When we moved into this house nearly 6 years ago, the first thing we did was paint a couple of the rooms. Let's just say the previous owners had rather dubious tastes.
The lounge in particular was painted this baby poo yellow/green. That had to go.
But it's easy to paint walls. What wasn't so easy was replacing the hideous red/burgundy/orangey carpet they had laid throughout the house. Fortunately, on the ground floor, only the lounge is carpeted. Unfortunately, this dark colour showed everything cat hair, every dog hair, every thing. I was forever stressing about hoovering. The last thing we did before company arrived was to run the hoover. And if we had unannounced visitors I wouldn't let them go beyond the kitchen.
Now some of you reasonable people might be asking yourself, why didn't that crazy woman just go and replace the carpet? Now I don't know who you think you're calling crazy, but my daddy raised me right. You can't just go round throwing things out before they have been used up.
And when we moved into this house 6 years ago these carpets were brand spanking new. So I lived with it. Not happily I might add. Every time I hoovered I complained, silently (and sometimes not so silently). I apologised to visitors for assaulting their visual sensibilities and waited for the day when the carpet could justifiably be replaced.
That glorious day came a few months back. OK, if we were really hard pressed I could have eeked a few more years out of it but the stress was more than I could bear. Instead I opted for the stress free option. Or shall I say I them subjected my husband to the stress of finding just the right colour?
One Sunday afternoon we visited our neighbours for a cuppa tea and biscuits to discover that they had replaced their lounge carpeting and they had the colour I coveted. That simple. Let the neighbours do the shopping. We promptly made our way to the same shop, the same salesman, and scheduled the installation.
Marc moved all the furniture to the playroom and waited at home for the installation. Abigail and I came home after the school run and there it was. Marc had move all the furniture back into the lounge and it was delightful.
Glorious, Beautiful, Exquisite, Pristine cream (marshmallow to be exact) carpeting. For the first time since having children I had cream carpet.
Right up until the moment Abigail dropped a slice of pizza face down on it. 8 hours after the carpet had been installed. 8 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!
Now I know people are more important than things. I know things can be replaced. blah blah blah. Let's just say this wasn't one of my shining moments as a parent and I wish I'd handled it better. But dang gone it, 8 HOURS? Really?
We frantically dabbed and mixed solutions of laundry detergent, vinegar, stain remover, and everything else the books say to use. No one else can see the stain. My husband says he can't see the stain but he wouldn't see an elephant in the room. Every time I enter the room my eye goes to that spot. I'm not sure I can see the stain. But I imagine I can see the stain.
I had new carpets for exactly 6 hours. Not one of those did anyone spend in the house.
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Friday, 2 April 2010
Monday, 9 February 2009
On the Brink
Sebastian has lost his games kit. That's all the clothes he wears to play rugby, football (aka soccer), etc It appears that last week with the blizzard they didn't play any games. We thought the kit came home but it isn't in my car, daddy's car or anywhere in the house or garage. So unless it is in the school (which he assures me it is not and yes, I know that has its own fallibility issues) or in someone else's car it is gone. And I will not be spending a small fortune to replace it. My son will just have to sit on the sidelines and learn the consequences of not taking care of his kit. The school called at 5 pm and Sebastian has finished his homework early (since he couldn't play games without his games kit) and they need me to pick him up early. Nope, he will sit and read a book until his father comes to get him.
The tenants of our rental moved out in late January and we had made arrangements to get the place repainted and the carpets replaced. But the letting agency had found some people who were willing (for a small reduction in rent) to take it as it was. Now 3 weeks later and 2 weeks before they are due to move in, they have decided they want the carpet replaced and it painted. OMG, are you kidding me? Do they not understand As Is?
My daughter worked very hard over the weekend on her homework. She has learned a whole bunch of new words and drew a lovely picture to go with her new phonic sound. but in the chaos that must have been my husband trying to get the children off to school without a games bag, her poor little book bag got left behind and her teacher didn't get to see the fruits of her labour. she is still pouting.
