Marking time

It's been a strange couple of days, at least for me. I know a number of the readers consider that I bash on with lists and dedication and never a pause towards the end goal but that is more a reflection of how I type than reality. These last two days have very much felt like I am marking time, I have had no great urgency towards anything and haven't really felt that bad about this at all. I think it's largely to do with the weather being so unsettled and uncertain but also my left eye has been sore for the last couple of days and I think I need to get some eye-drops for it.

Sunday night and Monday

My lack of drive has not reflected on everyone by any means. It's been a busy enough couple of days.

Sunday evening nibbles

Sally masks off the consumer unit

Bekir making a start on tiling the corridor

Finishing touches being applied around the consumer unit

On to the next task already

Sunday night after I'd done the blog post we repaired into the lounge to listen to some music and drink tea and eat the awesome ginger cake A had made. It wasn't a greatly late night but I was very disturbed and slept badly so got a lie in until just before A left to get the men. When they got back they got stuck in with working towards our immediate goal of getting the kitchen fully operable. Sally's part in this was to fill in around the consumer unit with cement and then plaster over the top of it while Bekir was getting started on tiling the corridor and small rooms. After some discussion we agreed that he would lift the level of the floor in the corridor to match the rooms so there would be no little lips to trip over and on he worked. Once Sally had completed the consumer unit he went out into the entrance and began to work on sealing the inner front doors. This is great as it will mean when the wind blows we will no longer have the strange moaning wail that we have become accustomed to.

A huge storm misses us again

A is very pleased with her garlic

Nice juice garlic cloves

My mum cleans our washing machine

I had gone out during the morning with my mum to the bank and then the shops but after that I was stuck to my desk with paid work, the first day back but far less horrible than I had expected it to be. The weather continued to be really unsettled with some quite amazing clouds building and threatening us but nothing really bad hit. There were rumbles and Bulgaria got hit quite badly with storms in quite a lot of places but we escaped. Dinner was going to be a Thai curry and for this A cut down the first of the garlic bulbs that she had hung up to dry and was very happy with what she found. My dad had been in painting the bedside table during the day while my mum did an absolutely awesome job of cleaning up the washing machine that had become quite filthy while being sat there for the past two years. Very soon we hope to be able to get this into the utility room where it will live permanently.

I have no more pictures yesterday, another example of how strangely unfocused I am feeling at the moment. The trip to take the men was pretty uneventful apart from the newly scraped cheren put up to their village has collapsed under the weight of a deluge during the day and was slippy and slidey and not much fun to drive on. When I got back dinner was nearly ready and once again we ate in the dining room. It's so great to be down there already. A took herself to bed early but I had some more ginger cake and tea before going through. It wasn't the best nights sleep as Rambo was up barking and howling but it was better than Sunday night.

Tuesday

This morning I had chores to do and I emptied the humanure before A got back with the men. My eye was feeling a little better when I woke though this didn't last long and now it's quite sore again.

Sally getting on with the next front door surround

Bekir working on the doorway

We have another door hung

The parents had a nice slow start to the day and so both A and I knuckled down to our work while Sally continued fixing up around the entrance doors and Bekir got on with his tiling. He very quickly got to the point where he found that he would have to fit the door on the utility room (it probably could have been done by the carpenter in the end, but never mind) and so he began to dig out some of the floor to accommodate the frame. I was really busy and didn't get away from my desk much for the rest of the morning and then the door was hung and he was on with the tiling before lunch.

Puppies curling up on the sofa

A puppy bed on the sofa

Sally smiling as he works

Removing the old shuttering before replacing it

The puppies have been very unhappy with the way the weather has been; they love the heat and hate the rain, and today they have spent most of the day curled up on the sofa sleeping and being grumpy. We ate our lunch sat on the balcony in the sun which was really lovely, the parents having taken a walk down into town for market day. It was so pleasing that the weather has been better today and the threatened storm hasn't hit. For the rest of it Bekir has nearly run out of tiles so we'll be having to get to the shop again soon, though he'll be able to complete the corridor and will only be short for the pantry. This means that tomorrow he can get the pump rigged and we'll have a working boiler. Sally has finished the doors, has cleaned the area around the entry window, and has removed the old shuttering by the arch and replaced it; at this rate he'll finish all of these tasks and we'll have to find him something else to do.

The tiles approach completion

A view of the garden from the roof terrace

Distant rain that is heading our way

A regular visitor to our house

I had a really boring meeting which I sat in without speaking and was able to get a jump on this update which was great and when it was over I checked out the progress. Bekir has been cracking on with the tiling, though he apologised for being slower than he planned as there was a lot of fiddly stuff to do in the utility room. I reckon he'll be grouting and finishing off in there tomorrow so we could have hot water in the kitchen. A was super busy all day today so mid afternoon I sent her off with the camera to get some fresh air. She chose to go on the roof terrace and took some pictures while she was up there which was great. I was cooking today and made a start on the spicy pork pasta before I left to take the men home, leaving A to stir the pork slices so they would be done for my return.

Lit for the first time ever in our house

Building up the fire

The view from my chair at the table

It was an easy journey, and their road wasn't as slippery as they had no rain today, but when I got back the pork still wasn't that cooked so dinner was slightly delayed. I'd had the idea of lighting the open fire for dinner as the forecast is for the weather to pick up so this could be our last chance to do so without broiling ourselves alive. A got it lit and set it going and it drew quite well, though there was some smoke initially. As we get better at this we'll reduce that smoke leakage I'm sure. It burns well with the doors shut which is great for winter when we will just want the heat and not care so much about the romanticism of flickering flames.

Dinner went down well and so now I'm just finishing this off before heading for a shower and a relax before bed.