Z ponders

 Russell took an odd pleasure in not finishing a job.  I never did understand it and, since he died, I've wondered how it was that I coped with it at all, because I'm a finisher.  I can take ages to start something because, once I do, I carry on to the end and it's the finishing that gives me satisfaction.  It wasn't just that Russell lost interest, but that he actively wanted almost everything to need a small job done that he never had the least intention of carrying out.  He'd stop a workman from finishing, telling him that he'd do it himself.  He made sure I didn't do it or get someone else and undermine all my efforts - not throughout, just at the last.  

The kitchen had two new oak windows put in, one each side of the Aga on the east wall.  The only other window in the room was on the north wall, behind the sink and faces the laundry room, which is between my house and the annexe and is used by both houses.  It was one of only two windows in the house that was not replaced when the house was refurbished, 40 years ago.  It wasn't in poor condition, so I suppose I understand that, but the odder thing was that, when the deep windowsill was tiled - it must be about 50cm front to back - it ended up about three inches higher than the bottom of the window and there was a small gap at the back.  And a few of the tiles were not grouted into place.  Nor were the tiles on the left windowsill on the Aga wall.  The ones on the right were.  I was discouraged from doing it myself and that was that.

Today, I started removing the tiles behind the sink and, when I cleared enough to be able to lift the whole lot out, I discovered that there was wood and then chipboard and the old Formica surface that had been there previously was still in place.  It looks so much better now that the whole window is exposed and makes the kitchen much lighter.  I have no idea.  None at all.  I had a small baby and two other children to look after and didn't keep my eye on all the details and, when I asked, I was assured that it had been necessary.

I wish I had been the nagging sort.  I despise nagging and Russell wouldn't have liked it at all, but it would have got results.  

Anyway, though it is a lot of work and can be quite worrying, having to take responsibility for everything, at least it gets done as I want it.  And if I make a mistake or leave anything unfinished, that's up to me.

I've ordered the skip for next Thursday and Friday.

Bright College Days

Z's Kitchen Countdown - 6 - Z feels efficient

 It's all gone well in the last couple of days.  Toasted cheese didn't give me any problems at all and I got up early and did a lot more clearing in the kitchen, before spending a few more hours on lunch preparations.  I know perfectly well that everyone would have been happy with more easily prepared barbecue food but, the busier I am, the more enthusiastic I tend to get.  Anyway, there is a lot more stuff stashed away, out of the kitchen and I feel calmer for it.  The mess was starting to get to me.

I really wish I'd thought of moving the broom cupboard contents to the larder years ago.  It's so much better.  Getting to the cupboard under the stairs via a door at the end meant that most of the stuff was only accessible if I took everything at the front out and then, inevitably, I didn't bother to haul it all out again to put the stuff back, so I had to do a tedious clear out quite regularly.  The three bins fit side by side and, on a shelf, I've got the cat's food and I've various other things on the rest of the shelves. I'll put a piece of leftover flooring down, to help keep it all clean.

All the family are on good form and, luckily, we'd come indoors before the heavens opened.  It rained torrentially for a long time.  I'm so sorry for holidaymakers - having grown up in a seaside holiday town, I'm always very sympathetic to them, when the weather is bad.

Tomorrow, I absolutely must do paperwork.  Next week, the forecast tells us of rain again, so I guess Scott will carry on indoors, for the most part.  I've still got plenty for him to do, though he's a very quick worker.  The joiner called round, to check the window latches to order.  The window is made and he just needs to add the glass, which he will order on Monday.  So, the week after, it will be fitted - hopefully, when the skip is here, so that the old one can go in that.

I didn't tell you about the skip, I don't think.  There's a sizeable Dutch barn, which Russell kept adding to and the additions are gradually falling down.  We need to remove some of it and go back to its original size, but there's a lot of Lord-knows-what that will have to be taken away.  I asked for any teenagers to volunteer for hard work for a couple of days, and Zerlina and Gus offered.  They will come and stay for a couple of nights and Stephen and I somehow have to be ready for them.  I don't really need another job, but I want it done, so I'll just have to manage.  It's possible.  I am wildly overconfident.

