thisiskylie

Fireplaces

The last few days have been spent collecting fireplaces from eBay.  We have now bought two, with an eye out for the third!

 

The nice black cast iron fireplace on the left is to replace the 1930's monster that currently dominates our rear reception room.

This pretty little white fireplace is for our bedroom.  It's ornamental only, but will look a lot nicer than the hole we currently have.

We love ebay.

Fenced

Changes
Originally uploaded by thisiskylie.

Put up the new fence on one side of our garden today. Only one day to do all of that! I'm impressed. It was done using ready made fencing panels, with concrete gravel boards and concrete posts. Set the posts in concrete, check it all lines up and levels, then slide the fence panel in. Done!

More on the garden

So nearly a year ago we started work on our garden by clearing all the overgrown plants.  A month ago we started work again, clearing all of the concrete.  Our aim is to clear the garden of all the concrete, raised beds, and rotted fencing, and lay child friendly and prettier turf and sturdy fencing.  Unfortunately, work hasn't really progressed for a few weeks due to rain and holidays.  We managed to clear everything but it has been a mud pit since then.  The clearing was hard work:

- we filled six skips (equating to four cubic yards each)

- demolished and removed three raised concrete garden beds

- levelled and shovelled remaining soil from raised beds

- lifted and removed hundreds of concrete paving slabs

- broke up and removed foot-thick hardcore

- demolished and removed two rotting fences

- demolished and removed three empty rotting timber sheds

- ripped out weeds and miles of knotted ivy

- and ... found an old bomb shelter !

When we knocked down the shed at the rear of the garden, we found a small opening in the ground which may be the air vent for an old bomb shelter. We have no idea where the entrance to the shelter is, possibly hidden away under the garage.  Who knows what treasures are stored there?

Weekly round-up

Saturday - yay for the grandparents.  They came over and gave us a couple of hours off this afternoon.  Which we spent wandering around thinking 'whatever shall we do now'.  Note to self: next time, dash straight to nearest pub on the river and order large jug of Pimms; or catch one of those movies you've been wanting to see for ages.  Oh, and the little missy also got her first sippy cup.  She can hold it in both hands, tip it back and guzzle the water.  But she can also give herself a sippy cup shower.

Sunday we all went for a long, three hour ramble in Richmond Park.  We took too many photos, took Isabella to the Isabella Plantation and ate some icecream.  Then we slept.

On Monday, we had a new aerial installed on our roof.  It's so large, rumour has it that it can be seen from space.  Has enabled us to receive the free digital channels (yay for film four, yay for E4, yay for BBC News).  And given us a reason to indulge in this sexy piece of technical trickery - the digital set-top box with inbuilt 160GB (!!!) hard drive.  We will never miss our favourite shows again.  It's already set up to automagically record Series 2 of Kath & Kim.  Qualidee.

On Tuesday, the bub and I met up with another mum and baby and we all visited the new Baby Cafe that has opened up in these parts.  Yes, we really do live in nappy valley if there is reason to open a cafe devoted to parents and children.  Great idea - babies can make noise, kids can play and parents can eat and drink without worrying about disturbing anyone.  It's only just opened so not quite there yet, but will be great once they get beanbags and lava lamps and soft play areas for the little ones.

On Wednesday, we had a visit from the carpenter to size up and arrange a quote for some cabinets in our lounge room.  He's a young lad, and very ... young... with a little graze on his knuckle that he worried was turning green and gangrous.  It wasn't - was just infected, so administered some tea tree lotion and wondered at this new image I have as a Mum who therefore knows all about such things!  It kinda tickled me.

We also had a visit from the surveyor to kick off the kitchen extension plans again  - but this time bigger and better - to hopefully include an eat-in kitchen, and a play area for the baby.  Don't look out for any news on this any time soon though.  Plans take 12 weeks to approve, and they haven't even been drawn up yet.

Thursday we had a family day out to Blenheim Palace.  Our time as stay-at-home parents is getting shorter, so we are going to make the most of it and have resolved to have a day out together each week.  Was a beautiful British day - gloomy and grey and moody in the morning, with blazing sunshine in the afternoon.  The palace is good - I'd recommend not paying to tour the palace, but just wander the gardens (for free) instead.

Friday was quiet.  Phew.

Saturday we decided to have an impromptu barbecue with the in-laws after seeing this recipe on Saturday Cooks.  And it was gooood.  So good, that we are having it again tonight.  And, the peanut started on real solids today, and not just baby rice, with a tasty meal of bright orange pureed carrot.  Cue much screwing up of face and poking out of tongue, but she still gobbled it all up.

What's Been Going On

Been busy the last week or so, here's a quick recap:

Tuesday:  met up with some of the NCT girls for lunch.  Iz did her usual thing lately of missing her afternoon snooze, having a very early feed, getting quite grumpy, and then doing the screaming thing so we had to skedaddle at about 2pm or so.  Still got to eat a nice lunch, drink coffee, and talk babies for a couple of hours.

