Jade and the House

Jade now has a firm diagnosis - some degeneration in part of the bones in her elbows. She'll be having keyhole surgery next Monday to remove bits that are grinding together and causing pain on weight bearing. I brought her home yesterday afternoon, still rather sleepy and subdued after the anaesthetic for the scans, but otherwise ok.

With everything else going on I haven't had time to update you on the house changes, but the sideboard has been cleared, cleaned and put up for sale on Gumtree. It seems there is a market for retro 1960s G plan style furniture. If it doesn't sell it will go to a charity.

Everything from inside it has been sorted. A lot just went into the bin. Some will be off tomorrow to the Pound Puppy Animal Rescue for fundraising. They are also going to have all the books that have sitting on Green Metropolis for several years - I've just discovered that, sadly, that website has closed down. A few other items I may try to sell myself. Anyway, I now have my dining table back and ready for use. Compare the pic below with the one in last Wednesday's post

On the Ninth Day

I'm posting again. The house is mainly a tip, but I have one beautifully redecorated bedroom, plus a pristine and pretty kitchen/diner and alcove. All thanks to my daughter and some of her friends.

Children have been catered for with watershutes, indoor bowling, crazy golf, dog walks, park visits and football on the beach, as well as an x-box in the bedroom. Daughter and I have been catering for everyone morning midday and evening. We are all feeling pretty tired.

Both dogs have been unwell and have been taken to the vet. Rafi has an ear infection and has special drops for that. Jade hasn't caught that but is limping badly despite the prescribed pain killers. She refused to walk when we all went out after supper yesterday and today, just dug in her paws and wouldn't come with us. It was obviously hurting her too much. She has now been started on a course of injections.

Getting Back to Normal

Felt quite proud of myself yesterday for what I managed to achieve on my own. I had got the floors, worktops and cupboard doors cleaned up the day before, and was wondering how I'd manage to get the furnishings back in place, even the curtains which had previously been a two-man job. But I worked out the way to do that before I even got out of bed in the morning. And my plan to take the curtain rail down, resting it on chairs to get the curtains on and then put it back, worked a treat, even if I was in danger of falling off the step stool a couple of times. Later I found it was possible to drag the fridge and the heavy furniture across the tiled floor, and now I have my kitchen/diner back. It won't have to be moved around again until the decorating contingency arrive just before Easter, by which time the plaster around the new window will be well and truly dried.

My lounge is still covered with piles of books that need properly sorting before I decide where the ones I want to keep will live in new house format. Jade is somewhat confused by it all and frequently escapes into the garage conversion where she has a comfy bed  behind my computer. The only trouble with that is, while she can push the door open and go in, it swings to again and she can't get it open to get out. So I have to follow her and wedge the door open. If I don't see her go, I know where to find her later. But she's usually quite happy if she has a warm bed to curl up in.

Let There be Light

This is my new window which has just been fitted. It lets more light into the ground floor extension, opposite the alcove that used to house the kitchen and is destined to be my new study area.

Financial Things

I've been thinking for a while that if I get some well paying writing work, I'll join Kiva which I found through the blogging community.  Today I took the plunge and have lent a few dollars to the La Segunda Rosa Group of Mexico. They are sheep farmers and needed money to feed their growing herd.

There are plenty of other deserving causes at Kiva and what happens is that your loan is eventually repaid so you can have your money back.  But I expect I'll do what most lenders do and have it transferred to another borrower.



This has been made possible by some of the sub-contracted articles I'm expecting payment for this month and next, and possibly ongoing, which would be great.  It has also meant I can move into the next phase of my home improvements and yesterday I got what seems to be a good deal on having my front guttering, sofits and facia replaced. But it's going to cost me a lot more than my Kiva loan.