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Playing and a scratch!!

We went out to play again today…a nice easy day of soft play where I mainly sat watching!  Caitlin and Noah had a slush puppy which they loved…

They also had a great time trying to play with Sophie who is bigger than them and so held their hand down the slide and showed them around as it was her local soft play.  Her Mum was watching 2 others as well but they all just played and it was an easy day.  Noah also loved having a turn on Sophie’s DS…

…he looks so grown up playing it…

Richard has also done a final bit of work on the house before we leave…and we now have lots of floor down……

Hectic day!

Today has been a hectic day…

First thing we went out to the museum of science and industry with E, due to school its been a while since we’ve all been out with her.  The museum is very busy during school holidays and I don’t think we’ll go again!!!!!!!!  The kids enjoyed it though.  On the way we saw some AA bikes just like Caitlin’s Christmas present only the real thing!  Noah was fascinated and the AA man even let him sit on it…. (he is smiling by the way…at the moment smiling looks very pained!!)

At first Caitlin wouldn’t go near it because she didn’t have her AA high visibility vest on…she is so particular about doing things right… Then she wouldn’t go near because the man was scary!!!

At the museum we times it just right for Xperiment we only had to queue for 5 minutes but when we got out the queue was 45 minutes!!  We then had some dinner thanks to Linda..as I was too unorganised to bring anything but she brought enough for everyone!!! Again this photo is a smile :-)!

Caitlin’s favourite bit of the museum was the engine room as usual!  She loves watching the engines, and Noah loves the trains. 

After the museum we went to a friends for tea!  There were 7 kids there so that was a bit mad too!!  Noah walked in front of someone on the swing and so now has a bruised nose…just in time for holiday again!!  No doubt Caitlin will get injured on our outing tomorrow!!!!!!!

After tea I went off to do a market research thing which was actually quite boring but I got paid for sitting there bored for 1.5 hours…..

On the house front…very very annoyingly the water inspection man didn’t turn up!!!!!!!!!!!  I phoned and complained but they just said oh well…we’ll reschedule for March 2nd!!!!!!!  So that’s another delay with the water….  I even tried to play my “I’m pregnant” card but it failed… All I got was the promise of a 25% discount…ITS A FREE SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ahh well!

Tomorrow is also going to be hectic…we’re out all day, then I need to cut Noah’s hair and pack for holidays!!!!!!!!!

Hair away!!

Today we were supposed to be out playing but it got cancelled due to illness (not Caitlin and Noah – well not yet but Caitlin didn’t eat a single mouthful for her tea??!!)  So instead we just did some jobs!  I went and got my hair cut which I haven’t done for months!!!!!!!  I also cut Caitlin’s hair as it was getting a bit straggly looking….I’ve got Noah “booked in” for Thurs evening before bath time!!!  We also bought some lining paper and a pasting table…and I got some more new jeans!  I just can’t find any comfy jeans….and as usual I managed to meet a complete nutter whilst buying them!  She was also pregnant and due in May and totally felt my bump!!!!!!!!!  I hate people feeling my bump!!!!!!!!!!!  She thinks its a boy in her expert nutty opinion…….  She also put her hand under her bump to show me how big hers was and in the process showed me ALL of her underwear…she was properly MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!  And yes had a very short dress on for a 6 month pregnant woman – well actually for anyone!!!!!!!!!!

Richard has also finished replacing the joists in the new kitchen/diner

and has made a start on insulating underneath them as we’re just having the floor boards so will be a bit drafty without insulation.  Tomorrow is inspection day for the water trench so fingers crossed all will be well and we will soon have water!!!!!!!

Scrape, scrape… Dig, dig!!

Today as Caitlin and Noah are at my Mum’s we both went to the house to do some work…  I finally finished my fireplaces and to be honest I have done an awful job!!  They are covered in runs and look a bit dull!  The one in our bedroom is the worst, but the one in the other bedroom looks like it might be a bit dusty!  Ah well they do look better than they did….

Once they were done I started scraping the hall walls…they were covered in red stuff!  Some sort of left over from the wall paper we’ve scraped off!  The scraper is a bit knackered and kept pinching my finger and now my arms feel like they are going to fall off!!!  At least now our new wall paper won’t fall off…..

