Material Girl?

Holy wow. Somewhere along the line, I've got a LOT of stuff.

I have managed to accumulate eight occupied vivariums, a washing machine, a drier, a fridge freezer, a telly, a BIG bed and a spare bed, a standing lamp, a dining room table with chairs, a kettle, a microwave, an ironing board... and most horrific of all, my own vacuum cleaner.  Which I'm oddly proud of...

I also treated myself to one of THESE. I've been eyeing up steam cleaners for a while as everyone knows mopping is a PITA, especially with laminate floors. Vax have their new one on special offer - £99.99, free delivery, does tile, sealed laminate AND wood, three free bottles of cleaner (£5 a time), two free cleaner pads (£15.99 a time - washable) and two free microfibre pads (£6.99, also washable).

 That did it for me - yes please - and I just discovered I can ziz my carpets and rugs with it too.

Mind you, I'm really looking forwards to putting  proper secure roots down, and not having to move any more - and not having to put up with coldboilingcoldhotcoldwarmcoldboilingcoldlukewarm showers.

I had the day off, so I went with the plumber to have another look at the house I'm buying - mostly so I could have a neb round at my biggest investment so far, and so he could tell me the bad news on the boiler there.

As suspected, it needs replacing. And the heating is all gravity feed - so it needs replacing. And the boiler vent is illegally placed into the neighbours yard, so the boiler position needs moving. And there's a ridiculous amount of false walls, hiding the piping - so the pipes need moving.

I don't know what it is about false walls but they make me uncomfortable, especially when they're not actually required. One has a radiator on and is about three inches from the actual wall, creating a creepy, cobwebby space. That's going. The other makes an odd cupboard and this horrid nook for a fridge - that's going. Another is to hide the fact that the extension is in decimal and the kitchen is in imperial measurements. I don't care - that's going too. I might just make the false walled doorway into an archway to the kitchen instead. False walls make me shudder and itchy.

Once all the false walls are off/down and the plumbing started, I need to get the electrician in. The whole lot is pre-1900s, including bakelite switches and an antique fuseboard. It all needs ripping out and replacing to bring it to code, especially as I have all my vivariums relying on a good sturdy circuit. (Talking of which, I need to work out where to put a dozen new sockets too.)

I'm looking forwards to taking a sledge hammer to the false walls and that ugly, ugly fireplace.

As I haven't done one for a while, here's Today's Quote of the Day - "I have an enormous dong." - From the wonderful Mr Stephen Fry on QI, discussing Lonely Hearts ads.