Rain, rain and more rain coming!

The rain finally stopped today (Friday) but is due back with a vengeance on Saturday along with 70 mph winds.  The roofer was meant to be here today but never turned up, probably busy with other emergencies.  It is hoped that everything will dry out but any permanent damage will be repaired.  Such a shame after all the work the joiners have done!  Lewis’ room is coming on great and will soon be ready for plastering and decorating.

Managed to get Ruby outside for a walk today between showers, she has been amusing herself indoors by chasing hamsters.

Here are some photos including Charlotte’s messy corner:

Lewis’ room

Other side of Lewis’ room

Water damage to my new walk in wardrobe

New bedroom

Hamster chasing

Charlottes messy corner

As it has been soooo wet this week we have done indoor things like shopping in town (to buy waterproof trousers) and window shopping at Toys R Us (to see what Santa might bring).  We also made a trip to Aberdeen Art Gallery to see an exhibition by sculpture Ron Mueck.  His giant human figures are scarily realistic and included a sleeping head, a newborn baby and a naked man which Lewis commented “did it really have to have so much detail!”.

Apart from the rain we have had a fun holiday.

Tattie holidays & week 5 of ‘The Big Build’

The first week of the ‘Tattie’ holidays is over.  We haven’t done much this week but Lewis & Charlotte have enjoying chilling out at home and playing with their friends Zoe & Luke (who are also our neighbours).  Lewis & Luke are usually on the computer or X-Box and Charlotte & Zoe tend to make a mess everywhere with sewing, sticking and colouring.

John managed to get a loan of someones football season tickets so has taken Lewis & Luke to Pittodrie this afternoon to watch Aberdeen v Hearts.  This is Lewis’ first time so I am sure he will be really excited, I hope Aberdeen win.

This is the end of week 5 of ‘The Big Build’.  We had a very noisy couple of days when the builders were taking down the block wall between our existing house and the extension.  They left the wood framework and plaster board so that all the mess was in the extension and not in the house which was good.  We have now moved all Lewis’ stuff into the main bedroom and only thing still in his bedroom is his bed.  He will have to move out on Monday though so they can break through (very exciting).  They are going to leave the kitchen for the time being as this will be the most disruptive.  The windows and doors are also in at the back of the house (see photo).

back windows & doors

I have finally decided on the shower room furniture and fittings I want and will hopefully be putting in my order on Monday.  Have decided to go with gloss white units with black gloss worktops and black ’showerwall’ panels in the shower instead of tiles.  Should look really stylish and be very easy to clean.

The bargain ex-display shower enclosure I bought turned out not to be a bargain after all as there was a crack in the tray.  Also it wasn’t going to be dismantled until the end of October so I decided to get a refund as I didn’t want people trying it out in the showroom for another month after I had paid for it >:(.  I will be ordering a new (more expensive but better quality) shower enclosure on Monday.

I don’t have any more photos of ‘The Build’ as most of the work has been taking place upstairs in the extension and you can only get in by climbing up the ladders and in through a window – I did this once but it was a bit scary and I don’t really fancy doing it again.  I will take photos of the upstairs next week when they break through.

Charlotte on the Climbing Wall

On Monday Charlotte went climbing at an ‘extreme’ sports centre with the Brownies as part of the 100 years of guiding celebrations.  There are 10 challenges to complete to get a special Adverture 100 badge and this one was the ‘look up high’ challenge.  Charlotte amazed me by getting right to the top and she wasn’t scared at all.

Week 3 of ‘The Big Build’ + other stuff.

End of week three of ‘The Big Build’ and we have a roof ready for the  tiles and the fascias and soffets are on.  I managed to get a bargain ex-display shower unit from Homebase this week as I just happened to be there when they were putting it up for sale.  Still haven’t decided on the units though and as they can take up to 6 weeks from order I had better get a move on.

Had an emergency on Friday when the upstairs toilet blocked, I won’t go into the details but it was pretty disgusting.  Thankfully the plumber was in Westhill and came and unblocked it that afternoon.

John did his 40th birthday Ferrari driving experince on Sunday and really loved it.

Charlotte was off school on Monday & Tuesday as she had an upset tummy, she was OK otherwise though so we did  some crafts and also made a model aeroplane.  She was upset that she missed swimming with the Brownies and baking at school on Monday but thankfully she was back to school on Wednesday.  This year she is in a composite P3/4 class and is learing Spanish and table tennis which are normally P4 subjects.  I help with the table tennis as it is at the academy.  Her class project this term is Farming and they had a trip to a local working farm on Thursday which she enjoyed.

