Stasis

It's been half term week, so I've had both Madam and Little B to look after at home.  For most other folks I imagine this would be a time of creativity - fun and games, and little projects - trips out and visits and . . . and . . . and we haven't.

Madam mostly wanted to have pajama days and watch episodes of My Little Pony recorded from one of the kids channels, and Little B needed feeding and changing, and changing again, and I just didn't have it in me to fight the inertia.  I just about had enough fight to make sure Madam's teeth got brushed - which was made marginally easier by the arrival of her first grown-up tooth.  It's been sneaking up behind the tooth it will replace (which is only very slightly wobbly), and she is so pleased at the idea of having shark teeth that she's been brushing voluntarily since we noticed it.

We did manage to get out of the house once, on Thursday afternoon, because I decided that I needed to get a doctor to look at the eczema on my hands.  It's been there on and off for about a year, but being pregnant had prevented me from getting any strong medication, and as it happens I still can't have anything with much oomph because I'm still breastfeeding Little B.  So I got a script for a HUGE tub of emollient ointment which came with two A4 sheets from the chemist warning about how flammable it is . . . which kinda makes me want to see if I could make a candle out of it . . .  We had a quick hunt around the charity shops before we came home - Madam found a couple of books and a brooch which has fallen apart already (I will glue it for her in the morning), and I found a bundle of maps which I'm planning to use to draw or paint or print on at some point.  Pinterest has a lot to answer for!  I did not buy the impressive art-deco-looking sideboard for £20 (which we wouldn't have had room for in the house) from the Sue Rider shop.  Yay me.

I have been managing to get a bit of knitting done in the evenings.  I'm working on a top-down dress (though if I run out of yarn too soon it'll just be a top!) in a lovely feather and fan pattern, link here -  http://makezine.com/craft/craft_pattern_splash_swimsuit/ - which I'm making from some Sirdar Snuggly Smiley Stripes, which I bought on my Easter holidays at Cornish Market World.  I'm hoping 6 balls will reach at least to my butt!

And here I am, blogging past midnight.  I'll be tired tomorrow, and all un-motivated.  Again.  I need to shake myself out of this rut!

I hear you knocking (knockknockbangrattlescrape)!

This week chez Mippitt has been marked by the presence of scaffolding (and random noises from the roof).  Our house was built in the seventies, and the concrete which is supposed to seal the edges of the roof to keep the damp and the birdies out has been failing.  And falling.  Mostly making holes in the corrugated plastic car port, and once nearly making a delivery guy poop his pants - he thought a gun had gone off . . . I'm eternally grateful the car port held on that occasion, and the concrete didn't fall on his head.

So we've known for a while that the roof needed mending, and amongst the quotes for garage upgrading and double glazing, we'd been asking about getting the roof fixed too.  Then one day, a couple of weeks ago, Madam asked if we could walk the long way home from school (which isn't very much longer than the normal way, just along top road and into our road from the other end) and I noticed one of our neighbours was getting exactly the same job done on their roof.  It turned out that the husband of that household owned a building company and it was his own contractors who were doing the work, so it made sense to us to ask them to do ours too.

The scaffolding went up just over a week ago, and I've been being a good builder-employer and making cups of sweet tea ever since.

As is usual with our house, once the builder had had a look, there were further things to be done - several tiles were cracked (some had been glued back together goodness knows when), and the ridge tiles were all loose, so the job has taken a little longer than was expected.  We should be all done tomorrow, and then I guess the scaffolding will come down pretty soon.

I'm hoping to get up there and have a look before it disappears.  I'm curious to see how the village, the garden, and the roof look from up there . . . and I'm curious to see if I can manage the height without feeling too wobbly.  The ladders are secured to the scaffolding so I just need to find a minute whilst Hubby's home to mind the girls . . . wish me luck!