Z's kitchen countdown 5

 It's been a productive day.  Wink and I went back to the tile place and showed my Lowestoft mug to the owner, who was so helpful.  He is going to do a sample tile next week, so that I can go and see if it is the right colour - I still don't know how much these tiles cost and suspect it's a lot, but I'm not too bothered about that.  Honestly, with all I'm spending this year, a couple of hundred pounds over standard price on tiles is not an issue.

As the weather had improved, Scott has been working outside much of the day, but he finished the first coat in the study.  Thomas, poor lad, took up all the cork tiles and it was a painstaking job.  They were stuck down hard.  I cleared the cloakroom cupboards except for the bottom level, where things will stay, and have started to shift kitchen stuff in there.  I've also moved the bins into the former broom cupboard, now the bin cupboard and am managing to remember not to go to the former place, so far.  I've moved enough stuff out of sight to feel more tranquil.  All the clutter and mess was starting to make me anxious.

It was Ro's birthday yesterday and the whole family, except for Squiffany, will be coming over for lunch.  I spent the evening making marinades and preparing food, having said I will go to no trouble at all.  I'm an idiot.  Finally, sometime after 8.30, I turned my attention to dinner, being very hungry.  I made toasted cheese.  And then, taking it to the dining room, I managed to tip the plate and it shot onto the carpet.  I'm happy to report that butter side down didn't apply, it did a neat flip and landed cheese side up.  I picked it up and ate it.  No visible fluff, it was fine.  There was absolutely no question that I'd do it all again.  I trust that toasted cheese at 9pm will give me neither nightmares nor indigestion.  

Z's kitchen countdown - 4 - Z pays for the kitchen

 It's raining hard and has been most of the weekend, which is what tends to happen when school holidays start.  So Scott the painter can't work outside, so he's been stripping the wallpaper in the cloakroom and bathroom and will do the lining paper next.  After that, there are still several indoor jobs to do, so I'm glad he won't leave to work somewhere else.

That was what I wrote on Monday morning, before being called away to something I don't remember.  So, to catch up from then.

The wallpaper has been stripped from both rooms, the lining paper applied and the first coat of paint, just to seal it, has been applied to the cloakroom.  From my angle, I've chosen the paint for the cloakroom, study (aka kitchen) and (actual) kitchen, though I might change it once I've seen how it looks in the study.  I've also chosen and ordered the wallpaper for the bathroom and the colour for its paintwork.

I've cleared out the larder and put everything from the broom cupboard into the larder (now, officially, the broom cupboard).  

I have decided on the colour of the painting on the tiles to go behind the Aga.  As they will be Delft-style, I wanted them to be blue, but Delft blue is too blue for the kitchen cupboards.  But I happened to have bought, recently, a Lowestoft mug in a soft grey-blue that, it suddenly occurred to me, might be the right shade.  It is.  It goes well with the cupboards but it is not green enough to be wrong for Delft.

I'd meant to go to the tile place today, but lunch out took longer than I'd expected, so I left it.  Maybe tomorrow.  I've been into the flooring place in Yagnub about new flooring in the cloakroom and bathroom.  I have yet to choose.

Scott has taken out the breeze blocks and opened up the doorway between the main kitchen and its adjunct.  He didn't need to remove the cupboards to do that.  That was a mercy.

Today is Ro's birthday and yesterday was the anniversary of moving to this house, 39 years ago.

This afternoon, I paid the whole bill for the kitchen and for its fitting.  I've already paid for the flooring in both areas - all three, in fact, as I'm also having the lobby re-floored.  

I will clear the cupboards in the cloakroom and use the space for kitchen stuff.  I'm pretty triumphant about that, as it will save me from having to have a lot of stuff just dumped randomly in boxes.  All the same, the house has a lot of random stuff, dumped.  

I've ticked off so much on the to-do list that I've been able to add more things to do.  I have, in fact, more to write, but I'm too tired.  

Z has been happier

 Pam's appointment was for 11.30, but she was asked to arrive half an hour early for the pre-appointment checks.  I'm not sure why they didn't just say 11 o'clock.  In any case, we arrived early and were seen almost straight away as the earlier appointment didn't arrive.  Perhaps they didn't notice the half hour early.

