Sunday 18 August 2013

Strimming me softly

This terrace in the garden has been too steep for us to mow using our heavy old petrol mower. That has now been sold on Ebay and we're going to buy a lighter, smaller machine. We don't need one that can mow quarter of an acre, the amount of lawn is far less here than we've had in the past. So this section has been left to go to rack and rooney. Brother, Dave, gave us his old strimmer months ago to do it and today is the first chance we've had to get it going. It has been in the garden store behind the scaffolding which was difficult to access. DH looks rather handsome and summery in his wrap around safety glasses!


Here's the ensuite with the garden store underneath, now scaffolding-free. 


You can see the black pipe bottom right going round and out of the picture, that is the new waste pipe for the loo, shower and sink which leads back into the main drains for the kitchen and the main bathroom. DH has been fitting that this weekend. 

Here's the messy bit outside the garden store


This bit needs fencing off. The bit beyond is going to be a vegetable garden with a greenhouse eventually and I'd rather Missy wasn't peeing up my parsnips! That bit of the garden is also still open to the river and whilst I can pretty much trust Missy not to go in it (and she is always supervised when out there anyway), I'd like to let her out without worrying and if we get another dog ... (another story) we won't pass a home visit without it being fenced off. So the far edge of the paving is going to be the line to be fenced with the foreground bit a new decking area (you can see the materials for that), the steps up to the garden store will be replaced, they're really steep and falling over. So more work to keep us busy!

Geoff has got plenty of work on at the moment during the week and I am still working on my beads, here is a new colour of bubble beads which have gone into my Etsy shop just this morning! 

 
Right, I'm off to go find the rake to use on those loose strimmings!

Saturday 17 August 2013

Beauty secrets never to be told


On a normal day, I don't wear a lot of make up, a bit of foundation cream, some loose powder and this is the kohl pencil I use to outline my lower eyelid. I use it every single day, as you can see, I have had it for sometime, I cannot remember when I bought it, well over a year ago I'd guess. I sharpen it with a specially purchased kohl sharpener when it gets too blunt to use.

Imagine my surprise this morning when tugging it open, this happened! A ready made sharpener in the lid, how handy! I gasped in wonderment at this revelation. How can I not have noticed this before?! If you look at the first photo there's even a line to give the observant make up user a hint but no ... I have been scrabbling about in my pot of bits and pieces for years for a separate sharpener never realising that make up manufacturers did this.


Is this the only one, or have all the kohl pencils I have used in my lifetime of using makeup had sharpeners in the lid? I feel this is a piece of wisdom that one's mother ought to tell you. Why was it never mentioned in Jackie magazine which I read every week from cover to cover when I was growing up? Instead, they went on and on about the importance of cleansing, toning and moisturiser when this very handy time-saving device existed. I feel like I've been deliberately made to feel silly by the beauty industry. Everyone, please check your kohl pencils if - like me - no-one told you this amazing secret.

Monday 12 August 2013

There is a horse bath in my cabaret lounge

The title is an homage to Peter Kaye/Phoenix Nights fans if you don't understand it! :-)


So "Why", I hear you ask "is there a bath in your lounge, Sue?"

Well, after 3-4 months with not much work, DH is now gainfully employed again so we're now back on course with finishing off the new en suite bathroom. The sanitary-ware has been delivered, most of it fits in a corner out of the way in the bedroom (no photograph of that, sorry). No room for the bath though ... hence it being in the lounge!

The walls have been plastered and skimmed out. The new room is full of odd little bits of sticky out pipes and wires like this. 


The bit behind the shower hasn't been painted because that's going to be covered up with cement board once the bath has gone in for the shower to be fixed to, you can see more sticky out pipes for that on the right hand side. 


We've done a first couple of passes with emulsion paint. One more coat on the ceiling, don't want to be painting that once all the sanitary ware is fitted. 


First coat of stain on the door, still got to finish the threshold, trying to find some matching laminate for that. The stairs will be carpeted so no need to do too much to them except sand down the fill holes where it's screwed together.



Now the scaffolding has gone (after Jed got the roof tiles on!), we can even open the windows! 


Our plumber is booked for a week on Monday, the race is now on for DH to get the waste pipe fitted into the drains before he arrives!

Ordering of lighting track on the list of jobs to do before the electrician arrives for second fixing too. It's all go again here!