Towel Rails and Underfloor Heating

Alan fitted the electric towel rail/radiators this week while the electricians were there to sign off his work.  Mine is in chrome to match all the chrome elements of my shower room.

While Alan's is in matt black to match all the black elements of his bathroom. 

It's good to have some form of radiator in the bungalow, as these will be the only place to dry knickers and socks when you need them in a hurry after washing things in the colder, wetter weather of Winter. 😄

Can you even imagine colder, wetter weather at the moment, I know I can't!! 

The reason for the lack of any other radiators in the bungalow is because we are having underfloor heating.  Alan has been working out the layout of all the mats on the floor this week.  He is hoping to start the gluing down of them either today or tomorrow, then the pipes will be inserted into their positions next week, ready to be tiled over.

Laying them out ahead of time means that he can double check that he has enough of the straights and  curves as well as the blanks that he needs to cover all the floors.  

It appears that there are indeed enough of what we need.

It's all coming together nicely.

But I am very impressed by my very skilled husband.

Sue xx

 

Whiter Than White

 

Ginger snapped while getting ready to drink out of one of his drinking stations around the garden.

Caught mid-drink.

Just three of his choices of dish at this end of the garden, he also has the dish I have out for bees and insects ... which the little birds also seem to love ... the larger bird drinking pot and when he's in the mood the watering can, which is really funny to watch when there's only an inch of water in the bottom of it.

It's not that any of the water is fresher in one pot than any other container, as I fill them all up at the same time.  Maybe the different containers offer up a slightly different flavour or drinking experience, anyway it's funny to watch him going from place one to the other, and occasionally repeating it all over again.

https://youtu.be/dUI9DIXBCKc?si=Knk0_0mlYI0UutEL

Here is our latest bungalow walk-through for anyone that is interested in a bit of Whiter Than White. 😁

Sue xx

Rhubarb and Renovations

 

I've been a bit slow to pick the first lot of rhubarb this year, so yesterday I just went out and pulled off half of the stalks.  I just pull and cut until I know that I will have enough chopped rhubarb to fill my largest pan.  

Cooked with just a smidge of water and minimal sugar it doesn't take long to do.  Every year I wonder why it takes me so long to get around to actually doing it.  😄

Once it was done and cooled down, I divided it between four tubs, two for me and two for Alan.  I had some of mine with my yoghurt for breakfast this morning.  It was absolutely delicious.

I'll be doing an action replay next week as there is at least the same amount of rhubarb left in the garden.

https://youtu.be/40ZKOC2L0XM?si=glLFVDSph3988A9Z

The plasterers finished on Wednesday, a day earlier than planned as they had another job to do the next day.  They worked late into the evening to complete ours.  As you can see from this YouTube walk through, they have done an excellent job of it.

Alan is back at the bungalow again today painting some more of the walls and perhaps a couple of ceilings.  He wants one coat on in the main room if possible, before next Monday when the 'screeders' will be at the bungalow to screed the floor and get it ready for the underfloor heating.

Then he will be able to have some time off as we will not be able to walk on the floor at all.  Hence me booking us a long weekend away starting on the 10th, where there will be no tools, no work clothes, just rest, relaxation and the spa for Alan, and rest, relaxation and a couple of good books for me.

Sue xx

It's the End of the Month Catch- up

 

It's been a strange sort of month, hot, hot weather, Mum in and out of hospital like a yoyo ... currently in once again.  The garden looks lovely ...

... and you would be able to see it, if the washing wasn't out on the line making full use of the glorious sunshine.  

I'm funni-osity ... as my Nana used to say,  I love pegging washing out but hate bringing it in and folding it all up, I think I need staff.  😄

Some meals have been so simple you can barely call them that.

Shopping has been bought, stored and in a lot of cases just eaten and then re-bought, I seem to be on a wine and fish repetition phase at the moment, well it's been hot weather, and cold wine at the end of a long and occasionally stressful day is sometimes just really necessary.  When the things that were bought to replace the contents of the jars were stashed in the lower food cupboard, they were dated as usual.

Fathers Day came and went, and as usual Alan got a card off each of my sons, and of course one off his furry Ginger son ... who also bought him a jar of Plum Jam and a few 'fingers of Fudge'.

As usual nothing off his own grown up children or his step-daughter.  He is used to that, but it still annoys me on his behalf.

The final things from the bungalow were put up on Facebook Marketplace for sale, but there have been no takers up to now.  I did have one woman from York ask if the gates were fifteen foot wide each and not in total. 

 Wow, that would be a wide driveway!!

