We MUST have one of these.
http://www.iroboteurope.co.uk/section?secid=39818
I thought it might be a hard sell to Ian, but I think the thought of a little robot running round cleaning floors is appealing to him. So much, in fact, that our next new housemate might be a robot rather than chickens.
What's that I hear - "Project Austerity", oh, shush now.....
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Another Building Update
Manuel has assumed the role of project manager, which suits us down to the ground. He is liasing with the carpenter, looking for painters, dealing with the plumber etc. This is obviously a whole lot better than us trying to do this, and while Ian's Spanish is getting very good, it would be still difficult to ring up someone and organize things. We can do it face to face - but phones are difficult. Manuel also has exceedingly high standards, and we know that he won't let anything pass that is not perfect.
He's been too-ing and fro-ing with the carpenter as he has not been happy with the proportions of the internal doors. You'll see in the picture below what the solution is. Our new internal doors that lead onto the hallway are the same hight as the internal internal doors, ie doors from bedroom to living room. They have been shortened by about 1 foot (they are still not 'short' the new doors are 7 foot, the old ones were 7 11"). This was largely to save money, however Manuel has been unhappy because they are shorter than the back door and over the weeks they've been worrying him more and more. Anyway, he turned up at our living room door one night last week delighted that he'd found a solution, and that is to put a glass panel above the doors to keep the hight but with the slightly shorter doors. This keeps the proportions. We kicked ourselves a bit as this was such a good idea and one that we could have come up with if we had thought about it. One thing about the house is when you shut the bedroom doors you are plunged into a black hole. The glass panels will reduce the feeling of being in a cave.
And what a great opportunity for stained glass or glass etching. We're both coming up with ideas now. I'm thinking about stained glass to mimic the pattern on the hallway tiles and Ian is thinking about sandblasting a pattern. Watch this space....
Having said we were drawing a line under the building work when this little lot was complete, we have decided to go ahead with the new drain under the house. It will obviously be a messy job and it makes sense to get it all over and done with. We're also thinking about getting all of the plaster off the front of the house rather than getting it patched. This will be more expensive, but might patching it be a false economy if we are going to have to get it redone in the future - oh, I don't know!
Our latest list of addons will take us to the absolute limit BUT we feel that it is money well spent. We feel that we are getting very good value for money - I don't think we would have extended the project as we have done if had any concerns. This week he will be working on the new kitchen and the plumber will be coming to plumb everything in, which means that the new main bathroom and the pink bathroom will be functional - wahoo!
One last thing - I've changed the way that I post photos to the blog. It is quicker for me doing it this way as I am using an automated process via Flickr, but there is just one picture per blog post so it might be more difficult to read. If there are any probs, let me know and I'll go back to the old way.
He's been too-ing and fro-ing with the carpenter as he has not been happy with the proportions of the internal doors. You'll see in the picture below what the solution is. Our new internal doors that lead onto the hallway are the same hight as the internal internal doors, ie doors from bedroom to living room. They have been shortened by about 1 foot (they are still not 'short' the new doors are 7 foot, the old ones were 7 11"). This was largely to save money, however Manuel has been unhappy because they are shorter than the back door and over the weeks they've been worrying him more and more. Anyway, he turned up at our living room door one night last week delighted that he'd found a solution, and that is to put a glass panel above the doors to keep the hight but with the slightly shorter doors. This keeps the proportions. We kicked ourselves a bit as this was such a good idea and one that we could have come up with if we had thought about it. One thing about the house is when you shut the bedroom doors you are plunged into a black hole. The glass panels will reduce the feeling of being in a cave.
And what a great opportunity for stained glass or glass etching. We're both coming up with ideas now. I'm thinking about stained glass to mimic the pattern on the hallway tiles and Ian is thinking about sandblasting a pattern. Watch this space....
Having said we were drawing a line under the building work when this little lot was complete, we have decided to go ahead with the new drain under the house. It will obviously be a messy job and it makes sense to get it all over and done with. We're also thinking about getting all of the plaster off the front of the house rather than getting it patched. This will be more expensive, but might patching it be a false economy if we are going to have to get it redone in the future - oh, I don't know!
Our latest list of addons will take us to the absolute limit BUT we feel that it is money well spent. We feel that we are getting very good value for money - I don't think we would have extended the project as we have done if had any concerns. This week he will be working on the new kitchen and the plumber will be coming to plumb everything in, which means that the new main bathroom and the pink bathroom will be functional - wahoo!
