Getting worse
Apologies yet again, it's over a week since I was last on here - not even going to ask where the time goes..... Will try and fill in the week's happenings briefly!
Friday (24th) - late afternoon took Derek to the clinic we use. He had a mozzie bite on his hand and it's turned really nasty, lumpy, messy, weepy and purple. Obviously the diabetes is preventing healing. The doctor is puzzled but ruled out anything very serious, dressed it and gave me a list of dressing supplies to get from the pharmacia.
Saturday (25th) - the builders turned up early and finished the steps. Then to my astonishment they indicated they wanted the laundry room cleared so they could level the floor. I wasn't ready for that so we hastily moved all my scrapbooking stash into the kitchen. The washing machine had to stand outside temporarily (crossing my fingers it didn't rain!), the dryer went up into the garage and I found space in various places for the rest of the bits - ironing board, iron, shoe cleaning box etc. Took a while to dismantle the desk, it's a very sturdy one from Ikea but takes some sussing to get the legs off! I remember we had trouble putting it up originally - how the heck I'm going to manage that again I have no idea. Praying the painter comes on Monday to paint the basement! The builders threw 6 or 7 inches of concrete on the laundry room floor (on top of the tiles! got to remember this ISN'T England! - no rules here!) - they clearly wanted it to go off over the weekend which makes sense but it was all a bit rushed.
Sunday (26th) - totally done in after yesterday's efforts, shifted my stash onto the covered naya off the lounge - at least it's handy and I may even be tempted to doing a layout or two!
Monday - Builders back, steps finished except for tiling. Antonio turned up with samples of tiles for us to look at - we're having a pale terracott on the 'treads' and a patterned tile on the 'risers'. Kerry was here to finish installing the aircon. He did me a huge favour by taking the dishwasher out of the kitchen (it's died, we'll wait for a new one with the new kitchen) and putting the washing machine in its place). We liked Kerry and he was brilliant acting as interpreter with the builders. Don't know what we'd have done without him! We were told we needed to choose tiles for the new bedroom floor and ensuite floor and walls. Sooner rather than later too! By the end of the day the floor of what will be the walk in wardrobe had been levelled and the ensuite walls partially built. The painter turned up thankfully and by lunchtime my scrapping space had been painted, including a thin wash on the floor. It's amazing what a difference it has made and how much lighter that corner is now!
Tuesday - Tiles for the steps arrived, the builders continued wth the ensuite walls, I started a layout. Hoped that Derek would feel up to going out and choosing tiles but he didn't. We had two kitchen companies come to measure and discuss what we want for the new kitchen, hope to have the quotes by the end of the week.
Wednesday - the builders came but disappeared mid morning (along with the dishwasher which they'd offered to take away for us - yeah right - bet you CAN'T get the faulty switch *insert evil snigger*) while I was out doing a bit of shopping in the village. No idea where they've gone or when they'll be back! Managed to venture out to the tile shop at the bottom of our road where we chose what we want for the new room. We've chosen to have matching tiles on the walls of the ensuite and the floor of the bedroom. They have a subtle striped effect, white with a very pale grey (VERY pale), in the ensuite we're having a narrow border or inset tile of charcoal grey. Because the en suite is basically a wet room we're having mosaic tiles on the floor - it's hard to get tiles that will be non-slip when wet, mosaic will help a bit. Made a note of the reference numbers to pass on to Antonio.
Thursday - still no builders so I can't give them the info about the tiles to pass on to Antonio. The electrician turned up! Yay! I have a small flourescent light in the scrapping space and he put up a couple of others elsewhere in the basement. He also fitted an PIR near the gates and altered the wiring of lights and sockets for the barbecue naya area. He also found a gas leak! The pipe from the gas casita runs along the wall where the steps have been built and the builders neglected to protect it before building the wall, so the pipe has been damaged right inside the concrete of the steps. Thankfully 100% plumbing had someone able to come immediately and it's all OK again now. Michael (100%) and Antonio turned up later to sort a few things out with us. Michael's coming back to us next week with details of storage units for the ensuite.
Friday - no builders yet again! We didn't do the market this week either but I did a quick trip to the supermarket. One of the kitchen people came back with his quote. About €7500. Still looking for somewhere to give us a third quote. Took Derek back to the doctor's about his hand. It's very strange, can't describe what it looks like. The doc would like to do a biopsy but as it will cost €160 approx to do it through his clinic he suggested that we try the Medical Centre in town. We received our E121s this week to enable us to register with the Spanish Health system. Obviously we haven't got the forms stamped etc. yet but the doc thought the Medical Centre might accept us as we obviously have the matter in hand. We're going to try that on Monday. The doctor also prescribed Derek a course of antibiotics as there is infection there. Took the prescription along to the pharmacia where I was given the choice of either 12 or 24 tablets! Would that happen in England? My goodness, I don't think so. I chose the 24 (8 days supply) - our UK GP has never prescribed less than a week's worth of antibiotics, so I went with that!
