I feel so bad.

'Cappy' has left at lunchtime today. He is a good and kind big brother who is taking his sister into the hospital for tests. He gets big brownie points from me for doing so. Until he left everyone was busy, busy, busy. 'Cappy' has been breaking up chunks of concrete while 'Barry' has been throwing them into the back of the truck all morning and lovely ChristhePlumber has juryrigged my washing machine and sink so that I do not have to spend the next four months bending over the bath to get the dishes clean. YAY!

But now Chris has gone and so has 'Cappy' which leaves just 'Barry'. And this is why I feel bad. Because he is out on what used to be the back grass jackhammering away so that the Diggerman can work freely tomorrow.


I dare not look at him working away because I shall just want to go out there and demand he come in and have a rest. In fact if I can stand the noise I might just go and bake something so he will be able to sit down with a piece of cake a nice cuppa for the rest of the afternoon.

I wonder if there are any old movies on today?

The true definition of D Day.

I had assumed that the 'D' in my D Day stood for Demolition.

It is rash to make assumptions. In fact one might say it is tempting fate.

Turns out it actually stands for Disaster.

As in -

* spending much of the previous night waking at regular intervals bc your inner alarm clock knows you have to be up and dressed and ready for the onslaught of builders at an ungodly hour. I saw 0130, 0317, 0423 & 0531 before giving in with poor grace at 0630. I was hanging out washing and doing ironing by 0700 this morning.

* getting a final load of washing in before the 'Cappy' and his 713 year old oppo, 'Barry' (as dubbed by Pr C.W. & destructoBoy), start to demolish the laundry only to have the machine stop dead 10 minutes into the cycle. I spent haf an hour siphoning the water out of the drum and am now left with a load of filthy clothes (ref: yesterday's digging antics) that smell very strongly of washing powder sitting in the bath.

It can't even be blamed on the quite nice young spark who stripped all the cables and sockets from the laundry and fally down section of kitchen as the electrickery was still working in the bits he had left behind.

* Once the bramble thicket had been subdued Cappy & Barry started to take down the slates on the kitchen roof. Cappy got stung by a wasp and came into see if I had any bug spray as he was going to aerosol them into submission.

I went out and had a look when suddenly Cappy lifted another slate; quietly and nicely I asked him to step away from the scaffolding and walk back toward the house because OH! MY! GOD! there were a bazillion of the flying stinging buggers.

The exterminator man is coming tomorrow morning. Pr. C-W & destructoBoy are beside themselves bc his room has a ringside seat of all the action and are already planning which drinks and snacks to have ready.

* As the roof had to be left Cappy started 'boxing in' the electrics. Barry was there to offer moral support and to pass up the odd bit of wood. Following on from this was a discussion about which way the drains go and how many there might be given that this house is sited in an old industrial are of my Hilltop Town. This was a bad idea. A very bad idea. There is a blocked drain somewhere. Oh such a bad bad idea.

**Sigh** We shall see what they come up with tomorrow.

Well, we saved £24 ... sort of...

We went to Bath on Friday. In passing we looked at the Habitat closing down forever sale. Few items were left, even fewer we actually wanted however there were boxes of white crockery. 12 pieces for £12. Two sets of that would do quite nicely in my shiny new kitchen. One to use and one for spares. £24 for two table services, seemed reasonable.

We walked around the store some more, toyed with the idea of buying the 'three drawer hutch' taht was missing the top section or the bookcase with only a few scratches. By this time reality had intruded. Not only would we have to lug said boxes of crockery up and down the streets of Bath but there would soon be nowhere to store extraneous items in my house. We are just three weeks away from breaking ground. So we left the shiny white plates and bowls on the shelf.

Saturday we mooched up and down the High Street up here on The Hill. Our fancy schmancy bead shop is consolidating and ours is the shop to close. We went in so Princess C-W could choose some beads. We walked out with this.

A four foot square, gold mirror that must be the bastard lovechild of a Dr. Suess book and the Roccoco movement.

I love it!

I feel so grown-up

In the last two days I have dealt with financial advisors and financial matters in an effective and (vaguely) professional manner, organised holiday get togethers for destructoBoy so that when his sister is at Scout Camp he has something to do AND I have instructed a builder!!!!!

Yes I have!

There will actually be real live building work taking place at my house this Summer. Oh! And OH!

Omigod.Omigod.Omigod.

Mood shift noted

Last night I was sitting quietly on the couch, scrolling through Pinterest and letting slip the occasional giggle. CK looked across at me and "You're starting to get excited about 'The Kitchen' again."