One last thing - I've changed the way that I post photos to the blog. It is quicker for me doing it this way as I am using an automated process via Flickr, but there is just one picture per blog post so it might be more difficult to read. If there are any probs, let me know and I'll go back to the old way.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
New Kitchen
This is how the new kitchen will be laid out. This is on the back wall of our old living room. Manuel has allowed for an extractor fan which is what the hole is on the outside wall. He'd also allowed for a ceramic hob in his quote which was a nice surprise!
Into our old living room
...which will be our new kitchen. This is interesting because of the door frame. See the bricks above the door. We're having glass in the panel to keep the height but to reduce the cost of the doors. A very good compromise!
Our Current Living Space
Can you see Ian's feet? They are poking out from where he is sitting behind the boxes.
Note the dust on the wooden unit to the left - this is typical of everything including us! We work and live in this room, with the bed in Ian's old office.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Ryanair Bristol to Seville
Starting July 3rd Ryanair are flying Bristol to Seville - how good is that !
The flights are excellent times too, leaving Bristol at 5 in the evening (which is a big improvement!) and leaving Seville around 8 at night. With the new motorway now open, Seville airport is only just over an hour away so this will make weekends a real possibility.
The flights are excellent times too, leaving Bristol at 5 in the evening (which is a big improvement!) and leaving Seville around 8 at night. With the new motorway now open, Seville airport is only just over an hour away so this will make weekends a real possibility.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Chickens
Well, Project Austerity is going really well. Obviously Sam was a bit of a set back, but other than that we're living within budget. Add to that all the things we haven't bought (I resisted the temptation to buy a chandelier to replace our, er, chandelier) then we're quids in!
We've also rethought our decision not to keep chickens. When the builders have finished we're going to get three or four chickens. They will not be pets - oh no. Our cute little chicky-wickys will be workhorses - a bit of a cross species metaphor, but you know what I mean. I think the builders have enough to contend with without having chickens wandering around too, so we'll get them when they've finished. We're going to keep them in the rear yard and they'll be free range, but we'll put them away in the barn at night.
I did discover the Eglu. A wonderful polycarbonate 'iglu' for chickens. And they come in pink. Ian, however, put his foot down. He pointed out that it would take us 8 years to recoup the cost given our current egg consumption and that this 'investment' didn't meet the criteria of Project Austerity. Sigh. Ian informs me, however, that our planned chickens will live quite happily without a pink plastic iglu - how little he knows....
We've also rethought our decision not to keep chickens. When the builders have finished we're going to get three or four chickens. They will not be pets - oh no. Our cute little chicky-wickys will be workhorses - a bit of a cross species metaphor, but you know what I mean. I think the builders have enough to contend with without having chickens wandering around too, so we'll get them when they've finished. We're going to keep them in the rear yard and they'll be free range, but we'll put them away in the barn at night.
I did discover the Eglu. A wonderful polycarbonate 'iglu' for chickens. And they come in pink. Ian, however, put his foot down. He pointed out that it would take us 8 years to recoup the cost given our current egg consumption and that this 'investment' didn't meet the criteria of Project Austerity. Sigh. Ian informs me, however, that our planned chickens will live quite happily without a pink plastic iglu - how little he knows....
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Dancing Queen and Old Windows
I don't know if Ian's always been a bit of a closet dancer, however he is inclined to break out into dance at the strangest of moments. Something that I am quite used to but it does startle the builders. The problem is that we are now living and working in the room next to where they are working, so we need to watch what we do - and that includes Ian's spontaneous dancing, particularly when it is with a cat or dog who didn't manage to get out of the way in time.
We keep laughing as it reminds us of when we were in Mineral House, and Ian went out to put the chickens to bed while singing 'good night my little chickies', and naming them one by one. Only to find that the farmer was the other side of the chicken house. Ian then went round the back to shut the sheep away and again was singing good night to the sheep and to his horror the farmer had moved round to the back and was stood looking over the fence at him.
Oh yes, and if there was any doubt as to why we needed new windows take a look at the pic below!
Sam is still subdued but he's wagging his silly stumpy tail again.