My favourite read of the month was this book.  

As a few people warned me, it did take some getting in to, but once I did, wow it was good.  And I didn't see the twist coming at the end at all.  I have now re-donated it to the charity book table in Booths.

Talking of Booths, we have eaten and drunk in there far too many times this month, but Alan likes to get away from the bungalow and have a coffee and a bacon bun there.  I did offer to make both of the aforementioned at home for him, but I think he is afraid of then falling asleep on the sofa afterwards and not ending up back at the bungalow.

He was eyeing up the sofas in Booths café as we left today, so I think maybe he actually has a point.  Although I do keep pointing out to him that each time we pay for food in the café that is basically the cost of two floor tiles for the bungalow!!

Talking of the bungalow it has come on in leaps and bounds this month.  So here is the one and only time I will be showing the front of it on my blog.  

The plasterers are currently inside plastering the bedroom ceilings and walls, and Alan has been busy on the outside setting out the framework for the front garden.  It's been all go after a long time of planning and we are starting to see the fruits of our labour, our planning and our money ... which is very quickly running out.

Here's to July and hopefully more sunshine, more foody talk and more progress on our future home.

Sue xx

June Renovation Updates

Last week the bungalow was fully rendered on the outside, so now it now looks neat, crisp and very smart. 

 I think the neighbours are starting to really appreciate that the worse house on the street is now looking much better and no longer lowering the tone of the area.  Of course, once the skip and the outdoor toilet are able to be removed it will be better still.  😄

While Alan was able to fit all the outdoor plug sockets, lights and other accessories, the solar panel guy came back and installed the electric car charger.  Don't worry Alan's work will all eventually be signed off by a fully competent and qualified electrician, before our building inspector signs the property off as now being ready to be lived in.

This was the state of play yesterday when I went round to the bungalow to do a pre-plastering walk through ... today this has changed already.

I can hardly keep up at the moment, the three plasterers, a grandad, dad and son work together so well and so speedily, they are a sight to behold.  How they have worked so well in this heat is beyond me ... however when we went round a couple of hours ago they were all topless!!

 https://youtu.be/-8ZCVRLmqw8?si=GIPTqtflrVKmRoRx

Hopefully the plastering will all be finished next week, at the speed they are working at perhaps even halfway through the week and I can do another walk through.  

Today we were actually sat in Booths ... where is was SO much cooler than home ... with a coffee and a cold drink each, designing the front garden and the off road parking area.  It won't be done for a while but Alan needed to know what stones to save before putting the rest in the skip and sending it away.

Exciting stuff, well it is to us, I do hope that you are enjoying the updates too.  😃

Sue xx

This Weeks Shopping ... and Right Door, Wrong Furniture

 

6th - Aldi  £11.42

This weeks shopping was from Aldi at the weekend, again I was just buying the things that I either really needed or really wanted.  I'm just keeping it simple while I slowly eat my way through the things in the freezer, buying just the few  fresh things that I need to compliment what I already have.

The receipt for posterity.  

I wonder if one day I will look back on this and marvel at how cheap everything was.  😄

6th - Booths £6.65

While we were in Booths having some breakfast I bought a couple of things that I needed.  I bought two cartons of milk as it was on special offer again. One carton lasts me about ten days as I only have it on my Weetabix.

9th Booths - £6.65

That confused me briefly looking at the photos, as the total for these two small shops was exactly the same.

I called into Booths yesterday as Alan asked me to get him some bread, and also a sandwich and drink for his lunch while he was at the bungalow.  He takes a flask of coffee and a banana every day, but as he was staying longer he wanted something else.  

The new front door had been installed the day before so this was the first time I was seeing it.

Sadly although it is the right front door, it has all the wrong door furniture on it.  It was supposed to be in black so that it ties in with the anthracite grey window frames a bit better.  It looked relatively okay on the photos Alan had shown me the day before, but in person the chrome was a bit insipid.

The French doors in the main room look fantastic though.

The room is now flooded with light, which is exactly what you what you need when it's the main living area in such a small property.  These door handles are right as they need to match the chrome and steel elements of the kitchen.

The main jobs of this week are having the outside of the bungalow rendered in brilliant white, and Alan is indoors stripping off remnants of wallpaper from the walls and the ceilings, ready for the plasterers to come in later this month.

Sue xx

Rice, Tiles ... and a Padded Cell?

 

I find something really satisfying about using up the last of the things that I have in my big jars.  Yesterday I used the last of the rice, so the jar was washed and I refilled it after leaving it to thoroughly dry overnight.  It holds two kilos of rice so a full jar lasts me quite a long time.