Yesterday - Had a good clean up, have avoided doing much housework because of the dust etc. from the alteration work. However, we were expecting friends to call in so I decided I'd better make an effort. I shifted all my stash etc. down into the basement ready to organise later. V. and J. arrived about 2 pm having got lost after going through the toll booth at Benissa. We thought we might have a late lunch down in the village but Derek didn't feel up to it so I did an enormous pile of sandwiches instead! V. and I have known each other since our first day at grammar school when we were 11. We lived in nearby villages as children, later living in the same village (briefly). They came out to Spain last year, having bought a property on Camposol near Puerto Mazarron. We had a lovely afternoon and hope to visit them in the new year, they're about two hours away. Derek perked up considerably and really enjoyed the afternoon.
Finally, today! At the moment Derek is still in bed and I have to have my shower yet. My plan for the day today is to organise my scrap stash and get the desk up. Also to dig out the christmas decs left by the previous owners and see if they are worth using or need to be replaced. I had a quick look in one shop on Friday evening to see what kind of decs they had - just like the UK! Found that disappointing, I would like something more typical of Spain if they have their own decorating style. Hope to get into the village this week for a good browse, if only Derek would feel better.
Later......
Looked at the christmas decs (not as many as I thought) and the christmas tree (a bit sad looking!). Best news though is my scrap space is done! Everything is out on display, nothing hidden away in drawers for me to forget about - even my paints and chalk inks are on display, they're things I don't use very often, I may do so now I can see them! Here are a few pics:
OK, so it's not the most glamorous spot in the world, but it's clean, partially organised and for the moment relatively tidy. If it turns out to be a successful place to scrap I may have it tiled out - but it will be as hot as h*ll in summer! Was pleased to find that my old lappy that I bought here in Spain about three years ago (second hand) has USB sockets, so I can use it to print, alter digital photos and use my Craft Robo, can't go online with it though. However, it means I won't have to carry my new lappy back and forth to the basement, which was worrying me a bit.
Just hearing on the news about a terrible explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the south of England, the pictures are dreadful and two firemen have died. A sad end to the day.....
Friday (24th) - late afternoon took Derek to the clinic we use. He had a mozzie bite on his hand and it's turned really nasty, lumpy, messy, weepy and purple. Obviously the diabetes is preventing healing. The doctor is puzzled but ruled out anything very serious, dressed it and gave me a list of dressing supplies to get from the pharmacia.
Saturday (25th) - the builders turned up early and finished the steps. Then to my astonishment they indicated they wanted the laundry room cleared so they could level the floor. I wasn't ready for that so we hastily moved all my scrapbooking stash into the kitchen. The washing machine had to stand outside temporarily (crossing my fingers it didn't rain!), the dryer went up into the garage and I found space in various places for the rest of the bits - ironing board, iron, shoe cleaning box etc. Took a while to dismantle the desk, it's a very sturdy one from Ikea but takes some sussing to get the legs off! I remember we had trouble putting it up originally - how the heck I'm going to manage that again I have no idea. Praying the painter comes on Monday to paint the basement! The builders threw 6 or 7 inches of concrete on the laundry room floor (on top of the tiles! got to remember this ISN'T England! - no rules here!) - they clearly wanted it to go off over the weekend which makes sense but it was all a bit rushed.
Sunday (26th) - totally done in after yesterday's efforts, shifted my stash onto the covered naya off the lounge - at least it's handy and I may even be tempted to doing a layout or two!
Monday - Builders back, steps finished except for tiling. Antonio turned up with samples of tiles for us to look at - we're having a pale terracott on the 'treads' and a patterned tile on the 'risers'. Kerry was here to finish installing the aircon. He did me a huge favour by taking the dishwasher out of the kitchen (it's died, we'll wait for a new one with the new kitchen) and putting the washing machine in its place). We liked Kerry and he was brilliant acting as interpreter with the builders. Don't know what we'd have done without him! We were told we needed to choose tiles for the new bedroom floor and ensuite floor and walls. Sooner rather than later too! By the end of the day the floor of what will be the walk in wardrobe had been levelled and the ensuite walls partially built. The painter turned up thankfully and by lunchtime my scrapping space had been painted, including a thin wash on the floor. It's amazing what a difference it has made and how much lighter that corner is now!
Tuesday - Tiles for the steps arrived, the builders continued wth the ensuite walls, I started a layout. Hoped that Derek would feel up to going out and choosing tiles but he didn't. We had two kitchen companies come to measure and discuss what we want for the new kitchen, hope to have the quotes by the end of the week.