It is pouring rain. It is cold. There is a prediction for more snow. Our pipes to the toilet upstairs cracked in the freezeout of last week. The plumber was due to be here on Friday of last week. He was due here tonight. He hasn't shown up and hasn't rang. We have been without a toilet on the first floor for 6 days. The children are having to come up or down to use a toilet. this is not good in the middle of the night!
Our piano tuner cancelled the appointment. Twice. and now I need to call and reschedule. Yeah, like I've got all the time in the world to be rescheduling because they don't know how a calendar operates.
The school diary says there is an informal concert tonight but I know nothing about this.
We have no more fire wood. It was meant to last the whole winter but because it has been so blooming cold we have used it all up.
I have no idea what I am going to make for dinner. Pay Day is still 4 days away so we will probably be having Cheerios for dinner.
Don't even get me started on work.
I am on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
The tenants of our rental moved out in late January and we had made arrangements to get the place repainted and the carpets replaced. But the letting agency had found some people who were willing (for a small reduction in rent) to take it as it was. Now 3 weeks later and 2 weeks before they are due to move in, they have decided they want the carpet replaced and it painted. OMG, are you kidding me? Do they not understand As Is?
My daughter worked very hard over the weekend on her homework. She has learned a whole bunch of new words and drew a lovely picture to go with her new phonic sound. but in the chaos that must have been my husband trying to get the children off to school without a games bag, her poor little book bag got left behind and her teacher didn't get to see the fruits of her labour. she is still pouting.
It is pouring rain. It is cold. There is a prediction for more snow. Our pipes to the toilet upstairs cracked in the freezeout of last week. The plumber was due to be here on Friday of last week. He was due here tonight. He hasn't shown up and hasn't rang. We have been without a toilet on the first floor for 6 days. The children are having to come up or down to use a toilet. this is not good in the middle of the night!
Our piano tuner cancelled the appointment. Twice. and now I need to call and reschedule. Yeah, like I've got all the time in the world to be rescheduling because they don't know how a calendar operates.
The school diary says there is an informal concert tonight but I know nothing about this.
We have no more fire wood. It was meant to last the whole winter but because it has been so blooming cold we have used it all up.
I have no idea what I am going to make for dinner. Pay Day is still 4 days away so we will probably be having Cheerios for dinner.
Don't even get me started on work.
I am on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Helpful Hints
Y'all gonna think I done lost my mind. First the post about my inappropriate relationship with my LeCrueset casserole and now this.
Well, I've changed. Live with it. I yam what I yam.
And besides this post is more for me than all of you anyway. You see, I always read these things and then save them off somewhere and then can't find it when I need it. Well, this whole blog thingy is one darn good filing system because I can just search for anything I am looking for. And voila!
1. Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.
2. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
3. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!
4. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
5. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
6. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
7. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints or After Eights (depending on country of origin) in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.
8. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if you want a stronger taste of garlic.
9. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.
10. Reheat Pizza: Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.
11. Easy Deviled Eggs: Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into eggs. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
12. Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
13. Reheating refrigerated bread: To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
14. Newspaper weeds away: Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
15. Broken Glass: Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
16. No More Mosquitoes: Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
17. Squirrel Away: To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.
18. Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
19. Reducing Static Cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.
20. Measuring Cups: Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
21. Foggy Windshield? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
22. Reopening envelope: If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.
23. Hair Conditioner: Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.
24. Goodbye Fruit Flies: Take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
25. Get Rid of Ants: Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
Now wasn't that helpful?
PS Thanks Pam!
Well, I've changed. Live with it. I yam what I yam.
And besides this post is more for me than all of you anyway. You see, I always read these things and then save them off somewhere and then can't find it when I need it. Well, this whole blog thingy is one darn good filing system because I can just search for anything I am looking for. And voila!
1. Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.
2. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
3. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!
4. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
5. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
6. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
7. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints or After Eights (depending on country of origin) in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.
8. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if you want a stronger taste of garlic.
9. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.
