LIBRARY!!!

 Yes I am that excited, maybe even more excited than the title shows, about the library. It is just awesome and looks just how we hoped.

Rosie with her unicorn

We'll open with Rosie and her presents from Bekir and Halil. The picture only shows the unicorn but she also got an awesome pull along caterpillar. She has been so happy about them all day and just now insisted on taking the unicorn to bed with her. Such lovely gifts and as usual Bekir gets them so right for Rosie - Maggie the Donkey is still a massive favourite from her first birthday.

Double sided tape to secure the underlay

Measuring and measuring again

Carefully cutting out for the door

The offcut which we'll save

And so to the day with the men. It was my final day of work but I was down a bit watching, helping, encouraging and being very excited. First job was to put some double sided tape underneath the edges of the underlay to keep it firmly in place. Then the huge roll of carpet was wrestled out and we worked together to calculate where the cuts should be. This was a measure ten times, cut once, situation. Once happy Bekir used his knife and cut the shape for the door into the gym, and then we sliced the length of the roll to make it the correct width. It turned out that the length of the roll was only just long enough; I'd have been happier with a fair few more cm left over but it turned out ok.

The carpet is rolled out

Halil gets to knee-kicking

Bekir cutting the carpet edges

Lifting the first bookcase in

Six book cases all in place

Hoovering after drilling (with Christmas tree reflection)

Running machine is moved as well

Up the top of the ladder

With the cutting done they laid out the carpet and then watched the demo video again before getting stuck in to knee-kicking and cutting. For this being their first attempt I think they did a really good job. The nail strips were a little uneven and not quite close enough but it's ended up being absolutely fine and by the end of my work day the carpet was down and it was time to lift the book shelves into place. I helped with this and we positioned them carefully, stacked two high, and seeing them all in place was so amazing. After the coffee break Bekir used the fixings to attach them to the wall to make sure they don't fall and then the job was done. The final task for today was to lift the running machine into the gym which took all three of us and almost killed my back. Now Angela and I have a bunch to do to sort everything out. The ladder I bought for the library fits nicely into a nook at the end of one of the bookshelves and is tall enough for me to reach the very top.

A lovely sunset again. Finally

Rosie running through the leaves

On the drive in front of the house

Looking down from the top bank

As well as helping the men after work I went outside with Rosie again - we had the first nice sunset for what feels like months and after looking at that (and saying goodbye to the men) we went for a tour of the land via the wood store (where Rosie shouts "Rats!!" to wind Louise up) down to the gate then up onto the back bank. It was lovely. This evening we had a call with my mum as she opened her pressie from us and that's our day.

There will be another update next week as the men are back for one day to finish the landing and do another few little jobs around the place. For now, however, a very very Happy Christmas to you all and Seasons Greetings. May the holidays treat you all well.

Rosie's Wall, and other progress

It's been a fair while since the last update however I'm back and this'll probably end up long so grab a brew before you start reading... I'll wait...

... sorted? Good, then I shall begin.

The great artwork of our time begins

A puts the first handprint on

Rosie loves getting covered in paint

All of our hands make up the tree

Beginning to draw the circles on the wall

Filling in with paint

Half way to complete

The grand unveiling of the full project

Rosie just loves looking at her wall

A busy addition

First of all, Rosie's Wall. A had a great idea when we were planning Rosie's bedroom and playroom; that she should paint something on one of the walls. I think there may have been a few different suggestions for what she would actually do however in the end she settled on a hand tree, and a load of bubbles or circles. And what a great idea. You can see above the progression of the work, and the reaction of Rosie to it. This is still an ongoing project as even today A just added a little bee above the flowers that Rosie adores.

Rosie and her dinosaur wall

The Thassos Memory Board

Rosie dancing around her new bedroom

A well stocked library is a must for any baby

At the other end of the room, underneath the window and up the sides, we have stuck dinosaur stickers from a pack that I picked up from Lidl a few months ago. Rosie also really loves these and goes to see them whenever you ask her "where are your dinosaurs?" I have also got the Memory Board for our Thassos holiday completed and it is hung above the play room door - you can see a video of how I made it by going to this link if you are interested. With all this progress of course we also put time into getting her bedroom set and you can see just how happy she was; the first day in there she struggled to sleep for her afternoon nap but by the night she was settled and slept right through. It's so good that she her own space now.

A small settling of snow

Gone pretty quickly however

About to tackle this thick lush grass

Quite a dump of snow in very short order

Sunset through clouds and with strong winds

The sun is out but it was still very cold at this point

Rosie just loves coming down here, as do the girls

The front is all mown, finally!

So other than that, we've had some very varied weather. The day after the men were here in such atrocious conditions the rain and wind turned to snow but not that much and it melted quickly. It got nice enough that I was able to get the mower out and clear some of the really lush grass below the humanure collection points (which shows just how much goodness there is in them). A couple of days later, and after A had planted her spuds, the weather changed again and suddenly there was many inches of snow. It didn't stay, however, and I didn't even get time to make another Sammy before it melted. Since then we had strong winds and some rain and then finally it has settled and been pretty glorious for a few days. This has been lovely as we've been able to get outside with Rosie every day and she LOVES being outside as much as I do, maybe even more. Her swing(s) and slide have gotten heavy workouts and she has developed a love for walking down to the gate and then back up again. Today after a lot of effort I finally got the whole of the front mown for the the first time, which included a LOT of raking yesterday over where the brambles had been removed. I'm pretty tired from that I can tell you.

