A new face

The builders are now part of the furniture. They have settled in nicely, and even have their own layer of dust that I don't seem to clean! I have been dying to show some before and after pictures of the renovations that have been underway. And actually, of the 7 rooms that have been done, I can only show one picture so far.

This is the new bathroom for the other bedrooms. I think the picture says it all! Unfortunately, what the picture doesnt convey, is the fact that we had water bursting out of the wall, several leaks discovered after the plaster had been applied, a geyser that had to be replaced and the fact that on the otherside of the wall that you can see, it is lying like an open chest cavity waiting to dry out.

Nonetheless, its lovely and bright and the shower is incredible!

Sense of purpose

I was so excited this evening to see I have my very second follower. My heart sank to the depths of my handbag, when I realised I had somehow added myself as a follower. I could philosophically conjure a reason that "subconsciously" I believe I should really pay attention to myself more. Having just re-read that sentence, thats probably not a bad thing to do.

Those of you who have read my blog more than once, perhaps my other (actually only) follower, will have noticed that I have remodelled my page. I suspect it will morph quite a lot more over time, as I like to change things up a bit from time to time. This includes and is not limited to my sunglasses, haircuts and liptstick colour.

I baked a cake today. I baked one yesterday too. These cakes are a milestone in my recovery. Not eating them per se', but the actual activity of making them and more importantly icing them. You see, I have recently started a cake-icing course with my cousin. For the mum's out there, this may seem like quite a logical thing. However, when I mentioned this fact to a colleague, she looked at me blankly and remarked "wow, that sounds so normal. Where on earth do you find the time to do that with all our work?". And the simple answer is: with great difficulty. First class I was over 30 minutes late. The second class I clean forgot to bring icing to ice the cake. Thank goodness my cousin had agreed to make the cakes for the class, otherwise the second class would have been a significant challenging. Tomorrow evening is my third class. I have agreed to make the cakes for my cousin and I, while she is going to bring the icing. I trust tomorrow's class is going to be more successful. Now just to focus on leaving the office at a reasonable time to fight my way through traffic to my normal hobby!

How do I fit it all in?

I've been flicking through a few blogs this evening and have noticed that there are a number of folk out there debating their urge, or more accurately their lack of urge to get back into doing some regular exercise. I couldn't help but think that there is something serendipitous about the fact I have every excuse running through my mind as to why my gym membership expired last year and that 3 months later I have yet to sort that out. I have however, managed to recover my bicycle from my parent's storeroom (which has been waiting for me to move in to my new house). Yet that is also now propped up nicely at the back of my garage behind all my other furniture, all waiting to be reallocated in my house when the builders are finished. Notice how I have avoided saying anything about trying to make a promise to myself to exercise again...and yet I know I need to otherwise I'm going to have to resort to upgrading the wardrobe to a size larger!

Builders. We have had them buzzing around for the last 6 weeks. There is dust everywhere. There are boxes piled high everywhere and of course there are disasters everyday that have to be redone, touched up or cause all sorts of other things to be replastered, reattached, resurfaced (including our sense of humour and patience)! This has been the ultimate test on our relationship. We feel like we're in the departure lounge waiting for our flight to be announced so that we can start just participating in life again! Hopefully this weekend we can move our furniture back into the house and I can finally finish the "before and after" photo montage I have been building. Oh and of course release the bicycle from its shadows and try my luck at some exercise. (Note the clever layering of plausible circumstances as to why I can't be possibly exercising yet)

Added to my list of worries at the moment is work. Of course I am completely unique in that way. The nature of the work I do always involved long hours, weekends, nights and high pressure. Since James has been around in the last year, I do manage to get home at a reasonable hour each day (at least while the sun is still up). The work life balance has certainly improved. Although the content of my work has not become any less stressful. This weighs on my mind a lot at the moment. Having moved into our new (and very big) house and garden has come with its own set of to-do lists. I feel the pressure to be the perfect girlfriend, homeowner, gardener (I must caution you here, the use of the word gardener is rather strong. I have only just learnt how to water my plants and not very well at that!) as well as cope with the stresses at work. Dont forget gym!

Where do I fit this all in? I do less project work now... but feel just as stressed! Some virtual hugs would be nice round about now. In fact, I'm going to get a real one from James!