning. So after a strong coffee, I headed off to meet the gang at Lee Quarry for the race.

Walking up to the the race course was really exciting and I felt really proud to be involved in a small way with this new race series. It all looked great, the weather was marvellous and there seemed to be a real buzz. I think we had nearly 100 entries which for the first race is fantastic and the feedback seems to have been really good so far. Only a few falls and one incident, as far as I know, that required the help of Mountain Rescue. Of course, the fall happened close to the stretch t'husband was on and as he had recently attended a first aid course he was on hand to help out. Although according to some spectators reports, he was last seen dabbing pathetically at an ear that was bleeding profusely!

As well as the excitement of the race, we also got to hang out with lovely people...

Admire the views...
Visit the pub for post race celebration feasting and still managed to get a few things done including this...
And at long last these, although these are only doing the job short term until I have put up the longer term temporary ones....


So a lovely, busy, fun weekend.

Kitchen - the range cooker project...

Project number 2 was installation of the cooker so we didn't have to rely on camping stoves and the microwave when we moved in. Saying that we have a curry house practically next door and not having a cooker would have been the perfect excuse for th'husband having to eat curry every night. So to save his waistline, bank account and my nasal receptors from that which occurs when he eats too much curry we thought we ought to get a cooker installed.

Prior to us getting the house they had a smart kitchen (see below) with a range cooker up against the chimney breast. Of course, all of this disappeared during repossession. Well all apart from the floor in which there are now just a few holes that show what the kitchen once was! We decided so that we had room for an island (or more room for the island) to knock out the chimney breast and make use of this space by sinking the cooker into it...

Here it is part way through (see below). Although the hole for the cooker is relatively small the amount of rubble that was produced seemed to be way too much to have fitted in the hole. I think th'husband singlehandedly took 2 x pick up loads to the dump.

Denise, had you witnessed it, you would no doubt have been impressed at this display of manliness. It had the same effect on me as Jason fixing your video recorder had on you all those years ago! As you can see from his attire Jason is taking an office based site foreman type roll on the knocking down and rebuilding part of the project rather than being hands on....here he is staring at the wall as he is want to do when there is work to be done!

And here it is plastered. I am referring to the cooker not th'husband! See it fits...amazing!

And here it is again in context with that part of the kitchen. The plaster has dried out nicely. Yes, there are a few boxes still to find homes as you can see!

Oh and here it is painted and by night.....looks a bit alien doesn't it? I think it is the futuristic element or the combination of shiny-ness, lots of buttons and a digital display that means every bloke that visits comments on the cooker. The irony being I am not sure many of them would actually have a clue how to use it.... (Kit - you are the obvious exception to this statement and we look forward to you using it for cake baking in the near future - I will warn you, it is gas!)

As with the fireplace in the living room, there are still some joinery bits to do and floor tiles to clean (how does one remove concrete from slate tiles?) so finished photos to follow.

Hours taken: again a fair few to find the cooker and a fair few more to purchase it. Yes, I have a husband that likes to research to make sure that 1) we have bought the best possible product for our needs and 2) you can't buy it for 5p cheaper elsewhere. A week (on and off) to knock out chimney breast, re-fit gas pipes, fit lights, hook up electrics and a few hours painting!

The work begins...

....after all the excitement and ups and downs we went through, albeit in a relatively short period of time (due to the vendor insisting on a 28 day completion), we finally got the keys to our dream house.

Although the house itself is beautiful, due to it being a repossession the guts have pretty much been ripped out of it. So although you tend to take before and after shots to show that the after shows an improvement on the before in this case it is before and after repossession!

Bedroom

Kitchen

Living room

Main bathroom

So we have quite a job on our hands but I can't wait to get started. I think project 1 (phase 1) is to get the Living Room back into shape. It's probably the room with the least investment required and I am talking time and money (and if you don't think about re-sanding back the floors and revarnishing) and I need a refuge and somewhere relatively comfortable to retreat to when the dust / painting gets too much. First up..buy a fireplace!