Rosie's Room and Birthday

It's been a few days since the last update; firstly after the snow fell on Thursday the men didn't come back on Friday, which was fair enough, but then they also didn't come on Monday which was a surprise.

Here is Sammy Snowman; he has been a great Snowman

Glorious sunrise with Sammy in the foreground

Snow that crashed down from the roof

More yet to fall

Very lovely food I ate entirely too fast

We had a lot of fun in the snow over the weekend and I made Sammy who Rosie has taken to waving at a lot; now Sammy is only a very small pile of snow on the floor and tomorrow he'll almost certainly be gone. The snow melted quite fast and we had a bit of risk with it smashing down off the roof onto the patio; it made quite a bang. Thankfully no-one was underneath any of the falls. On Monday I headed over to Plovdiv to collect my mum from the airport as she has flown over to visit for Rosie's birthday and for a holiday. I went to the nice restaurant there but was in a major rush as the flight arrived 45 minutes early! This was good though as it meant we got back and A was awake and could welcome us back.

The day of tip tap starts

Much scraping and scratching all day

Getting towards the end

Old electrics have been removed

My mum getting a cuddle with Louise

Tuesday morning the men were back and you can sum that day up with the words "tip" and "tap". Most of the day was spent scraping the walls and removing paint. It is a boring job but they got stuck right into it very well. They also pulled the old cables out of the walls and ceiling which is something they don't always do and it is untidy having old cables appearing out of nowhere for no reason. Other than that it was a lovely day however very long as I worked until the early hours on Rosie's Hobbit Hole, the gift I was making for her for her birthday.

The final section of floor is broken up

A simple but effective ramp to protect the door frame

Delivery arrives

Bekir's son surveys the delivery

Sally applies sand

Insulation foam laid on top of plastic sheet

Cement mixing the old fashioned way

How it looked at the end of the day

The next day the men finished off breaking up the floor that we do not want; we have decided to keep the platform, it being the only one left in the building and we are so very keen to retain the character of the building rather than tearing it all out. The running machine will fit on it very nicely. It was while running around taking pictures that I found the awesome removable ramp they had made to protect our front door. So handy. First thing A took Bekir down to town to the builders merchant and placed a huge order for hopefully all the materials we will need to complete this job. This arrived almost as soon as they got back and was unloaded in very short order. The first task was to put sand down on the floor and Sally got to it with the wheelbarrow. After the sand was laid a huge sheet of plastic was stretched over the floor to waterproof it and then insulation board was laid on top. This is going to be a comfortable room with warm floors. Finally the day ended with them mixing up some cement (not using the mixer) and filling in footings for where the walls are going to be. It was a hugely productive day indeed.

And so we reach today and the big day.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful daughter

Rosie's First Birthday!!!

It's incredible to believe she's been with us for a year, and to think of everything that has happened in that year. Today has been amazing but also bittersweet and Dad has never been far from my thoughts.

Rosie's Hobbit Hole

The Pink Donkey

Mounds setting the level of the floor

Floor strips and a section completed

I did manage against all the odds to get Rosie's Hobbit Hole completed, after a couple of late nights, and I'm very pleased with how it has turned out. Sadly it was a normal working day for me (I wished I had booked it off) and the men were here however this was awesome as Bekir turned up with a pink donkey that Rosie has taken an immediate like to. It's awesome and plays cloppying sounds as well. Sally bought her a lovely teddy bear too - they are such awesome people, it's great to have them around for this day. In Rosie's Room the men laid the reinforcing metal grid down and then calculated the depth of concrete to pour with little mounds. They then joined those mounds with strips carefully which were set the width of the straight edge apart. Then the gaps between the strips were filled, again making use of the straight edge to keep it all level. It is a very traditional way of working, and is very successful it seems.

A and my Mum get stuck into baking

The finished Birthday Cake

The state of play at the end of the day

It being Rosie's Birthday A and my mum got stuck into baking her a cake during the morning and very successful it was indeed. It even has pink icing. In the room the men completed the middle third of the floor and that leaves only one third remaining to be cemented tomorrow and then maybe they'll start building the brick wall that'll go between Rosie's Room (where the floor is) and the gym room.

Rosie all dressed up and ready to party

Money-pinning time

The cake is brought out

"Is that ALL for me?!!?!"

"Ok.. just a bite of the slice then, please"

And so it was time to prepare for the evening. We were going out with our neighbours to the local restaurant we like so much and there was a fair bit to prepare including getting Rosie dressed up nicely. Doesn't she polish up well!? The evening was just so lovely; the neighbours are the best and Rosie had such a wonderful time, being the centre of attention. She had lots of cuddles and ran around lots and had money pinned to her and ate well and received gifts and laughed and shouted and waved and waved and waved and then, to top it all off, her birthday cake was brought out while we all sang Happy Birthday to her. She even blew the candle out herself (with a little help from Mummy). And then, not to be outdone by us all eating said cake, she took huge bites out of A's slice and really enjoyed it.

And so I got back and came straight upstairs to write this blog. It was very important to me to get this done, on Rosie's birthday, and not let it slide another day as it would have been so easy to do.

This blog, again, written in memory of my father - I missed his presence today and wish more than anything that he could have seen how much fun Rosie had today.