OK – So I’ve been a bit busy – hence the absence of a post recently! But as Mr Smith says, you only have to post every 3 months to be considered a blogger. That’s fine then – I’ve technically got a month left….
2006 was a bit of a busy year all round – getting engaged was the stand-out highlight of the year but it was also the year that we decorated the house in earnest.
We painted the lounge then immediately found out we had a leak in the shower-room above. This meant a long period of no showers and bathing with a jug to wash our hair…
After a couple of false starts with tiles and shower doors not coming we eventually got the bathroom finished. The tiling was great with big white tiles finished with metal strips running floor to ceiling. We put one of those big towel radiators in and moved the bedroom radiator under the window.
With the shower-room done we had to deal with the leak in the lounge – I stripped off all the paper and scraped off all the mould before my mum heroically papered the patch in the ceiling. A little bit of painting and we were nearly there! Kathy took the discarded mirror we found in the loft and painted it in the same colour as the skirting boards and we hung it over the fireplace (which had also been painted from a nasty wood finish). With the double glazed sash windows installed in the bedroom and lounge we then stripped off the old curtains and replaced them with shutters downstairs. A brave gamble but it paid off as now the room looks bigger and lighter – even though we thought the shutters might block the light slightly!
The bedroom was mostly painted – except for a wall where the wardrobes were – these were taken out and the cavity wall covering the alcove removed. The chandelier was put up in the bedroom as well as a new light in the 2 bathrooms and the lounge. Roy was a hero doing half a days work for next to nothing!
The wall was replastered and the skirting board replaced. The ceiling in the landing was also replastered as it was cracked and looked quite bad.
In the garden we had electricity in the greenhouse and a light in the shed. The shed was swept clean and all the junk stacked nice and neat – it made such a difference to see what was there! We also dug out the long border in the front-back garden, made a fruit cage (I’m actually good at CDT it seems! Stick that in your pipe Mr Hastings….) and planted over £50 worth of bulbs. They are now going to be killed by the late frost. There are inches of snow on the ground as I write this!
There is currently a running battle with the local cats, Kathy and tens of pounds worth of cat repellent.
The current score is Kathy 0 – Cats (number) 2. (boom boom!)
We had dining room furniture delivered thanks to Chris and his brother – he needed to store them somewhere and we have still not decided on a table yet!
I also got a ladder to check the guttering, re-fixed it as it was not level and used a healthy dose of mastic to stop the leaks. It now works like a gutter should do and doesn’t drip onto the window sill!
We also had a new alarm installed. With smaller motion detectors. Which means I have to retouch the paint in all the bloody rooms now!
Going into 2007 (as I’m a bit late with this post) we have ordered new wardrobes (nice white ones from Hammonds), painted the last wall in the bedroom and retouched the lounge where it got damp from the NTL botch job (grr!).
I have also cleared the study of all boxes and shoved them in the loft – I have also set up a complete work area with monitor, docking station, wireless router, and linked in 2 400gb redundant hard drives, The printer drivers have been loaded to our laptops and the camera port is plugged in.
All it took was 10 plug sockets and 6 USB connections… We’re the reason energy prices have gone down recently…
Stuart and his boys from All Aspects (shameless plug there) returned to do a stellar job on the new path. Black and red diamond Victorian tiles to match the porch (please notice if you visit!) with black rope edging. The front has been re-rendered as the window people did a shit job finishing up and I have levelled the front garden to a gentle slope away from the house to make sure water drains the right way. (ie away from the walls!). Weed matting has been purchased and will be layed down before the Cotswold stone chippings arrive next week. A small bit of cementing of the new diamond border with more rope edging is still to be done but once this is in place and the stones go in we have finished the front!
Phew! We’ve done more than I thought!
In 2007….
Things to do on the house!
1. Get wardrobes installed (Late Feb!)
2. Get new curtains in bedroom and stop using an old curtain propped up by a ladder….
3. Paint the skirting board, banister and hall walls and ceiling. (So that’s everything, thinking about it!)
4. Cement new border and lay stones over weed matting.
5. Dig out veg patch and create brand new potato area. (That’s Po-ta-to, Mr. Frodo)
6. Get carpets laid!
Non-house activities:
1. Get married!
Other goals:
1. Blog more
2. Get an eye-test.
3. Try and do a regular form of exercise on the weekends with Kathy.
4. Try and ski somewhere at least once!
5. Play poker regularly.
6. Use my mountain bike at least bi-monthly!
7. Set up hydroponics set and grow loads of chillies!
8. Set up ftp access to the hard drives and make sure they backup properly.
9. Host at least one dinner party.
10. Take Kathy’s gran and granddad to the RAF base with the Wellington bomber.
I like my music and I know that 100% of my regular readers like their music as well. Yes – both of them.
