P.S. the orange carpet in the upstairs landing is an offcut from Lewis’ bedroom carpet and when we can afford it will be replaced .

This is the first chance I have had to update my blog since the start of December as it is such a busy month for me so here goes.

Charlotte had been taking Piano lessons since summer and had to take part in a concert at the end of November.  Although she was very nervous she managed to play both her tunes perfectly.  She has now decided that she doesn’t want to contunue with the lessons though and I am not going to force her as she can always start again at a later date.

Lewis and Charlotte were very busy at school in December and along with their usual school work had parties, a panto and a school Christmas fayre.  Charlotte was an angel in her P3 Christmas performance and Lewis’s class organised a Quiz night to raise money to help build a school in the rainforest and the P4-7′s also did a performance one morning.  I felt like I was never away from the school in December as I had to go along and see everything (how mums that work manage I just don’t know)!

The building work finally finished on the house the week before Christmas so I then had to get all the hutches back in and set up for the Xmas boarders.  That was some job as well as the hutches were all mouldy from being outside in the wet even though they were covered with a tarpauline.  It took nearly a week for them to dry out then I had to clean them all inside and out.  We then had to sand all the hutch doors down as they had all expanded in the wet Thankfully I got them all sorted before the first ‘guests’ arrived.

The snow has been really bad here and our road has still not yet seen a gritter.  A lot of  the roads and pavements in Aberdeen haven’t been gritted and the local papers are full of stories of people breaking bones falling because they are so icy now.  Also my car hadn’t been starting so I had to get a new battery a couple of days ago.

Apart from all that we had a really great Christmas and New Year with the Ord’s who managed to make it up from London and Livingston despite the weather.  Looking forward to a more relaxed January – oops forgot I have a lot of painting to do

Halloween – Charlotte & Lewis went Trick or Treating with their friends and came back with loads of sweets.

Brownies:  Charlotte had to say her Brownie Promise and got her new outfit for the occasion.

The build is on track to finish by end of November.  Outside is completed so we are now fully watertight.  Upstairs is nearly ready for decorating. Kitchen has just been knocked through this morning (looks good).  Cooker is disconnected so it will be microwave food tonight.  Most of our house is very cold as the new radiators are not yet connected.

Here are the photos:

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:

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.

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.

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.

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: