Partaaay!

Well, we all pulled together and made a supreme effort to get the house ready for the 'Housewarming' party that Harley had set in motion and I'm pretty pleased with how it all came together.

I had to dip into my savings a bit to buy a new suite but I got the bargain of the year at the secondhand furniture store and picked up a leather corner suite for next to nothing! I managed to get a few other bits of furniture for here and some new units for the kitchen too. I think it was worth it. Now we can all spread out and relax instead of all cramming onto my old 2 seater couch and single chair. We switched the kitchen and this room round and I think I like it so much better with this layout.

Harley had decided it might be fun for the housewarming to be a costume party so I altered one of my dresses and now I'm a flower fairy! I couldn't find my wings though so I'm not going to be able to flit about much! Harley outdid himself with his costume. He's been upstairs working on it all afternoon. He made his little Fred Flintstone costume a little on the short side though, I think.

We had barely enough time to get the food ready and sit a moment when the doorbell went. Daisy had gone round to collect my neighbour Vivienne and it turns out she is French, as I thought. She doesn't speak much English but knows enough to be able to work out that it was a costume party and came as a Victorian French maid! I knew Daisy would come as an animal, and I was right. A bunny! So cute.

Vivienne had brought some French chocolates as a housewarming gift and she'd also brought her very sleepy cat and Daisy was very keen to get to know him. I led everyone through to the kitchen and put the chocolates with the other things to nibble on and Vivienne's cat curled up on top of the washing machine to nap.

Harley had his eye on the chocolates from the start but all Daisy had eyes for was the spider cake I made. I know Halloween is past but I just couldn't resist making one when I saw the recipe for it in a magazine I read yesterday. I don't think Vivienne knew what to make of it all, she just sat there smiling politely.

I was just about to take my seat and choose something yummy to eat when there was another knock at the door. I couldn't think who it was but wondered if maybe Captain Hives or Mr Bubbles had decided they could come after all. I'd already heard from them both that they had other plans and wouldn't make it so I wasn't sure who could be at the door.

Harley seemed very excited about it though and leapt up shouting "COME IN" at the top of his lungs! I thought for sure Vivienne's cat would wake up with a start at the noise but he just kept on snoring. He's the sleepiest cat I've ever come across. We all waited with baited breath to see who would come round the corner and were rewarded moments later when a sparkly mermaid appeared!

It was Harley's friend Sandy that he had invited on the phone the other day. She was so beautiful! Her dress was like rainbow silk and shimmered when she moved.

I asked her to give us a twirl so we could all see her costume better and we almost clapped she was so pretty!

Just beautiful.

After we had all finished 'OOhing' and 'Aahhing' over Sandy she joined us and we all sat around laughing and eating. Vivienne did her best to keep up and we tried to include her in the chatter but I think it was hard for her. Maybe she can teach me some French and I'll teach her some English so that we can understand each other better.

When we'd all eaten more than we could handle we collapsed onto the couch and Sandy said she was sure her tummy was going to pop, she'd eaten so much. We were all in danger of falling asleep with all the food inside us and Harley looked like he was all set to sleep it off on the chair with Vivienne's cat.

I called him to one side to talk about an activity to wake us all up and suggested he go upstairs and find his ZUMBA dvd. That was sure to wake us all up! I was just in the mood to boogie about a bit to burn off all the calories I'd just eaten. I suggested to Harley he might want to go add a pair of trousers while he was up there...although it would have been a giggle to see him leaping about and zumba-ing in his Flintstone Minidress!

I'm not sure how Sandy will get on with that dress and Zumba but maybe it's more stretchy than it looks. Maybe Vivienne's cat will wake up long enough to join in too!

Lets call the kitchen done...Almost

Wow, this kitchen has really got under my skin. Who knew a kitchen layout could be such a trial and error fiasco?! Not me, that's for sure. If it's been moved around once it's been moved a dozen times. Not an easy feat and at one point there were all four of us here and a couple of our friends too, lugging kitchen units around to try and find a good spot for them all.

Add to that the carpentry work involved to get the stairs in....
Oh yeah...See!! We have stairs! No banisters yet, but workable stairs none-the-less.

I think it's all come together for the best now, but it has been a nightmare to get all the units in without feeling cramped while trying to accomodate the stairs.

