Hi folks!

I've not been on because I don't appear to have been achieving very much at the moment. We've had quite a few days of grey and drear weather, and I appear to have gone into "hunker down by the fire" mode. I have also been having some muscle problems with my right shoulder, so have been holding off from clearing the shrubbery debris from the garden. It has to be hauled out through the house, so I am not looking forward to it. I started making a rag coat for morris, but even that has subsided and is just lying around the room. I think I need a break away from home somewhere warm and foreign! I seem to have been caught up in a whirl of official house-related stuff since last August. At least I have got a large part of the front flower bed planted up, and many rose bushes put in, with lavender and Sweet Williams. As the back is going to be a building materials compound, there's not much point in doing that, although I have planted some rhubarb and some climbing roses down at the bottom.

I have to ring the planning office today and try to find out exactly what stone they want used for the building work. It isn't very clear. The architect has said mixed stone, and one of the planning letters says local sandstone, while another says it has yet to be finalised.
I just want to get on with it all! I still have to get in touch with the archaeologists and get them sorted out, but until I have final costs in, and have chosen the builder, it's a bit pointless. I suppose I could give them a "heads-up"...

Well done all on the fantastic weight losses! Kat, I am so pleased and excited for you and your progress. Michelle, you are making me miss having my babies and their mess around!

I am having a free-standing fridge delivered tomorrow, and set up in the dining room. At some point I will move the freezer up in preparation for the work which WILL start at some point in the next few months. I want it done before next winter, and it could take around 4 months. The dining room will become my kitchen, and water will be in containers. "Indoor camping"!

I am looking forward to getting the work done, but I am not looking forward to any hassles with the planners, who are known to be very awkward round here. I sometimes wonder if any of them actually have been to look at the house, as the part the extension is being built onto is most definitely NOT sandstone.

Andrea