Bathrooms and kitchens

We're repairing a paint-blister in the bathroom ceiling. It has been there for MONTHS, and bugging me every morning (and slowly growing because of the moisture from showering). We've checked - it was an issue with the initial paint job (thanks, builders!) and not a leak from above. Phew. 

I'd forgotten how dusty everything gets when you're sanding and scraping and painting. Ugh. At least it will be done. I'm SO not a DIY person - both of our parents renovated houses extensively while living in them, usually without contractors (except for really big stuff), and frequently while working full-time. 

I can't even work up the energy to paint a wall, much less replace some windows or re-tile the bathroom. I've been enthusiastically pinning kitchen tiles on Pinterest, but there will definitely be a Person Who Knows All About Tiling coming over to do the actual tile/grout/etc once we finalise the plans. Our house is the same colour as when we moved in (cream with white trim, thank you). I have decided that it's because it's bright, calming, and minimalist, and shows off our photographs, paintings, and other assorted bright accessories. Someone I know was talking about how plain white walls drive them crazy. Not me.

We were picking up a few miscellaneous things (including a snazzy new shower organiser) in Ipswich yesterday, when I spotted these at Lakeland. Too funny. Can I have one of each, please? I've checked their website and they only sell selected ones online, in sets of 4. Bah. I may have to go back to the store in person. 4 rows of 3 at £1.49 each is £17.88, which seems like kind of a lot to spend on coasters. Especially since I already have plenty. Sloe Gin Square and Ealing Broadbean? Where did they think of these? I really like Baking Street, Charing Cross Bun, Shepherds Pie, Piccalilli Circus, and Hollandaise Park, too. Oops. I guess that's only 7...out of a possible 12. But John likes Oxtail Circus. We could make it an even 8 and never need to buy coasters again. Ever.

When we got home, I roasted some cauliflower with cumin, from a Smitten Kitchen recipe. It was delicious - sweet and crunchy and cumin-y. We put some chili flakes on, too. Delish.

I served it with rice and with Mark Bittman's slow-cooked spinach with coconut milk. Needed a little more spice (and used more coconut milk than recommended because I had a bigger can, and didn't cook it for long enough because the cauliflower cooked faster than expected), but overall, a success.

See? Multi-coloured, vegan, Indian spiced yummy supper.

New Curtains!

We've put up our new curtains in the kitchen - they make the whole room seem much cozier. They are about 4 inches too long - I need to hem them and put them back up.


I'm also reading Bury The Chains, about the British fight to abolish slavery. It's a history, but written with a definite 'story' arc - so far, so good.

DomestiKate

Well, we're pretty much moved in. There are still wardrobe boxes in our bedroom (we haven't bought wardrobes yet and there are no closets), but other than that, all the boxes are unpacked and stuff is put away.

Our bed (finally) arrived yesterday - it's really beautiful and looks great in the bedroom. We did an Ikea run today and got some storage for the bathrooms and a picture for the front hall. We almost bought another bookshelf for the study, but it didn't quite fit in the car. Since Ikea now deliver (!) to the work postcode, we'll just order it online and have it delivered to the office. Then we can borrow the big van and we'll be all set.

We also saw some couches that we liked a lot - they're definitely a 'someday' purchase, though.

Our car has been somewhat exciting lately - it's a Citroen and it has moments where it reminds us that it is French and we are not and it's going to make sure it knows who's in charge. There's a short in the drivers' side window control panel, which means that the right hand rear window will spontaneously roll down. It's always a surprise when it happens, especially if we're on the highway. It happened on Friday night on the way home from work, and the only way to roll it back up again is to reach in to the back seat and roll it up at the window. If you're reading this, C5, it's ok, you're in charge. We understand.

I've been kind of a blog slacker lately - work is really draining (but engaging), and my workspace at home in the study isn't quite set up yet, so I've been avoiding spending a lot of time with the mac.

Bunny Cake

It's been a pretty crazy few days so far - I saw Andrea and Kim on Saturday and then went to the 10 year CT '97 Lochearn reunion. I spent 6 summers at Lochearn Camp in Vermont, and loved (almost) every second of it. There were so many great women that I met there, and it was amazing to see a few of them on Saturday night.

Sunday was Easter, so I went to Redeemer and then came back to New Ro for a family easter and the famous Bunny Cake. My mom's been making this cake since before I can remember...no bunnies were harmed.


John's busily unpacking - for those of you who need a house fix, here's the view out of the kitchen towards the back yard.

Box Update and Concert

Box update: about 20 packed, about 20 to go.

We've packed James' room, all the books, the tops of the closets, and under the beds. Now all we have to do are the kitchen and the front hall.

I'm singing in a concert this weekend, so our box packing time is a bit limited, but we should be fine.

