Week 3 ...Not looking much different

So it has come on in leaps and bounds in the kitchen...

Well no it hasn't really. Still looks the same. A piled up mess

Todays task was to get the rest of the old tiles, grout, paper stripped (woodchip....arghhhhhh....worst stuff ever)

Very impressed with wallpaper stripper though, and managed to use it to scrape the grout off the walls as well (as well as half the plaster but that is a small problem)

As it's been so long since I decided to decorate the kitchen, I have changed my mind a few times (I am a bit prone to this) Over the last 2 years I have had various shelves etc on the 'main wall'. The consequence of this is it now looks like a firing range....

So 300 rawlplugs later it was ready to strip (and I missed another 9 that were further down!)

All stripped and yayyyy there is a surprise- I have found a nice donkeys head in the middle of the wall (you might have to look carefully and have a stupid imagination like me to see him)

So anyway, all walls are now stripped (got a bit fed at one stage scrabbling behind a cupboard. Who is ever going to look behind the bloody cupboard to see if i stripped the paper anyway)

I have also wasted my entire paint fund on matchpots, I am now on the 8th one.

No I don't like any of them either, but I AM NOT HAVING BLOODY MAGNOLIA. I even got the bloke at B & Q to mix me up a dulux one today. It's the worst of the lot, was supposed to be raspberry and looks more fuschia pink (you have been spared that one)

So here we are now...

Ok, so it's not exactly 24 hour makeover but at least I'm ready for the nex t stage. Well I will be if I can work out if a random socket sitting in the middle is actually live, as I need to move it. I might ask Steve the OH, to plug the kettle in and see if anything happens to him

Rest of this week time was wasted making some new curtains (well it didnt have any at all) for the Cabanon Latitude. Easy job you just sew the plastic clips on. Then unpick the plastic clips. Then sew them on again the right way round.

Made another Lucy Goosey (i don't know why either)

and a carrier bag holder in case kitchen gets finished some time this century

Also started the Mr Men Quilt (for Mr Men Tent which I'm not allowed to start painting until I have finished plastering/filling the kitchen)

Couple of squares Friday....

And 30 completed squares later the front is finished (this may have something to do with the slow kitchen makeover - My priorities get a bit jumbled sometimes). Just need to do the wadding, get something to back it with and bind it (actually I don't know how to do any of this but there's bound to be something on You Tube)

Talking of Mr Men, I got trigger happy in the week on ebay and bid on a 36 inch Mr Strong. (as you do)

So after working in Watford Thursday I had a trip to Romford in Essex to pick him up. Sat Nav had never heard of the place I had to go but threw me in the general direction. Drove past some pretty swanky houses and thought 'ooh is going to be quality stuff'....then i found it. Was a perfect match with Nelson Mandela House (only fools and horses). Hid the satnav, laptop, dog chews, old tissues and sweet papers (nothing looked safe in the area) and buzzed the intercom

A little bloke came down with Mr Strong. It was hard to work out which was the cushion and which was the seller. He then said 'It's me this is, my mates call me Mr Strong'...righhhtttt.....

He asked me what my intentions were for him (it was a bit like signing adoption papers) but I assured him he was going to a good home to live in a nice tent (actually i did say about the Mr Men tent, so I'm hoping he doesn't manage to google his way here) and the handover was complete....

Drove home with Mr Strong in my passenger seat (not a great conversationalist to be honest), but he is very nice and will be good as a floor cushion

So plans this week...roll back up the Latitude sprawled all over the bed, hopefully finish the quilt off, then next weekend is kitchen duty again

Next camping trip is to Banbury on the 9th Feb. Weather is pretty mild at the moment, so I can probably guarantee 6 inch of snow by then