The House That Jackie Built

I still haven't opened the Champagne - mainly because I keep looking at the accounts spreadsheet and spend too much time scratching the head pondering when we get our financial lives back into a fit state. Building a house is an expensive operation and banks don't make it easy.

We've been living in our dream home for a week now and bits are continually being added. The kitchen is wicked (although the boiler tap and the wine cooler take the wickedness to a new level).

Lighting-wise, we have uplighters, downlighters, sidelighters, floodlighters and all other sorts of lighting shenanigans. The latest lighting to be installed is the rope lighting:

You need to excuse the clothes horse and the patio furniture - we still haven't decided on a sofa for this room!

Our fabulous hall light has also had bulbs inserted - finally. It's tricky taking photos of lights when your technical ability doesn't stretch to working the camera properly, but here's what I managed to capture:

And for a full frontal - with digger and workmen performing the finishing touches:

Of course, it's been quiet for the past week as we haven't had an internet connection in the house. That all changed today courtesy of Virginmedia. We are online once more and have the HD experience to finally look forward to. We just don't have a decent television right now! The house was CAT6 enabled and this is the performance we are getting from the LAN:

Now... that's gotta be pleasing! They promised me a 50mb broadband package and I'm getting 49.95 at the far end of my house through the LAN.

And finally... it really is about time that this blog was "archived". There really won't be any more to say as we have now moved in. It has been hard work, expensive, stressful but worth it. It really wouldn't have happened without the dedication/devotion shown by Jackie - after all, I spend 5/7ths of my time away from home and in a state which renders me useless at making decisions. It's the house that Jackie built and I won't ever be able to thank her enough for what she has done over the last 20 months.

Until the next adventure folks...

Time To Celebrate

It seems odd that the weekend we moved in has been and gone with little comment on the blog. But there's a good reason for that. In fact, there are two good reasons for it. And maybe even a third!

First Good Reason
We were too busy moving stuff from one house to another. By 6pm on Saturday, I had NEVER felt fatigue the way I felt at that time. In fact, that fatigue is still with me and it is Wednesday! I am covered in bruises from the lifting and hauling and can feel twinges of pain in almost every part of my body. So tired was I on Saturday, that I wasn't fit to properly celebrate my birthday on Sunday. How many people celebrate their 40th birthday without opening a bottle of something nice?

Second Good Reason
We have no internet access in the new house just yet. That will be switched on this coming Saturday by Virginmedia. It almost feels like I'm missing an arm not having access to the internet at home. I'm only writing this now because I'm back at work in Birmingham and am in the land of civilisation once more!

Third Good Reason
I do have 3G dongles and a smartphone, but the reception at my new house is rubbish. I cannot get a 3G signal on any of the networks I should have access to: Vodafone, O2 and Orange. GPRS is intermittent and even phone calls are very patchy.

So there has been no update until now but the move has happened and the house is better than we could have hoped. There are, however, a few outstanding issues. The kitchen was still being fitted yesterday as the kitchen suppliers failed to meet our deadlines; the electricians will be onsite today finalising the last few items; the driveway needs sorting and we need some new furniture that will be in keeping with the rest of the house.

And, of course, we need to organise a "house warming" party at some point.

No photos today I'm afraid. I've left them all behind on my camera at home. The final photos will be uploaded this weekend and then serious consideration will be given to calling an end to the blog. The "Thank You" blog entry will be the final one!