If you're in the area, it's going to be pretty spectacular. The Bury Bach Choir is singing Bach's St Matthew Passion (with a full orchestra and the Bury Cathedral Boys' Choir). Here's the link to the details - you can still get tickets!

Playground? Check!

We've spent the weekend 'trooping about the place,' as Freda says. We worked all day yesterday in the cold and the rain, and the boys have hung ALL the curtain rods. Travis has started in on plumbing in the water softener, we've gotten all kinds of things that we needed, and most importantly, we've found a playground. V. nearby. And it's a GOOD one! It's got a huge crow's nest/spider web thingy, a very inventive seesaw, a big jungle gym, and a bike track. It's a paved track with bumps and ramps and all kinds of cool stuff for kids to ride around on. James' bike is currently at Mummy's but we'll see if we can sort something out. And definitely a helmet.

Here he is, climbing.

It's about a 5 minute walk from the house, and there are benches for me to sit on when I'm tired of junglegyming. This is the view from the top of the crow's nest:

We've also found a shortcut to the house- it's a MUCH easier and quicker way in. WOOHOO!

We were dropping off some of the miscellaneous stuff that we got today (we have HOUSE NUMBERS! For the front of our house!), and we met our across-the-street neighbors. We met the garage-neighbors yesterday - everyone seems really nice and THRILLED to be there. It's great that we're all moving in around the same time - people seem pretty open.

Oh, and someone in the neighborhood has a tabby kitten who's exploring everything. He came over to see what we were doing and explored our garage. He would have explored the house except that we caught him looking at it and shut the door.

He went off to chase some butterflies and pounce on invisible things in the grass. Much better, really.

Our very own chipboard castle

Short post tonight because I'm tired - but.....DRUMROLL.....we have the house! It's OURS as of about 11:30 this morning. We picked up the keys, sent the carpet guys in, measured the back garden for lawn stuff, and generally had an exciting afternoon.

Tomorrow we tackle the curtain rails with Travis and Freda. Pictures soon!!

Magic Bins?

Box update: 9 1/2 boxes packed (mostly books), about 35 to go. Tomorrow, we tackle the junk drawer(s).

We had our 'home demonstration' today - basically a walk-through with one of the customer services people and one of the builders. They told us about the loft, showed us how to use the boiler, and other thrilling things. Two weeks from today we should be IN the new house, pondering the lack of internet. It'll come, it just might take a while. BT (British Telecom for the 'mericans) are not known for being speedy.

One of the things that all Brits have are 'bins'. They're like garbage cans except that they're all standard and provided by the county council and have wheels. And are therefore known as wheelie bins. Mom and Dad, do you feel a joke coming on? I knew it!!

So there's a guy who goes on vacation for 2 weeks, and the morning after he gets back, he runs in to the garbage man (the 'bin man') on his way to work.

The bin man says, "Where's yer bin?"

The homeowner proudly responds, "I been to France!"

"No, no, where's yer WHEELIE bin?"

"I WHEELIE been to France!!"

Teehee. This was on the BBC at some point while we were in the UK when I was a kid and my family brings it up at least once a week.

So anyway, I had to call the council to arrange for some bins at the new house (recycling and otherwise), and when I spoke to the guy he said that they'd be delivered at the new house in the next week or so.

I said, "So they'll just appear? We don't have to sign for them or anything?"

To which he responded, "Nope, it's just like magic!"

"Oooh," I said. "Magic bins!!"

He chuckled. "Yep, magic bins."

Indeed.

Bed Time

Well, we bought a bed frame today. Our flat was furnished when we moved in, although we pretty quickly decided the mattress had...er...seen better days. So we bought a new one last winter (thrilling, I know). The bed frame, however, was fine. But now since we're moving, we've been on the lookout for a bed frame. We've been everywhere - the Bed Warehouse places, the mom & pop stores, ebay, Ikea, the department stores - and found nothing. At all. There've been a few 'Eeh...I can live with that' beds, but nothing that's grabbed either of us.

We weren't really looking forward to putting our mattress on the floor in our new room as a permanent solution, so John went through the Yellow Pages this afternoon. We found a place in Stonham Aspal, about 10 minutes down the road. It's in a little complex with a mini-golf place and an owl sanctuary and random other stuff - we've driven by it a zillion times and never stopped.

It's called MH Beds - here's their website (although our bed isn't on there). We walked in, and I immediately saw a bed that I loved - it had really clean lines and a straight back and was exactly the right look for the house. I was a bit disappointed, since I didn't think John would like it. So I went over to the other wall, where there was a perfectly nice bed that he was moving towards. The sales guy told us about the bed, and then asked what we were looking for. We told him (wood, straight back, low foot end) and pointed at the bed that I'd seen as we walked in.