We keep laughing as it reminds us of when we were in Mineral House, and Ian went out to put the chickens to bed while singing 'good night my little chickies', and naming them one by one. Only to find that the farmer was the other side of the chicken house. Ian then went round the back to shut the sheep away and again was singing good night to the sheep and to his horror the farmer had moved round to the back and was stood looking over the fence at him.
Oh yes, and if there was any doubt as to why we needed new windows take a look at the pic below!
Sam is still subdued but he's wagging his silly stumpy tail again.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sam
Well, we think he is getting better, however we did have a nasty shock with Sam on Sunday.
We were moving things around to clear out the back two rooms for the builder when we found a puddle of clear liquid on the floor. It looked like something a cat might have sicked up so we didn't worry. Then we noticed Sam trying to be sick. A few minutes after this he started howling and was in obvious pain. This was pretty awful as we didn't know what had caused it. What made it worse was that Ian noticed that Sam had sicked up a piece of plastic a couple of days ago which meant that there still might be more inside him and also, although the builders are good at clearing up, there is a possibility that he might have eaten something poisonous. Sam licks things, and we could imagine him licking the walls that have been treated with damp chemicals, for instance.
Within about 10 minutes Sam then collapsed on his side and just laid there panting and this all happened in about half an hour from us first noticing that he wasn't right. If he had been curled up or even laid on his front we might not have worried so much but he was just collapsed. He then started dripping from the mouth which made us think poison.
So, we tried to track our vet down - but because we are living in havoc, we couldn't find his mobile number. We then tried to find a 24 hour vet that we know other people have used. Unfortunately we had a false start as Ian rang a vet in Alicante. We managed to get this vet and headed off with poor Sam. Sam by this time was drooling from the mouth, however as he does get car sick and he does drool we didn't know what was car trouble and what was anything else.
We were at the vet for two hours, while Sam was prodded, x-rayed, tested and generally given a rough time. The vet said that his temperature was low which he was worried about and this didn't suggest that he had eaten anything like plastic. He has diagnosed a bad case of gastroenteritis which would be why he was in pain. Poor Sam left the vets with a little iv thing in his leg, and he has been injected, iv-ed, given tablets and oral solution and is today looking brighter.
Sam spent quite a lot of time hidden under a table or under a blanket which is a typical doggy thing to do when they are feeling miserable.
We were mentally working out what we would be prepared to pay as we know that things can quickly get out of hand - however, so far so good, and our bill was 77 euros which included treatment, an emergency appointment and xrays.
Poor little chap does seem to have his fair share of problems!
We were moving things around to clear out the back two rooms for the builder when we found a puddle of clear liquid on the floor. It looked like something a cat might have sicked up so we didn't worry. Then we noticed Sam trying to be sick. A few minutes after this he started howling and was in obvious pain. This was pretty awful as we didn't know what had caused it. What made it worse was that Ian noticed that Sam had sicked up a piece of plastic a couple of days ago which meant that there still might be more inside him and also, although the builders are good at clearing up, there is a possibility that he might have eaten something poisonous. Sam licks things, and we could imagine him licking the walls that have been treated with damp chemicals, for instance.
Within about 10 minutes Sam then collapsed on his side and just laid there panting and this all happened in about half an hour from us first noticing that he wasn't right. If he had been curled up or even laid on his front we might not have worried so much but he was just collapsed. He then started dripping from the mouth which made us think poison.
So, we tried to track our vet down - but because we are living in havoc, we couldn't find his mobile number. We then tried to find a 24 hour vet that we know other people have used. Unfortunately we had a false start as Ian rang a vet in Alicante. We managed to get this vet and headed off with poor Sam. Sam by this time was drooling from the mouth, however as he does get car sick and he does drool we didn't know what was car trouble and what was anything else.
We were at the vet for two hours, while Sam was prodded, x-rayed, tested and generally given a rough time. The vet said that his temperature was low which he was worried about and this didn't suggest that he had eaten anything like plastic. He has diagnosed a bad case of gastroenteritis which would be why he was in pain. Poor Sam left the vets with a little iv thing in his leg, and he has been injected, iv-ed, given tablets and oral solution and is today looking brighter.
Sam spent quite a lot of time hidden under a table or under a blanket which is a typical doggy thing to do when they are feeling miserable.
We were mentally working out what we would be prepared to pay as we know that things can quickly get out of hand - however, so far so good, and our bill was 77 euros which included treatment, an emergency appointment and xrays.
