What a difference a week makes!

I’m afraid this week’s blog will be quite short again – I don’t know where this week has gone! I wanted to show you all the progress that has been made on the kitchen, now my head is better and I’m feeling much more like myself. I can’t praise the kitchen fitter and his people enough. They worked hard, did a great job and it was so nice to have people to talk to on my tea break! Most of the niggles from last week got sorted. The cooker, which worked fine before the fuse-box was changed, now needs a new element in the oven, but the engineer is coming out to look at that tomorrow and, best of all, having to go back to them made us realise we have a care plan on it that entitles us to an annual valet. So I’m looking forward to having a cooker that looks like new when all the work is finished.

The cats had nearly as stressful a week as me. They were locked upstairs out of the way when the workmen were here – I could just imagine the chaos the Calamity Cat could have caused if she had gone to ‘help’. As soon as they left each day, they were desperate to get outside and stretch their legs, as well as inspect the work, of course!

So, where are we up to? The presentation below shows a day by day account of the work last week and then, at the weekend, we ordered the tiles (the duck egg ones, which we loved and everyone else seemed to prefer as well). They are going to look fab against the grey units and black work surface. We also bought the paint for the walls and D put a first coat on them (not a fun job!). We had originally thought a warm cream, but everything was either too yellow, too pink or just not right. We were both surprised when we chose a pale blue, but it seems to work with the units and the tiles will warm it right up, especially with those sunshine accent pieces I have planned. It is fresh and bright and walking into the kitchen in the morning is starting to make me smile, even with cardboard in place of work surfaces and no sink.

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On Monday, the granite people came out to measure up for the quartz work surface. What a job that was! Ours is not a large kitchen but he was here for literally hours. I am so excited about seeing the result, hopefully next week. He was a lovely chap, but not a cat person. He left the side door open, and I thought I saw a flash of grey out of the corner of my eye when I was helping him man-handle the sink. A quick look around the house confirmed that, although the Princess was safely asleep on the bed, the Calamity Cat was nowhere to be seen. She doesn’t usually go out at the front, where the road is, so there was nothing else to do but grab the Dreamies and go for a walk down the street, calling her. No sign. I was surprised she had got so far so quickly in a space she doesn’t know, so I returned to the house and double-checked everywhere again. There she was, looking quite comfy, curled up under the washstand in the study. Why do cats like to make you look like a total idiot? The fitter clearly thought I was a totally neurotic pet owner. Oh, hang on a minute – I am, aren’t I?

There are so many other things I want to tell you, not kitchen-related. Tales of leeks, of apples and tomatoes, and of me starting on the next phase of my New Simple Life journey. But, for now at least, the kitchen is taking priority over everything, even in my head. Hopefully by next week, we will be nearly there and I will be able to talk about something else!

In the meantime, I will leave you with a picture of the Princess, out for her morning stroll yesterday. Until next week, folks!