Apparently John had had the exact same reaction (I love it but Kate won't like it)...

We bought it on the spot and it's going to be delivered to the new house (and assembled!) in 4 weeks.

He's 9...and he eats vegetables.

We've had a really low-key weekend - it's been great. Today we went and saw the grandparents for lunch, then headed back here to do some misc housekeeping and errand-y stuff. Freda's finished the curtains for our bedroom and they're gorgeous. Pics once they're up in the new house!!

We weren't sure what to have for dinner, so I flipped through the latest BBC Good Food and found a prawn (shrimp) thai red curry stir fry with broc, baby corn and red peppers. It was cooked in less time than it took to make the rice. AND James ate some of his broccoli and all of the corn and peppers. I love the fact that when I met him, 2 years ago, he liked 'Burger King and stuff like that' and now he loves spicy food and curries and veggies. SWEET.

And now that Andrea's birthday's over (Happy Birthday!!), I can post this link. I bought her present on Etsy, which is kind of like a cross between a craft fair and Amazon.com. I was the seller's first web purchase and she was about as thrilled as I was. :)

Doggies!!

It's our second-to-last James weekend before the big move. Woohoo!!

One of my chores today was to finish making the tabs for the curtains that I'm Freda's making for the living room. The only spare piece of fabric we had was a long strip down the side (that we'd earmarked for the tabs), so I decided that rather than sew 14 individual tabs (7 for each curtain), I'd just sew the whole thing in to a long tube. AND I had a stroke of genius - I needed the finished tabs to be 2" across, but my sewing machine doesn't have many guide marks on it. So I took one of the sticky flags that I have for marking pieces in music books and put it 2" from the needle, on the sewing machine. And boom - a 3 meter long, very straight seam, exactly in the right spot. Oh the thrill of it.

And then I had to turn all 3 meters of it. I'm horrible at turning...it just takes forever. I came into the living room where the boys were computing (James has discovered Solitaire), and realized that James' fingers were just the right size to help turn the long tube. He thought it was a fantasic game - he kept shouting about how much he'd gotten this time!! I love it...I'll have him crafting soon. Oh, and his grandma (on the other side...not terribly predisposed to liking me, but a v. sweet lady nonetheless) thought that his lego bag was rockin'. Indeed.

We also repotted my aloe plant- I got it at Lidl for £1.95 and it's thrilled to be in a bigger pot and closer to the window. The weeping fig has been repotted too, but it may have had one forgotten watering too many. We'll see.

We stumbled on Crufts on TV on Thursday night and have been hooked. It's the biggest dog show in the UK and one of the biggest in the world. As a v. doggy person (if you haven't seen Best In Show, go get it), I'm now completely obsessed with it. Tomorrow night we may have to give James special school-night bedtime dispensation so he can stay up at watch it.

We were all cheering madly for the dog & tennis ball relays - teams of 4 dogs (mostly collies) have to jump over 4 hurdles, hit a target to launch a tennis ball, catch the ball, and hurtle back over the hurdles to their human. It was unbelievable how fast they were, and really funny when some of them got SO excited that they abandoned the hurdles entirely and just ran back with the tennis balls. Rrufus has missed his calling.

Moving along...

We've got the mortgage moving, the movers booked, and we're starting in on changing all of our addresses. One of the things I'm most looking forward to: having our OWN mail slot. We have a communal one in the flat now and it's horrible to come in to mail that someone's opened and then stuffed back in the envelope or has muddy footprints on it or is strewn around the hall.

In the new house, if the mail is muddy, it's OUR fault.

Oh, and I can't wait to have an extractor fan. We had trout for dinner last night and we woke up this morning to the flat REEKING of fish. And this evening when we came home the smell hit us like a brick wall when we walked in. And yes, mom, we took out the garbage and have washed everything down. I think the griddle that we used was holding the smell, so I washed it in lemon juice at the MiL's suggestion. We'll see how it is tomorrow morning - it wasn't too bad when I got back from choir.

More Than I Can Chew...

Right...I've abandoned the blog - it's been crazy around here! I'm back now, at least for a bit.

I spent some quality time with Freda (John's mom) this weekend - in my infinite wisdom, I'd decided to make our own curtains so we could save a little money. I hadn't really thought this through, though...I'd picked out and purchased fabric and lining, but I only had sort of a vague idea of what to DO with it. Yeah, I can sew dice bags and skirts and little stuff, but curtains are big and complicated and if you mess them up, everyone can see them.

We worked on them all day Saturday and Sunday and got to 6pm Sunday evening with one set of curtains, mostly done. I have to do the tab tops this week but we've done the lining and the hems (bloody complicated!) and the seams up the side. And the ironing. Ugh.