So I thought I would start a list – not just any list – but a gigantic, nay epic list of the greatest songs to be played at a wedding OF ALL TIME! Or something. I’m then going to pitch it to Simon Cowell and make a hundred million pounds from the sales and use the money take over the world.
Well Pinky, what do you think?
To start off this well thought out plan for world domination I need input… Using Andrew’s lazyweb principle (well, its not his but I’m too lazy to find out whose it is) I shall start a list wait for the web to come up with the rest of the songs…
Song – Band
Debaser – The Pixies
U-Mass – The Pixies
After All – The Frank and Walters
Centerfold -The J. Geils Band
Letter From America – The Proclaimers
Car Wash – Rose Royce
Good People – Jack Johnson
Sally MacLennane – The Pogues
Cracklin’ Rosie – Neil Diamond
Delirious Love – Neil Diamond
Cherry Cherry (live) – Neil Diamond
No Rain – Blind Melon
Ain’t Got No, I got Life – Nina Simone
Bat Out of Hell – Meat Loaf (Yes – all 9 and half minutes of it!)
Blister in the Sun – Violent Femmes
There’s a few to start with – I couldn’t remember who wrote Ceterfold, I had to google it, but I can say that it has some of the best clapping in any song ever…and a fake ending!
Filed under: Wedding Plans
Honest – I am still a blogger!
Seriously though, I find the onset of winter, stress though various pressures (work, home and Wedding) have led to a general apathy to all things at the moment.
In order to rectify this situation I have promised myself that I would write a blog entry today.
So here it is.
In brief here is an update on the Wedding:
We now have a car, photographer, invites being made, a place earmarked for buying the cake and some of the music sorted. Still lots to do however. The Christmas period is almost upon us and that, along with a house that is getting more undecorated the more time we spend on it, is making it a busy time….
Still only the honeymoon and DJ remain as the urgent things to do so it’s not all that bad…
We’ve just had a busy weekend. Jayne was celebrating her final Open University exam (well done Jaynage!) and hosted a party on Friday night. Kathy did the decent thing and let me have a drink while she drove home. We left fairly early so we only had a limited time to speak to people but it was good to catch up nevertheless.
Andrew and I talked about film – specifically films we were ashamed that we had not yet seen. A vague plan was put in place to ensure we could all meet up and watch some of them, just to get them ticked off the list!
Mine were: Its a Wonderful Life, Raging Bull, The DeerHunter and Gone With the Wind. I’m sure I can add a few more to that list if I have a proper think….
We had an early start on Saturday – up at 8 - on the road by 9:30. We had a photographer to meet in Hereford by 1:45 and didn’t want to take any chances with the traffic…
The photographer was great – we really got on and liked her style. Kathy had even clipped out her photo’s from a Cosmo article without knowing it was her work so she was chuffed to bits to begin with. She was a hideously expensive photographer though – obscene might be a better word. If we do use her we might blow our budget a bit…. She did all the things we wanted though – all photos on DVD (after 6 months and after a minimum reprint order) so I can keep them on my computer. A really nice album and some a reportage photographer as well as the main one. We shall have to see if its worth the cost! We have a couple more to meet and then we can decide…
Afterwards we celebrated Clive’s birthday eating pizza and Sunday was spent meeting Kathy’s friends and eating more pizza. We drove back down in the evening.
Monday I had off work and started to rip up the front garden. We had a builder quote for the work but he was unavailable until July so I had a choice; either wait or do it myself. How hard can it be to lay a tiled path? It seems that there’s so much to do as well as organise the Wedding – we have nearly got the bedroom painted though – just the top coat to go on and then the furniture to buy! I guess Andrew was right about DIY!
Wow! Weddings are expensive. And difficult to organise.
I have been looking for our photographer and for the fancy car to take Kathy to the Church. Now I didn’t want to spend a fortune on the car as it only used for about 10 minutes but it seems that they don’t get out of bed for at least half the cost of a small family car. I have had to tone down my original ideas on the look of the car to a more suitable nice big Bentley that was made in 1988. If I wanted anything ‘veteran’ or ‘classic’ (yes – that does mean something different apparently) then I would be looking at giving the guests fish fingers and cherryade at the reception. Cheaper car = more booze for people, so that can only be a good thing.
As for the photographer – well – they all work weekends and as they are based in the Hereford area they are a bit reluctant to come to Reading during the week so I can meet them. So far I have had plenty of response but not got very far at all in terms of choosing one because I can’t see any of their portfolios.
