Random musings

Ok, so the new coffee table is great, I do love it, really I do, but (you were waiting for that weren’t you?) now that we’re decorating the kitchen it takes up so much space in the living room. All the things that I used to use the floor for are gone forever. Ironing is a pain (need to move the thing), the DVD player has a weird infra-red sensor that works only if its directly pointed at (and the coffee table is in the way). The end of it gets very hot (too near the fire) and I have to move the ‘Cube onto the top of it to play otherwise the controller cable won’t reach!

Having said that I can put post on it (have to carry it through to the dining room otherwise), I can put my feet on it (handy), I can put my drink on it (good for not getting drips on the fireplace) and we can store tonnes of crap in the handy storage boxes underneath. I think the good outweighs the bad.

I guess I’m slightly frustrated by lack of living room space due to major kitchen refurbishment activities. Because of said activities the dining room is a place where few dare to tread…not only is it full of tools for kitchen refurbishment (KR), it also has new cupboards, new worktops, a new floor and a great wodge of underlay (underlay, underlay, heeber, heeber) in it. On top of this it also has a new cooker and a load of current kitchen stuff in it that has been moved while we sort the walls out!

Whoever decided that Artex on walls was a good idea needs a good slap! No, more than a slap in fact but I can’t eloquently put it into words! The nightmare that constantly preys on my mind is the removal of the damn stuff! We’re half off and still half to go and my god has it been hard work! What with coordinating that with the arrival of my specially selected work gang (my mum & dad), the work the gas engineer needs to do and delivery of everything we need (why oh why did we pick a kitchen that wasn’t available in store I’ll never know) its starting to get a little fraught at chez Caple!

The plan is to finish de-Artexing by the weekend so that I have time next week in the evenings to Smoothover and paint it ‘Coffee Liquer’. Crown has a great little tool that allows you to upload pictures of your rooms and change the wall colours! Anyway this activity is so that the kitchen is ready for the arrival of my parents on Good Friday to stay for 4 days to do the kitchen and whatever else. Now, I don’t think we’ve had guests stay for longer than about 3 days yet without me wanting to physically throw them out of the front door, so this might be an interesting situation. I blame the smallness of my house and the fact that there’s nowhere to escape to. This coupled with the overwhelming need to be a good host puts me under more than a little strain.

Coupled with the fact that I’ll have no kitchen and we’ll have to eat out for every meal might mean I am a little short with my parents!! Hopefully my Easter present to them will make them forgive me. Continuing my tradition of Best Present Buyer Ever (self awarded title!), I have arranged a corker of a gift…we’ll have to wait and see the response! Although I hope the tears shown at the 25^th Anniversary will not be repeated! I must remember to ask my mum to bring ‘Mum & Dad’ Monopoly with them when they come so I can beat them by buying childhood memories and charging them outrageous rents (although my record for Monopoly against my mother is less than impressive). The coffee table in the lounge is also excellent for board games (no more kneeling on the floor)!

I just need to focus on the fact that I’m on holiday for 2 and a bit weeks starting in 9 days time. Granted the first 4 days of said holiday will be doing KR but it will be worth it. It’ll also give me time to get a hair cut and drown myself in video games!

Speaking of hair I am very tempted to go really short…I imagine in a few years it’ll be my only option as thinning and receding are taking their toll! I think my brother inherited my dad’s hair which has receded but not thinned significantly but mine is definitely on the way out! It’s also a pain and looks a mess most of the time. The only problem is that my hairdresser doesn’t ever seem to cut it short enough! And I’m too polite to say anything! I must be firm and tell her if I need it cut shorter…I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.