Updates

OK folks, I'm just letting everyone know where we are with stuff.

We're staying in the local travel lodge, about 2 miles from our home, until our possessions arrive from Australia around the beginning of May. DH starts his new job on Monday after only 2 weeks of his expected 3 weeks off between jobs, because of the delay getting out of Australia. It's a shame he hasn't more time, but he does have two short weeks because of Easter. Also he'll be working sensible hours, at least until the new job gets under-way. He'll be home in the daylight!

Our air-freight arrives tomorrow. That will include clothes, my iron (YAY), the printer/scanner, some computer equipment, and some of my scrapping stuff. I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure what got packed in the air freight in the end, so it will be interesting to see it again, even though I have no furniture to scrap on yet, or time to play. The Dyson vacuum cleaner is also in there, although DH has to mend the switch before I can use it, as it stopped staying on literally the morning that it got packed. DH had to carry the dratted thing around after me holding the button in while I vacuumed up some of the dust. Ironic huh?

So after he's back in work, I'll get to work on the decorating. I've stripped the paper off the box room walls except behind the radiator, which DH has to help me drain and take off before Monday. Then I have to seal the new plaster and then paint that room, ceiling and walls. I've chosen the palest pink imaginable, with light-reflecting particles. It should go well with mushroom-coloured carpet and be perfect for a tiny room.

Then we have the study/scrap room to do. That's the one which had a roof leak just after I left for Australia last year, and it still has a lot of drying out to do before I can paint. Thankfully it wasn't one of the rooms I decorated last year. DH discovered that the best way of getting the paint off the damp wall was with a vacuum cleaner! It obviously has never been sealed properly, and it was coming off with the most satisfying "fffffffthup, ffffffthup" noises. Buuuuut that wall really is pretty lumpy now, so we have the choice of getting someone in again to skim it (rolling eyes) before painting, or making the most of the current fashion of the feature wallpaper and just covering it up. Whatever we do I'm sticking with blue. I love blue.


That's all we have to do decorating-wise before the shipment arrives. But we also have to have a new boiler and one new radiator installed, and all radiator valves replaced. A minimum of two weeks after that, the new carpets can go in. Then the furniture can go back in, and finally the new kitchen will start to be installed at the beginning of June. So much to think about.

As far as crafting is concerned, I'm going to be taking a holiday for a while. I'm missing it already, but priorities are priorities. I hope you're all still there when I come back! Happy spring!