We made it to the deadline

Yes, our May deadline has been and gone and we just about made it by the skin of our teeth.  May seems to be the month of visitors and so on New Year's Day we wrote a great, long list of things to get done before then.  There were a couple of things we didn't get finished like the coffee table which has temporary legs (some spare chair legs we had lying around . . .  like you do), the bath is still unpanelled and the lounge still has that horrible chipboard door.  But those things were not really important and everyone had places to sleep and sit, so that was fine.  We had another planning meeting yesterday and I think the list is even longer this time, but without the deadline.  The new list is just so that we can choose a job to fit a time slot and things don't get forgotten.  With the May dealine over, Bob is going to get back to making furniture and trying to sell some of it - a bit daunting really as it is so long since he's done it!

He did have a practice run by making a single bed for the oak room.  It looks really good and is very sturdy, made from some timber our builder friend rescued from a job he was doing.

The dry-run putting the bed together.  Bob thumped one corner
to get it in place and the head of the screw holding the bracket
sheared off completely.  Good job it happened then and not when
someone got into bed!  We had to go and buy some stronger screws!!

Next stage - in place and waiting for the matress to be
delivered.

And here we are all made up with the quilt cover I made
and ready for Mum to give it its test run.  This does give
'making the bed' a whole new meaning!

All our deliveries arrived on time and in good condition, including the second settee for the lounge.  It is a bit of a squash to get the two of them in there and it looked a little odd to start with . . . . it's a cosy lounge you could say.  We're used to it now and I'm in the middle of making cushion covers which will help sort out the colour scheme a bit.  I've made two oatmealy-coloured ones for on the red settee and I'm knitting some smaller mellow green ones for in front of them and then I'll think about the ones for the other settee when I see how that looks.  A few years ago Kevin McCloud did a programme on telly and part of the trailer for it was him saying that you had to sort out the structure of the building (the important bits) and only then can you start thinking about cushion covers.  At the time I sighed and thought how long off that moment was . . . . well here it is!

And here's the half-done coffee table with its chair legs - they
do make it look very 70's.  The top is a single piece of Elm which
someone gave us - full of woodworm tracks, but it has character.
Bob literally finished polishing the wax off this as the visitors arrived!

So, the visitors are as follows:
On the Bank Holiday weekend Carol and Graham (my sister and her husband) came on their way back from the Lake District.  We had a nice moochy time and then went to see a band in Llandudno.  We saw The Vaccines much to my teenage neice's envy . . . . lets just say, we were in the older part of the audience demographic!  Brilliant though.
They went home on Tuesday and on Thursday Mum and Dad arrived with their Dutch friends on their way to a week on the Welsh coast.  Again we had a good time pottering around and eating at the pub in the village.  I have even picked up a few words in Dutch!
They left on Saturday morning and were followed by Ben who is having a tough time just now having split up from Lucy, his long time girlfriend.  All very sad and complicated by their joint plans to go back to uni in Aberystwyth together in September, giving up jobs and their flat.  Hopefully he felt a bit better after some home cooking, a change of scenery and a hug from his mommy!  Still loads to sort out though, poor lad.
Ben left on Monday and next is Mum and Dad and the Dutch friends on Saturday on their way home and then Bob's sister and her bloke the following weekend.  Jane hasn't been since the very early days when we were still sorting out the roof, so she should see a bit of a change!

While Ben was here, Bob showed him how to use the chainsaw and we got on with clearing our bit of the field.  The weather wasn't really good enough to go for a walk with hail storms and torrential rain interspersed with lovely sunny bits so outdoor work close to home seemed a better idea.  The log pile for next year is gradually filling up and without all the branches in the field we'll be able to keep it strimmed to try to get on top of the nettles, so good job done.

Look!  We have chillies nearly ready to pick.  This is a plant
we bought last year, which flowered but didn't do any more.
They are Scotch Bonnet Chillies - so they should be quite fiery!
I feel the need for a curry coming on!