Is this a Sparrow Hawk?

The first lizard of the year

Two Eagles, or are they vultures?

A lovely moth

Tortoise that I thought was a rock at first

He moved, and I found him again while mowing

Now for the wildlife and it has returned as Spring has well and truly sprung. First off a bird of prey, maybe a sparrow hawk? A spotted it and I got the first video on my phone so it's a bit rubbish but when it flew off it only went up the side of the land so I was able to get the big camera and get a good picture, and some more videos. Next up is the first lizard of the day, on the side of one of the raised beds. I've seen another couple since then. On the same day while down swinging Rosie we saw these two birds of prey, maybe eagles or vultures, sweeping over head. I got a video again but it's hard to keep steady at really high zoom. While walking across the patio we spotted this moth that was a bit groggy on the floor. We put it on the windowsill in the sun and it was gone later in the day and I'm saying it flew off and wasn't eaten. Last but not least is this tortoise that I nearly raked up not once but twice over a couple of days. I hope the place I found him in today is a good place as I've covered it with some boards to protect it from being disturbed again.

The Super Moon rises

Zoom in to the super moon

Lots of lovely bulbs coming up

And so I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the Super moon from this month and the tortoise garden in full bloom - Rosie is totally enamoured of this as there are loads of "buzzzzzy beeees" and she loves bees!

She's a good'un.

Thanks for reading; the men are supposedly back tomorrow so expect a shorter update tomorrow, if they show of course.

The Weekend and Monday

I've just finished working (well nearly - I'm waiting for a test email to deliver) so I thought I'd quickly write up this blog post so I don't forget again and then end up having to do a super long one later in the week - I really hope I can keep it short.

Saturday

Saturday was an awesome day - I did no work.

Thelma eyeing up my butties

The Hoff takes pride of place

A lot of furniture

Beautiful autumnal evening

I made an AWESOME cot!

Of course I did sit at my desk to write the blog in the morning but that was the only extended desk time of the entire day. We rushed off to our appointment and made it in time but then waited twenty mins or so before we were seen. After this it was off to pick up some furniture and then back home for lunch; my idea about sushi fell by the wayside of us just not being hungry; the puppies were pleased to see us and Thelma thought my butties must surely have been for her. She did get some cheese shortly after that. With lunch done I set to making the furniture (Bekir had helped me make space for it on Friday; Hoff picture in pride of place as you can see) and it was not the easiest of pieces of furniture to assemble as the instructions were truly shocking. A had to go back to the shop to ask for advice while I stayed back and worked on another item and got the washing in. And yes, that IS what it is; I am very excited indeed to reveal that a baby is on its way and due early next year!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday

I woke up on Sunday feeling like I'd gone a lot of rounds with Mike Tyson - that was hard work putting that furniture together.

A beautiful moth

It was clinging to me

The petchka isn't supposed to do that

Second unit in place

It was a busier day with me working on my website until after midnight but a few things did happen. First of all I found a lovely moth in a bucket outside while I was doing my chores. It was very cold and clung to me while I got pictures but then I was able to throw it into the air having warmed it up and it flew off. We also lit our petchka in the kitchen and smoked ourselves out which was exciting. And finally we got the second item of furniture into the bedroom; A did a little platform to lift this unit so its door will operate over the step.

Monday

And so to today.

Louise loves her mummy

Bekir and Okhtay cleaning the pipes

They really needed cleaning!

One whole tube to stick this cork to the wall

My hole cutters are nice and tidy now

Pictures on the wall

I was up before A left, against all the odds, and got stuck in on the website again while she collected the men. She then headed off for another appointment and this time I stayed behind and did some chores. Bekir and Okhtay were first of all tasked with cleaning all the petchka pipes and you can see why the kitchen fire was smoking so bad - we must not have cleaned it last year at all. For myself I worked through a backlog of chores including sticking the cork to the wall of Room 13 (I used a whole tube to get one of three cork boards up so I've ordered some more glue from Amazon to get the rest put up. I also attached the hooks to hang my tools for hobbying and put some pictures on the wall. It was a productive time.

Mesut cleaning for later grouting

He gets towards the end of the row again

Near the end of the day

It terrified me, watching him work

Dark when they finished

Puppies happy the fire has been lit

Louise collapsed by the fire

Thelma fast asleep while we eat

Mesut had been cracking on, as he does, with the tiling and was making some awesome progress while Bekir and Okhtay spent most of the day erecting scaffold. They then cracked on really fast into the darkness as the sun went down and only finished working when it was too dark to see anything. A had got the fire lit and there was no smoke but very happy puppies. I've worked the evening and very nearly completed all the tasks for go live (this will happen after I publish this blog) and that is very exciting as I need some time away from keyboard bashing for 16 hours a day every day.

Finally Bekci has started to lose her baby teeth! She is also destroying everything but that's to be expected. She is a lovely puppy and I'll get some more pictures and videos of her for you all as soon as I can.