All went well and we took less time than we'd expected, so called in to see Peter on the way home.

Yesterday, I was supposed to carry on with freezers and I didn't.  I couldn't face it and started on the larder instead.  The kitchen is more chaotic than ever.  Tomorrow, I must finish emptying the larder, then clean it, then empty the broom cupboard and put stuff from there into the larder, then wonder where the hell everything from the larder is going?  I'm pretty miserable.  But it has to be done.

Wooden it be nice

 Having the outside woodwork sanded and recoated with wood preservative was long overdue.  I should have had it done ages ago and just didn't get round to organising it.  But the local painter and decorator started on Monday and it's going well.  He's done all the front of the house and the east side and is working on the front of the annexe.  He's got his teenage son working with him for the summer, so that's speeding it up - the boy is sanding, father finishing off and then painting.

Meanwhile, I have been getting on less well.  Upstairs is a disaster area, but at least the study is nearly clear.  I still have some books and papers to move upstairs - it's been so hot that I can only take a few trips with heavy stuff at a time.  And I've been too busy for the last three days anyway.

Next week is only marginally less busy, but I can't delay.  I've got tomorrow free and must look to the List.  Then on Sunday, I'm taking Pam to the hospital for her pre-op checks and I'll be with her much of the day and won't be fit for a lot afterwards.  I have Monday free and on Tuesday I'm picking up Roses, to take Rummy to the vet (Rose is currently carless).  After that, I'll go over to Magnet, the kitchen people, to make the final checks with the order and pay the balance.  On Wednesday, I'm taking Pam into hospital for her operation.  I'm not sure how long she'll stay - she thinks a night or two, which it may be, or could be longer.  Her daughter will come and stay with her once she's out, I hope - not sure how her childcare is being organised, but we'll get it sorted out.  Then I must crack on for a few days.  I'll visit Peter when I can, while Pam is out of action.  I do hope and pray that her op is successful this time.

I've been getting up early, as Scott starts at 7.30, so I must set the alarm again and actually get up.  I have a tendency to lie in bed reading.  Freezers are the priority tomorrow.  If I can get those sorted out before Thursday, so that Wince can help me move the emptied big one, then I'll be back on schedule.  

Z's kitchen countdown - 3 - the approximate design

 It's clear that I have no idea how to use Blogger nowadays.  I've just dragged and dropped the photos,  hoping for the best.  This is a computer mock-up of the units, but it's not as the kitchen will actually appear.  There will be rather more on the walls.

I like to have things where I can reach for them.  So, behind the Aga, I have racks with hooks for utensils and, to the left of the Aga, on the beam, I have more hooks for saucepans.  These will stay.  

I also will have more shelves than are shown, but it's just as an example here (they're too high, for a start).  The main differences are the doorway on the right, which now is just a hatchway into the next room (it originally was the back door, but we'd incorporated two small areas into one room) and I couldn't leave the doorway, as I had nowhere else to put the fridge.

The window on the left will be replaced - the two each side of the Aga are oak and so will the new one be.  Russell, who couldn't bear to complete a job, didn't have a new window. though all the others in the house were replaced.  The sink is now further over to the right than it will be, the new placement is better and I don't know why we didn't do it in the first place.  There will be open shelves for jars of ingredients, because I like to grab those too.

The colour of the fittings is 'Ludlow Washed Cotton' and the Corian worktops are in Sandstorm.  At present, I have a patterned wallpaper with a darkish background and the room is fairly dark overall, with oak cupboard doors - I took the view that it was not a light room and to run with what it was, but I'm having a complete change.  I'll probably keep the central table that's now in the kitchen, if only because the cat likes to eat there.

Through the doorway is now the study - we briefly used it as a dining room, which is the reason for the hatchway - and I'll have the same flooring in there as in the kitchen, so that it's effectively all one room.  I'll have the fridge and upright freezer in there and a table and dining chairs, because it faces east and south and is lovely in the morning.  It'll be my third dining room.  A Z can never have too many options for eating.  I will also keep my cookery books in there, bringing a big bookcase down from the landing for them.  It's mahogany,  but we'll politely ignore that.

