Make do and mend......
So, not been much time to blog since we moved out of the caravan as we’ve been busy trying to make the house liveable. The living room had a quick couple of coats of paint just to make it clean and cosy, it felt really important to have a comfortable place to relax. We are using the smallest of the two bedrooms which is warm and cosy too. The big one which will eventually be our main bedroom needs a lot of work done so it’s a storage space right now. We seem to have spent a solid week just trying to find somewhere to put things. We knew storage would always be an issue in a small cottage but blimey it’s proving a challenge. Thought we’d already downsized but may need to cull ‘stuff’ again. The main priorities since we got here have been to get the roof done and the central heating/hot water installed ✔️ Now the next big job is knocking down the old lean to and rebuilding it, knocking down the wall between that and the kitchen to make it a kitchen diner, re-roofing the lot then putting in a new kitchen. In an ideal world this would have been done in the summer, as we have had to block off the doorway to the old lean to from the living room to keep winter out 😜 We are hoping the firm that are doing the main work can start soon but it could be spring before they start. If they can start sooner rather than later it will be fab but will bring its own problems as our makeshift kitchen will have to go and microwave meals and toast will be the order of the day until completion. No takeaways round these parts 😂 I’d quite like to get Xmas day in but the renovations have to come first. Xmas will be a very small affair this year anyway but it will be worth it in the long run. The makeshift kitchen is fine, juggling is a must and sometimes I forget I’ve moved something onto the top of the washing machine until I hear it vibrate and have to catch it. The only thing we didn’t have in there was a sink. I’ve been washing the dishes in a bowl in the bath and giving them a shower afterwards. Everything has to go on hold if one of us is in the bathroom though 😝 However our friend on the farm had an old stainless steel sink that she said we could have so today Steve disappears into the workshop to build a temporary frame to house it. He wouldn’t let me in to see….I was almost as excited as I will be when we come to do the kitchen for real. Alone in his man cave he finally showed me tonight what he’s made. Honestly it’s wonderful apart from one detail I shall reveal later in pictures. All in all we are just getting on with what we can whilst waiting for work to commence. Next year it will be time to establish the veg garden….seed catalogues at the ready. Having a part of the workshop as a larder works well. We only have to top up supplies every few weeks now which is grand when you hate shopping. Online shopping for goods is no problem here either….winner!! Just having a few of our things around us is lovely. Despite all the chaos, we both agree, it already feels like home and we love it here. Much more aware than ever before that we are only on this planet for a very short time. Nothing is certain…..if you want it you have to do it yourself. We won’t ever be well off but we are happy 😊 Onwards and upwards