There were just two cups of rice left in the jar before it was washed out, so I cooked it all up at once and then I had some for my tea with a portion of chickpea and potato curry from the freezer and left the rest to cool down in my freezer blocks.

So if two cups of rice does me five meals, that refilled jar is going to last me quite a while. 😁

I took Alan's lunch round to him at the bungalow yesterday and discovered him just finishing off doing this in my bedroom ... I think he is making me a padded cell.  I know I can be a bit wacky at times, but am I really that bad?  😄

This weekend we are out to choose the floor tiles for the bungalow, yes we go to all the exciting places!!

  We have been deliberating for a long time on which ones we want as they are covering the main room, the hallway, my bedroom and both bathroom floors, and as is usually the way with me I have come full circle and we are going for the ones that I chose way back at the start of the kitchen design process.  Sometimes you have to trust your gut instinct and just go with it.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.  💖

Sue xx

Bugs, Bunting and Wires

 

The slugs have found my lovely bargain Dahlia.

Between them and the greenfly that have decimated my Lupins, this is a very insect heavy garden this year.  Last nights torrential rain washed a lot of the greenfly off, but this morning they were all climbing up the plant pot like teeny tiny mountaineers to get back to their free feast. There seems to be a real dearth of ladybirds this year, but then the weather is very random isn't it.

Someone shared their photo of our main High Street in the late evening, on the local Facebook group last week.  It's very atmospheric with the moody blue sky isn't it.  The bunting goes up every year the week before the Children's Festival, which is the main event here in Spring and remains for quite a while so all the holiday makers can enjoy the atmosphere.  

It makes the town look very pretty.

https://youtu.be/haO5B4hHrRA?si=1XdyQnxLNktmdG4F

Alan asked me to do another updated walk through of the bungalow now that the first fix electrics have been completed, so here it is for posterity.  It's coming along nicely.  This week Alan is doing lots of little jobs as we have no builders or trades in.  He's enjoying having a bit of a lie in each day with no pressure to get there early to let everyone in.  It's been a bit like being back at work for him just recently, having lots of 8am starts while he works alongside the tradesmen.

Next week things will move forward again as the outside of the bungalow and the garage is being rendered in brilliant white,.  It's going to look fantastic with our new anthracite grey window frames and the green 'front' door, which along with the French doors in the main room, will also be installed.

Sue xx

Lawn and Order

 

*

Lawn mowers were out in force this weekend, not at our house I hasten to add, we are most definitely a lawn free zone.  But it seemed that virtually all the neighbours were either cutting grass or power washing their patios.  Oh well, if they've all got their little plots done now, peace should reign supreme for the rest of the week.  😄

Over at the bungalow the plumber has now installed an indoor stop tap that will one day be hidden under the kitchen sink ...

... and an outdoor tap.  

Which means that one day in the not too distant future, we will be able to annoy our neighbours with a jet washing session.  😁

Sue xx

* You really need to have watched Law and Order at some point to understand the joke.  😄

Filling Up Spaces, and Shrinking by the Week

 

I called round to the bungalow with Alan's lunch on Monday, to find that he had been busy filling up the space in my bedroom with the stud walls for the en-suite.  It completely changes the look of the room now.

It actually feels smaller than it appears in this photo and will feel smaller still once the plasterboard goes up and the whole bungalow is plastered in a couple of weeks.  

As a reader mentioned the other day, we are shrinking by the week.  At the beginning the bungalow was 880sq ft or 83 square metres, I think we will have to have a re-measure once all the walls are completed as all the exterior walls will have come inwards by around 4" due to the insulation.

After having a lunch break with Alan, I headed for home to do some more filling of space.

I managed to get some roasted vegetables, pasta and peas and some stewed apple in orange juice, made up to fill that empty shelf in the fridge.  I also took a tub of grated Christmas cheese out of the freezer and opened a jar of pesto to have with some of the pasta for my tea.

It's nice to see it looking a bit healthier in there again with things to give me inspiration for this weeks meals.

Sue xx

Wildlife ... and Renovations

 

Heron and Greenhalgh Castle Ruins by Dermot Cummins

Isn't this a lovely photograph of a beautiful spot in our town.  I asked the photographer if I could share it and he said I could.  The river is the River Wyre which snakes its way all through our small town.  We are very lucky as well as supporting lots of wildlife, such as the herons and kingfishers, we also have quite a few otters that have returned to the river.

