Christmas, mostly, and the last day of the men

 Welcome back to the final update for 2020 from us, and the last regular update until probably March or April when the men come back. I'll maybe do irregular posts if something happens to warrant it but there won't be many.

So many parts

The finished kitchen

Many books in a mess

Rosie carries an empty box away

All the fiction books are arranged

Mulled wine time

This update goes back to before Christmas and sees me spending all evening putting one of Rosie's presents together. It took me about 2.5 hours to build but in the end went together really well and securely. Christmas Eve I wasn't working and that was such a good decision. It was a lovely day spent with the family; Rosie and I got time together sorting the books for the library, she actually was a help again, and by the end of the day I had placed all the fiction books onto their shelves. Angela and I settled down to Die Hard once Rosie was asleep and enjoyed some mulled wine while waiting for Hans to fall so Christmas could being properly.

A glorious start to Christmas morning

Happy Christmas from both of us!

Puppies helping with unwrapping

The sun shows its face

Christmas tree on Christmas morning

Rosie with her snow globe

Christmas day dawned red skies but no rain. Rosie slept in a bit (the last year that'll happen I'm sure) so we got ourselves up and ready to wake her, Christmas jumpers at the ready. She had a couple of small presents to open straight upon waking which she really liked, but mostly the puppies enjoyed getting their teeth into some wrapping paper. With the first presents opened we got the fire lit upstairs (however it didn't need to stay lit as the weather was so warm) and Rosie got to open her snow globe. She was far more impressed than she looks in this picture.

Bacon, eggs and bubbly

Walking up the hill (Rosie holding Thelma's lead)

Lots of fun in the leaves

Waving to mummy through the window

Amazing roast goat leg

Sat down for our lovely dinner

Sunset on Christmas Day

Whisky in the Library

We had our traditional fizz, though this year it was actually tasty, and I cooked bacon and eggs before we headed out for a walk up the hill. We didn't get all the way up this year, mainly because there were workmen on the road and wild dogs around; Rosie walked the whole way there and back and then, when we got back, stayed outside running around and playing in the leaves. I lifted her up to the window to wave to Angela who was hard at work inside preparing an AMAZING roast goat leg once again. It was really tasty and we all enjoyed our dinner very much indeed. Present opening went on pretty much all day as Rosie got a little overwhelmed however that was also lovely :) we had a video call with both our families as well and all in all it was an epic day. Finally Rosie went to bed, then sun went down, and I settled into the library with a whisky and a good book and read until I finished the book, then went to bed. A good day indeed.

Bubble & Squeak cooking up

Breakfast on the sofa

Thelma & Louise with bones

Chess sets in the library

Boxing day was started as per usual with me cooking Bubble & Squeak for breakfast; Rosie had a more normal one and was very keen (as you can see in the picture) on sharing the toast from her toy toaster with all of us. She spent the day making egg on toast and giving it to us in turn. The puppies also got to have the bones from Christmas Dinner and enjoyed chewing them up outside. I spent a little more time in the library and got the chess sets out on display on top of the narrow units which was a lovely thing to achieve.

Saying goodbye to the old cot

The new bed is put up

A very comfortable bed

Units arranged for the railway

Sunday was all about furniture. I took down Rosie's old cot and built the new bed in its place. Rosie had all the fun jumping on the new mattress that we'd laid in the library to expand and this must have helped her to feel comfortable with the bed as she has since then taken herself into it and slept just the same as she did in the cot. She really is amazing. I also positioned the units for what will be Rosie's model railway for her birthday, on the landing, as I have only a few weeks to get this up and running now.

Arty shot of raindrops on the trees

Bekir fitting plug sockets

Halil fitting shelf supports

A new curtain goes up

Shelves in the wash room

Shelves in the Glass Room

Downpipe being fitted

Moon rise over the hills

Yesterday was the final work day for the men, making up for the Monday they missed last week. It was a rainy nasty day after the nice weekend. They had lots of little jobs to do and completed them all. First of all Bekir fitted all the sockets on the landing while Halil attached the shelf supports to the wall outside Room 13. With this done (and while Angela, Rosie and I were on a large Zoom call with my extended family) Bekir fitted a new curtain into Rosie's bedroom. Next up were some shelves in the washroom to help organise our stuff in there and then it was out to the Glass Entrance where they attached two studs to the wall so I can make a shelf for plants in the sun. Finally Bekir fitted the downpipe outside the porch while Halil tidied and they stayed a while after making sure everything is away. As is now becoming traditional I had a lovely walk outside with Rosie and watched the moon rise, while the sun set. I was getting quite a headache, however, and went to bed at 8pm and slept right through! This is why this update was delayed a day.

Rainbow over the neighbour's house

The library looking great

Clouds, blue sky and the Old School

The first picture is hung

Railway beginnings

And so to today; the wind was so strong in the night and kept up through the day, but we did get outside a bit and first thing there was a lovely strong rainbow as the rain blew in on that wind, but the sun was out for us. I've spent a bit more time tidying the library and now have all the books arranged nicely. Angela had to go shopping today and when Rosie was woken up by the puppies barking for no good reason we went outside to wait for her and get fresh air. I have now also begun to put pictures up in the library, though I'll need more hanging kits to get them all up. Also the actual track plan for the model railway has been laid out.

And there it is; it has been a long time since I've done an update this long. I hope you enjoyed reading it. There will be updates, I'm sure, over the coming months but nothing regular until March or April. Take care, and Happy New Year!

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.