Introverts

Too much for the scales

I may have mentioned previously that we can hear pretty much everything through the walls of this rented property. I may also have commented on the fact that the neighbours have gone and bought one of their kids what I assume is a clarinet. And that it sounds like an elephant farting in the bathtub.

Well, it's now three weeks later, with 20 minutes practise every day - varying between five pm and ten pm - and I can't say there's a huge amount of improvement. I managed to record this in our bedroom and the only things I have done to it are to remove the odd silences that lead you into a blissful, false "Thank FSM, they've STOPPED!", some of the background noise, like me desperately trying not to snigger, then failing and killing myself laughing, at the end. I think they heard that bit, as they suddenly quit playing fails. Uh, I mean, scales.

You can listen here - but it's not pretty.

Quote of the Day: "There's no way to spell it. Especially not that one - I don't know, it... it just makes me cry. So much pain in my ears." - Himself.

Castles in the sky - for now

So plans are going pretty well for the purchase of our new house - the pre-contract paperwork arrived yesterday and I'm asking my solicitor to push it through as fast as possible. I want out of here and into my new slice of heaven.

It'll be nice to have a consistently temperatured electric shower once more, and I'm really looking forwards to introducing the dragons to the cool P shaped bath with the sideways taps. Not to mention the prewarmed towels from the curved chrome towel holding radiator. That's going to be a massive win for dragons and humans!

I'm struggling to find the right water feature though. I particularly liked the design of the Wheaton Planter Cascade, and was dismayed to discover that it's a pathetic 41cm wide. However, I've got chatting to a couple of steel fabricators, and they think they can make me something similar in the size I want!

This is a sample of the stranded bamboo flooring I was going on about in the previous post. You gotta admit, it is pretty darned lovely. My nan lent me her rolling pin to give it a good bashing with. I'm rather pleased to say the wood held up lovely, even when I stabbed it with an old kitchen knife - a quick damp and you couldn't even see the mark. The carbonising treatment means the bamboo is brown all the way through, not just a stained surface.

El Diablo de Dorito

A little monkey told me someone (two of his friends whom teamed up) had bought Himself a copy of Diablo III - and as a result, I was likely to be bereft of a boyfriend for some time.

But - as you guys know - I don't mind a little quiet time to get on and do my own thing. It's one of the reasons we work well together. That and I can turn it to my advantage, making his mates insanely jealous of his "awesome gf".

That's 56 cans of energy drink, cheesy Doritos and dips.

Kichen, Cupboard, Quandry.

To our landlord:

 As opposed to your ... effort of putting standard tv aerial in just the two smaller bedrooms, we upgraded your building to have cable tv access in the main bedroom.
 Oh, and I fixed your faulty shower.
 And we repaired the garden gate.
And the broken kitchen lights.
And the plague of ants.
We aren't staying much longer, and I can't fix the slug problem. Sorry.
 Otherwise, you're welcome.

No updates on the house purchase yet, other than my mortgage valuers are due to arrive on Thursday. I'm currently driving myself batty looking at different kitchen designs, and ordering samples of worksurfaces and floorings - I've discovered a lovely carbonised stranded bamboo flooring I would like

Stranded bamboo is extremely tough - I gave the sample a good thump with the corner of a woodblock to mimic a dropped item and it barely even dinked. It's been compared to ironwood for its strength. Better yet, it's much more sustainable than its alternative hardwoods - rather than the 50 - 100 years normally required, stranded bamboo fibres can be grown and ready in just 5 - 7 years.

The carbonised (or caramelised) bamboo is a little softer, but it looks pretty darned lovely.
http://www.onlinebamboofloor.co.uk/Caramel_strand.htm

Fortune cookie predictions...

You remember I said we liked this other house? We went and looked at it yesterday - and we still like it. The travertine bathroom, the curvy chrome towel radiator and the P-bath still rocks it for me, and I can see so much I can do in the little garden.

So this morning, I decided to start low and sent in an offer I knew they'd never accept. We have been fortunate enough to land Mr Holland to help us, (senior partner of http://www.bmhestateagents.com/) - he is a genius, whom has taken somewhat of a shine to us.

As expected, the vendor didn't want £57,000 when the house was already reduced to £66,500 - but Mr Holland (after laughing and saying he saw what we were up to) had a good barter with them on my behalf, helping us secure an offer of just £58,500. This is seriously good news, as it means I can afford to drop my mortgage to £45,000, which ensures it will go through even if the valuation comes back terrible, and leaves us money over for doing the kitchen too.

It's all gotta go well from here - His Lordship opened a fortune cookie whilst I was out. It said: "Any rough times are behind you." I know it's true - I found a key lime cheesecake. Better yet, it was reduced to just £1!

Look at all that panelling!

Definite second thoughts about the Fletcher property.

That's a SERIOUS amount of work it needs doing, and I'm not convinced I can afford it. I don't like the house as much as His Lordship either...

I don't like false walls, and this place is riddled with them, as the extension is in metric and the house imperial. And the panelling - oh god, the panelling!

We are going back to look at the house we originally liked just before we moved up here - the one I mentioned the other day, that needs less work and costs less. Fingers crossed.

In other news, the dragons are being sickeningly cute today. Mocha has decided she will move in with Sandy, Sandy is busy using her as a pillow, Tsam went to bed a whole half hour early (and tucked himself in) and Jam is just being a cutie pie, snuggling up for hugs.

Quote of the Day: "You know, that film with Vinne Jones and Jason Stepham, what's it called, two pints of lager and a packet of crisps." - Gemma. So near, so far.

Good Deeds?

I'm not certain I want to buy the house we're after any more.

Long story short, the vendors can't find the deeds and, if the bloke they're trying to contact on Friday can't remember (as he was the man in charge of selling off HUNDREDS of council houses) it's going to require a whole new drawing up of deeds - which could take ages.

I'm actually hoping they can't find them - I've seen a house I like better - and that requires less work. However, it's not such a nice area, so my grandmother isn't keen...

Mind, if these property deeds can't be found (and the building permits for the extension, as they can't find any authorised planning permissions), Nan might be tempted to let me switch.

As I mentioned, the other house I prefer has good electrics and plumbing, doesn't require the bathroom ripping out and all the walls redoing. It needs a new kitchen and some damp course treatment, but as we are planning so much work for the first place, it makes a whole lot of sense to swap.

Oh, and did I mention it's 15,000 cheaper? 

Quote of the Day: I know a guy who's drug addiction got so bad he ended up sniffing washing powder. He's been clean for three years now. - Al