Belated Happy Easter

So was it a good one for you all?

We had a great time. Well, when I say we, what I mean is Lia and I as we spent it with friends. DH on the other hand spent most of it working on the redecorating of Lia's bedroom which turned into a much bigger job than expected due to large chunks of plaster falling off the wall when the skirting boards were removed!

The idea was that DH and a friend got started on the Thursday morning and by the time we all arrived home at Sunday lunchtime it would be done. We arrived home to find that no painting had started and the skirting still hadn't been cut! So poor DH is now working whenever he can to try and get it finished and Lia is sleeping in the spare room with her furniture scattered all round the house. We're all away this weekend so nothing much will get done and we need it to be finished by the end of next week as friends are coming to stay.

The other thing that happened this weekend is that my garden got cleared completely. To say I'm over the moon is an understatement - I can't believe how fantastic it is which is great because it looks a million times better even though there's so much more still to be done. The best thing is that DH and I can do the rest, it's manageable now.

The third piece of good news is that my Mum's house sale is going to complete on Friday. It's been a long and awful process where the buyers have been a total nightmare (put it this way the stress of the whole thing must have been a contributing factor to the heart attack that killed my stepdad). My Bro and I own 1/3 of the house since my stepfathers death so we have been able to deal with the sale for my Mum (when I say we, that's a lie, my Bro has done it all, I've just backed him up). Neither of us are happy that we're actually selling to these people after what they put my parents through (which is a whole other post) but if we don't my Mum will have some kind of breakdown I'm sure.

So the good news part is the bit where 1/6th of the sale price (less a bridging loan repayment) is mine. This means we can pay off our credit card and overdraft and do some more work around the house which in turn means we can afford me to cut my working hours a bit more than planned in September when Lia starts school. Obviously my work still have to agree the changes but it's good to know we can afford for me to be home more - I'm hoping that I can cut down to the equivalent of three days a week spread over five days so work 9.30am - 2.30pm.

As for the work on the house we had the nice double glazing man around last night to confirm we're going to have a new front door, back door and french doors, the gardener is coming back to rebuild our patio, we're replacing our awful old, tatty oven and fridge and we're going to get the bathroom done. Just a few little bits and pieces...

The good news is that most of it can be done asap - the provisional date for the new doors is 5th May, the gardener is looking for cash to set up his own business so he's happy to come as soon as possible and DH is going to do the work we need done in the kitchen to fit a new fridge (it'll be one of the US Style double ones so we need to remove some of the kitchen units). That only leaves the bathroom but I have three different people I can get to quote for it and hopefully that can be scheduled in quickly too.

It'll be fantastic to have it all done so we can really relax and enjoy the house and garden for the summer without breaking our backs trying to do things ourselves or working out how to get the money we need to pay other people.

The only sad part for me is that I'd much rather still have my Stepdad around but I know he'd approve of the changes, especially the garden as he did enjoy gardening (and sitting in gardens watching others work LOL). I told my Mum we'd get a memorial bench with a plaque...

I'm off to IKEA alone tomorrow as DH is going to stay home to do more painting - I'm dropping Lia off at nursery on the way - so I shall be able to buy whatever I fancy :) . We're then off to spend the weekend with my family as I have a quilting course on Saturday and it's my birthday on Sunday. The whole family is going out for lunch on Sunday to celebrate the house sale so that'll be a lovely way to spend my birthday, it's rare that we all get together now as there's a lot of us now us kids are all married and have kids of our own.

On the crafting front there just hasn't been a lot of time for much so far this month but I've managed some stitching and have done most of the cutting for Lia's birthday quilt. All projects will get visited this month but I don't think there'll be a huge amount of progress on some of them.

As for stash, I got a lovely parcel in the post yesterday with two SamSarah Baubles charts, fabric and buttons, Bygone Stitches Quaker Virtues, Sampler Cove Rhapsody in Red Ribbon Sampler and a birthday gift for a friend. My Boo Club charts are on the way as is the first installment of my Baby Jane BOM.

I also went a little bit mad and bought Genny Morrow's Nova which I have coveted for a long time now but always thought a little expensive and bought a few flosses to kit up a Laura J Perin canvas work (which I won't be starting this year because of my rotation but I think stash spending will seriously be curtailed if my job hours decrease).

Added to that my Mother's Day gift finally arrived - A Case for Colour by Gay Ann Rogers - so I now have to think about kitting that up with a colour scheme of my choice. I have to say all the colours on the site are a little tame for me - I'd like to go with yellow/orange/red (no surprise there!) so I think I'll have to wait till I'm in an LNS in a couple of months.

So all in all April is turning out to be a great month for us (touch wood). If I could only stop Lia crying every morning she's dropped off at the nursery I'd be totally happy. She's fine once she's there but every morning she seems to have the separation anxiety she never experienced as a baby. I seems to be constantly bribing and threatening to get her there and it's not a great way to start ones day...