"Huh?" (flick, pin, click, type, pin, click, flick.)

"You are looking at interiors and designs for the new space again. You haven't done that for a few months since things started getting bogged down with planning."

Well I suppose I haven't been but then I hadn't really understood 'Pinterest' until recently either.

I have a board just for kitchen ideas if you wanna look. Just click here .

In the past month...

I have ...

* finalised plans for new kitchen/living room building (Yippee! Woohoo! And Yay!) .

* nearly left my husband during IKEA trip to id potential kitchens (not that he even realised but I felt better for considering it).

* transported four highly excited under 9s through the wilds of Wiltshire to their first chess tournament. They only came 8/12 bc of a mahoosive amount of adult-sanctioned cheating by other schools. Seriously a headmaster who calls his under 9 pupils 'stupid' bc they lost a chess match??

* realised not every family plays maths and history and word games during 'long' car trips'! Who knew?

* mortified my son by banning the use of all the blurry DS consoles those children had for an hour during the six we spent at said tournament.

* been reminded of all the fabulous and exciting history there is on our doortsep here in Engerland.

* not been asked for interview to a job I would have loved.

* bought my daughter a new school bag following on from the saga last term.

* met old friend and children (inc god daughter) for lunch in beautiful Cathedral surrounds.

* had verbal smackdown with Mr. HeadTeacher twice. Once about the crazy-arse parking that goes on down there and the other about having held the door for the ENTIRE school (inc one teacher) and only one child said thank you. (And it wasn't my son, about which we have since had words ;-)

* had a meeting about teaching capability of destructoBoy's teacher because he is bored in class, every day.
* been called scarey by a parent at school.
* dobbed in stupid Yr. 8 students clever enough to hide out of sight from staff when smoking at playtime but sufficiently stupid to stand next to railing fence right beside road.

* praised highly to teacher the one child who did thank me for holding open school door.

* extremely lately handed over handmade birthday present to good friend and I think she liked it.

* had double success over at Posh Yarns Sunday night sellout. I foresee perhaps a hat for Princess C-W for Christmas with the pink sparkly one and the kicking-off off a garter stitch scarf kal this Friday with the chunky cashmere.

* nursed destructoboy through a whole month of ear infection. This entailed four visits to the doctors, three lots of antibiotics and one fight with the rottweilerXdoctors' receptionist. TG it has cleared up now and he is playing at top speed again.

* received a phonecall from YOT telling me my phone was being kept in their safe overnight if I would like to come and collect it the following morning. Oops!!
* recognised it is still six months away but have made a decision on d/Boy's birthday present.
* identified OMD's episodes as being epilepsy not a stroke.
* watched freezing on the sidelines as my son captained the under 9s to a distinct non-victory at the local schools football tournament. I was the screeching woman on the sidelines but offset my mania by cheering for the other teams too.

* purchased outfit for 80th birthday party this Saturday.

* attended Princess C-W's first ever secondary parent/teacher evening. Unlike most of her peers she didn't attend and so didn't hear how well-regarded she is by her teachers and how well she is doing in her classes. There was a little glow about us as parents by the end of it all. And I didn't even start-up on her History teacher. Perhaps it was bc she looked so knackered after dealing w grown-ups all evening. Perhaps it was bc she was our last stop and we could go home afterwards. I don't know why but remain impressed that I maintained my silence when she referred to 'our written conversation earlier in the year' and how she 'always encourages parents to help with the homework'. HA!

* taken the big black dog to the vet with a sore eye. Am hoping to stave off need to do this again.

* had The Bat Lady around to visit and am sending off her report today. This in turn means we apply for planning permission by the end of the week. If you want to voice an objection you have two months to lodge it with the relevant authority!

A result I hadn't expected.

The Bat Lady has just been.

The tools of her trade seem to be no more than a ladder, a notepad, a pencil and a really big torch.

She looked out the back at the section onto which we will be building.

"Is this it?" She said in a slightly accusatory fashion, staring at the roof with an inch and half gap between two slates.

Ummmm ... yes." I replied wondering what more I could offer her.

Is there no roof access from inside?"

"No. None."

"Well I shall have to look into the loft space of the main roof as well. To make sure there are no bats at all.

"Really? It means moving furniture you know. And we won't be building near that roofline."

"I'll just go and get my ladder."

"Oh."

So while she magicked a mahoosive ladder from her car I corralled the three Hounds of the Baskervilles behind one locked door before dashing up the stairs throwing detritus into appropriate rooms and slamming doors. Unfortunately the last one I slammed on my thumb.