My mother-in-law is a saint...she looked at the carnage on Sunday evening and said, "Ok, you're not proud about these, right? Can I make the rest of the curtains? MY way?"

"Erm, yeah, that would be awesome."

I'm feeling a bit sheepish. I felt better when I talked to Mom, though...she reminded me that when she made Edward and my duvet covers and matching window valence thingys it took her WEEKS of wrestling with the fabric and the pattern repeats (I HATE pattern repeats) in order to get them right. Granted, the duvet cover she made is amazing and all the flowers DO match up. I guess I have nowhere to go but up...

Speaking of flowers and Freda, she presented us with some gardening stuff on Saturday evening (we cooked them dinner after all the curtaining). Two big plastic planters, gardening gloves for each of us, and two gardening books.

Their titles? The Low-Maintenance Garden and The Impatient Gardener. Hmm...do you think she's trying to tell us something?

New house

Well, we don't have a firm moving date yet, but it looks like we'll be in the new house by the end of March. Woohoo! We've accumulated all kinds of furniture from all over suffolk, so far...most of it is hand-me-downs from various friends. We've got a massive list of things that need to happen between now and the move, not least of which are packing, scheduling the movers, setting our mortgage in motion, making all the curtains, and getting the carpet guys in. Right...can't think about it all in one block like that...all that makes me want to do is crawl under the duvet with my blankie.

We'll get there...it just looks a little daunting from here!

StowmarKate does Stowmarket

First off, a big thanks to Liz for the awesome box of Girl Scout cookies. Samoas, no less. They arrived on Thursday morning and totally made my day! I've put them in the freezer to be eaten one at a time (they're so yummy when the caramel is all cold and crunchy...)

Secondly, I've added some RSS buttons over on the right - feel free to add me to your Google reader or whatever (or let me know if the buttons don't work or are annoying you). :)

John and I had our first James-free, illness-free, chaos-free Saturday in AGES. Leanne and Tracey were originally scheduled to come over for din but they've had an insane few weeks so we've rescheduled. Turns out Caroline and Ian are free tonight, though, and we've been trying to get together with them for weeks. Off we go!

We had a relaxing Leek & Potato night in last night - and then watched some *gasp* TV. We've discovered the joys of Friday night on BBC 2 - Jimmy's Farm followed by A New Year At Kew. Jimmy's farm is about Jamie Oliver's friend Jimmy, who set up a pig farm near us in Suffolk. And has a somewhat exciting time. A Year At Kew is all about the gardeners and botanists at Kew Gardens - it's surprisingly entertaining!

This morning we made pancakes (yum!), used up the last of our maple syrup that we bought in Vermont at Liz & Dan's wedding (sad!), and then went in to town. We had to confirm our flooring order for the new house, go to the library, and sort out some curtains for the study. We found these great pillows at the more expensive curtain store (where we ended up NOT getting a gorgeous asian red floral pattern for the study - it was going to be £400 for ONE window). They, surprisingly, match our green sofas of fun!

I also got an amazing bag of blue-ish ex-sample book fabric scraps for £3! Here are some of my faves:


Gotta love the monkeys...


I can't wait to start making stuff...there are so many random fun scrap projects floating around the internet.

While we were in town, we also found some great dining room chairs (v. comfy) and a really smart dining room table, both on sale. We've bought them, along with some much more reasonably priced curtains that we like just as much and a whole slew of curtain rods. They're holding everything until we move in, which is REALLY nice of them.

Off to dinner in I-town!!

Fabric!

On Saturday, when John was horizontal and I wasn't feeling great, I went to Ipswich to take James to a birthday party. It was a three hour party from 10am to 1pm on a Saturday (a day-killer, as we call them), so I was noodling around in Ipswich to kill time.

When John and I had been killing time previously in Ipswich, I'd noticed that there was a Fabric Warehouse down by the football stadium. So off I trundled on Saturday morning.

I'd been fretting about the amount of naked windows that we're going to have when we move in to the new house next month, and the fairly overwhelming task of 'matching' curtains to the stuff in the rooms that we haven't furnished yet. When I was taking about it with Sandy, she had the great suggestion of going to the fabric store, finding stuff that I liked (and that was on sale) and then buying more than I think I need.

I found two great fabrics - the one for the living room has six-inch high purpley-blue tulips with green stems on a cream background, and the one for the bedroom is blue, yellow and green stripes on a cream background. I got lots of both (they were on sale - yay!), and I'm going to borrow Freda's sewing machine to make the curtains next weekend. I'm a little daunted but mostly excited. I still need to get window coverings for the other two bedrooms, the three bathrooms, and the kitchen window. Phew.