Happy Hogmanay!

Have a Great 2012!

The Holly and the Ivy

Christmas arrived a bit sooner than I wanted it to this year, what with all the kitchen kerfuffle, but we were more or less ready in the end.

Some things got done a bit at the last minute, but they did get done, and we ate, drank and made merry (well sat in front of the tv and fell asleep - which is probably the traditional equivalent these days!).

Icing the cake was one of those last minute tasks - the theme this year was the Holly and the Ivy (having got myself some new ivy leaf cutters!), reflecting on the distinctly 'green' winter we are enjoying this year.


As you can see the red icing requirement was rather limited, and I ended up freezing almost an entire block - I guess that settles next year's colour scheme!

 

Phew!

Made it - just in time for Christmas . . . 

Before:

After:

  

New cooker (and cooker hood), new floor, new worktops, new sink tap, new dishwasher, refitted cupboard . . .  really pleased with it, but glad it's over and done with!

Kewbed

Back in November took delivery of two 'Kewbs' as an upgrade to an old sofabed.

Initially stored them under the snooker table in the front room, but with the electrical work done were able to move them to their final resting place in the upstairs spare room.



The 'Kewb' design is extremely flexible, and ranges from a large table, via chair / lounger, to bed - all in all it's rather an impressive piece of engineering (plus the instructions actually make some kind of sense!):

At any rate they'll give us the flexibility of two singles or a double - and the foam cushions feel much more comfortable than the flimsy mattress on the old sofabed.

Kitchen Chaos

Started the month in chaos, as planned work on the kitchen and electrics finally got underway.  The front room was full of kitchen paraphernalia, as was much of the rest of the house.




Meanwhile, the electricians were beavering away fitting a new fuse box, and putting in the wiring for the new cooker point, which also involved using a VERY BIG drill to put in the switch:

Finally the old cooker has been removed, and the worktops /cabinets on the other side of the kitchen pulled out, to allow a dishwasher to be fitted.

If all this isn't chaotic enough, all movable cabinets, the fridge, the freezer and the dresser will have to be moved out in due course so that a new vinyl floor can be laid.


Still hoping that we'll manage to get it all sorted before Christmas!