The front door opens into the kitchen area but with a bit of jiggery-pokery we've tried to do a (sort of) seperate entryway. The door is still in the kitchen but once the understairs units have been boxed in properly it'll hopefully seem like it's divided. I think it'll be nice with a little semi-island under the stairs. We've blocked off the openplan stairs to counter top level already.



There will hopefully be a few shelves to fill in the little gaps on the entryway side, where units won't fit, to use every available space and the open counter area will make a nice little breakfast bar bit and let light flow through to the 'hallway'.

The last of the advance money has gone on a new fridge/freezer and cooker and it was money well spent. I hope Minnie likes the models I picked for her, I got a bargain buying them together from the consignment store.

Anyhoo, I've asked Hives, Mr Bubbles and Flossy over for some sandwiches and cake to thank them for all their help so far....and to sweet talk them into a little bit more help. There's a little bit of papering to be done where the lounge wall was moved, the banisters need to be put on, there's the shelving to see to and perhaps....maybe another room or three to decorate.


We're running out of time though because a little bird told me that a certain little lady is only days away! I can't believe Minnie is almost here! I can not WAIT to see her! It's been so long. I don't think we'll get much more done before she gets here but I'll try and pull out all the stops to get a bit more finished.

In the meantime, I better get through there to help scoff the sandwiches, if there's any left. I hope they've saved some room for the cake I baked and iced. I'm not the best baker and I'd never win Masterchef with what I turn out but I do my best. I love to try.

I'll just put the strawberry chocolate one in the fridge here for later and take the strawberry vanilla sponge through. Hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Small beginnings

Hi! I'm Daisy, Minnie's sister. Minnie still hasn't arrived, she's had some sort of hold-up and we're all waiting here impatiently for her arrival.

We had hoped to be further along with the renovations by this time but Flossie couldn't take any more time off from the Crab Shack so I've stepped in to oversee things for now. Minnie is on the phone constantly with suggestions for things we can be getting on with while we wait for her but we're all a bit nervous of making any big decisions and would rather wait until she gets here. I'm still finding my feet as a 'Project Manager' but it's fun.

The new kitchen wall has been put up to divide it from the lounge area and the wallpapering is done in here so we've made some progress! I think she'll like it, it's neutral enough that she can personalise it with her own style. I got here earlier and gave everything a good wipe down and sweep up and I think it'll look great when it's all done. We've managed to find a sink unit and a cooker at the salvage yard (although the cooker has seen better days and will need a bit of TLC) but we're still on the look out for more kitchen units. It's quite a small space and once the stairs are put in it's going to get even smaller so Minnie will have to be creative to get everything in.

If I know Minnie she'll make a fab job of it though. She loves finding old furniture and giving it a new lease of life so I'm excited to see how she puts her stamp on Fox Hollow. I'm looking forward to seeing her again, it's been a while since we got together and it'll be fun having her living just along the path.

Anyway, I'll get back to work in a second. Hives just dropped off a cheeseburger and some cola for me so first I'm going to have a seat and tuck in. It's hungry work being a project manager!

Kitchen planning

I made plans to meet Hives over here bright and early this morning. He was already waiting when I got here and had thoughtfully brought some donuts to nibble on while we disussed what was needed for the kitchen decor. I've managed to get myself cosy here drinking tea, eating donuts and reading my magazine while he sorts himself out over there in the kitchen. Luckily I brought a fleecy blanket with me to wrap up in. I knew the heating hadn't been hooked up yet and it's chilly up here with the sea breezes rattling through the chinks in the windows and doors.

Hives had brought his stepladder and some samples for me but I don't think his choices will work. He means well but Minnie probably won't want a purple kitchen. I'm picking up the wallpaper as soon as the shop opens later so he'll be able to make a start on that in no time. I showed him some photo's in my magazine of what I had in mind for the kitchen and he says it's going to look very sunny in there. Perfect. That's exactly what I'm hoping for.

To keep himself busy until the wallpaper arrives he's working out what he'll need to sort out the staircase to the upper levels. The stairs that were there have had to be taken down as they were really old and wonky and were a bit of an accident waiting to happen.

He's talking about putting up a wall to divide the kitchen/living area's too. I think it'll look great as two separate area's. I'm sure he knows what he's doing but he's just checking the blueprints to see which walls are load-bearing...or something. He did tell me but I was only half listening because donut selection takes a lot of concentration...yum!