A bits and pieces day

After the epic progress of yesterday, today has been pretty cool as well. Let's get into it.

Sorting out inside Dutch's House

Halil works on the grout for these tiles

Bekir puts some more tiles in

Fixing the damage to our roof

Evidence of an owl roost

Light fittings going in

The first thing the men did today was look at the chicken and treat her (however I missed seeing this) and then they finished up their tasks in Dutch's new home by clearing out some of the old pipes and then putting a pallet in for his bed. I'll need to get in there to do the next steps but that'll be tomorrow. After this they headed inside to do some finishing up tasks upstairs. First of all Halil did the grouting of the slope by the stairs while Bekir put some small tiles by the roof terrace doorway. The next task involved two trips to the shop as initially they got the wrong size of roof tile for the ridge however now I'm very happy that all of this is fixed and repaired as we have weather forecast incoming. While he was up there Bekir pointed out an owl is living under some of the tiles and he took a picture to show me. The final task of the day occurred after I legged it to town to try and buy some lights for the stairs up there. I found some and they began fitting them and then we found I'd picked up the wrong size bulbs! I've now ordered the correct size online and they've already shipped so hopefully they'll be here soon!

Rosie's playroom is back!

She's very excited to be back in her bedroom

Angela had a super busy day today getting the playroom and bedroom completed cleaned and made ready for things going back in, and then put everything back in. It looks great! After school I spent time with Rosie (and when I got distracted ordering the previously mentioned light bulbs Angela took over) going through the toys we had packed up a couple of weeks ago and sorted them into each of the red boxes. She's got plenty of space for more stuff, and it all is kept nicely tidy now.

So there it is; a good day indeed. Tomorrow hopefully we can start (and maybe finish) putting up the pictures on the stairs, and then we'll be done! Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

So much progress today

Today has been one of those days where loads gets done in a sudden rush so let's get to it.

Louise snuggling this morning, Xena in the background

Checking the wound on our white chicken

Let's start off with a couple of very different animal pictures. This morning Louise and Xena were cuddling me as I attempted to wake up before taking Rosie to school. Then last night I found one of our chickens was bleeding from a wound on its leg. This morning I showed Bekir who had a look and later on got something from the vet and treated her. She seems OK, so hopefully she will recover quickly.

Starting to drill for the shelf

Drilling the final shelf

Replacing the Hobbit Hole

Delicate BFG repairs

The attempt to purchase enough shelf supports by Halil on his way home last night failed due to the shops not having enough and this morning they went to three local shops and bought them out to get just enough for the teddy shelf in Rosie's room. With these now finally in hand Bekir drilled and affixed all the shelves in place and they look great. It was then lots of tidying and moving of tools, as well as putting the hobbit hole back in place and finally refixing the BFG to the wall in the bedroom where the dust had peeled it down. Finally; the project in Rosie's Rooms is done!

Bekir recovers a couple of guitar hooks

Keeping the dust tidy

My guitars are looking great!

Putting some shelf supports up

Removing a panel for Dutch's home

Cutting for a door flap

With this task completed the  men went straight into the roof to hang the guitars on the wall up there and they flew through this task. We had to take the two down from the wall in the lounge and then we together worked out the spacing and they set to. I'm so happy about how they look, it's amazing to see them up and of course now I want more. I also shifted one of the green chairs over to by the window and sat watching them work. With the guitars up they put up some shelf supports for me (I think I'll have my record player and amplifiers on there) and they used my new laser level to make it look great. With this done they even had time to do another small job. We've decided that Dutch is going to have his bed in the old toiler reservoir shed outside the kitchen door so we got Bekir to remove a panel from the doorway and Angela measured and cut some old material to hang over the front to keep the weather out. She'll do some sewing of this, put some weights in the bottom, and then tomorrow we can attach it and move Dutch in there.

Flowers on the pea plants

Rosie's Teddy display!

Angela cleans the top of the units

Rosie cleans the bottom sections

After school I snapped a picture of the pea flowers on Rosie's raised bed. We are forecast a huge (and I mean huge) dump of snow in the next week so hopefully they survive! With Rosie I sorted through her teddies and got them all lifted up onto her shelf and she has barely any room for any other teddies! It was then time to clean the new storage while I was building the boxes that will go into these spaces. I also have a brought a load of her toys in and stacked them up but I don't have pictures of that.

So there it is. What a great day. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Nearly finished

Well as you can tell by the title of this update we have still not yet completed the work in Rosie's rooms however we are really close and there's a good reason why we didn't finish.

Beautiful autumn morning

I'll open, however, with a picture taken through a very dirty window of the morning as the sun came up. It was a lovely day, though got cloudy through the middle of the day, but still no sign of snow.

