Christmas, New Year, and back to tiling

All through the Christmas break I've meant to write a catchup update so my update today wouldn't be quite so long and crazy however I'm sitting here now with the men working downstairs and I've got a bunch to catch up on so let's get to it!

Pickle riding her plane

Snow still on the ground

T shirts are now hung on the wall

Rosie vacuuming under the old desk

Rosie with her final advent calendar chocolate

A glorious sunrise on Christmas Eve

Now that's a big goat leg

Too big for our cooker!

Sammy still hanging on

Getting stuck into our feast

Rosie ready for bed

Now Christmas can happen

So back to Christmas Eve Eve and one of the most fun Elf hunts we had which involved Pickle riding the foam airplane round and round while attached to one of our ceiling fans. It was epic! Rosie really loved the Elf this year and now that she's gone she is already looking forward to next Christmas. I had to pop to town to collect some stuff from the courier and while I was out was called by Angela because of a broken blender so an emergency pit stop was help which ended up successful. When I got back I spent some time hanging up some of my gig t shirts along the roof corridor and then Rosie and I did our Saturday cleaning with Rosie being super helpful and operating the vacuum cleaner. Christmas Eve was another beautiful day, Rosie was happy to finally get to the large chocolate in her advent calendar and we had a fun day of goat preparation (including me getting the hack saw out again) so it could be prepared before the big day. Sammy the snowman had just not completely melted yet and there was some swinging and running around outside before a super fun Christmas Eve Feast, like a buffet which we all really enjoyed. Rosie headed to bed with her Christmas Eve toys and Angela and I watched Die Hard before hitting the sack early ourselves. Rosie had been told to not wake us unless it was light outside but we had no real hope of that happening...

A very super excited Rosie

These puppies love Christmas

Rosie loves her new puppet

Rosie has worn this dress EVERY day since!

There's a little of Sammy remaining

Perfectly cooked goat leg

Playing with mummy

... and it didn't. It was about 5:30 that Rosie appeared upstairs super excited having found her stocking hanging on her door with some gifts in it. That was it and our day began and what an absolutely lovely day it was. Just the best. I did take lots of pictures of presents being opened through the day but won't bore you with them all. As is traditional Thelma and Xena got incredibly excited to tear up wrapping paper. Sammy did hang on until Christmas day, against all the odds of the warm weather we've been experiencing, so we can pretend it was a white Christmas. The roast goat was just beyond amazing (as always, to be honest) and after dinner there was still time for playing with some of the new toys she received, some fun swords and shields.

Now I can listen to my records again

Rosie with floppy eared bunny

Cooking up breakfast

Rosie all made up

Rosie is great at this game!

None of us are good at this game

Setting cones out to drive around

Chilling out at Nanny's house

Amazing tasty Goat Curry

Boxing day began with time to set up the sound system in the roof so I could listen to my record that was my gift from my mum. Rosie also came to join me and it was a lovely time to listen to Pink Floyd together. Then I cooked up some Bubble & Squeak from leftovers from yesterday and it was very tasty indeed. The rest of the day was full of fun and play. Rosie got her new makeup up, then we played a few games of air hockey (a gift from me to Angela) and finally a game of "Who Am I?" which was bought for Rosie and we had a great time. The weather was so lovely Rosie got to drive her car around the patio for ages before heading over to the neighbours and spending time with Nanny. My favourite time of the year, however, is Goat Curry and it was just so tasty. Everything has been awesome this year.

Rosie on the Merry Go Round at the park

Rosie checking out the Christmas decorations

Let's have some burger for lunch

Thelma dragging Rosie around

Another burger at another restaurant

DVD storage in place

Rosie planting some bulbs

Very proud of finishing her jigsaw

Rosie taking pictures of EVERYTHING

Between Christmas and New Year we continued to have lots of family fun and taking advantage of being able to spend time together. We went to the park in town to see the small fun fayre, check out the public decorations, then went for lunch at a takeaway. Later on we went to go to a new restaurant a friend has just opened however unfortunately he didn't have his chef in so we went to a normal restaurant where we technically needed a reservation but they fitted us in anyway. I also found time to put up a new DVD storage unit which actually isn't big enough so we've got another one on its way. Outside the weather was nice enough that we got a few jobs done, including planting out a whole load of bulbs to brighten up spring.  Rosie has been getting really good at jigsaw puzzles recently and finished an epic one before New Year. She actually did another the same size just last weekend. Brilliant! New Year was both awesome and a bit rubbish - the rubbish was because Angela came down unwell and was not able to join us however the evening was back to the best again and Rosie and I had a blast before heading home just before New Year so we could watch the fireworks from the balcony.

