The chaos continues..

I keep thinking I am slowing down and then it doesn't quite happen!   Last week disappeared in a blur.  The initial plan had been for dad to help Andrew lay some flooring in the new bit of hall created when we built extension, but then the plasterer phoned to say he was coming on Monday so the bedroom had to be cleared instead!   Apart from moving all the furniture, we also had to empty the entire contents of our fitted sliding wardrobes and rip them out.   We have been planning to change the doors because they are really heavy mirrored doors which were there when we moved in - and are balancing rather dangerously on their runners.  So in order to plaster the ceiling we needed to take these out, because there is artex inside the cupboard!!  Dad is rather good at demolition so we got through that fairly quickly.  We got some temporary clothes rails to hang things on because it will probably be a couple of weeks before we can build a new wardrobe (on order from Ikea at the moment).   Dad also fitted spotlights in the hallway Andrew started painting the living room ceiling - and I did important things like filling nail holes in the skirting boards.  Very demanding ;-)

Spare room filled with contents of wardrobes!

On Monday we were up, stripped the bed and left everything ready.  Came home and the plasterer had started in the hallway, which had taken ages because the ceilings are so high (since we took down the false ceiling!)   So we made the bed again, then stripped it again on Tuesday morning.   Came home and he had finished the hall and 'prepared' the bedroom to come on Wednesday morning. By prepare he meant he had dismantled the bed, turned it on its side and covered the room in dust sheets.   I wasn't quite sure where he thought we had been sleeping. So I decided to try and move the 4 clothes rails in the spare room by myself, so that we could use those beds.   It was eventful as I tried to wheel/carry these clothes rails, which kept coming apart mid transit.  Of course Seb was very helpful in standing in front of me at every opportunity.  I managed though and cleared a small space to sleep in.  He finished today so need to go make the bed again :-)   I must say though that if anyone is looking for a plasterer I would thoroughly recommend - he worked all day from 8am-6pm and was so clean and tidy!!   So now we just need to paint it.  All 60 square metres ;-)

Downstairs hall all plastered

My roller on the left, Andrew's on the right...

I managed to go to work in between, although it is rather inconvenient at the moment ;-)  There is only 3 PBL sessions left and I have actually opted out of the next block for Dec/Jan as I decided to be sensible and try to slow down a bit and give myself some breathing space.  I don't want to make myself unwell, although I will probably just get bored or start doing DIY instead!

On the positive side, the extension is looking great.  The new sofa arrived and looks really good - Seb had tried a few times to jump on it but is getting the message.  He can't be left in there during the day though or he just gets up on the sofa or table or whatever else he can reach.  Today Andrew was working from home and left the study for less than a minute on two occasions and Seb, who had been pretending to be sleeping in his basket, was up on the computer chair both times, trying to look casual!  I think there is a battle of pecking order going on there and Seb is definitely winning.  Anyway, will leave you with some pics of the extension as promised last week.

Kitchen area

Doorway was original back door into kitchen - now goes into a hallway with rest of original kitchen (on right through doorway) as utility room

Gives you an idea of pitched roof with skylights - I need to paint some BIG canvases!   Token dog in photo.

Opposite end - seating area.  Note TV on wall already - priorities!

Shower room - was originally huge larder off kitchen and when we moved in had been made into a utility area.  Never thought we would fit a shower in there!   Andrew has never had a shower placed high enough for him to fit below before :-)

That's all folks...

Keeping up the pace..

I haven't quite slowed down from last weekend yet and am kind of frightened to stop in case I can't get going again! It was back to the grindstone at work and did prove to be a fairly busy week. On Thursday evening I was speaking at a church group about living with CF and organ donation - it was a bit of a rush as I had to head straight from work, but it was a nice evening and hopefully has been useful in spreading the word and raising awareness of both CF and transplant.

The weekend was spent trying to make some progress with the house. The builders are more or less finished now and were working through a snagging list last week. We are waiting on the hallway to be plastered but the guy is really busy at the moment so might be a few weeks away. The extension is nearly finished though - just waiting on a sofa and some final touches and it will be done :-) A mountain of painting to be done though and I was crawling around doing skirting boards all yesterday - used an entire pack of baby wipes cleaning all the paint I kept dripping everywhere though ;-) And yes, I did get it in my hair. Again.

Poor wee Seb hasn't been enjoying the fire works. On Friday night he really got scared and eventually disappeared under our bed and wouldn't come back out. He stayed there the entire night and only came out at 8am when I offered him a piece of sausage. He was better on the Saturday though and did quite a lot of strutting and woofing at each bang instead of hiding.

Tomorrow I am at a training day in Edinburgh regarding the mental health act - so am currently at mums so I don't have to leave hideously early to get there in time! It sounds like it will be quite a full on day, so of course I will need to stop for dinner on my way back :-) Seb ended up coming with me anyway (likes to go everywhere with his mummy!) and is currently curled up in a big chair, which according to dad, he is now allowed to sit on. Seb really is getting ideas about his station.

Pictures of extension to come, once I am at home, but I will leave you with my favourite picture from the ball last week. Amazing that the three of us are here because of someone giving that wonderful gift - Kirsty's first anniversary is this week, so give a thought to her donor, as well as raising a glass to Kirsty.