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08:20 pm
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/60711340/12735228) [Link] | Today I have mostly been building Ikea furniture.
And, no offence to anyone reading this, but the torque spanner is my best friend today :-)
I spent about an hour trying to tighten the bolts on the Gorm shelves with the ordinary socket spanner and then called Rob, who pointed me towards the torque socket spanner, which let me finish the job in about ten minutes and limited the damage to my paws to two small blisters (from the ordinary spanner).
The shelves fit into the gap between the wardrobes and the shower room wall, but it's a very close thing.
Next job was to make the Helmer mini filing cabinet that Rob bought to put some of his electrical stuff in. It was very cleverly designed, but I found it a bit daunting to fold sheets of metal to make the drawers...
I managed it without breaking it or me though :-)
Tags: diy, ikea
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08:18 pm
[Link] | Today's main event was another trip to pay tribute to the Swedish Goddess of Pine Furniture. So my job tomorrow is assembling some Gorm shelving which should fit between the wardrobes and the shower room wall and house all the stuff that used to live in the shower room (towels, shower gel, etc.) as well as the laundry basket.
( Meeces )
Current Mood:  silly
Tags: allergic to tidying, dangerous beans, ikea, not gormless, undehydrated
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08:40 pm
[Link] |
weekend doings
This weekend was a quiet one - the weather was pretty horrible so we didn't go walking.
Saturday I used the stain/varnish on the banister rail and it looks much nicer. For some reason the woodwork in the house was coloured in a reddish-brown stain that makes the wood look artificial. The dark walnut stain is a much better colour. We're planning to do the railing on the landing in the same colour, but that'll involve taking up the carpet to get at the lower bits properly and we'll probably take the opportunity to repaint the doorframes as well.
Meanwhile Rob started making the frame for a protective case for the wormeries to protect them when the frosts start. Last year we brought them indoors, but they take up a lot of space in the kitchen and bring a zillion fruit flies with them, so we want to keep them outdoors this time.
We watched two films this weekend, and I can now confirm that I am an utter Philistine because I enjoyed Hellboy II quite a lot more than The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Even though the former had Luke Goss in it. There is clearly no hope for me :-)
We also watched Doctor Who. ( Not really spoilery, but better safe than sorry. )
Current Mood:  tired
Tags: diy, doctor who, films, worms
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12:09 pm
[Link] |
Book 54 for 2009
Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold
I've loved every one of Bujold's books so far and this one was no exception.
( Cut for possibly spoilery comments. )
Current Mood:  awake
Tags: 50 book challenge, books, science fiction
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08:12 pm
[Link] |
What a wunch!
Bloody HSBC have kindly decided to close my local branch in January.
Apart from the considerable inconvenience this will cause me - I use the branch a lot for paying in cheques and the like - the staff there are all lovely helpful people and don't deserve this in the slightest.
My nearest branch, they tell me, will be in Castle Donington. Much help that is. Is Castle Donington ten minutes walk away from my house? It is not.
I have written them a letter of protest, which I daresay they'll ignore completely, but I felt I had to do something.
So much for them being "The World's Local Bank" . Abstrads.
Current Mood:  enraged
Tags: gits, grrr aargh
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10:22 am
[Link] |
So, what else have we been doing?
On Friday I got the rotovator out and dug a bed in which to overwinter broad beans. I planted the remaining seed beans (bean seeds?) but there weren't enough, so this morning I popped into B& Q and got a packet of "Aquadulce Claudia", which, if the packet is to be believed, are the best broad bean variety for autumn planting and are happy to go into the ground in November.
Yesterday we painted the hall, stairs and landing with nice white paint, but didn't get much further than that as Rob felt unwell - headache, sniffles and nausea, poor thing and spent the afternoon lying on the sofa, watching more Mythbusters than can possibly be good for anyone. He felt a bit better this morning and has gone to work.