One photographer did send some photo’s in a nice glossy pack with a big banner saying how he was recommended by Cosmo. Very impressive. Very expensive too. His shots looked good but then again if a photographer’s best shots that he used to advertise himself were shit then I would be very worried.
I’m thinking that we shouldn’t try to save on this aspect of the wedding – I don’t want to look at the shots in later years and think, hmm, that’s a bit of a crap photo. Besides I need someone to make me look vaguely like a suitable husband for Kathy and for that I think I will need a seriously expensive photographer…
We finally had our Engagement Party last weekend – it was great. It was a different mix of people and a few friends came who I hadn’t seen in a while (like Mr. Bowers and Mr. Wilson) which was nice. Kathy also had some friends from Poole who I’d never met before. The party went by so quickly after a slow start – no-one turned up until 5 and then there was a rush! It all blurred by – Gareth (from work) did the cooking, Ben did the tiger impression, Andrew managed to use his Dad voice in the middle of a crowd (“Did you just kick stones at the cat?”). Most people left before 12 apart from the hardcore group who stayed up burning any wood we could find in the shed until about 3am. Luckily I was stopped before I burnt down the entire shed! (I wasn’t allowed to burn the spare door we had…spoilsports!).
Hardcore people included, Jon and Emily next door, James and Ruth, Kathy’s parents, Emma and Mark. We suffered the next day.
Food went down well – although in retrospect over 1kg of cous cous was a bit too much as I now have had cous cous for the last 3 days and there is no change for the rest of the week! More kebabs were needed - I underestimated the numbers and how hungry people would be. I used some of the Apache chillies in the chicken kebabs – 3 chillies in the marinade for 6 large breasts. It gave it a real kick….maybe 1 or 2 would of been sufficient but, hey, whats the point in growing them if you’re not going to use them?
I must mention a disappointing aspect – a uni friend bailing at the last minute. It was the second party in a row that he has said yes then no at the last minute – it seems that London to Reading is a journey too far for some. At least it makes a hard decision easier when compiling my wedding list!
Filed under: Wedding Plans
Kathy went wedding dress shopping the weekend before last – its now a nearly year before we get hitched!
It seems to go by pretty quickly – I feel I need to start getting on top of things before the Wedding takes over.
We still have plenty to finish off on the house and we want to redo the garden at the front.
In retrospect I should have gone to play golf instead of hanging around Hereford – it was a bit dull. I can never get in the mood for shopping when I’m on my own. I can’t say much about the Wedding dresses obviously but Kathy looked pretty tired after. She did mention that they only have size 16 to try on and as she is about half that I’m not sure how much use it was! I guess thats the average size and it makes sense to have a dress that large, but when you spend that much on a piece of clothing it must be difficult to make a decision – especially when its possible to fit 2 brides inside! (They did give her a box to stand on which meant at least her head came out at the right level!)
I think I’m going to opt for the smart suit I can wear again for my clothes on the day – it gives me the chance to get a tailor made suit and nice shirt. Dressing up in Morning suits sounded fun but I want to have a bit more of a relaxed feel to the wedding. It gives the ushers and best man less to think about. I just have to make sure they have some form of ‘uniform’ like a similar tie or shirt. (Like Ed and Lisa’s wedding).
So next time Kathy goes off for dress shopping I shall spend the day in London getting lagered, I mean, measured up!
Filed under: Wedding Plans
We chose Holme Lacy House as our venue for the wedding breakfast (or wedding piss-up as it should be known as….). We had a cost for the marquee and use of the ‘Blue Room’, and the cost of the food and drinks.
Food was ok, drinks ok, hire of marquee a little pricey. But then we asked about maybe a different type of floor and a covered walkway in case it rains. I was shocked to say the least. Something to do with more labour costs.
I thought about it for a few seconds and then I came to the conclusion that:
a) Umbrella’s are only a few pounds each and we can get the ushers to shuttle people back and forth. That’ll give them something to do as there are going to be a few ushers!
b) People can live with the floor being wonky and carpeted.
Seeing as our new windows have gone in, the leaky shower room has been totally replaced and every room has been earmarked as one to redecorate I am thinking more and more about saving as much as I can on the wedding…
Filed under: Wedding Plans
As I am slightly behind on creating this blog the wedding plans have already taken shape.
We decided immediately to have a church wedding and seperate venue for the party – the church was easy to pick as it was going to be in Kathy’s parish and there are only two. We came up with the one I have uploaded…..Bulling Hope. Very picturesque!
