Royal Wedding street party preparations

I am very excited about the wedding and street party tomorrow.  The house is full of red white and blue.  My mum has also arrived for the weekend.  Tonight we took the bunting that we had made and about half the street came out to help with the preparations.  Its and exciting culmination of lots of preparation I have really enjoyed being part of the organising committee and its been great fro bring the street together and getting to know people better.  The photo I am posting tonight is mid preparation (G was working a late shift).

The dust settles

We started the day sanding again and the air was thick with dust.  It was a beautiful sunny day so at least we had the windows open and fresh air blowing through.

It was also a big milestone as we pulled up the old grotty carpet.  Its thread bare in places and the foam rubber backing had totally disintegrated and formed a green powder that we had to sweep up.



Getting rid of the carpet -
sweeping up the dusty remains

 The morning's jobs also included, chasing in electric sockets, caulking the corners and generally getting read for painting.  We missed coffee this morning as we had had a bit of a late start after our night out at Sue & Dons and we had thought about going down the beach as our friends were having fire but despite the beautiful weather we are very keen to use these days off to really move forward with the renovation.  So we worked hard until lunch time.

We had a relaxed lunch of pizza in the garden and because it was such a beautiful day I managed to persuade G that we should relax in the sun loungers for half and hour.  I think he was timing us as it didn't seem long before we were back to work.  I feel bad that after all the hard work he did today the only photo I got of him is this one while he was having a post lunch relax.

A rare moment G relaxing!

The main job in the afternoon was painting the ceiling.  We are having a few problems with old flaking paint despite all the sanding down we have done.  Very old paint and old walls are not helping the situation.  The room did have a bit of a tada moment by the end of the day with the bright new white ceiling making it look a lot brighter.  I was having a few problems getting paint in my hair so I donned a plastic shower cap.  Thanks to G for catching this photo while I was wearing it I guess it pays me back for threating to take a photo of him in a swim hat.



Great headgear!

 After we downed tools we decided to brave the sea pool again.  We managed 4 lengths this time without such a big pause at the ends to warm up.  I am not sure if we are getting  acclimatised or the pool is slightly warmer at least it wasn't such an ordeal as yesterday.

In the afternoon we invited Mogsy over for supper so I had to nip to the shops to get some food in.  Mogsy is having a bit of a tough time at the moment. She recently had an amazing achievement of running the London Marathon with a PB and reaching her goal of a sub 4:30 marathon (with a time of 4:28).  However sadly her close friend died of cancer the day before her marathon she was our age with a loving family and its very sad. Every step of the marathon she ran in memory of her friend.  Also Mogsy's hot water had packed in so G went to pick her up so she could have a drink with supper  and at the same time managed to fix her boiler.  I had spent ages in the supermarket getting the food but in my true ditsy style I managed to get everything I needed except the main ingredient which was chicken for the satay chicken!  How anyone can be as forgetful as me sometimes is beyond me.  Fortunately Mogsy saved the day as she had chicken in the fridge which after a hurried phone call she bought over with her.  Inspired by Sues cooking last night  I cooked another of Jamie Olivers 30 minute meals, Satay chicken skewers, with a noodle salad followed by minty pineapple and coconut yoghurt.  It was good to see her.

Hot and Dusty

Today was another lovely sunny day with a bit of a cold wind.  We worked hard in our old bedroom and instead of dismantling we feel like we are putting it back together. 



G making the oak window sills
you can see the dust in the air!

 G's main job was to cut the oak to size to form the new window ledges.  The oak is expensive so he can't afford to make any mistakes.  It created a lot of sawdust and more dust when he sanded them down.  They look great once he had fitted them.  He also fitted new oak door thresholds and architraves around the door frames

My main job was sanding down the walls and cleaning the window frames before G fitted the new window ledges.  More dusty work.

We had a lovely coffee break down the cafe this morning but it was short lived and pizza outside for lunch.  So overall it was a fairly chilled day.

Me sanding down

After downing tools tonight we decided we had better start our swim training for the Rock - Padstow swim.    So we got into our wetsuits for the first time this year (I am sure mine has shrunk again over the winter it always seems do that) to bike down to the pool for a few quick lengths.   

G fitting the new window sills




Wow! did it feel cold.  It was like swimming at the North pole.  I half thought I might bump into an ice berg or find a polar bear swimming alongside me.  I was so relieved to see that after the first length  (they are 75m lengths) that G was climbing out the pool.  He was suffering as much as I was, in fact I think he may have been worse because he had an 'ice cream head' whereas I think my hair and swim hat helped me a bit more.  We sat at the side waiting till we warmed up a bit and contemplated walking back.  However the difficulty of being local is that we know all the lifeguards and could not face them seeing us walk back.  So we managed to swim back to the other side   - however there was no question about whether we would be doing any more lengths - we were straight onto the bikes and straight back to the hot tub.  We will have a second attempt tomorrow.  G might even wear a swim hat. (if he does I will try and get a photo)

After we had recovered from our hypothermia we walked up the road to Sue & Dons for supper.It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed  a drink out side in the garden.  We had a fab meal of smoked salmon with home made rye bread, home made butter, hot potato salad and beetroot with cottage cheese and finished off with Sue's homemade Lemon Verbena ice cream made with verbena from the garden.  It was a lovely evening and a nice way to end the hard day - I took some pics for the blog.

