Spark & Spark removals

Remember I said I'd had a bright idea about moving the dining table downstairs and the TV into what was the dining room? Well we put the plan into action yesterday. Me and my big mouth!! Remind me to keep my good ideas to myself in future!!!! It took hours!! And its not easy manhandling furniture up all the stairs! Some of it was heavy!!! But the two of us persevered. It took us pretty much until we were moving the final piece to work out that having me at the front when we were going upstairs wasn't a great idea...why put the person with short arms and legs in the position where they have to lift it highest?? Anyway, we managed...although we are both walking wounded today! We are both hobbling about rubbing various joints and our backs and groaning loudly. The new TV room is great, and we're still kinda working out where the furniture is best placed downstairs...but it works!

Before - when it was still a dining room

After - the new Den

Before (very before - we had changed the sofas since this!)

After - the multipurpose dining room

Of course this dislodged piles of crap from cubby holes, so we have spent the rest of yesterday and today putting a showroom shine on the house ready for Julie, Andy and Louise arriving tomorrow. We also did a grocery shop - we were getting low on wine - Heaven forbid we should run out of Pinot Grigio! Annoyingly I bought loads of trashy gossip magazines and now I can't find them...I think perhaps they're still in the shop. Because you don't pack your own groceries here I didn't notice what was going into the trolley. They're the only thing that was missing. Grrrr. I REALLY wanted to know if Brangelina had got married and what Katie Holmes mystery illness was....

We had out first BBQ of the season today...not that it was particularly sunny...or warm for that matter! But we've got to get them in before the heat, humidity and the mosquitos stop us from going into the back yard... We had people round last August and it was like walking out of the air conditioned luxury into...soup! Being very British about the whole thing we just had more booze and pretended we weren't melting into puddles of sweat!!!!

The Master Chef in action