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.

Largely in the workshop

I asked the men to try and finish the replacement workbench in the workshop by the end of tomorrow so that was our main focus today.

Bekir drilling a hole

Halil grinds to size

Dipping into the paint

Bekir separates the first batch

Halil splits up the second batch

First of all, however, they spent some time completing the brackets that will hold the stair guides in place. Bekir drilled, then Halil trimmed to size and took the burrs off and then they moved on to painting. This was accomplished by threading a batch of brackets onto a wire and then dipping it into the paint. Once they had a solid covering they stretched the wire out between two poles (and the handles of a wheelbarrow for the second batch) and separated each bracket from its neighbour. Clever time and labour saving effort that.

Halil drilling holes into the frame

Adding more anchors to the feet

Another load of steel is delivered

Getting the sub frame in place

Halil sets to welding

Final task - the painting

The main part of the day was spent in the workshop as I wanted. First of all they drilled out the holes that will be used to afix the work top to the frame. Then we discussed how we would be setting the shelves underneath, including supporting the machines, and decided to go with more steel so they popped down and bought it cut nearly to size. They then cut and welded each length into place before getting started with the metal paint to ensure it doesn't rust. The end of the day saw the table frame all finished and tomorrow they can focus on shelves and tools and power and getting the room ready for me for the weekend.

Rosie watering her raised bed

I'll leave you with this picture of Rosie watering her raised bed. She's doing so well at this and is loving seeing what is growing.

So there it is. I hope that they do get it all completed tomorrow! Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.

Halil is a hard worker

Hey it is Monday again so another update covering the last three days. It's been a good one so let's get to it as I'm tired today and don't want to be typing all evening.

Lots of sheep poo on our garden

Rosie looking at the moon through the telescope

There's the moon

Happy Rosie camping with me

First of all a picture I meant to include in the previous update, showing the sheep poo spread on the raised beds. It's going to really improve our soil! The evening was very exciting for Rosie as on Friday our friends came past with a load of stuff they don't want any more and that included a small telescope. Just before bed I set it up and Rosie was able to look through it and see the moon. She loved this. Camping that night was also a lot of fun, it was quite windy at first but we still slept until the alarm at 5am went off to remind us to get up and look for shooting stars. I saw one while we sat out but it was quite chilly and after about ten minutes we headed back in the tent and slept until 9am!

I dug a hole for this bush to go in

Planted with lots of manure dug in

Two more of the bushes

The new BBQ getting going

Playing a ghost game

Saturday was a fun and busy day. After that super long lay in I was very busy with tournee (which wasn't very welcome to be honest) and when I could get away I got into the garden and planted out four bushes in the garden. The day ended with a BBQ in the new BBQ and that went very well, then we had time to play a new game, also left by our friends who had gifted us the telescope, and had a fun time.

The next raised bed is getting full

Rosie's lovely flower gift

Rosie does love picnicking

Rosie on our walk

Lots of great sand for me - well done Rosie

Sunday was another busy day. I did get time to shovel some more soil into the raised bed and now I think I've only got one more lift to do and we can start using this one. Rosie picked me a flower while I was pushing her on the swing so I made a nice arty photograph. We had a picnic on the lawn, as Rosie was insistent she wanted to eat out even though it was cloudy and very windy. Later in the day it was much nicer weather so Rosie and I went for a walk up to the headland and collected a load of pine cones and sticks for decorating the Christmas tree, and a bucket full of sand for my hobbying.

Halil painting the frame

The frame is painted and looks great

The old chain - yeah, we needed a new one

Getting started cutting this tree down

Cut up and started to be split

Halil puts his back into it

Halil cleans up the stump

Unfortunately Bekir couldn't make it today due to family commitments but Halil came on his own and got a few tasks done. First of all he put two coats of metal paint on the workbench frame so that's done now and can be left to dry for 24 hours. With that finished Halil then fixed the chainsaw with a new chain and blade guide (the old one had been sharpened until it was almost not there) and then set to cutting down the dead walnut tree. He spent all the afternoon cutting and then splitting this wood. We'll need to tidy it away into the wood store tomorrow as it may rain on Wednesday. The wood is very hard and strong and there was a huge swing employed by Halil to split it. He cut the stump at a good height for Rosie to sit on it. There are so many ants in the wood (that is what killed the tree) but Halil treated the wood a bit and we will continue to treat that stump and paint it and varnish it so it remains good for Rosie to sit on.

So there it is. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.