Drinks in the garden

Beautiful spread

Woops - I was going to blog every evening..

While we have five days holiday over Easter and we are on the 'Big Push'  I was planning to blog every evening.  However last night we got waylaid so I am posting in the morning as I have my coffee (more about the waylaying later).

We had a very busy day yesterday as we plastered two walls in our old bedroom and the whole of the ceiling.  Plastering the ceiling is quite tricky as it has to be done all in one go.  So I mixed the plaster and G 

G plastering the ceiling

worked it hard to get it all on.  It was hard work and G's shoulder really aches now.  We had Jordan and his new girlfriend Zoe with us for the day so we got a coffee break and a lunch break of burgers on the barbie.  Summer is definitely here. The photo shows G and the newly plastered ceiling he has done an amazing job and it looks great we have big plans for the next few days and are hoping by the end of Tuesday we will be about 90% there with that room.

After all his hard work G drove Jordan and Zoe home which is a two and a half hour round trip.  While he was taking them back Sue came over so that we could do some preparation for our Street party for the Royal wedding next Friday.  I have not got round to blogging about the street party but its been great fun preparing for it.  I am on the street party committee and we have managed to get the whole road closed for the party and we have been busy making bunting, and plans for the event.  Yesterday Sue and I were putting together some history boards about the road.  We have some great old photos that we have blow up and some writing about the history.  I managed to get some boards that we have painted white and we pinned the photos.  The look great the photos show Sue hard at work.

  

Sue making up history boards for the street party

Me at the beach huts with a glass of wine and salmon sandwich

By the time G got back from his long drive he was exhausted and our plans for a swim session down the sea pool went out the window.  We have entered the Rock Padstow swim which is a one mile swim across the harbour and the event is in June and we seriously need to start training.  Anyway with the swim plans aborted we decided at least we should walk to Northcott and back then come home for tea.  As we got down to the beach we spotted Kim at her beach hut hosting drinks and bring your own BBQ.  We wandered over to say hello and the next thing you know G has a bottle of beer in hand and I am sipping Pims and lemonade.  We had some salmon at home that we were going to cook for our tea so next thing we popped home to get it and it was on the BBQ wrapped in tinfoil.  It was delicious between two slices of bread and butter!  Then we wandered home past the pub and hence way we got waylaid and I didn't do any blogging last night.

Me & G enjoying a drink or two!

This morning as I was typing we just got a text invite to go to Sue and Dons for supper , she is going to try one of Jamie Olivers 30 minute meals so that is something nice to look forward to after a hard days work.  The sun is shining and despite all the work we have planned today its feeling like we are actually on holiday!

Its Holiday time for everyone but us!

We have been really looking forward to the bank holiday break and Easter weekend as we have five days off in a row.  To us this means a concentrated push on the house which we are very keen to try and get finished by the summer. So Good Fridays jobs were to, sort out all the electrics and sockets,  build a wall up in the alcove where the bed will sit in front of it and plasterboard one of the other walls all ready for plastering on Sunday.  It was a busy day and we had Jordan and his new girlfriend Zoe up for the weekend.  We did manage to have a break for coffee, a BBQ lunch and a surf and hot tub before summer.

Alcove built in were bed will go in front and will form a shelf

Wall plaster boarded and sockets in

The photos show the alcove plaster boarded and the wall plaster boarded all ready for plastering on Saturday and also the surf that they had in the afternoon. 

Zoe, Jordan and G back from a surf



Jean strips for the cause



Jean striping wall paper

  
A belated blog to sum up the rest of the work that we did last weekend.  The main focus now is our old bedroom with the bay window.  After moving everything out of the room on  Sunday we managed to strip all the wallpaper off the wall.  Graeme's mum Jean was down for the weekend and it was not long before G had enlisted her help striping the wallpaper off the wall. The photo shows her in action.

After failing to persuade G to go for a coffee break.  Jean and I slipped out by ourselves leaving him at home working hard.  However we did manage to get him to down tools to go for lunch at Sandy Mouth Beach and the photo shows him and his mum strolling on the beach after lunch.

So by the end of the week all the wallpaper had been stripped off the wall and the existing wall that need to be re plastered was destroyed and ready for plaster boarding.  All the ceiling had been plaster boarded and was ready for plastering.  All set for a busy Easter.