10. Reheat Pizza: Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.
11. Easy Deviled Eggs: Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into eggs. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
12. Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
13. Reheating refrigerated bread: To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
14. Newspaper weeds away: Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
15. Broken Glass: Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
16. No More Mosquitoes: Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
17. Squirrel Away: To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.
18. Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
19. Reducing Static Cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.
20. Measuring Cups: Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
21. Foggy Windshield? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
22. Reopening envelope: If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.
23. Hair Conditioner: Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.
24. Goodbye Fruit Flies: Take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
25. Get Rid of Ants: Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
Now wasn't that helpful?
PS Thanks Pam!
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Laundry Fairy
I have a laundry fairy. Do you have a laundry fairy?
What is a laundry fairy?
The laundry fairy puts all folded clothes away in drawers and hangs it up on hangers.
Whilst my husband will occasionally help out by folding a few pairs of underpants and a couples of his t-shirts he really has no idea how all of these items make into into the drawers and closets. He will, if asked super nicely, carry the laundry basket upstairs.
But that is as far as it will go. He has never ever hang up any of the children's clothing. And the only reason he knows where anything goes is because he gets them dressed in the morning after I've left for work.
So the laundry fairy swoops in and rescues us. She (and it would be a she) puts it all away in the allocated drawers and ensures the nice clean clothing doesn't get any wrinkles.
Isn't that nice of her? I'll bet you wish you had a laundry fairy.
What is a laundry fairy?
The laundry fairy puts all folded clothes away in drawers and hangs it up on hangers.
Whilst my husband will occasionally help out by folding a few pairs of underpants and a couples of his t-shirts he really has no idea how all of these items make into into the drawers and closets. He will, if asked super nicely, carry the laundry basket upstairs.
But that is as far as it will go. He has never ever hang up any of the children's clothing. And the only reason he knows where anything goes is because he gets them dressed in the morning after I've left for work.
So the laundry fairy swoops in and rescues us. She (and it would be a she) puts it all away in the allocated drawers and ensures the nice clean clothing doesn't get any wrinkles.
Isn't that nice of her? I'll bet you wish you had a laundry fairy.
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Unplanned Cleaning
In IT (or IS - whatever you want to call all the computers) we have two kinds of outages.
Planned outages are those that are, uh, planned. We know we have to bring something down to do something. We plan these for weeks, months, sometimes (if we are not so good at it) we may plan for years. We tell everyone about the outage so they can make alternative arrangements like taking along lunch or finding a new job. We take all the steps we possibly can to ensure that the outage is for the shortest time possible and we can return to normal operating procedure as quickly as possible.
Unplanned outages are those that just happen either with no or very little warning. These are bad. Uh, very bad. After these, some people have to find new jobs.
Now cast your mind back to my previous post about my New Year cleaning frenzy (or just click here). I have been on a manic spree but careful and bit systematic in my approach. I started with the kitchen, moved into the living room, then the dining room (I have lots of crystal and glassware that I rarely use). Next week I start on the bedrooms.
The one spot in my kitchen that I didn't quite attack was under the fridge.
I love my fridge. It's one of those American double doored water and ice cubes in the door style fridges. You Americans should not take your humongous fridges for granted. We Brits put up with the tiniest, useless wee little bitty fridges you have ever seen in your entire life and it used to drive me crazy. Then I bought a big house with a big kitchen and I bought myself a big fridge!
I've read that you should never move a fridge until you move house. And even then you just might want to sell the fridge with the house cause you can bet your bottom dollar that after you move the fridge it will break. Has something to do with mixing up the chemicals and all that - blah blah blah. And sure enough the last time we moved, we moved our fridge in and it didn't last 2 months and we had to go and get ourselves a new fridge. Course, that's when we got this big American fridge so you didn't hear me complaining too loudly.
Now I am super duper careful with this fridge. So I decided that I could skip the area under the fridge.
But I had an unplanned event which led to my unplanned cleaning.
