Extremely Exhausted but Thoroughly Thrilled.......

with my new kitchen.......

the past two weeks have been totally exhausting but we are finally at the end of our mammoth kitchen makeover and I love it!!!! we still have a little finishing off to do, touching up paint work, glossing etc but after two weeks of no sink, cooker or washing machine and making food/teas in the garage, builders arriving at 7.30am whilst its still dark and then leaving when it's got dark again!!!! we finally have a shiny new kitchen and every morning when i come downstairs I still can't believe it's my house!!!! (we have lived with our temporary kitchen since last summer).

I have sooooo much to show you and sooooo much to catch up on that I think I shall have to been surgically removed from the computer!!!! 

Unfortunately the computer is still in Rachel's room at the moment so my on line time is on a 9.30pm curfew so bear with me.......i will keep you posted!!!!

The windows are in!

Last Thursday the guys came to fit the new windows, I had hoped to blog over the weekend to keep you all up to date as to how the work was going but there was a slight change of plan and instead of having the weekend to clear the kitchen before work started on Monday the builders were coming to start on Saturday!!! Needless to say I was still clearing out STUFF whilst they were here. Luckily we have known our builders for some time and can work around each other, and as long as I keep them plied with tea and bacon sandwiches everything works fine..
Right back to Thursday and the windows, luckily the weather was fine on Thursday and in no time at all the old bedroom window was out and the new frame in.

Sorry the photo aren't great but it was a case of a quick snap as I had to keep Tompom out of the way as I had visions of him getting a little too close to the gaping holes we now had in the rooms. We were really surprised the difference from the stripped wood of the old windows to the lovely white of the new ones how much brighter the room feels and I am very tempted to paint the hall door frames and the staircase white now...

I know many people don't like UPVC windows but what we liked is the fact that you can't really tell from the back of the house that we have UPVC and next door have wooden windows. And the lovely thing is that we no longer have cold rooms and definitely no more major maintenace to do!!!

So that's one job finished I shall try and post later about the porch!!! you can just see it in the last picture...

And so it begins......

The work on the house that is
today we finally replaced the last two wooden windows in our house, with some lovely double glazed ones!!! oh the warmth.....no more morning condensation, and no more draughts!!!
It was too late tonight when they finished to take any photos so i shall take some tomorrow to show you them all lovely and new because I've no doubt once the novelty of shiny new windows has worn off I shall turn a blind eye to the sticky fingers, nose marks  and the odd lick!!!!

And we're not stopping there....

on Friday we're having an oak porch fitted to the back door (it's really a side door but its our back door if you know what i mean)this was supposed to have been fitted before Christmas and I was going to buy lots of pretty lights and pots to decorate it but unfortunately the chappie who is making it chopped off the top of one of his fingers (hope he didn't get any blood on my new porch!)and so it was delayed. I shall keep all my sparkly Christmas ideas for next year!!!because the novelty of the new porch would have worn off and I won't mind sticking pins/nails in it to hold up all the lovely sparkly lights!!!

We've then got the weekend to empty the kitchen (you remember last year we built an orangery and knocked down two walls in the kitchen)of all it's clutter before Ben the Builder is back to work some magic, plastering walls and ceilings, laying floors, fitting kitchens so that we can really use all the lovely new space that we created last year! The orangery will be painted and is getting new flooring too
I have no idea how we are going to eat, drink, wash dishes, wash clothes etc but it will be worth it when it's all finished.

I think Tompom and I will be popping out a lot!!!leaving Paul to project manage - which he does so brilliantly!!!

I'm hoping to set the computer up in Rachel's room for the next couple of weeks so will try and pop in when i can but i think she might object to me tapping away at the keyboard whilst she's trying to sleep!!

Misi Shop - Now CLOSED

I've finally closed my Misi shop today, I've tried really hard not to air my feelings about what is happening over at Misi here on my blog, but the final straw has come. Someone has listed an Xbox along with some Iphones, so together with those and the constant spamming, which only the lovely ladies on the forum are driving down the page, I have decided that I don't want to be associated with a badly run business.

All of my stock will eventually be transferred over to my Folksy shop and i have added a link to it in my side bar.

I'm grateful to Misi for all the friendships, swaps and laughter that joining has given me and I am hopeful that some of those will continue here and on other craft sites.

Good Luck fellow Misians.

First Swap of 2011

I've signed up for my first swap of 2011 which has been organised by Jackie over at Sew Special Bears

The  rules are

5 items or more for your partner to unwrap on Valentines Day

one item must be edible

one item must be red

something handmade if you are able

You have until Friday 7th January to sign up and partners will be posted over at Jackie's blog on Monday 10th January with gifts being sent out by the 4th February in time for Valentines Day..

Advent Swap - the final countdown Day 24

So we finally reached Chrsitmas Eve and the last of my Advent Swap goodies

This little package had waited so patiently to be picked

and inside were these dangly earrings with the tiniest keys attached.

I thought I would finish with a little glimpse of what my Advent Swap looked like at the beginning of December - brimming with goodies just waiting to be opened.

And a little snapshot of what I sent to Annie

Thanks once again Annie for being such a fabulous swap partner and to LaaLaa for organising such a wonderful swap.

Advent Swap Day 22 & 23

We're nearly there with me showing you all the lovely gifts that I received in my advent swap - Annie was so generous and thoughtful with what she chose for me and I have loved every minute of this swap (I think I may have mentioned that before - several times) I've already signed up for my first swap of the year and will do a seperate post later telling you all about it!! but it's a lovely idea all about spreading the bloggy love!

Right back to Advent

Day 22

I loved this idea a crystal drop with a picture on the back, it was really hard to photograph so you're just have to take my word for how gorgeous it is!!!

Day 23

Who can resist Crafty Goodies especially when you find threads, lace, buttons and more inside!!!

Breakfast was delicious and now we just have the clearing up to do - the walk might be off the cards as Jack has a cough and a sore throat so I may just venture out in the garden for a bit!!!

Advent Swap 20 & 21

I'm back again - Rachel has made another lovely all-in-one fruit cake, a recipe my Nan gave her the other day, tastes delicious with custard so that's pudding sorted for later!
We're having a late full english breakfast/brunch this morning and then dressing up warmly and are off out to the lakes for a nice refreshing walk. Then later a delicious lamb roast dinner!!! Mmm!!! I shan't be able to move later..

The real reason for this post is to show the the latest in my Advent Swap gifts so here is Day 20

a lovely heart decoration (looks like two candy canes put together)

Day 21

I love all the fragrance samples that Annie has sent as I tend to stick with the same perfumes and this has been a real chance to experiment with some some scents.

Off to check on the sausages and put on the fried bread!!!

Advent Swap - Day 18 & 19

Good Morning Bloggers! Welcome to 2011 one of my "aims" this year is to blog on a more regular basis, because I don't know about you but I get easily distracted reading all your lovely blogs and then I think "Oh I'll blog about that tomorrow" or "I haven't got much to say today" (unusual I know!) and then I find that I have so much to say (this is normal!) that I can't fit everything in and I'm playing catch up!!
So new year new start.....(expect several posts today so that I can start on my new start!)

Advent Swap Day 18 saw me choose ...

We could all do with restoring balnce every now and then and hopefully this fragrance from Clarins will help!

Day 19 I just couldn't resist....

Rachel helped me open this one and was soon running off to her bedroom with this pretty necklace - I have managed to claim it back though!!!!

I must go see what the kids are up to Tompom had a restless night last night and I ended up spending a few hours sleeping with him in his small car bed until I woke freezing cold and with a sore neck!!! So I think we are both feeling a little out of sorts this morning!