The Dust Settles (Part 3 of 3)

And so, with the bedroom carpets fitted and 1 of our 2 beds delivered, we settled in for our first night at home.

There was an obvious absence of curtains!

Our makeshift curtain is the dust sheet we used for painting

Peanut Butter Porridge for breakfast

It was quite cold for those first few days and even though our central heating system worked well, the absence of curtains meant there were massive heat sinks all over the house. So we pounced on the opportunity. For 3 years Erin has had to suffer a high-definition, 3 hour long video of someone else's fire on the TV to keep her cosy on Spring evenings. Now, after all that waiting, she finally had her own. So we fired it up:

Finally!

For those of you that don't know, after just 3 nights in our new home we left for Sweden & Denmark on vacation (that's Erin's next post!). We are gluttons for rough schedules! While we were away our makeshift under-counter fridge gave up on life and left us with some new organic compounds when we returned. It had to be dumped. But worse yet, we had nothing to replace it with. And because we are planning to do some building work and build a new kitchen from scratch we had to come up with a design so we knew what fridge to buy ahead of time. All that meant we were fridgeless for one week. One doesn't realise how much we rely on modern amenities until they are gone.

Our dinners - chips and beans. Breakfast - toast.

So when I bought this a week later it was as if
Christmas had come early!

Hallelujah! It doesn't look the nicest because it is
meant to be hidden behind kitchen doors
(which we don't have yet)

As for kitchens, the one above will have to do us for now. It ain't pretty and it's very cramped but the builders are coming out next week to talk to me about removing that wall you see in front of you. The aim is this Summer but we'll soon find out how lofty those ambitions are.

Applying some finishing touches to her new office

Plumbing in the new washing machine. Another staple that we went without!

It even got sunny enough to test out our new garden

So sunny that my 2 girls fell asleep on me

So sunny that we even took a trip to the beach 10 mins away

Getting a bit of spunk.

Taking her first steps on the lawn

As if we ever needed more concrete confirmation
that we were meant to move to East Belfast, a
Yogurtland copy moved in nearby!!!

I predict jogging in a few weeks followed by tennis lessons

So that's it. We are in. I hope this satisfies your curiosity about what our house looks like. Lord knows we've taken enough photos. Like I said, we'd rather you just visit! The journey is not over yet. Our clothes are still scattered everywhere, we've one more room to paint, one more carpet to put down, and a whole kitchen extension to sort out but it's starting to feel a lot like home. Erin will be with you next bringing you a wrap-up of our trip to her motherland. Expect:

Family reunions

And irresponsible parenting

The Storm (Part 2 of 3)

It could have been worse. Our house could have looked like this:

The house we were bidding on!

Nevertheless, we had one weekend to get our job done so we got cracking. First out were the old carpets.

That is 20+ years of dust built up right there

Some floor boards needed repairing

While the floor boards were visible (hopefully
that is the last time I will ever see them) I took
the opportunity to sort out the 30 phone wires
that appeared to be coming into our house!

Next the rooms had to be prepped:

For painting!

Cream white went everywhere!

The dream team hard at work

This little legend just sat quietly in the sitting room while we worked away upstairs.
This was the best she has ever behaved. 12 hours of work and not a peep. Poor girl.
She must've been lonely.

So we came down to keep her company
every so often :)

After a long hard day the painters were zonked!

Day 2 involved much of the same!

Back to no.2 early Sunday for more of the same

Erin made fun of my overalls being too tight on my arse!

It may be our home, but it's the guy in the background who's really putting it together!

Breaks helped, but half the time we didn't know whether to laugh or cry!

Discussing how long we could go without a fridge!

The view from our hall window

And downstairs. Here is one of my favourite things about our home. The view
of the runway and of planes taking off. Can you spot one under the rainbow?

Take-out pizza for dinner!

Méabh looks like she has had one too many slices!

To avoid photo overload for you all there will be one more post. In that: our first night, our first morning, our first fire, and the final touches. Until then, adios!