January 2019

I’ve been reading and reflecting on past years resolutions, as I lie in bed in a stone cottage in Montesinho Natural Park, north eastern Portugal.

Feeding the soul

I decided to take a day off today. I know - already had 3 days off sick and one day back and I need a break? I really did need to take stock. I read some books and practiced 'mindfulness' techniques to help me re-focus. I had a lovely day. Walked to the botanical gardens and read my book in the park. Lunch at the museum and a walk to the bus stop and up the hill. Chat with Rachel on the way home. Revised budget so that I don't have to work at Rachel's. Plan for tomorrow:

Dishes

Gardening (Rachel's)

Art class

Gardening (Manor Place)

Buy drill

Snail's pace

Went to Bunnings (sorry Mitre 10 Mega, I'd rather shop New Zealand owned but they're just cheaper!). Bought the framing wood and screws but couldn't carry all that AND a drill home. Fluffed around for pretty much the whole day without achieving very much at all. Hunger and overwhelming depression at the enormity of the job (amongst other things) drove me towards home via the library. Heavy sigh. Tomorrow's another day.

Slow progress

I've been sick for the past 3 days, so not as much progress as I would've liked. I've focussed my attention on the dining room, starting with framing and lining lower walls with wainscotting. This is slow progress as none of the walls or floors are level or square. Trying to avoid any truly obvious imperfections is the best I can do.

 

One section finished, only 6 more to go. Hopefully we'll work faster now we know what we're doing and when we have all the tools we need to hand. Tomorrow's task:

Nice times today - working alongside Steph and having a drink at the Al Bar with Steph and Lisa at the end of the day. Yesterday, going to see 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' with Steph, David and Anna. The last couple of days I was too sick to do anything except sleep and rest.

Not superwoman after all!

I clearly over-estimated how many jobs I could do in a day! Of my ambitious list, the only tasks I actually completed were opening the upstairs window to investigate the significance of the cracks, & cleaning the upstairs bedroom.

Good news and bad news. The good news is that the water only seems to be getting through at window sill level and so the roof isn't leaking (at this location anyway). The bad news is twofold. Firstly, the crack goes right through to the inside of the house and is bigger on the inside than the outside. Secondly, the pattern of mould in the piano room suggests that the water is also coming in through the crack where pavement asphalt meets the house.

I've contacted a structural engineer (who is bound to be on holiday until the 15th of January). I've also emailed a couple of crack repair companies for quotes (also bound to be closed until the 15th). This job is officially on hold until I hear back from one or other.

I need to remind myself of at least one nice thing I've done each day, so I can look back and see that there are some positives. Today it was lunch at Vogel Street Kitchen with Steph, Nick and Lisa. Also having Nick and Steph sorting through stuff in Steph's old room. Working together was really fun.

Jobs for tomorrow

  

    

Contact DCC re building consent
Clean & weed courtyard
Open upstairs window & investigate
Weed front garden
Replace letterbox
Clean kitchen & fridge
Scrape back mould & clean in both the piano room and the bathroom
Clean & organise Steph's old room
Investigate solutions for cracks in exterior wall

The nice thing I did today was to have coffee with Ingrid and chat about life in general. She keeps a journal and finds it helpful to reflect on the positives so as not to become too downhearted. 

Ceilings are killing me

I've been working on painting the ceilings in the piano room (because it has a piano in it), living room and dining room. Chose the paint (Dulux 'Okarito') for the ceilings, skirtings and door and window surrounds. Have done 2 coats in the living room and 1 in the piano room. Dave has been doing some plastering, sanding and framing of the dining room wall. It's looking good. I am narrowing down paint colours for the piano and living room: Lake Ellsemere & Lyall Bay; Adele Island is quite blue and Apple Tree Bay is too grey. Herbetville Beach or Manu Bay? Well....narrower than it was before anyway.