Lewis is still doing football and badminton outwith school and is now also doing Rugby training and basketball at school as well.  His class project is The Rainforests.  They have a trip booked to ‘Amazonia’ in Motherwell on the 13th November and I am hoping I will get to go along as a parent helper.

They both had their school discos on Friday evening which they enjoyed very much.  I was up and back to school 8 times on Friday so it was a busy day for me.

Getting instruction.

John in the Ferrari

John driving the Ferrari

Lewis in the helmet

Charlotte in the Helmet

Making planes while ill

Finished result

Front of house

Back of house

2nd week of the Big Build

Quite good progress this week despite nothing happening on Monday.

Our new boiler has been fitted and is now working after a night and day without any hot water.  I thought we would be OK for hot water as we have an immersion heater but when I switched it on it tripped all the electics.  The electrician had a look at it today but is still not sure what is wrong with it. Thankfully the weather here has been great so no need for any heating yet.

The sink in the garage has been removed (I will be reusing it) and the builders have now knocked down the remaining bit of wall where the old boiler was and are ready to start rebuilding the back wall tomorrow.

My washing machine is also plumbed in again although it is a bit difficult getting to it.  There are large sheets of plywood half up against the door and nails and rubbish all over the floor.  I had to squeeze through the gap then sweep a path through all the rubbish first.

I now need to decide on the shower room furniture, fittings and tiles as most items take a few weeks to order.  I have been to a few bathroom showrooms and now have a huge pile of brochures to look through as well.  It is fun looking but I hate having to make that final decision, help!

Here are some photos:

Outside back of garage

Inside looking towards front of garage

Plumbed in washing machine

New boiler

First week of the Big Build

The project manager/supervisor of the build was round on Saturday morning as I had to make a decision on what doors and windows I wanted.  He apologised for the build not being as far along as expected (I had no idea it was behind) and told me that he had sacked one of the joiners on Thursday as he hadn’t been on site a few times when he should have been.  Another joiner is going to be starting tomorrow and he seemingly is very good and will get everything back on track.  The plumber is due to come on Wednesday to put in the new boiler and the builders should be here on Thursday so it will be really busy this week and I expect very noisy.  Here are some up to date photos:

Day 2&3 of the Big Build

I was a bit stressed out yesterday as the joiners did something different to what I had been expecting.  They also left a pile of wood at the end of the driveway so we couldn’t get any of our cars in and John had to park in another street until a space came available in the parking area.  I had to phone the supervisor and he is coming out today.  I didn’t get much sleep last night as I was worrying about it.

Today 3 builders turned up at 8am and started knocking down the back wall of the garage.  As the supervisor wasn’t able to come out until the afternoon I took the kids to school and Ruby for a walk.  When I got back I thought I would have my shower and was just about to step in when all the electricity went off (something always happens when I try to have a shower, grrr).  Turns out a brick fell on a wire and tripped the supply.  I had to go back downstairs to let them into the house so they could put it back on again.  They were finished by 11.30am and left.

The supervisor eventually came at 4pm and explained everything so I feel much happier now.  Tomorrow the joiners and plumber are coming as they need to move the sink and boiler so the builders can take down the rest of the wall and start rebuilding.

back of garage yesterday

no space in the driveway

back of garage today

Day 1 of the Big Build

At last the building work has started on our extension.  Today they put up the scaffolding and took off part of the front of the garage roof.  The delivery they were expecting didn’t arrive so they finished at 2.30pm.  The gas boiler and washing machine are still in the garage and they are going to try and rig up something so they can still be used when the whole roof comes off.

Front of house

Back of garage

Extension to start this week

Our new extension is due to start later this week so we have been clearing out the garage.  All the hutches are now round the back of the shed covered with a tarpauline, our shed is full and some stuff has gone into my mum & dads garage.  The rest will have to go into the conservatory.  When they get round to ‘breaking through’ I will need to find space for the kitchen stuff and everything in Lewis’ bedroom as well.  Just hope the rain stays away while the building work is done.  Here are some before photos:

Kitchen layout

Upstairs landing

Lewis's bedroon

Garage

Food I miss!

It is nearly 3 years since I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease and I was just thinking about the food I really miss.  If I could eat anything I liked just for one day without any effects then this is what I would have:

Breakfast:  Weetabix and toast.

Mid morning snack:  Warm croissant.

Lunch:  Burger King or Mcdonalds cheeseburger & fries.

Mid afternoon snack:  pinapple tart or vanilla slice (or maybe both).

Tea:  Pizza Hut deep pan pizza and some Hagen Daz cookie dough ice cream.

Supper:  More toast.

Oh well, I can only hope someone finds a cure sometime.