Richard has been digging out his trench ready for inspection on Wednesday!  And finally that tree is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

then he moved onto replacing the floor joists….

We think we (well I say we I really mean Richard!) is/are almost at the end of the destructive work…and soon, once we’ve been inspected on Wednesday, we should be putting the house back together!!

Obviously since we got some progress done today we got home to a letter about our new windows..it would seem we have to jump through hoops to get our permission to replace them…including a design and access form (in triplicate!) with details of number of local jobs to be created, number of residential dwellings created, disabled access etc etc!!  It is all completely irrelevant to us but is a general form that we have to submit…

Two and a half hours goes so slow!!

I’ve hardly been taking any photo’s lately since the day is now tied up with dropping and collecting Caitlin for school, we’re not getting out and about as much as we did.  Even once she is at school me and Noah either tend to do the food shopping, take care of housey type orders like central heating etc or just trying to fill 2.5 hours. 

In the mornings we’ve been doing Caitlin’s homework, trying to sort some things ready for moving and just playing about….  As I’ve not posted many pics recently I took some yesterday…. Here is Noah giving Tiny Tears a clean bum!

..she’s actually my tiny tears from when I was little but I can’t remember her name…maybe Pollyanna?  Good job for Caitlin my taste in names has modernised!

And here is Caitlin doing her jigsaws..

One of the places me and Noah have been going to is a soft play centre inside a fitness centre near Caitlin’s school.  Its free which is good and we can just about make it fill the 2.5 hours.  As its free and really close we’ve been going quite a lot, we’ve made a few friends there and also keep bumping into people we know.  Also E has joined us a few times which is good.  Here is Noah buried in the stacking blocks…luckily no-one jumped on him!!

Tree’s away!!!!!!!!!!

Yes that’s right we can finally take that tree out of our garden and get on with our water pipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We still don’t have written confirmation but I got a phone call to say we can remove it and also it says we can on their website….so its going!!  We still now need to actually replace the pipe under the tree and then get United Utilities to come and inspect the replacement and then arrange to connect us up to the new pipes which can take 3 more weeks but I’m hoping I can persuade them to speed us along!!  It will be good as well to recover the trench in the front garden and make it slightly safer for visitors!  Now we just need our window planning permission to come through….

Our new joists have finally arrived too so now Richard has that to do as well as the water…typical things all happen together.  Also the kids are at my Mum’s this weekend so I’ll be there attempting to help although not too sure what I can do other than give my fireplaces their second coat of paint which won’t (hopefully) take me 2 days!!  A bit of tree excavation or joist laying???? Hmmm maybe not!  I may have to learn to solder the water pipes instead!

A new bed!!

I have just bought Caitlin a new bed! I am so excited I would have loved one of these as a child!!  I’ve been researching them, as they are very practical for a small room which it will be in the new house, and the cheapest I have found them is £400 not including a mattress….and I have just won one on Ebay for £62!!!!!!!!  It’s this…..

How cool is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Underneath she can have a set of drawers and her dolls house…it’ll be great!  She already knows she has to let Noah slide too!!  The only downside of this is that its in Milton Keynes but hey at a saving of £340 its still worth it!

On the house front..today we’ve had the damp proof course completed and we’ve ordered our (cheap) joists and new floor boards!  So when Richard isn’t traipsing down to the other end of the country to get our bed he can do that!  I’ve been asked when I think it will seem like the house is coming together…it will definitely be once the floors are back down, as once that happens We can make a start on the decorating.  We have a few decorator helpers so once its safe to spend time there it should start really coming on.

Electricity and jobs!

We now have proper electricity!!!!!  And even a house alarm…to protect our rotten joists etc :-)!!  The electricians have finished off now apart from the kitchen appliances which can’t be done until we have a kitchen and also the lean too which we need our planning permission for.  There’s still no news on the tree front, its now been 5 weeks so surely we’ll hear soon….I got nowhere when I called last week.

Also it would seem Richard doesn’t have a new job!  Well he did obviously, but his current employer dangled a very attractive pay rise and improved way of working at him and he was persuaded to stay!  He’s giving it a chance and given his new contract was on his desk within 30 mins and his hefty pay rise backdated to the beginning of the month its looking promising.