Saturday DIY

The list of things for my husband to do around the house had grown to a nearly unmanageable size and the urgency of some items on the list meant that he could no longer put anything at a higher priority. This was the upside of the wind damage done last week. The trellis simply had to be fixed otherwise we (or any visitors to our home) could not get up the path to our door. Other items on the list included

1. The seat on the loo downstairs had come loose. Every time someone sat down the seat slid to the right and the was a very real possibility you could fall off the toilet. Not good.
2. The flush on the loo upstairs didn't work unless you had a wiggle on the handle which is not good since this is the loo the children use and children are not so good at handle jiggling.
3. There is a telephone cord that goes up the stairs (legacy from the days before wireless phones) and the children had pulled it loose during their "timeouts" on the stairs. this presented a real hazard to anyone going up or down the stairs that they would catch their feet in the cord and fall.
4. Abigail got a cool disco ball for Christmas that didn't even last the full day of Christmas as it got tripped over and feel.
5. Aforementioned trellis fallen over blocking path to house and threatening car damage as well as annihilation of honeysuckle.
6. Kitchen cupboard under sink had fallen off hinges providing access to household poisons and ample unsavoury chewing opportunities to dog.

To fix all of this required (except the disco ball which was the one casualty) only 2 trips to the hardware store. Disco Ball had to be thrown away. but in my humble opinion that's a pretty good list of DONES!

I managed to find Sebastian a new riding instructor because, Lucy, his previous instructor, completely flaked on us. She stopped showing up for lessons and wouldn't return any phone or text messages. I rang the horse rescue centre and they have a new instructor which will start with Sebastian next week. He's very excited!

I finally finished the thank you cards for Christmas after a small mix up about who got what from whom. I had obviously left the room for a moment (probably to fall off the loose loo seat), and the unwrapping had not stopped. This meant I didn't get a chance to write down some gifts! Auntie Mary was able to help me fill in the blanks and the cards got finished. I've still a couple to write from Abigail's birthday party but should get to that today.

Last night we went over to the Cook's home. We have been researching various options for going to Lapland before Christmas 2007. We've gathered a couple brochures and thought we would let the children play, put the children to bed, get a curry in and make a decision on where we would go. What happened was that we are more confused now that we were when we started. The web provided us with no guidance and actually only served to confuse us further. One brochure looked really good but we need to find out if we can do only 4 days and not 10. One seemed OK but we had heard mixed reviews. If anyone reading this has any suggestions for a magical trip to Lapland, please comment on this blog and give us a hand!

Last night the wind kicked up again and we lost a big branch off one of the trees in our lane but it was quickly and easily moved this morning. Today looks like a day to relax....