Everyone made a huge effort yesterday and the majority of the upstairs is now again looking as if people live here. Rooms are clean and clear, carpets sucked clean of debris, and assorted rubbish either discarded… or hidden. Our room is of course now the repository of the remaining clutter… but won’t be attacked until after the eldest’s birthday next weekend.
Hard as it is to believe, she’s turning 11. Concomitant with her new found maturity… she no longer wants the regular “entertainer plus food” type parties of old. Last year she reached double figures and decided to take a few friends out to lunch and a movie… followed by a sleepover and video out in a tent! Got to be fair that was a bit different! š
This year isn’t as extravagant. Now the girls have their own media room… temporarily at least… she’s decided they’ll all sleepover up there playing music and videos… but also playing party games and doing magic tricks (no idea where that comes from as she’s never shown any major talent in that area!). We’ve promised to (a) keep out of the way which is ok because there’re no boys this year and (b) supply them with pizza and drinks and nibbles. What the carpet will look like once they’ve gone I shudder to think… we can just hope for the best.
Downstairs… well it’s *far* better than it was. As far as the outside is concerned, even the garden is looking reasonable with some fresh plantings in pots of some instant colour and a few small trees/large bushes. It’ll be some time before the trees take off but the fact they’re *in* is enough. I’m still not sure what we’ll do with 400 avocados if the two trees we planted eventually bear fruit… bu I’m sure the neighbours will help out. If I could bring myself to do the weeding it would look ok but my episode with the wasps has made me a little wary of gardening pro tem and I’m leaving a lot of it to the wife… who has no time to do it š
Internally… well the only real criticisms I have of the look of the place are that the paintwork really needs a freshen up downstairs and a complete makeover upstairs; also the furniture is looking really shabby (it’s an eclectic mix that hasn’t really come off… probably because it was so cheap); finally the wooden venetian blinds need urgent attention. They’re still loking dire since the dog trashed them three years ago. Actually replacing the blinds is probably the next task to be tackled. They really *do* need attention. Some are missing, others have gaping holes in them where he assaulted them as he went berserk while we were out. Grrr… he’s lucky he wasn’t turned into a fur jacket and pair of gloves!!
Otherwise, whilst now containing far more furniture than I’d like, the house is almost ready for visiting parents to arrive. With any luck we will *not* have any comments from the kids in the vein of last years offering such as “Why is your house.. errr… such a mess?”. Cheeky gits.
Either way it was a hard weekend… but a rewarding one!
The Eclectic Interweb 