Wednesday - the builders came but disappeared mid morning (along with the dishwasher which they'd offered to take away for us - yeah right - bet you CAN'T get the faulty switch *insert evil snigger*) while I was out doing a bit of shopping in the village. No idea where they've gone or when they'll be back! Managed to venture out to the tile shop at the bottom of our road where we chose what we want for the new room. We've chosen to have matching tiles on the walls of the ensuite and the floor of the bedroom. They have a subtle striped effect, white with a very pale grey (VERY pale), in the ensuite we're having a narrow border or inset tile of charcoal grey. Because the en suite is basically a wet room we're having mosaic tiles on the floor - it's hard to get tiles that will be non-slip when wet, mosaic will help a bit. Made a note of the reference numbers to pass on to Antonio.
Thursday - still no builders so I can't give them the info about the tiles to pass on to Antonio. The electrician turned up! Yay! I have a small flourescent light in the scrapping space and he put up a couple of others elsewhere in the basement. He also fitted an PIR near the gates and altered the wiring of lights and sockets for the barbecue naya area. He also found a gas leak! The pipe from the gas casita runs along the wall where the steps have been built and the builders neglected to protect it before building the wall, so the pipe has been damaged right inside the concrete of the steps. Thankfully 100% plumbing had someone able to come immediately and it's all OK again now. Michael (100%) and Antonio turned up later to sort a few things out with us. Michael's coming back to us next week with details of storage units for the ensuite.
Friday - no builders yet again! We didn't do the market this week either but I did a quick trip to the supermarket. One of the kitchen people came back with his quote. About €7500. Still looking for somewhere to give us a third quote. Took Derek back to the doctor's about his hand. It's very strange, can't describe what it looks like. The doc would like to do a biopsy but as it will cost €160 approx to do it through his clinic he suggested that we try the Medical Centre in town. We received our E121s this week to enable us to register with the Spanish Health system. Obviously we haven't got the forms stamped etc. yet but the doc thought the Medical Centre might accept us as we obviously have the matter in hand. We're going to try that on Monday. The doctor also prescribed Derek a course of antibiotics as there is infection there. Took the prescription along to the pharmacia where I was given the choice of either 12 or 24 tablets! Would that happen in England? My goodness, I don't think so. I chose the 24 (8 days supply) - our UK GP has never prescribed less than a week's worth of antibiotics, so I went with that!
Yesterday - Had a good clean up, have avoided doing much housework because of the dust etc. from the alteration work. However, we were expecting friends to call in so I decided I'd better make an effort. I shifted all my stash etc. down into the basement ready to organise later. V. and J. arrived about 2 pm having got lost after going through the toll booth at Benissa. We thought we might have a late lunch down in the village but Derek didn't feel up to it so I did an enormous pile of sandwiches instead! V. and I have known each other since our first day at grammar school when we were 11. We lived in nearby villages as children, later living in the same village (briefly). They came out to Spain last year, having bought a property on Camposol near Puerto Mazarron. We had a lovely afternoon and hope to visit them in the new year, they're about two hours away. Derek perked up considerably and really enjoyed the afternoon.
Finally, today! At the moment Derek is still in bed and I have to have my shower yet. My plan for the day today is to organise my scrap stash and get the desk up. Also to dig out the christmas decs left by the previous owners and see if they are worth using or need to be replaced. I had a quick look in one shop on Friday evening to see what kind of decs they had - just like the UK! Found that disappointing, I would like something more typical of Spain if they have their own decorating style. Hope to get into the village this week for a good browse, if only Derek would feel better.
Later......
Looked at the christmas decs (not as many as I thought) and the christmas tree (a bit sad looking!). Best news though is my scrap space is done! Everything is out on display, nothing hidden away in drawers for me to forget about - even my paints and chalk inks are on display, they're things I don't use very often, I may do so now I can see them! Here are a few pics:
OK, so it's not the most glamorous spot in the world, but it's clean, partially organised and for the moment relatively tidy. If it turns out to be a successful place to scrap I may have it tiled out - but it will be as hot as h*ll in summer! Was pleased to find that my old lappy that I bought here in Spain about three years ago (second hand) has USB sockets, so I can use it to print, alter digital photos and use my Craft Robo, can't go online with it though. However, it means I won't have to carry my new lappy back and forth to the basement, which was worrying me a bit.
Just hearing on the news about a terrible explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the south of England, the pictures are dreadful and two firemen have died. A sad end to the day.....
posted by CaroleW at Sunday, December 03, 2006
1 Comments:
love your scrap room, wish I had that much space.
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