Through the doorway on the left of the bottom photo, there's a lobby leading to the larder, the back door and the laundry room, which is also a passage to the annexe.  Wink and I share the laundry room, each of us having our own equipment, though either of us is welcome to use the other's.  I'm having more kitchen units in the lobby, where there is currently a large chest freezer.  On top, I'll put the wine rack - it's sizeable, being a metre wide and nine bottles hight - and the microwave, which will fit sideways.

The wall that isn't pictured won't have any units or furniture, as there are various doors at that end of the room, leading to the passageway, the dining room, the broom cupboard and the back stairs.  The larder is being cleared and will become the broom cupboard and the broom cupboard will house the three bins - rubbish, recycling and composting stuff.

It all looks rather more stark and pale than it will but, if you've been here, you'll recognise what a huge change there will be.  The room will, of course, be considerably more cluttered than it is here - Jonathan put in a token mixer, but there will be a lot of equipment out, because if it's all in cupboards, it doesn't get used.

List ticking

 I'm plodding through the list.  It's so hot that moving heavy furniture upstairs is a challenge.  Wince and I have managed everything we've set out to do, so far, but I needed a break after a particularly heavy cupboard.

Since the study will become part of the kitchen, I needed to put study stuff somewhere else.  I decided that the landing would do.  We've moved the linen cupboard to the main landing (I'd already emptied the bedlinen to the towel cupboard) and the big bookcase, that will end up downstairs, to the landing in its place.  Then we moved the stationery cupboard to the main landing, which knackered me and, I suspect, Wince too.  Once we'd reached the top of the stairs, my arms hardly worked.  But I was okay later and took up various papers.

So very tired now.  It's not yet 9pm, but I have a book by my bed that's calling to me, though I may only read a page or two.

I ticked 6 items off the list, which is satisfying.  I haven't tackled the challenging bits, nor the items I hadn't the fortitude to put on the list.  But, as far as it goes, it's comfortable.

Morning on the tiles

 We went over to the tile company and really liked it.  I have to say, Boris (I'm perfectly sure there is no connection with the dreaded Boris) is no salesman.  He suggested I wait until the kitchen is fitted before I choose the tiles, he didn't take my name, he said I'd be welcome to have samples but didn't take the opportunity to draw me in by offering me any - but never mind.  He also said that they could do the shade I wanted, that it would only take 3-4 weeks, that they'd be hand-painted and made on the premises - and the tiles are beautiful.  

I looked up my to-do list from several weeks ago.  Most things on it are done and I've written a new one, typed on the computer this time, so I don't have to find the notebook and update it.  Wink and I have set timings for some items.  So I've got plans for this Thursday and a list of things that have to be ready for next Thursday.  And, if I hope to get to Scotland in August, everything else has to be done too.

Later, we went through our mutual diary - we each have a diary and there's also a joint one.  It was good to sort everything out, until I got into September and then I felt overwhelmed.  So we had a nice G&T and then I went and cooked trout for dinner.

When I went outside this morning, first thing, it felt quite autumnal.  But another heatwave is hinted at.  The seasons are all awry.  That is, we hardly have them any more.

Z and Wink get our timings wrong

We're planning a couple of days in London, but we've made a mistake.  We intended to go to a play on a Friday evening, a matinée on Saturday afternoon and then come home - also a couple of exhibitions on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.  Efficient and perfect, hey?  Except, having booked the trains, the hotel and the Saturday, we then discovered that we were a week out for the other show.  The Saturday is the last day for one, but the other doesn't open for another week.  D'oh, darlings.

All the rest works, so we will choose something else for Friday night.  But we can't see how it was that neither of us noticed.

Tomorrow, we will go and look at tiles.  I feel overstretched and harassed, but I can't let the pace slip.  

Z's kitchen countdown - 2

 I've emailed the chap at the kitchen company, who's back from holiday now, to clarify a few things, he's phoned back and I'll go in when he's got answers - I've assured him that I'm not anxious, just making sure that there are no issues later.  I've also phoned about getting the flooring fitted, which will be a fortnight after the kitchen units are started, but I am not sure if there might be a clash there, so I'll find out next week.  

I'm looking online at taps, which is fairly boring, might go over to the next town where there's a supplier of that sort of thing.