Halil paints with his new handle

Getting the music room laid out

Bekir burns some rubbish

The ceiling is now painted

Bekir hanging the lights again

The target for today for the men was to get the rooms finished completely so first of all they started painting, then went to the shop to buy a new paint handle, and continued with this for the morning. I took  a little time in the roof to tidy a bit and plan out where my guitars are going to hang, as well as put up some small tables to stand one of the guitar amps on. Halil ran out of paint so he went out again however this time Bekir stayed and did some burning for us. By the end of the day all the painting was done and they were onto rehanging the lights and doing lots of tidying. The final thing left to do now is the shelf in the bedroom for her cuddly toys to set on. We realised that the original plan, to just screw them into the beam, isn't the greatest idea and we need some shelf supports however because this is a late plan I didn't buy enough on Sunday and so Halil is picking some up this evening.

Rosie took over Dutch's cage

I'll leave you with a picture of Rosie who decided to kick Dutch out of his enclosure and sit in there instead. She's a funny one.

So there it is. Maybe tomorrow finally we can move on from this "short diversion task" and get the music room finished with guitars hung and posters up. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Awesome weekend, and storage

Once again we reach Monday and I'm back with an update. It was a great weekend so let's get into it.

Family outing about to kick off

Rosie wishes these were real sweets

About to tuck into our lovely lunch

Starship about to go to space!

Rosie looking at me through her magnifying glass

Rosie's big eye!

Saturday was a long anticipated and planned  trip to JUMBO for some Christmas shopping. This is a nice family tradition we have started mainly to get out as a family and also we wanted to pick up some decorations. We had a lovely day, Rosie was very good and enjoyed it a lot. We spent more than we should, but bought more awesome than we should (but you'll have to wait until December 1st to see it) and then went for our lunch at the Italian restaurant which was lovely as always. I drove us back and we got back five minutes before Starship's launch target time so Rosie and I sat on the sofa, and Angela joined us as well to watch the launch. There was much cheering and excitement as it took off. Great memories made! After that there was lots of play time (I went onto the treehouse with her, had some swing time and other fun) and she also played with one of her purchases which was a magnifying glass. Great fun.

Rosie with our new reindeer and sleigh

The new posters are getting framed

Sunday I have few pictures however it was another good day with a trip out with Rosie around lunch time to pick up a Christmas Decoration that Angela had seen in town and wanted. There was time for swinging and play time, and Rosie and Angela had some lovely time together as well. I took some time to prepare my posters for framing on the roof stairs and they are all set now to be put up.

Filling up our gas bottles

Halil does some final touching up

A space cleared for the shelving units

Shelves fitted and unit secured to the wall

Halil gets paint on the walls finally

Finally we get to today. The morning felt like very little happened with the men, but then I was super busy with various meetings and going to the bank. About the only thing I caught was Halil patching up some more of the gaps where they fixed the cracks. Bekir cleared away by the wall in the playroom and then me and him carried the three new units down to check the fit and work out where the extra shelf is going to go. For the rest of the day Bekir was working on securing the IKEA shelving, and also putting up an extra shelf above. There is now loads of storage for Rosie and her toys. Halil was assisting and also doing some painting in the playroom. I think we really are close to finished now, thank goodness!

Painting pallets for Christmas

Lots of cuddles

Beautiful sunset as we swung

After school me and Rosie were out on the patio as I painted some pallets. I'm making a solid heavy base to strap the reindeer and sleigh to so it won't blow away. I began by trying with spray paints but that really didn't work so Angela grabbed some external paint from the little shop and we got two coats done before finishing up. Rosie was cuddling Dutch while watching me and then we went for a swinging session and enjoyed the amazing sunset before heading inside for some book time before dinner.

So there it is. That was the weekend and today. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Rosie's rooms still not done

As expected we still have a fair bit to do in Rosie's bedroom and playroom however progress has been steady enough.

Amazing morning views

We'll start with a picture of the sunrise this morning which was just stunning.

Bekir gets another coat on the ceiling

Halil patching up some plaster details

Using too small a tool for the job

Using the correct tool for the job

Halil holds the hoover

Crack is filled

Filling another crack above the door

Bekir sweeping up the dust

Mopping and scrubbing

For the men it was in and more plastering, getting another layer done on the ceiling while Halil was working on the final touchups for the beam in the playroom. With all this done Bekir started looking at the slight cracks that have appeared in the walls of the bedroom and playroom by where some of the plasterboard joints were. They started trying to use a small multitool to grind it out but that didn't work so had to go get a new grinding disc which made quick work of it. They then applied some more tape, and covered it over with patching plaster. Success. The final task of the day was to clean and tidy which they did really well. It'll take a few sessions to get it fully clean in there but it's much better now.

Rosie playing with Dutch

More Dutch cuddles

Wrapped up to keep warm

After school today was more time pushing on the swing and then a lot of fun with Dutch (who ended up going into a load of undergrowth and returned covered in burrs that had to be brushed out of his fur. I is finally starting to get chilly in the evening so I had to wrap a scarf around my head (as I cut my hair today).

So that's the day. We have an exciting weekend planned which you can read about when I'm back on Monday.