Windows

I’m kicking myself.  We had some reasonably major work done in our kitchen today and I completely forgot to take a before picture.  Grr.

When we moved into this house, there was a large (patio door sized) window, floor to ceiling, looking out onto the back garden.  We also had a back door and a kitchen window above the sink.  In April 2009 we had the large window taken out and some bi-fold doors put in (interestingly, I forgot to take a before picture then too!).

It gradually became apparent that we didn’t really need our old back door as we were only using the bi-fold door to go into and out of the garden.  So much so in fact, that we bought a fancy worktop/shelving thing on wheels from Ikea and stuck it in front of the back door, blocking it off as an entrance/exit.

Recently we decided to get rid of the back door and have  a new kitchen window put in.  As well as the back door now being superfluous, the husb had his view of the garden, when he was washing up (a fairly regular occurrence before you say anything), blocked by part of the window frame.

Here’s an old picture (2011) from the outside, showing said redundant back door and irritating window.

It was mightily chilly today while the great big hole was there,

then they threw up half a wall (in no time at all I must say),

and finally put the windows back.  Just as well as we were all getting quite soggy by that point!

Finally, the rest of the wall and some plasterboard.  They’ll be back tomorrow to pretty it up a bit.

The work was done by the lovely chaps at Eden Park Installations. You know me, I don’t do sponsored posts but I will tag a company if they’ve given us quality goods and/or excellent customer service (I’m also not above grumbling on here if a company or product/service provider irritates me in any way).

If you live locally to us and need windows, conservatories or doors doing I would thoroughly recommend this lot.  They priced it competitively, they understood our needs, the work they’ve done has been of high quality (as much as I know about windows) and most importantly, as far as I’m concerned, the men that came to do the work were cheerful, polite, nice to my children and completely put me at ease.  Oh, and they cleaned the floors before they left for the day.

Still Trying

To perfect the art of skating.

Straighten Up

We had a go at straightening her hair. She has, I think, the most beautiful curly hair.  So of course she wants it straight.

I don’t have straighteners. I’m really not that much into major beauty faffing. My limits are pretty much washing and drying my hair (although I did used to dye it regularly) washing and moisturising my face and the very occasional make up or nail varnish. Other than that I just can’t be bothered.

She was a bit gutted that her hair wasn’t properly straight. I may have to borrow some straighteners.

These Boots Were Made For….

Bowling.

The girl had her first go at bowling today.

She had been looking forward to having special bowling shoes but I have to say that she was fairly unimpressed with these.

Triptych

It’s funny where ideas come from.

A comment on a picture I posted not long ago led to a conversation about other pictures I’ve taken of the smalls and gave me the idea of creating a black and white triptych of them.

Thanks to technology, it took me less than an hour to locate the three pictures I wanted, convert them to black and white where necessary, make sure they were cropped to the same size and order the prints.

I fear it’s going to take me considerably longer to find the right frames to put them in.

p.s. Thank you for planting the seed little sis.

Interesting & Complicated

The boy is fascinated by my new (cobbled together from bits of other ones) computer. It has a clear panel on the side so that you can see in.

Judging by the amount of time he’s spent peering into it, and some of the comments he’s come out with (“that looks interesting” or “hmm, it’s quite complicated, isn’t it?”), I think I foresee the beginning of a new interest for the boy.

The Wicked Witch of the West

Or maybe the Good Witch of the South – some days I just can’t decide.

And no, the girl isn’t doing the washing up in the background, I’m not that mean. I think she’s getting herself a drink of water.

A Little Space to Call My Own

I posted, back in March, about how little room I had to spread out when I study. The picture I posted showed a reasonably tidy table with neat piles of papers.

As time has gone on though, the tidiness and neat piles have vanished, replaced by a slowly creeping tide of papers and just stuff all over our dining table.

Fortunately for me, the husb is a very tidy person and eventually he got fed up with my stuff being everywhere.  Also fortunately, he is kind and could see that I was finding it hard to study with such a small space.

So now I have this:

my own desk, computer (made from the spare bits of old computers – he’s a very clever boy) and SWIVEL CHAIR!!  Yes, I did type that in capitals because yes, I am very excited to have my own swivel chair (with wheels).  I’ve banned the children from it already.

I also have a shelf (sandwiched in between two shelves of the children’s stuff) to put more stuff on:

complete with pretty boxes for little stuff like a stapler and highlighter pens.  One of those boxes is full of different sized post-it notes.

A swivel chair (with wheels) and my own stash of post-it notes.  Life is good.

Hippy Chick

Another pic from yesterday, when the weather was positively balmy.  Unlike today, brrrr.

Love

I love them both, and I love the relationship they have.