My beloved husband is a little bit clumsy. Oh who am I foolin'? This man is like a bull in a china closet. He trips over his own feet several times a day and it's not like he's got on new shoes. He regularly breaks glasses and plates when unloading the dishwasher and I get extremely nervous when we go to other people's homes for dinner and they've set out the good china.
Here I was quietly typing up my last blog post. I had just hit the publish button and -wack splatter- my husband had knocked something out of the fridge reaching for a beer. I looked round to see an entire jug of single cream had hit the floor and was spreading all over the place.
My clumsy husband is not exactly a man of action either. He just stood there watching the disaster get worse. Finally he blinked (and no, I didn't yell at him) and got busy with a bucket and a cutting board and a scraper - not exactly the tools a woman would assemble for the job but I thought ok, let's see how he does this.
I watched long enough to realise that wasn't going to work or if it was it was going to take all night and still wouldn't be clean. So I suggested he take the cream soaked rug down to the laundry in an attempt to get rid of him.
I got everything I could see cleaned up but then the moment of truth arrived. I had to get under the fridge.
Husband proved his usefulness by moving the fridge and my worst nightmare came true. Dust, dirt, pet hair, dog food, cat food, fridge magnets, pet toys, baby toys, bouncing balls, and various other unidentifiable objects appeared. GROSS!
It took a broom, a hoover, and 10 floor wipes to get the floor clean and my husband's strength to replace the fridge back to its rightful position. It took every ounce of self control I possess not to yell at my husband or deck him when he smiled and proclaimed "Never a dull moment!" when it was all over.
That's my unplanned cleaning session for the day sorted.
Planned outages are those that are, uh, planned. We know we have to bring something down to do something. We plan these for weeks, months, sometimes (if we are not so good at it) we may plan for years. We tell everyone about the outage so they can make alternative arrangements like taking along lunch or finding a new job. We take all the steps we possibly can to ensure that the outage is for the shortest time possible and we can return to normal operating procedure as quickly as possible.
Unplanned outages are those that just happen either with no or very little warning. These are bad. Uh, very bad. After these, some people have to find new jobs.
Now cast your mind back to my previous post about my New Year cleaning frenzy (or just click here). I have been on a manic spree but careful and bit systematic in my approach. I started with the kitchen, moved into the living room, then the dining room (I have lots of crystal and glassware that I rarely use). Next week I start on the bedrooms.
The one spot in my kitchen that I didn't quite attack was under the fridge.
I love my fridge. It's one of those American double doored water and ice cubes in the door style fridges. You Americans should not take your humongous fridges for granted. We Brits put up with the tiniest, useless wee little bitty fridges you have ever seen in your entire life and it used to drive me crazy. Then I bought a big house with a big kitchen and I bought myself a big fridge!
I've read that you should never move a fridge until you move house. And even then you just might want to sell the fridge with the house cause you can bet your bottom dollar that after you move the fridge it will break. Has something to do with mixing up the chemicals and all that - blah blah blah. And sure enough the last time we moved, we moved our fridge in and it didn't last 2 months and we had to go and get ourselves a new fridge. Course, that's when we got this big American fridge so you didn't hear me complaining too loudly.
Now I am super duper careful with this fridge. So I decided that I could skip the area under the fridge.
But I had an unplanned event which led to my unplanned cleaning.
My beloved husband is a little bit clumsy. Oh who am I foolin'? This man is like a bull in a china closet. He trips over his own feet several times a day and it's not like he's got on new shoes. He regularly breaks glasses and plates when unloading the dishwasher and I get extremely nervous when we go to other people's homes for dinner and they've set out the good china.
Here I was quietly typing up my last blog post. I had just hit the publish button and -wack splatter- my husband had knocked something out of the fridge reaching for a beer. I looked round to see an entire jug of single cream had hit the floor and was spreading all over the place.
My clumsy husband is not exactly a man of action either. He just stood there watching the disaster get worse. Finally he blinked (and no, I didn't yell at him) and got busy with a bucket and a cutting board and a scraper - not exactly the tools a woman would assemble for the job but I thought ok, let's see how he does this.