Rosie riding her bike around

New bass guitar and she's a beaut

Angela chipping up some sticks

Rosie teaching Dutch on the lead

Working on a small jigsaw

Gluing together wood with me

She's now finished this jigsaw

And so to the last few pictures before today. We've continued to have lovely weather and have taken advantage as much as we can to get outside, both for play and also to get chores done. I got a new bass guitar, Dutch was trained a little on his lead (and he's rubbish at it!) and inside Rosie did more jigsaws and also helped me with some fabrication of wooden frames that will be used for the new model railway that is being started.

Bekir working in the cramped area

Bekir chiseling away at the floor

First wall tile being positioned

A whole lot of wall tiling

State of play at the end of the day

Today we had the men back to complete the tiling for the cupboard under the stairs. The first task was the floor tiles and they got almost all of those done, the only ones left are the final few right round the corner into the lowest part of the cupboard. There was some fiddly pieces to cut and fit around by the door and then they began to set the tiles on the walls to act as skirting boards. This part of the job has now almost been completed as well so tomorrow hopefully they can complete those last few tiles round the corner, and do the grouting. We shall see.

So there we have it. We're caught up, and should be back again tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Not the greatest start to the New Year

It has been a very sick beginning to the year for all of us, sadly, and this means I'm late to start writing this update and actually as I begin I don't even know if I'll complete it all today. We start, however, before the virus caught us.

Leaning into the turn

First of all a final picture, and a video, from Boxing Day of Rosie outside with her police car having loads of fun. She has driven it around a lot through the week between Christmas and New Year and loves it - such a successful purchase indeed.

A hazy sun

Keeping the fish tank going

Getting started on the stones for the day

Flying ants not ready to fly yet

Quite a big hole, but unused I think

Lots of progress, more to do though

Rosie just loves this game

Moon and evening clouds

Absolutely lovely goat curry

The 27th dawned similarly to every day this past week, cold and foggy but with the sun trying to break through. I was planning on working on this day however we had some very odd issues with our power where we were getting very low voltage through, such that the lights were flickering, the kettle boiling would turn them off (if it even managed to boil) and my computer wouldn't stay on. It got so bad we called the electricity board and also Bekir; Bekir turned up (but just as he did, the power returned) but the electricity engineers never showed up. Typical. Anyway instead of working on my computer I got outside and did some more clearing of stones down by the entrance, in the process uncovering some flying ants a bit early for them (they all went deeper very quickly) and also a large burrow that looks abandoned but was very interesting. Inside Angela was working hard on my favourite meal of the year - the Goat Curry from Christmas leavings and she cleaned off the bones from the goat leg and gave them to the puppies who had a great time! When I came inside I pulled out the bagatelle game again and played with Rosie and she loved it again. It was a lovely day indeed and the curry was superb as always.

Rosie getting her old paints wet again

More fun with sticklebricks

On the 28th I did my half day work in the morning and spent the afternoon playing with Rosie doing painting and having fun with her toys from Christmas. I don't have many pictures, I was too busy having a good day.

Ready to play Sorry! (and win!)

The Guessing Game

Rosie's temporary race track

Heading out for another awesome walk

Playing the bean bag throwing game

Rosie eating dinner out

Balancing on the bar

By return on the 29th I took Rosie all day and had a great time. Before Angela went for some well deserved time in the art room we all had a great game of Sorry! that Rosie won fair and square, which was great fun. After that I stayed playing games with her for a bit and then we went onto the patio again with her little police car but this time I laid out some plant pots into a track for her to drive around and she loved it! After this we put Thelma and Xena onto leads (while Louise went to see Angela) and went for a really nice walk up to the headland again. Then it was back home for more games. It really was an epic day and then in the evening we headed out for dinner to our favourite restaurant and Rosie had lots of fun in the play area.

Well that was as far as I got yesterday evening before I headed to bed so let's pick this up again now...