Wednesday:  painting.  Yawn.

Thursday:  more painting.  And gave Isabella her first taste of solids!  [more on that in another post]

Friday: met up with the NCT girls again, with a picnic in Richmond Park this time.  The babies played on the grass under the shade.  They don't really seem to interested in each other just yet - they were all more interested in eating the corners of the rug!

Saturday: girls day out, including Bella.  Can't believe how lovely it is to include my daughter in a girls day out!  Lunch at a friends swanky new flat in Battersea.

Sunday:  painting, yet again.

Monday:  still painting.

Tuesday: painting, just for a change.  Quick stop to get Bella weighed again - she's now a hefty 17 pounds/7 kilos.

Wednesday:  painting finished, carpet fitted, and _relax_.  Now for the fun stuff: shopping to kit out the new room!  [photos to follow]

Window Pain

Yeah, I know it's a bad pun.

The saga with our new window continues.  Looking back on my posts, I don't think I wrote about it, but they were initially ordered in November last year and have been from our house back to the manufacturers due to umpteen faults.  They have finally returned from the manufacturer, and were due to be fitted today.  We were so excited to finally get rid of the faux leadlight that blocks our view of the river.  Alas, it wasn't to be, as the quality of the windows was still absolutely dire.  Nail heads were sticking out, holes hadn't been filled, there were big gaps at the top and bottom, and, still, the windows were Alice in Wonderland style crooked.

So we've stopped the installation until they can come up with a solution.  In the meantime, our old windows broke when they started the work, so now we have some lovely fixed clear window in place, and it gives us some idea of what it will look like when finished.  [see photo]

Garden

Well, we haven't really got that stuck into the garden just yet.

We had to have a break today to watch the World Cup (England vs Portugal).  Since Australia are already out, we were all going for England (Isabella was even wearing her England 'strip'), but they're out now too, boohoo. 

We had to have another break to go and buy some lovely outdoor furniture.  We were feeling so pleased with ourselves for clearing the patio area that we figured why not.

We then had to have another break to christen the new furniture with a jug of Pimms.  That is, we drank the Pimms while we sat outside on our new furniture!

We didn't get much done in the garden.

Hot

It's been hot here in England the last couple of days.  The temperature has been in the early 30's for a couple of days.  Which, obviously, results in serious warnings about a HEATWAVE.  I know I shouldn't find this funny, since it is unusual and the English countenance probably isn't quite used to it, but as someone coming from a tropical, hot and humid climate where it regularly tops 35 degrees, I do find it a bit over-the-top.  I do love the drama of the English news.

Anyway, we've been making the most of it and getting outside to finally start work on the garden again.  We didn't get much further than clearing it last year, so it's still a concrete cesspit.  It's a lot of work to get rid of the concrete and the beds and replace with grass.  We have toyed with the idea of getting some labourers in to do the work for us, since I don't have much time in between Isabella's feeds and playtime, and Mr Day has done his back in again.  Unfortunately, it seems like the gardeners here just like the soft and pretty Chelsea Flower Show type work, planting pretty flowers and creating 'water features', as we can't find anyone who wants the job.  So we're rolling up our sleeves and getting started.

Councilmen and Catholics

The husband gave a very last minute speech at Kingston Council last night, on behalf of our area, in protest against plans to build a church hall a couple of doors away from us.  It would possibly mean a fair bit of inconvenience in the way of noise, lack of privacy, lack of view not to mention affect property price, which he spoke about very nicely for a sum of five minutes.

The council meeting room was full to the brim, largely with people from the congregation.  I could start a huge diatribe about this congregation, but to be brief, I have never seen such a hostile attitude.  As an example, as A was leaving his podium, a number of people swore at him (using the c-word too).  Another example is the fact that they are trying to get their plans exempt from the affordable housing scheme (whereby a number of flats in their other development would be available to low income applicants).  And here I thought the church was supposed to help the poor and needy.  I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised given the Catholic history...

Getting there

Big news (for us anyway): Bella slept through until 8:30am this morning.  Bliss!

We've also started emerging from the newborn baby fog, and are beginning to pick up some of the traces of our pre-baby life.  Among other things, we've started working on the house again.  We finally bought some Ikea wardrobes for the master bedroom, so we actually have some storage and are almost organised.  This means that, aside from the windows, the master bedroom is finished, and we have been able to move in to a nice, fresh, clean room.  (pictures coming soon)

It also meant that this was the perfect time for Isabella to move out of our bedroom and stay in her nursery full-time, right through the night.  I missed hearing her little shrieks and sneezes and hiccups and burps and farting and snoring!

So, now that the second bedroom is empty, we've turned our attention to gutting it and redecorating.  A has started demolishing the old grotty wardrobes and removing all of the skirting boards, and we'll be stripping the wallpaper this week.  It will have new windows and get replastered next week, after which we'll paint and then lay the new carpet and that will be another room down.  Yeah!