Yesterday, the lovely family who live in Glasgow called in for lunch - parents, two boys and the youngest child, their five year old daughter.  All delightful people and the children are so naturally polite and helpful.  You can never pick anything up without one of them offering to carry it.  They've very kindly invited me to stay when I go to Scotland - I'm happy to stay in a hotel, but they're so hospitable that they may insist.  I really hope I might manage to fit it in with everything else, but it's going to be a squeeze.

Fiona also recommended a tile company and I looked them up.  The tiles are lovely, but they're 150+ miles from here.  I'd really need to visit.  That's possible in a day, but it prompted me to look up a local firm and they look promising too.  So Wink and I will visit there on Monday and, if we don't like their offerings and there doesn't seem to be somewhere else nearby, then it's off to Wiltshire for a day trip.

I really want to get to Scotland next month.  That won't happen unless I focus on it and on everything else I need to do before I go.  It'll be a push.  But I'm good with a deadline.  I'm going to crack on with the work and believe I can do it.  Next week has some capacity, the week after doesn't.  From then on, I'm pretty busy up to the blog party.  So next week it is.  Apart from Tuesday and Friday.

Z's kitchen - Two month countdown - 1

 Tomorrow is always a flexible word.  I still haven't uploaded pictures.

However, I have got a date to install the new kitchen, so that's good.  It'll be started on 1st September.

I've texted the decorator/carpenter to ask him to sort out the doorway any time in the 2nd half of August.  I've also gently asked when he's starting the work on the outside of the house (not right now, it's far too hot).  I've also texted the joiner about the window - not heard back from either of them yet, but it's a working day and that's fine.

I've agreed with the water softener people about the approximate date for fitting that, I've said provisionally 3rd week in September.  The fitter can do the rest of the plumbing.  I have yet to choose a new tap, but I'm going to look for one with an extra pipe for the filtered water, rather than have a separate tank for drinking water.  I don't expect this to be a problem.

I've given no thought to the colour of the walls and I'm not worrying about the tiles yet.

I need to contact the flooring people to tell them when they can come and do that job.

I have bought a new upright freezer, which has to live in the porch for the next three months.  I'm turning out the smaller chest freezer into it, then I'll defrost the latter, then sort out what's in the bigger chest freezer and defrost that, ready to be moved into the workshop (If I can't do without it yet) or disposed of.  

In regard to the study, that will be knocked into from the kitchen, most of the books and bookcases have been removed.  This Thursday, Wince and I will move Tim's big tv and hifi equipment upstairs.  I have also decided that, instead of it being a part-time study, I'm moving all that stuff upstairs onto the landing.  Once the new (present) study floor is laid, the bookcase on the landing will come down into that room, to house cookery books and it'll be replaced by my desk and the stationery cupboard.  On the landing, I also have the cupboard where I keep bedlinen and I'm thinking where I could rehouse the linen, so that I'll have room for papers there.  Bobby the leopard also needs to find a new home, which may be in my bedroom or else in my dressing room, as it might spook guests in a spare bedroom.

I have started to move a lot of kitchen stuff into the further dining room.  It's all going to be quite a challenge for a while, but no matter.

I don't know what to call the ex-to-be-study.  Morning room or breakfast room both sound wildly pretentious, but that's effectively what it'll be.  Kitchen annexe?  3rd dining room?  Probably, I'll just call the entire space the kitchen.  Once all is sorted out, the new upright freezer will live there, I'll have a smaller  dining table and chairs and maybe an armchair or two.  I'm also toying with having the fridge in there, which I think would be quite convenient and keep the kitchen uncluttered (I will have plenty of stuff in there, I like having ingredients to hand in jars).

I have to move a lot of papers and general stuff from the study, I've been dumping stuff there as it's chaotic anyway.  Then I have to sort them out.

My tidying up deadline is the week before the blog party.  Then I'll have to shift the final stuff from the kitchen.

I sleep really well nowadays, better than I have for years.  It's surprising.  What is even more surprising is that I've turned from an owl to a lark.  This is a lot less welcome.  I miss late nights and I hate getting up early.  I don't mind waking up early but, if I get up then, I'm ready for a nap by 11am and that's just silly, especially as I don't have afternoon naps normally.