Poor little chap does seem to have his fair share of problems!
Friday, January 09, 2009
Well...
Today the front window on the right as you look at the house came out and the new window will go in tomorrow. As the window also completely fell out on the other side, you could say the house is rather drafty at the moment! Shame that all of this is happening in what is the coldest few days of the year...
The floor is now down in the main bathroom and he is just finishing tiling the shower tray. Next week he is either going to take us to the marble place, or bring samples here, so we can chose the marble for the sink unit in the main bathroom. The plumber is coming next week to do the plumbery bits. They've laid the pipes for the water to the new kitchen and also our new outdoor shower.
Anyone remember the sink in my workshop? That is now going outside by the shower, which will be much better and perfect for washing dirty puppies and making felt (not at the same time).
This weekend we need to clear out of our main room so that work can start here next week. Not looking forward to that (although admittedly most of the stuff we have to move are all of my 'treasures'). I think it will be a longish job, but all I have to do is to pop into our new bathroom to remember how good it will look! It is a somewhat larger job than when we first talked about getting new windows!
...and lastly, Manuel has thought of a way he can take the tiles up to lay a pipe without damaging them. I think it entails a saw of some description. He seems a lot happier about that - so we are too!
The floor is now down in the main bathroom and he is just finishing tiling the shower tray. Next week he is either going to take us to the marble place, or bring samples here, so we can chose the marble for the sink unit in the main bathroom. The plumber is coming next week to do the plumbery bits. They've laid the pipes for the water to the new kitchen and also our new outdoor shower.
Anyone remember the sink in my workshop? That is now going outside by the shower, which will be much better and perfect for washing dirty puppies and making felt (not at the same time).
This weekend we need to clear out of our main room so that work can start here next week. Not looking forward to that (although admittedly most of the stuff we have to move are all of my 'treasures'). I think it will be a longish job, but all I have to do is to pop into our new bathroom to remember how good it will look! It is a somewhat larger job than when we first talked about getting new windows!
...and lastly, Manuel has thought of a way he can take the tiles up to lay a pipe without damaging them. I think it entails a saw of some description. He seems a lot happier about that - so we are too!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Slideshow
Jim has had a go and found out that this is the way to do it...
Hope that works!
The picture on the right is only half size but if you click on "Marchena's Building" at the top and then on "Slideshow" it works.
Hope that works!
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
New Feature
I'm trying out this slideshow feature to the right. I think that if you click on the picture you can then click on the small icon at the bottom right with the four arrows and this will make it play full size.
In case I am seeing something different to you, this is the icon that I've indicated below that you are looking for,
In case I am seeing something different to you, this is the icon that I've indicated below that you are looking for,
Monday, January 05, 2009
New Bathroom
Well, I am itching to post a picture of our new bathroom, however Manuel keeps blocking up the door so we can't get in there! The reason for that is because he has put some new tiles down in the old kitchen and he doesn't want us walking on them. However there new bathroom looks wonderful. I think we'll just stand and look at it rather than use it.
He has also started and finished taking the bad plaster off my workshop and outside. He was getting quite frustrated outside as increasing amounts of old plaster were falling off and I think he could imagine the whole lot falling down.
There's a small fly, however, that is about to drop in our ointment. Manuel says we need a new drain pipe under the house which in itself is a small job and will entail taking up one or two rows of tiles along the full length of the hall (that is small in comparison with the total project). However, he is now concerned as he thinks that some of the tiles will crack and therefore won't be able to be put down and therefore we could be looking at redoing the whole floor, which is, of course, a much bigger job. We're worried because he's worried! Normally he says that everything is possible if you look for a way, however he's just been shaking his head at this. I know he's been talking with other people so we'll wait and see what he comes back with. So far he has found solutions for everything.
Our cat Schnukems has undergone a complete personality change since the builder have been here. I think she has been watching them knock down walls etc. Whereas at one time she would quite happily sit and wait for someone to open the door for her, she now head-buts the door till it opens. She can open every door with just brute force. Admittedly it doesn't take a lot to open our ill fitting doors, however she can open doors that Basil can't. The cats are very used to the builders and are quite happy to go up to them and meow to be picked up and put on the fridge for their food. We hear Felix, who is one of the builders, meowing back at them. As he is the flamenco singing builder it can sometimes be confusing.
Tonight the three kings are coming. We'll probably go and have sweets thrown at us again!