With wardrobe moved, ladder in place and loft hatch opened she fired up her torch. This is a torch that demands respect. A torch that might well have its own fiefdom somewhere. To be honest if I were a bat I would probably hide as soon as I saw the light from this behemoth arcing toward me.

Within five minutes she was back down shaking her head.

"Let's go back outside.

So we stood out behind the house discussing exactly why there are **NO BATS** on the property and what needs to be done to prevent them turning up. Turns out a North (= no sun fyi you Antipodeans) facing aspect is a major no no for pteropines. She also suggested I immediately lay waste to the tangled hedgerow of brambles, honeysuckle and Mexican Orange Blossom that now stands about 9 foot across by eight foot high and three foot deep right on the boundary where we want to build before the birds start nesting in it.

So after seeing her safely out the drive I dashed into town and bought the most girlie looking pair of gauntlets you have ever seen in your life and will be using them to wave farewll to all the bats that don't live up here on The Hill.

The plans Elwood! The PLANS!

Yep we're putting the PLANS together.

First sets through from the architects today. Squeeeeeeeeeee!

Next step - talk to neighbours behind us to see just how far back we can put the party wall without it actually being on their side.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Alone. All alone.

So here I am, the day before the end of January and I have been kicked out of my home.

I shouldn't complain really I suppose.

The sun is shining. The sky is blue and finally the temperature has risen into positive numbers. That and the fact that my banishment is only temporary. As I wait for the ping of the text message to say I am allowed back I am sitting ina flash chain coffe shop at a table with comfy seats. I have an uber-trashy newspaper, CK's baby laptop, my knitting plus a MAHOOSIVE hot chocolate has been consumed.

One can only imagine the things that are taking place back at Trash Towers.

Last year during my exclusion they were designing and decorating the '40' magnet that now adorns my fridge. The year before I walked the dogs in the bitter cold and dark while they secretly baked a cake. Apparently it was CK's determination to keep it secret that stopped him washing the dishes that were already waiting to be done. You see, he didn't want me becoming suspicious so he only did the implements of baking. He was corrected of this misapprehension very swiftly.

Tomorrow will show the results of today's adventures.

So anyway this past week up at Trash Towers we have

- had the architect visit and been extremely excited to think we wouldn't need planning permission but reality soon intruded. (I know I have posted this already but I did say the ecitement was extreme!!!)

- had words with destructoBoy's teacher bc I am sending him to school in tears as he is so bored. Was very restrained about the whole thing and tried to work w her (trust me it isn't easy) but think the older, v . experienced teacher sidling into room on a pretext during meeting AND then contributing more than a little rude and quite odd.

- been pondering the balance of letting daughter attend much desired sleepover vs not wishing her to watch 'Zombieland' movie OR 'Sun, sea & sex' tv programme.

- been gobsmacked at friend thinking it funny to point out on Facebook that she thinks I talk to much. Perhaps I do love but there is a time and place is all I am saying.

- watched OMD become increasingly wobbly-headed and unsteady. Think he may have had another episode. Current in-house theory is extreme cold exacerbates his condition.

- found job to apply for. Right field, close-by, not ridiculous hours. All this adds up to me being unlikely to get it! Never mind, shall send in application anyway.

- have given into the frigging headcold that has been visiting. Am so completely over having to exist on lipbalm and water. Promise that one day my lips will be uncracked?

- made one of Jodie's softies. OK so his head is a little skewiff and I didn't put on the seperate face bit that actually makes him a monkey but d/Boy and I were pleased.

- made a fairy skirt for god-daughter bc it is really only 4yo who will wear the things I make (see note about 'skewiff' above).

- tried to knit lace patterns. With each attempt I manage several rows correctly and then BAM! the whole thing goes wrong. Do you think it is personal?

- had a pedicure AND an eyelash tint. Beautician lady is also teaching assistant at d/Boy's school so indulged in good gossip. Plus tint was free as she was practising for her course. Noice!

- planned day out to Southampton with CK tomorrow. John Lewis, Ikea, Waterstones and as many other nice shops as I can fit into the available time there. Damn you school pick-up necessity!

- made biscuits AND cake for school cake stall.

- had lunch with lovely friends in gorgeous cottage. Some people just have the magic touch with design and acessories.

- been with a friend when she received horrible news.

- , as always, taken time to be grateful and appreciative of the small things that make up life.

Wishing you all a fabulous February.

OMG! The architect has been.

Do you think this means things might actually be going to happen?

Keep you fingers crossed that his estimate on planning requirements is correct and his one for building costs is not.