NotSheep

Well, it is if you didn’t know what the problem was, and you were worried it might be expensive to fix!

We’d a builder come by today to look at the delightful black bits on several front walls of our house, and the dampness on one of them. Although I’d never met him before, I knew he’d be good because he’s done a lot of work for a good friend over the years. We’re fairly useless when it comes to house repairs etc, but we knew we had to find out what was causing the damp. My biggest concern was that it would be coming from under the floor in the downstairs bathroom, because that would have meant lifting ceramic floor-tiles, and the same tiles run right through the whole hall. But G (the builder) said it’s “classic condensation” and it’s all on the surface (which makes sense, none of the plaster or anything is damp or crumbling) and so it’s easy to deal with. He suggested we redecorate using anti-fungal paint and wallpaper paste - not a big deal, it’s one half-wall in the bedroom and a touch-up on the ceiling, plus the powder-room, which I’d wanted to decorate anyway. He also said to use an anti-fungal spray once a month or so through the winter, and said that if we can pick up a small, cheap dehumidifier, we could put it by the front bedroom window in our room and run it for an hour in the mornings. I breathed a sigh of relief that we’re not going to have to spend lots of money to sort it out! He didn’t even need to suck in his teeth

He also gave us rough prices for a couple of things we’d thought of doing to the house - none of it soon, but it’s good to know how much we could expect to pay if we decided to do them in a year or two.

Apart from that, a fairly usual Saturday: swimming for Barney, George and Freddy this morning, where they were given their certificates and badges from the last session - more sewing for me! George arrived back after swimming, rather than staying at the leisure centre and waiting for trampoline class to start, as he usually does. He said he didn’t want to go to trampoline According to his instructor a couple of weeks ago, he’s talented but inconsistent. According to George, all the things he gets to do are “easy and boring”. I think what’s happening is that because he thinks they’re easy and boring, he doesn’t make much effort, and therefore sometimes does them right, sometimes not (lands wrong or something) - and the instructor isn’t willing to move him onto new stuff until he’s got the current stuff absolutely solid. I can see both their points - so I took George back to the leisure centre, having a chat with him in the car on the way and explaining what was going on, and promising to remind him to practice on the trampoline in the garden every day. By the time we got there (about six minutes LOL), he was happy to go in. Afterwards, I asked him how it went, and he started to say “good” but then said “it wasn’t too bad”

We spent the afternoon doing bits and pieces around the house - including me completely demolishing the vertical blinds from the bedroom, because they had mold (there’s no u, is there? in this kind of mold?) growing on them. I tried soaking them in hot water in the bath, and I tried soap and tea-tree oil, but it wasn’t really coming off, so I put them in a pillowcase in the washing-machine. Let’s just say that they weren’t really blinds when they came out - more a bag of string Fortunately it’s a fairly standard-sized window, so replacing them shouldn’t cost a lot! One of the neighbourhood kids arrived to play, and they all got the Flubber out - he was impressed and demanded the recipe

Later in the afternoon, a friend phoned to see if she could come over for a while. I hadn’t seen her since before Christmas - she’s been very busy rehearsing for a play she’s involved in and doing various other things - but there’s been some difficult times in her life recently, so I was glad of the opportunity for a chat. She arrived with her two sons, and all the boys ran about having a great time for the next couple of hours, while Scratchy disappeared to play Runescape and the two of us sat in the kitchen over cups of tea. She also brought a puppy! - and he’s gorgeous He’s a lab/husky mix, 13 weeks old, and just so sweet. He fell asleep on the kitchen floor cuddled up to a soft-toy dog that my kids own *ahhhh* Now I want a puppy

Dinner tonight was yummy - fried whitefish fillets with herb butter, rice, peas and salad - and all made by Barney and George. They did get a bit of help, but they did do most of it themselves, and very good it was too. We got a great kids cooking book at Christmas, and they’ve plans to work their way through it. I’m not complaining

Jack has now flaked out, the others are all reading (Freddy’s reading The Hobbit!) I’m about to take Toby to bed, and do some Sudoku over his shoulder while he feeds to sleep. Night night…