He has also started and finished taking the bad plaster off my workshop and outside. He was getting quite frustrated outside as increasing amounts of old plaster were falling off and I think he could imagine the whole lot falling down.
There's a small fly, however, that is about to drop in our ointment. Manuel says we need a new drain pipe under the house which in itself is a small job and will entail taking up one or two rows of tiles along the full length of the hall (that is small in comparison with the total project). However, he is now concerned as he thinks that some of the tiles will crack and therefore won't be able to be put down and therefore we could be looking at redoing the whole floor, which is, of course, a much bigger job. We're worried because he's worried! Normally he says that everything is possible if you look for a way, however he's just been shaking his head at this. I know he's been talking with other people so we'll wait and see what he comes back with. So far he has found solutions for everything.
Our cat Schnukems has undergone a complete personality change since the builder have been here. I think she has been watching them knock down walls etc. Whereas at one time she would quite happily sit and wait for someone to open the door for her, she now head-buts the door till it opens. She can open every door with just brute force. Admittedly it doesn't take a lot to open our ill fitting doors, however she can open doors that Basil can't. The cats are very used to the builders and are quite happy to go up to them and meow to be picked up and put on the fridge for their food. We hear Felix, who is one of the builders, meowing back at them. As he is the flamenco singing builder it can sometimes be confusing.
Tonight the three kings are coming. We'll probably go and have sweets thrown at us again!
Friday, January 02, 2009
Happy New Year!
We didn't go out this New Year's Eve. The celebrations don't actually kick off until midnight, after which time people go off for meals with family and friends before congregating later and partying to the (not so) early hours. We've been quite busy so a night of partying would result in a day of grogginess so we just locked the doors and went to bed! Ian has been doing some websites for a man in Malaga who is paying him in Euros which is great and I had some more articles to write for the UK company that I did work for in November, so we've had plenty to keep us busy!
We don't normally make New Year Resolutions, however the new year has coincided with our aim to pay for the rest of the work for our earnings, so with the new year has come Project Austerity.
The first thing we did was write down all the things we could do to save money. Surprisingly this entailed the need to buy several things that are absolutely necessary to saving money - which totaled over a thousand pounds.
So I took a red pen to our list and struck off all the things that perhaps, on reflection, we didn't need to buy and amazingly this resulted in us saving a thousand pounds - all before we even started!
This money management lark is easy when you really think about it. Think I might apply for a job as an economist.
The last time we were on a major austerity drive was when we were in Mineral House and we were living on 50p each a day (this is when we had the chickens so we ate a lot of eggs!). During this time I was making homemade wine which we made from all sorts of things and cost only the cost of a bag of sugar and lasted ages! Ian was moaning that one batch of wine was not alcoholic. This was about three minutes before he had to be put to bed. Later that night I heard him get up and he disappeared downstairs for about half an hour. A fact that he vehemently denied the next day. Until he looked at his computer and found an email from Microsoft, thanking him for his email to 'Mr Gates' and confirming that his suggestions had been noted. To this day Ian has no idea what he wrote to Bill Gates about and has treated homemade wine with a greater degree of respect.
We don't normally make New Year Resolutions, however the new year has coincided with our aim to pay for the rest of the work for our earnings, so with the new year has come Project Austerity.
The first thing we did was write down all the things we could do to save money. Surprisingly this entailed the need to buy several things that are absolutely necessary to saving money - which totaled over a thousand pounds.
So I took a red pen to our list and struck off all the things that perhaps, on reflection, we didn't need to buy and amazingly this resulted in us saving a thousand pounds - all before we even started!
This money management lark is easy when you really think about it. Think I might apply for a job as an economist.
The last time we were on a major austerity drive was when we were in Mineral House and we were living on 50p each a day (this is when we had the chickens so we ate a lot of eggs!). During this time I was making homemade wine which we made from all sorts of things and cost only the cost of a bag of sugar and lasted ages! Ian was moaning that one batch of wine was not alcoholic. This was about three minutes before he had to be put to bed. Later that night I heard him get up and he disappeared downstairs for about half an hour. A fact that he vehemently denied the next day. Until he looked at his computer and found an email from Microsoft, thanking him for his email to 'Mr Gates' and confirming that his suggestions had been noted. To this day Ian has no idea what he wrote to Bill Gates about and has treated homemade wine with a greater degree of respect.