Daddy and Rosie cuddles

Xena hot after a crow

Mummy and Rosie having a race

Drawing all over her balloon

The 30th was when I started to feel sick and I went downhill quite quickly to be honest. It started off well with a cuddle with Rosie in the morning before Angela was up and then the girls went out shopping while I did another half day of work. I was sat out in the sun when they returned around lunch time and was being entertained by two very young crows who were super friendly (though Xena did not like them at all and was chasing them so hard I had to send her inside). Fortunately they came back when Rosie was home and she was able to watch them hopping all around her feet. Brilliant. In the afternoon we built another race track but this time got Rosie's remote control car out and she raced her police car against Angela driving the remote controlled car. Once the sun went down we were back inside and Rosie did some art, including drawing on the balloon she had been given at the restaurant the day before by one of the waiters.

Rosie in her lovely white outfit

Xena giving me a cuddle

New Year's Eve I was feeling very rough; I came down the stairs and said good morning and found that I had basically lost my voice completely and that set the day up. I helped Rosie get dressed into a lovely outfit from her wardrobe which she wore all day and managed to stain with juice - typical. Never mind. For my part I was useless all day and getting worse and worse by the minute. I sat around or slept all day, watched Rosie play a bit with her car, but was in bed by 5pm without even eating any dinner. We had to cancel our regular visit to the neighbours which was a huge shame but I did wake around midnight and get a video of the fireworks including some of those from next door. I was back to bed and asleep again quickly though.

The sun rises on a new year

Xena from a year ago

Xena now!

Yeah I wasn't feeling my best

And so to New Year's Day which was probably my worst day as I was aching, shivering, had a very high temperature and was in bed a very large percentage of it. I was awake early, having had a disturbed night, but then back to bed again. I was pleased that I remembered to get Angela to attempt to recreate one of our first pictures of Xena from last New Year's Day when she was first found hiding in our wood shed. She's just a bit bigger now huh. The last picture is me sat next to the fire wearing multiple layers including my outside coat and a hat, and I was still shivering so badly my teeth were chattering. Crazy.

Sorting and breaking up firewood

Working on more distribution boxes

Shifting old roof tiles

Rosie feeds the ducks and chickens

We have a light fitting

Stones get removed from the soil

Sat on the tree house enjoying the view

Halil takes his firewood and heads home

On Monday the workmen were back but also I was finally on the mend however now Angela was down very sick and she actually slept the entire day which is totally unheard of. I spent the day with Rosie while the men got on with their tasks. Halil was back outside first of all making up some bundles of sticks from the wood he's taking and then he moved all the roof tiles and old floor tiles over into a neat stack next to the green building. Bekir meanwhile was working away in the roof on the electrics, getting everything connected up and fitting the lights and switches for the storage area. Rosie helped me to feed the birds as well during the morning. After lunch I let Rosie watch some films while I dozed on my chair as I was still feeling quite rubbish and then we headed outside for the last of the sun. Halil was, by now, sifting out the small stones from the plant bed next to the new path and was doing a great job. Rosie and I headed up and sat on the tree house for a lovely little while before playing some very slow hide and seek. At the end of the day Halil carried his two bails of firewood away and I made beans on toast for us, of which Rosie ate twice as much as I could. Crazy.

Rosie has a Xena cuddle before school

Bekir looking at our broken grinder

We are above the clouds

More ducting for the lights

Halil sifts out more stones

Lights in our storage area

Gathering together more firewood

And so I reach yesterday. Rosie was heading back to school after her holiday and having (apparently) amazingly dodged this illness. Angela was still very very ill yesterday but she made it downstairs to wave Rosie to school. When I got back from dropping her the men were in and I made it clear to them that, as Halil was also recovering from the same illness and Bekir starting to cough as well, I expected them to take it easy. Fortunately the sun came out and it was another warm day and I was able to do half a day as I was also back to my work today but I only did manage the half day. The men were doing basically the same as they day before, with Halil very slowly carrying sand upstairs so they could mix the cement up there for the next floor section while Bekir finished the electrics and now we have operating lights in underneath the eaves. Halil also readied more firewood to take home with him.

I am going to leave it there; I may do another update this evening or I may do today and tomorrow in an update tomorrow but I'm finally recovering and so should be getting back to speed. Thanks for reading this epic update.