This morning I'm starting on getting the rest of the house tidy and presentable and putting displaced things back where they live. Shortly, I shall be hunting out a hammer and replacing the pictures on the stairwell. Also this morning, the skip has finally been taken away so I can have my parking space back. Yay!
Current Mood: tired
Tags: weekend, what we has bin up to
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02:17 pm
[Link] |
Book 53 for 2009
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Not the first time I'd read this science fiction classic, or even the first time I'd read it aloud, but it's an iconic book and it bears rereading very well indeed.
The prose lends itself very well to reading aloud and this time we noted rather more of the structure of it and how the tension and terror are built slowly and gradually through the first part, and the cunning device by which the author places his narrator in a position to observe the Martians unseen while being unaware of events elsewhere, thus allowing the dramatic revelation at the end.
We're now looking for copies of The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau to add to our library.
Current Mood:  Ul-la!
Tags: 50 book challenge, books, classics, science fiction
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03:56 pm
[Link] | The bathroom , she is finish!
( Finished! )
Current Mood: bathroomed!
Tags: bathroom
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08:55 pm
[Link] |
I don't approve of graffiti...
...but this made me laugh :- http://funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/79357/Graffiti/
(It has a rude word in it, so possibly not work safe)
Current Mood: silly
Tags: cartoon
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08:31 pm
[Link] |
Yet another bathroom update :-)
You will possibly be nearly as pleased as we are that the bathroom is nearly finished :-)
( Bathroom stuff! )
Current Mood: chuffed
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10:46 am
[Link] |
Poor choice of words...
Seen in my GP's surgery yesterday - leaflet about the local Genito-Urinary Medicine clinic which explains that they see patients on a "first come, first serve" basis. Ooops!
Current Mood:  amused
Tags: would you care to rephrase that?
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08:11 pm
[Link] |
Meanwhile...
( Branching out )
Current Mood:  calm
Tags: windfalls
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08:08 pm
[Link] |
Bath! And Tiles!
We can has bath!
( More pictures today! )
Current Mood:  bouncy
Tags: bathroom, tiles!
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09:04 pm
[Link] |
Damn right!
Real Beauty doesn't need to starve itself
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08:16 pm
[Link] |
Great Mysteries of the Universe, No. 602
I was contemplating the awesome prospect of buying a pineapple this morning, in Asda.
So, a pineapple, complete with spiky green leaves on the top, costs £1.64. With me so far? Good.
Pineapple without spiky green leaves on top costs 84p.
Am I stupid, or does it make no sense at all that you'd be paying 80p extra for the bit that you cut off and throw away?
Current Mood:  confused
Tags: confused? you will be..., the world is weird
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07:34 pm
[Link] | ( Fugenspachtel! (I'm told this is German for grout :-)). )
Tags: bathroom
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08:06 pm
[Link] | ( Grout news )
Current Mood:  busy
Tags: bathroom
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04:33 pm
[Link] |
Book 52 for 2009
From the Mull to the Cape by Richard Guise
Travel book, chronicling the author's bike ride from the Mull of Kintyre to Cape Wrath, which I read aloud to Rob.
The style is amusing and engaging and the historical anecdotes about the places he passes through are fascinating - I for one didn't know that Scotland also had a Potato Famine.
Rob was rolling his eyes at the amount of walking up hills done by the author though, having cycled some of the southern part of the route himself.
Tags: 50 book challenge, books, cycling, travel writing
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08:43 pm
[Link] |
Walk!
Today we went on a walk with the Melbourne Civic Society (well, some of it, anyway!) to Castle Donington* and back.
( Walk this way... )
Current Mood: zzzzzz.....
Tags: knackered, walking
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08:15 pm
[Link] | Saw a very odd thing on the way home tonight - a Volkswagen Dormobile , towing a matching caravan. Both were the colour of the first Dormobile on the linked page.
Rob's response was "I thought the point of a Dormobile was that you didn't need a caravan?".
I thought it was cute. My google-fu has failed me in trying to find a picture of one to show you though.
Current Mood: amused
Tags: oddness
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