And things drag on

Well I had rather hoped that after a bit of a delay with the conservatory roof I'd be able to show you an almost completed addition to our home by now. Sadly due to the incompetence of the order department at the conservatory firm I'm unable to do that.

Our fitters, who I hasten to add have been terrific and are as displeased with their employers as we are, arrived on Tuesday with most of the roof glass - the two end triangle panes had been overlooked (again). In addition two of the main roof panes that butt up to the roof vents were 45mm too short and the panes for inside the roof vents were 45mm too long. Plus the replacement for a small window pane they'd broken last week had been delivered but amazingly disappeared into thin air before the poor fitters could get their sticky little mitts on it.

So after much deliberation, discussion and some very heated telephone calls to a less than helpful main office it was decided that they'd come back the following day (yesterday) with temporary panels and then return next week with their proper replacements. Only, and we mean only, once all the correct sized glass is safely in it's correct place will we give the go-ahead for the plasterer to complete the internals. The floor is down but they've covered it with a heavy duty plastic sheet just in case it's raining when they return next week to redo the roof.

With all this it looks like there's no way it'll be even remotely usable for Christmas as Nigel has to do all the electrical finishing off and our plumber friend has to put in the radiators too - I can see that spreading into the time between Christmas and New Year, although I am tempted to put the tree out there as we always have a large real one which seems to take over the lounge - we'll see.

Last night - the first weather-tight test - was yet another horrendous night with high winds and heavy rain which woke me more than once. Amazingly this morning the place seems dry so that's got to be a good sign - roll on next week, although I have to say we'll be in no hurry to pay any more of the installments - they can jolly well wait on that score - and we feel that we should retain some of the total payment as reimbursement for the aggravation factor.

So as I speak we have a dehumidifier merrily humming away out there (hired by us and using our very expensive electric) trying to get rid of most of the damp the walls have incurred this past week or two with all the rain we've had.

On a different note Sarah had a County rugby match on Sunday in similar horrific weather conditions. The pitch was so muddy and soggy that by the time the first 5 minutes of the game had elapsed you couldn't actually tell which number shirt she was wearing she was so muddy. Nigel had to literally scrape the mud off her shorts before he dared put them anywhere near the washing machine. Sadly they lost the game against her old County side of Gloucestershire 27 - 5 but she was instrumental in setting up their only try. You can see from the picture that the match wasn' t the only casualty as she's sporting a cracking but very sore black eye - what a thug she looks! That's what comes of high speed contact with someone else's scrum cap - to be honest I think she's lucky it didn't actually spilt the skin - she will insist on playing this rough game.

She's heavily weighed down with coursework for school at the moment and is feeling more than a little pressured so we get the occasional 'fly off the handle' moment - no-one ever warns you about that at ante-natal classes either. It's tough trying to juggle the committments of school work and the pleasanter things in life like hobbies and a boyfriend - who'd be a teenager again - not me!

However for her Food Technology (whatever's wrong with the term Cookery, I ask you?) work this week she had to make a Chocolate Orange Cheesecake - and here is the result. Her teacher never gives higher than 9.5 out of 10 but she earned the full 10 with this sumptuous creation - and absolutely delicious it was too :o) She's more than welcome to make another for over Christmas if the urge takes her.

I've been busy on the stitching front - finishing off lots of cushions and my Joy wallhangings.

Now I'm merrily stitching simple rail fence blocks of three 2" x 6" finished strips in grey, pink and purple to go together for an 'Eeyore' Quillow for my niece who even at 19 still loves Eeyore to bits. I've found a simple picture of the afore-named donkey and hope to try and hand applique him onto the front of the cushion part over this weekend.

Then I have a similar one to make for her 16yr old brother but that will be a simpler affair in shades of blue - just right for a teenage boy. Thankfully he's not into any particular cartoon character so I can use a pieced block for his cushion front.

The Christmas countdown clock is ticking ever faster and I haven't even started to write a card yet or even to compose my Christmas family news letter to go in them so if I want to be able to post them all out at the less expensive second class rate I'd better get my skates on ........PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!