DIY-ing

We are halfway through panelling the conservatory.  We need to order more wood and the weather forecast is a bit rubbish over the next few days so we think that we will leave it for a couple of days and then crack on with finishing it.  The other wall is not quite so straightforward because John has to accommodate several electrical sockets which can be fiddly depending on where the panels fall. 

What has been done so far is looking neat and tidy save for the mess of keys and sunglasses which John leaves on one of the cupboards by the front door.  It drives me nuts so I spent time looking on tintyweb to see if someone had created a neat storage solution and came across the picture above which is infinitely better than everything chucked in a pot-mess.  For once John actually agreed with me and decided that he would set about making something.

Here is John's solution and I am super happy because it means that there is a place for everything and everything is in its place!!!  We were just calculating how much it had cost to make - the knobs and door handle alone were 10 euros then there was the wood, stain and his time so when added together you realise that you couldn't sell it and make a profit.

When I was back in the UK I treated John and I to a nice new duvet set from Dunelm which is fabulous quality and reversible.  Along with the cover and pillow cases I got a lovely warm and snuggly bottom sheet and today we were going to have fresh hay when we go to bed.  

I knew I would have a small window of opportunity to change the bedding at some point this afternoon when the cats decided it is time to stretch their legs - this is generally around 3.00pm when they are thinking about a little snackette mid afternoon so I hung around and grabbed that opportunity when it arose.

I do wish we had a shop like Dunelm which has fabulous bed linen and at such reasonable prices.  I could have chosen half a dozen different sets all in teal or duck-egg blue to go with our decor.  The one I bought was in the sale and is called Honesty and it was a difficult choice between that one and another one called Beautiful Birds.

I have a 'thing' about bedding so John moans like hell when I ask him to get down the sets I have because they are in the top cupboard in soft storage bags so a complete bugger to put back up again.  He does however relish the thought of fresh hay.

I spent the afternoon tackling the mountain of ironing that has been amassing since I returned from the UK.  I don't like ironing at the best of times but I just really haven't felt like doing it, however today it was lovely and warm in the conservatory so I thought now was as good a time as any.  

John and I are also ruthlessly going through our wardrobes and trying not to be sentimental about items which we cling on to because we are going to 'get back into them' even though we clearly are never going to be that size and shape again or however long we wait the clothes are never going to come back into fashion again.

We have a couple of events coming up where we need to dress up a bit and I had in mind what I was going to wear but tried things on and just looked at myself in the mirror and wondered what I was thinking.  I may not think I have aged much in the last 10 years but the mirror tells a different story so it was with some regret that I have consigned to charity some of my favourite pieces - Mutton dressed as Lamb sprung to mind sadly - I know I look at people and wonder if they got dressed in the dark but I don't want people thinking that of me.  I have never liked strappy and looking at my saggy skin I now know that strappy is most definitely a thing of the past.

John was keeping an ear out for both Mark and the Electricity Board today as they were coming to officially connect up 9B whilst he was doing that I finished off the ironing and then set about sorting our supper.

We had a load of 'bits' that needed eating up in the fridge so I was going to try my hand at home-made pizza which included making the base from scratch.  I don't know why I have never done it before because the base is only activated yeast, flour and salt and a bit of elbow grease.  

The whole operation needs a bit of refinement - I was cooking these in our oven and wanted them to cook side by side so they were an 'oblong' shape to fit in.  I prepared the first one on the marble work surface and it looked fabulous but the base stuck to the surface like shit to a blanket so we had a devil of a job persuading it to come away so we could put it in the oven - this involved several spatulas and quite a lot of laughs.  I now understand why they say to leave a gap between the edge of the topping and the edge of the pizza - that is because my cheese wanted to  make a bid for freedom.  The end result was pretty good though - the base was cooked and crisp without being like cardboard - John said it could only be improved by having a slightly different choice of toppings which was fair because this was only an exercise in using things up.  I shall certainly be making them again.