And now, ladies and gentle for your delight and delectation ... yes I am old enough to remember 'The Good Old Days'.  I don't know why I loved it so much as a small child, but it taught me the words of a lot of the wartime era songs, which on occasion I baffle Alan with, here's this months walk through of the bungalow.  

Alan asked me to do another one at the weekend before he fills in all the interior walls with the insulation.  I'll have to have a go at editing all the clips together at the end and make a movie won't I.  😄

https://youtu.be/haO5B4hHrRA?si=o3K-MlEizo7qCopB

I don't know why I talk so softly on these, it must be not wanting to bombard you all with my Mancunian tones in such an echoey environment.

Sue xx

One Day It Will Be a Bedroom

 

One day I may just have a bedroom like this.

I do have a bit of hope, as up until Thursday of this week the windows of my bedroom were boarded up.

And now I have windows.

I didn't think I would be so excited about a bedroom window.  😁

Or a bathroom one.

It's made the world of difference to the bungalow,  instead of dark gloomy rooms and builders lamps, there's light so that everyone can actually see what they are doing.  

Alan's first job at the start of next week is to start to move the stack of plasterboards that were left in the exact place where he has to start building the wall for the bathroom ... that was really handy wasn't it.  😐

Yesterday was a really good day in the bungalow, the windows went in, the solar installation was finished, the gas board came to cap off the gas pipe in the pavement off our property, and the plumber called to discuss the first round of work he needs to do, including putting in a stopcock under where the kitchen sink will be.

Yes, one day soon I will also have a kitchen.  😀

Sue xx

Shopping ... and Piles

 

This weeks shopping was from Booths.

As you can see I didn't buy much, apart from not really needing too much I am quickly running out of available cash as I crawl slowly towards my first State Penson pay out in May.  The money I made from my Facebook Marketplace sales is just about keeping me on the straight and narrow, as the interest on my savings is also going down and down each month. I am now paying for all the necessary things for the renovation as Alan's account has virtually emptied.

We are not destitute by any means ... as the next paragraph clearly shows, but I am determined to stick to my guns and make it to my first pension date by using cash.

 I called into Booths because Alan wanted me to pick up a bacon bun and a takeaway coffee for him while he was hard at work in the bungalow.  I had been to the hairdressers so I was in the vicinity.   I got myself a coffee too and we sat on the back step discussing garden plans now that we know the way the sun hits the garden at various times of the day.

It going to be a long time until the garden looks anything like a garden.  This photo was taken at the start of the month, but apart from a few weeds appearing on the soil and rock pile nothing has changed ... but we can make plans.  😄

The front garden is very similar.

Sue xx

Ice-creams and Solar Panels

 

A well deserved ice-cream at the seaside.

We went to Morecambe for breakfast this morning, it's less than half an hour away up the motorway so it's a place we frequently visit.  Not quite as often now that we don't have the dogs but we do still go at least once a month.  

Alan tucked into a very well deserved ice-cream for his dessert.  Do breakfasts have desserts?  I don't know usually ... but this one did.  It was a lovely day, the third or fourth sunny one this week, but the first time we have been able to make the most of it.  Even then we had to dash back home for the latest vaccinations for us both at the doctors.  Alan joked to the nurse that since he retired all they seem to want to do is to stick needles in him, it is getting a bit excessive. 😐

Alan has been busy all week at the bungalow battening the walls for the interior insulation, and together we measured up and marked out the measurements for the en-suite bathrooms and their contents.

Simultaneously, the guys came to fit the solar panels on both sides of the roof.

We have a large array so that we can hopefully generate more than we actually use, especially on days like this.  There's not as many as we had on the small holding in Wales, but we are not too far off.

Added-  since publishing this post I've been told we will have 36 panels here, we had 45 in Wales but they were of a smaller capacity.   So we have actually got a much better more reliable and more profitable system now.  Oh, and we have 10 kilowatt hours of battery backup  ... gosh it's all very technical.  😄

Up in the loft are all the control panels for the solar panels and the batteries.  Alan had made sure that the floor had all been boarded safely in the areas that they needed to access.

Alan had laid the piping that will hold the wires that go over to the garage, as that too will have a roof full of solar panels.  Unfortunately, the company had sent the wrong fixings for these to the installers, so it is all being finished off and commissioned next week.

Here's the lates YouTube walk-through.

https://youtu.be/oFv6_OOUfRI

We're back to hospital visiting tomorrow, but hopefully we will be able to stop at the services on the way home and enjoy a little bit more sunshine, along with a sausage roll and a coffee from Greggs.

Sue xx