Move in minus 2 or maybe even 1 day..living on the edge

No, seeing as how you ask...we are not ready to move in! Nearly, granted, and it could all come right by tomorrow night but it's not there yet. All credit to the builders, they are pulling out all the stops to get us in and were still there at 7.30 last night, two of them stayed till 9. If you are reading this Moggs, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

All we need are carpets in the bedrooms and the wooden flooring in..everything else can wait but we can't move anything back in until we have the floors down. Then there are the skirting boards to do. Ah me.

So I'm sitting in our little one bedroomed place looking at what I need to pack but there is no point doing it until the last minute. We won't be able to get anything out of storage until next week at the earliest so we will be sitting on mattresses in the lounge but we will be in, I confidently predict.

Wood burning stove going in today. This is so exciting.

I may be too busy packing boxes and working out how to live with no furniture for the rest of the week, so for anyone who has more time than me and is reading this blog, I'd like to wish you a really really happy Chrimbo. Make eco mistakes but remember, the reason we're all sitting here shivering is because we've all been wasteful, naughty people!

Move in minus 6 days

And I'm not nervous..no not a bit of it, especially not at 3am when I clamber downstairs for the chamomile tea. Are we going to make it? I'm assured by those in the know that we will but when I saw the house yesterday, I did have an odd little doubt. By 2.57am they had grown to huge panic. Twill be fine ! We may be camping out on floors surrounded by builders but we will be in.

Anyway, what I did want to share with you, and those of you with large, draughty old houses won't want to hear this...but oh, the warmth as you walk in! It's just fab. There's not a radiator in sight, the air source heat pump is gently ( yes, gently, no great noise) churning away outside and we have heat! I am seriously going to love this. I heard of someone who just laid their washing out on the tiles in the kitchen and came back in the morning to it all dry! As we have racks all over the one bedroomed little place we are in at the moment, that sounds just great.

The man from the window company ( A and M Profiles) came yesterday to see if we were happy, I put a hand next to the bedroom window and there wasn't one little bit of cold air. Yep, I'm happy.

We're waiting for the next snow--no please, no more, got too much to do and I've sort of done snow this year, but there is a little bit of me that wants to challenge the weather to do its worst so we can be exceptionally smug!

Piccies

Well, you asked for some, so here they are. It's looking more like a house and we should definitely be in for 22nd, maybe even before????

Apologies to my readers!!!

I've had complaints that I haven't been updating on the house...see, I do have readers! Amazing. Nobody more surprised than me!

Anyway, it's move in day minus two weeks and one day. We are due to "camp out" with minimal stuff on 22nd which should be fun.

As it is minus 16 degrees with 2ft of snow still here, we will be thrilled to little mint balls to move into our completely insulated house that feels warm even now and only the dehumidifiers are on. Wait till we get the air source heat pump going...not to mention the wood burning stove!

I may never move out again till spring.

So, I will take some pix today to update you which means I have to go down at lunchtime cos otherwise it's dark. Kitchen is in, so I'll put those pix for now to keep you going.

Watch this space!

To LED or not to LED? That is the question.

But what is the answer?

We've done the first fix for the electrics, all the cables are there waiting but we have been struggling to decide on the best lights to put in. We want to put LEDs in but there's so much conflicting information, that we've become befuddled.

I think the answer is to have recessed lights in the ceilings where possible--don't put the white LEDs in-you'll think you're in an operating theatre- and a tracking system in other places so that we can put in a mixture of lights.

We asked electricians, suppliers and manufacturers and none of them agree! It is a minefield.

Roll back the days when we used to buy a 99p paper light shade from Habitat!

Crisp packets out of potato peelings? Bring it on!

Have a look at this.....http://http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?src=nl&id=18795 it's about how Walkers are looking at using potato peelings for crisp packets. YESSSSS! As one of thousands of us who wander round picking up crisp packets on our streets, all I can say is- about bloomin time! Do pass the word and let's put pressure on Walkers to put their money where our mouths are!

Proper house innit?

Oh we are getting so posh! It's beginnning to look like a proper house with plaster board, insulation on the floors and the first fix lighting. As you may know, I have had a real problem with this build in that when it was a naff bungalow with swirly carpets, it was, at least, a home, with our things in it. Once they took all that away, all we were left with were the bare bones of the ugliest, most charmless, small building you can imagine. I hated it.

Well, I went down this week and now there is some plaster board and you can begin to see the spaces, I had a little moment of vision when I saw, for the first time, what this little house might look like. We went to see some friends' house and they are at the skeletal stage so I felt fo them and came back to find our floors insulated with gloriously thick padding. It felt warmer already. Also, we went to Grand Designs at the NEC on Friday and I did feel a smug little glow when I realised we were putting our money where our mouth was and were doing a really eco project that will be warm, cosy and best of all, cheap to run. It made me feel really good.