Me & Jean nip out for a quick coffee




G stops for long enough to take his Mum to lunch at Sandymouth




On the move and Jean lends a hand

We  started the day with waffles.  This is my new idea for the bed and breakfast to avoid the horror of having to cook full English. It has always been a tradition in my childhood for my Dad to cook waffles on a Sunday morning.  Its a lovely tradition and still when we all return home my Dad cooks waffles.  He is the king of waffles and no one could ever beat him.  I would like to carry on the practice so he has lent me one  his waffle irons and and given me his closely guarded recipe.  This is my first attempt at making them but I have to say it went a lot better than the big fry up and was a lot less stressful.  I am thinking about a second attempt tomorrow.  This could be a very fattening project! 

Today's main job was to move our stuff out of our old bedroom to the new loft bedroom.  Although the loft has not got carpets yet and there are still a few jobs left to finish the shower in the bathroom we are keen to get started on our old bedroom.  Our old room looks very different without furniture and we are hoping to start stripping wall paper tomorrow. 

We had Jean with us so she assisted by helping set up the bed and cleaning. Tonight we all went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday and the photo shows a photo of her and Graeme outside the restaurant.  We had a lovely meal and one of our last outings without alcohol.  Only one more day!

G pulling down our horrible red velvet curtains with a big smile!

Jean cleaning a bit of the bed

G & Jean putting up the bed

Me trying out the bed!

G & Jean outside the restaurant

Breaking news! There is a glimmer of hope!

After yesterday disappointing news the ski season career break might be back on again!  Today G got an text from his sergeant which said the following " The inspector is going to reconsider his decision in the Spring.....I will pressurise him to agree".  So now we don't know where we are.  Apparently Spring means May 20th.  This is the date when all the new changes are bought in. 

We have got Graeme's mum Jean here for the weekend and G and I made a special effort to get her room ready to B&B standard.  That meant G fixed the door, put a mirror up and put pictures up and I cleaned it to B&B standard with my new micro fleece clothes.

However even though it looked great when she arrived shortly after her arrival we had a really bad leak that came from one of the taps in her en suite.  G thinks it might have been my over zealous polishing of the taps that triggered a weak joint.  In my opinion I have always thought housework was a dangerous occupation and this incident has proved it!  I should have got a photo of Jean being a plumbers mate for Graeme but I did not get the camera in time.  Anyway the puddle is all cleared up and we are sorted again.

Only two more days of no alcohol! (and counting the minutes!).

Breaking News - Ski Season may be off!

We have had some disappointing news yesterday.  G came home from work with the news that his inspector had not approved the career break.  His immediate manager had fully supported the break but unfortunately since then civilian workers have been made redundant.  The department is in total flux and they inspector found it hard to approve the break.  At the moment G doesn't even know what shift pattern he will be working post May and whether he will be working nights and how many.  In addition it looks like he will go from 2 weekends on 2 off, to 3 weekends on 2 off.

However as Jenny commented on the last post "at least if one of your projects runs into weeds you can still keep going on the other ones"  which is so true.  Its not as if we don't have other projects to keep us busy.

However  there is disappointment in our home.  G still thinks there is room for negotiation but I am not as convinced.  He was so busy at work yesterday he really didn't have time to take in the information.

We are now thinking of ideas for a month long break in December using holiday time ( his inspector has approved that) either snowboarding (which could be very expensive) or maybe another plan.   Think we need an evening in with a bottle of wine to come up with some new plans.

Talking about wine we only have three days left of our not drinking challenge!! Cant wait, but very proud that we have managed to do it.  G says never again :-).

 G is busy getting the back room ready for his Mum's visit this weekend.  He is altering some doors and we are finally getting some pictures and a mirror up and final finishing touches.  The photo shows him altering the door.  I am going to try and get more up to date with the blog he has done loads of work recently but we have both been very busy and the blogging has fallen behind.

Love having a project.. or five

G and I both love to have a project, we enjoy having a plan to work to, learning to new skills, researching different opportunities,  the challenge of completing the goals, reaching and celebrating milestones and having a shared vision.

We were chatting about about how we enjoyed having a project and we realised that we know have five major projects on the go that come under the following titles....

1. Finishing the House:  We are hoping to complete the renovations by June.
2. B&B:  Setting up so that we can operate as a B&B.  We are planning a soft opening over the summe.
3. Career Break:  Trying to organise getting a career break to run a chalet over the winter season
4. Holiday Lettings:  Setting up the house so we can do holiday lets over the winter while we are away
5. Garage Project: Trying to make plans to destroy and rebuild the garage as a one bed studio apartment. We want to try and submit the plans before our career break so if we want do build it during the summer that we return we are able to without the delays of having to put if for planning permission.

Each projects has lots of different tasks associated with it including designing websites, learning to cook, applying for planning permission, writing our CV's and of course a bit of renovation left to do... the list is endless.  We are going to try and put together a calendar with milestones that we need to complete at certain times so we can track our progress.  This is the a job we would normally do with a glass of wine in front of the fire but this evening we will be be planning with a glass of sparkling water!   Obviously our plans are subject to getting the career break from work......so fingers crossed on that.  I guess if we don't get that we won't be quite as busy.