I watched long enough to realise that wasn't going to work or if it was it was going to take all night and still wouldn't be clean. So I suggested he take the cream soaked rug down to the laundry in an attempt to get rid of him.
I got everything I could see cleaned up but then the moment of truth arrived. I had to get under the fridge.
Husband proved his usefulness by moving the fridge and my worst nightmare came true. Dust, dirt, pet hair, dog food, cat food, fridge magnets, pet toys, baby toys, bouncing balls, and various other unidentifiable objects appeared. GROSS!
It took a broom, a hoover, and 10 floor wipes to get the floor clean and my husband's strength to replace the fridge back to its rightful position. It took every ounce of self control I possess not to yell at my husband or deck him when he smiled and proclaimed "Never a dull moment!" when it was all over.
That's my unplanned cleaning session for the day sorted.
Tumble Dryer
On 26 December, the heating element on the tumble dryer broke. I thought no big deal. We can hang our clothes up and air dry them. We'll save some electricity costs and save a wee bit of the planet (maybe offset the climate impact of all those Christmas cards I sent). After all, I line dry all the clothes in the summer. How difficult can this be? I toyed with the idea that maybe I don't even need a tumble dryer. How wrong was I?
We ordered the new part on 27 December and were told that in 3-5 days a new heating element would be delivered. Now those are working days and around the holiday season a working day is hard to find. The day of placing the order doesn't actually count and date of delivery isn't what they meant; date of dispatch from their warehouse is what they meant.
It was ok for the first couple days. We wore those socks at the bottom of the drawer. We wore those T-shirts that never seem to make it to the top of the pile. We discovered underwear under the bed.
Then Sebastian ran out of underpants. Then Marc ran out of socks. Then Abigail ran out of pajamas. And I ran out of trousers. The sheets needed to be changed and my house resembled a Chinese laundry.
We had clothes hanging from clothes horses and radiators all over the place. I build a huge fire in the fireplace and turned the Aga to high and it still took about 10 hours to dry a load of laundry.
I was reaching the end of my tether when I received a text from my dear husband at mid morning announcing the part had at last arrived. And he had installed it. And the tumble dryer was working once again.
Oh thank god for small miracles! Don't think I'll be retiring my tumble dryer anytime soon. I learned my lesson.
We ordered the new part on 27 December and were told that in 3-5 days a new heating element would be delivered. Now those are working days and around the holiday season a working day is hard to find. The day of placing the order doesn't actually count and date of delivery isn't what they meant; date of dispatch from their warehouse is what they meant.
It was ok for the first couple days. We wore those socks at the bottom of the drawer. We wore those T-shirts that never seem to make it to the top of the pile. We discovered underwear under the bed.
Then Sebastian ran out of underpants. Then Marc ran out of socks. Then Abigail ran out of pajamas. And I ran out of trousers. The sheets needed to be changed and my house resembled a Chinese laundry.
We had clothes hanging from clothes horses and radiators all over the place. I build a huge fire in the fireplace and turned the Aga to high and it still took about 10 hours to dry a load of laundry.
I was reaching the end of my tether when I received a text from my dear husband at mid morning announcing the part had at last arrived. And he had installed it. And the tumble dryer was working once again.
Oh thank god for small miracles! Don't think I'll be retiring my tumble dryer anytime soon. I learned my lesson.
Monday, 24 September 2007
Tell the World
My husband took out the rubbish tonight without me asking! I didn't even look at him with that evil eye.......
Is the world still spinning? Will the sun rise tomorrow morning? Has hell frozen over?
Is the world still spinning? Will the sun rise tomorrow morning? Has hell frozen over?
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Bath drain is not working again. Pump engineer out today did not fit rubber seal properly and 2nd floor has now flooded into Abigail's bedroom on 1st floor. I am having a plumbing breakdown. New plumber called and will ring us back tonight. Going to cost us a fortune. I feel my new bathroom slipping between my fingers.......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)