So I've been away for awhile... well, not away (like on holiday), just home... and busy of course! Why is that being home is soooo busy? So I planned to write something to update you when I did go away again (just for a few days), but even then I didn't find time! What have I been so busy with?
On my last mainland trip, my computer got slightly hacked. Yep, they took a few hundred from my credit card and tried hitting my facebook and PayPal accounts. It seems they didn't get into those. So I had to do the paperwork to get my money back (no, of course I did not book a ticket on Arab Airways, but if I had, I think I would have had exciting things to do!).
And my little laptop was rather old, and slow (it was second hand when Rob gave it to me five years ago, and needed to be plugged into a power point to work), and I just started mistrusting it. I've heard that people who have had their houses broken into sometimes feel that their very person has been breached in some way, and therefore feel unsafe in their house. I became that way with my computer, and used it less and less, and when I did use it, I really didn't like to be. So eventually I forked out and updated everything. Now I've got new programs (you know everything has changed since 2000 - which is the vintage of all my other programs?) and I am having to learn it all again! And transferring all my documents over, and re-organising them etc. Always quite a task.
What else has there been? Well, there's been curtains. That has been a saga, which still is not complete. I might fill you in on that one later. Why a curtain saga? Well, first, we had completed building one room, and moved our bedroom in there just before leaving for the mainland. This room has four windows. I had decided to use the three curtains that were in the old bedroom, and had to cut and sew them to the size of the three main windows in the new room. There's still a fourth window to go!
New room!
Also, not long after our return, I got news that I would soon be sharing my 'craft house', and not just to the mice and critters. Nope, this sharing is with a much larger critter; man-sized in fact. Rob's son wanted to move in, and you know you can't say no to children. So a massive amount of energy went into compacting my activities, furniture and supplies into two rooms, instead of the whole house (I'm sure an ironing board in the kitchen and fabric all over the dining table would have been inconvenient for both of us!). Then I started on the curtains there. Downstairs (the windows that had curtains) needed hems taking up so they didn't drag on the floor. Two more windows still needed curtains (now done). And the colours they were just made me feel hepatic, so dyeing was undertaken. Then there's upstairs. The saga continues at this point.
Curtains needed attention, particularly the colour!
Then I made the mistake of actually looking at the 'bathroom' area (this is outside the main house, but still under the one roof, if that makes sense). I usually just walk past it, ignoring it all. I go back 'home' even to visit the bathroom, due to the toilet there leaking (supposedly Mike has fixed this now, using a mechanic's product).
Mould, mould, mould. I knew the doors were acquiring the shadows of blooms (well, that area is rather exposed to the moist air, given it is only three-quarters built). But I opened the bathroom door knowing I'd have to clean the bugs out of the bath and shower, and well, it was all spreading. Then inside the bathroom cabinet was black. Gross! Rob said I didn't have to do all this work; that his son could do it. I opened that cabinet and showed him. He walked away not saying anything. I took that as agreement. Oh, and miserably, I was working with cold water on cold days. The hot water system there was not completely hooked up yet (it's a woodfire job when the water is connected). I could have boiled the jug, but I was just going through too much water, it was black every five minutes. Looking closer again, the tin on the outside of the bathroom (but inside the bathroom area) did not just have a thin layer of dirt and dust...it was mould latching on too. More cleaning!
Then the floor was an issue. It's just concrete. But it was not a successful lay, and continually dusts up. If you sweep it, you have to keep on sweeping, because more concrete dust comes loose, and you start digging a hole. So the owner had scabbed up old bits of carpet and lino, and put it down over most of the concrete. But it is rather hard to sweep carpet. And always way too filthy to vacuum. Plus, concrete dust is great at blocking up the vacuum cleaner. And then finally, between the overlapped layers of lino, there was mould. I dragged it all out. Scabbed up Rob's remaining BondCrete and gave a section a go-over (not nearly enough to do it all). Then I bought another tub, and gave the main section a go-over, this time at a 50:50 ratio BondCrete : Water. That did it. Problem solved...until I paint the area. There's still more BondCreting to do, but in less used areas (and I guess more successful areas on concrete!).
I painted the laundry wall with some of our leftover paint (not all walls in this area have 'walls'). Two of the three doors, there's still another coat to go, but since they took a week to dry, I'm waiting until finer weather). And finally, I gave the tin a go. It had concrete splatters up one side (first photo), so I had to use a textured paint. We had some brown suede left over, but not enough (and I wouldn't want the whole wall brown - yuk!), so I came up with a stripe design, and painted away. Gosh, talk about wrong time of year! A day later it was wetter than when I first applied it! Two weeks later I was still waiting for it to completely dry! It has now, finally, but I'm definitely not doing the middle section or second coat for a couple of more months, I can see how painting can be a real disaster!
Concrete splatters
Craft house bathroom wall
Then there's been recipe testing. I've now tested fifty-six and a half recipes, out of a possible eighty-three. I'm only obligated to test twenty-five. But I wanted to test as many as possible. I'm just like that! So I've felt like my life is cooking, eating, cleaning, cooking, eating, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, eating, cleaning, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, eating, cleaning. Yep, a bit crazy. Rob can't wait until I stop and just clean! The oven desperately needs it, the bottom shelf copped a falling (and then exploding) container of cornflour (still not entirely cleaned up - that stuff spreads!). And the fridge? I went to do that months ago...and then got distracted. It will come...after recipe testing, okay?
Pina Colada Cupcakes: vegan AND gluten free!
We've also had a touch of book binding, but thankfully that is not my responsibility, I just 'help out' to reduce stress levels for Rob. And I'm nursing an itchy leech bite. This is the first leech that has ever successfully got his/her full suck from me. I was walking by the local wholefoods shop, when next thing I noticed I was kicking a large black slug. Gross, again. Which means there's been gardening: the rhubarb patch has had its first bit of care and attention since it was planted (before my time here), and I'm half-way through what the raspberries need.
One of Rob's sayings is: "I'm too busy to have a job". The scary thing is, the more he says this, the more it comes true. And I've not seen any work done on our house since we moved into the 'room'. It's been engines and biodiesel, and airplanes, and printing, and garden, and parents (they take up a lot of time, but another lot you can't say 'no' to, they won't be here much longer, and are having a real hard time currently). The same goes for me, as you can see from the above. But guess what? Yes, some of my time has been put into job applications. Selectively. But a bit of community involvement, intellectual stimulation, and pocket money would do me good. Thus far I've had two rejections from the ABS (they didn't even want me to collect census forms!), rejected for an apprenticeship in a museum, and the big Roy Morgan research firm doesn't want me trudging under bridges to interview homeless people. Hmmmm... if only they knew how suited I am for all of these positions hey?
