A very busy Squidge indeed!

Sorry I've been a bit quiet on the old blogging front - been a bit preoccupied recently!

I last blogged about our kitchen refit here. We're now into our fourth week.

Timetabling various work has been a bit of an issue - lots of time in between phases of work, rather than a smooth day-after-day continuation. We knew there would be a week's wait for our worktop after the units were fitted, but we didn't expect a delay of a week before the template could be taken, then another for said manufacture and fitting.

Units in, but no doors...

 It's going to look fab once it is completely finished - we've been painting in the quiet times so at least we're getting that done before we move everything back in. Here it is half-done, with a few cupboard doors and drawer fronts missing, no floor, and no paint on the walls.

Missing the glass doors and worktop

My really funky radiator!

Almost done. Still missing a few doors and drawer fronts...

We've also been trying desperately hard to get the garden room finished - which it is! There are lights, we even painted inside (I feel like I've lived in painting trousers for the last week!) and we have squishy bean bags and enough carpet for folks to crash down there and for me to do Pilates.

Squidgeling T has already had a jamming session with a mate in there - one full drum kit and a bass guitar with big amp, and we couldn't hear much at all in the house!

Mr Squidge has done an amazing job on building this

I'm looking forward to writing there, too. Amazing how much you can do if you're out of range of wifi and can't access the internet... Speaking of which, I'm 25,000 words into the rewrite of Rurik. It's going well, although I have discovered one or two continuity errors re timing. And I've had to rethink some character interactions and motivations. I'm hoping to have a first draft completed within another six weeks.

What else has happened? I went to my first 'festival' - an event to celebrate a friend's 50th. As you can see, I got into the spirit and dressed accordingly. So did Mr Squidge, but he didn't fancy sharing his photo!

Was especially proud of my 'festival nails' - the ones you can't see are cerise pink! 

And we've also had some very exciting news - Squidgeling J got the grades she needed in her A levels so she's off to Bristol University to do an MEng in Engineering Mathematics for the next four years! Tomorrow we find out how Squidgeling T got on in his GCSE's, too...

I don't think things are going to get any less busy any time soon, either; I have several bookings for author talks and creative writing workshops coming up as well as trying to put back everything that come out of the old kitchen into the new one. And learn how to cook again - we have always cooked on gas, but we're now the proud owners of an electric oven and hob, so it's all VERY different.

I'd be bored if I wasn't busy, wouldn't I? ;)

NIBSing in August

Our most recent meeting was a little thinner for numbers (holiday time!) but was no less rich in material created because of it. So for your enjoyment, here are two ideas for writing inspiration - and two pieces of flash.

One of our activities was based on a book I'd read on my holiday - The Keeper of Lost Things, a stunning debut by Ruth Hogan. I'm not going to say much about the book - other than 'READ IT!' - because it is a beautiful story, and as an author I was struck by how cleverly it was constructed. Dotted throughout the book are the stories behind the lost things, and it was this idea - of writing the story behind the lost object - that I thought we could use as inspiration.

So, as is often the way before a NIBS session, I ran round the house collecting things that people might have lost.

I chose a button badge with 'I read, therefore I am' written on it and came up with this...


     "Ow!"
     She jerked her hand and the last book out of her bag and stared at the bead of red on her finger. Then she almost threw the book onto the pile and sucked her stabbed digit, tasting metal and salt.
     Perhaps she ought to wear the badges on her lapels instead, like most other people did? Except that this was her book bag, and she always used it to bring her books back to the library. It wouldn't be the same without the many book-related badges rattling gently on the fabric.
     She checked her finger. Still there. Not bleeding any more. So which of the badges was it this time? She reached for the bag and-
     "Hullo, Jean. What you been reading this week, then?"
     Her cheeks glowed. Frank Abbott was talking to her. "Um..."
     "I had a rather tasty little gothic horror to keep me up at night, but I see you're a bit more of a fantasy buff?"
     They both glanced down at the pile of G.R.R.R. Martin.
     "Um...yes...I..."
     Frank took her elbow in one hand and grabbed the straps of her bag with the other, dragging it across the counter. It snagged, momentarily, and there was a metallic 'ping' but neither of them heard it.


Our second exercise used paint charts. No, not the individual colours like I've used before (to create flash like this one called Planet Fever). Whole paint charts, which double up as inspiration if you can't think of colour combos for your own rooms.

Because there are so many pictures of rooms, decorated all sorts of ways, I challenged the NIBSers to find a picture of a room and write about it. There were some smashing pieces as a result - in one, an author described a particular shade of red as 'Bad Day at the Abbattoir' - which gave me a whole new idea for rewriting the paint names as something more realistic. Like a shade of green - 'The Morning After'. Or blue - 'Frostbitten Toes'.

Anyway, in the paint books were quite a few studies.

Study? Or writing corner?

Now 'study' to me, is a bit different to a mere writing space, and in my head, drums up a totally different image to the photo - like the one above - that I was looking at. Most showed writing spaces rather than studies, but it set me thinking about exactly how small a space would you need to claim it as a study...?

   "And here's the study." Andy flung the door open. Or he would've done, except he remembered - too late - that the door opened outwards, onto the landing.
   There was an embarrassing wait while he asked his clients to back up a bit... a bit more... I think one of you needs to step into the bathroom, please, thank you... and finally he could pull open the door.
    Mr and Mrs-to-be surged forward and there was a three-way shuffle while Andy manoeuvered himself into the bathroom to allow them to stand, shoulder-to-shoulder, in the narrow doorway.
    "It's a bit small," Mr said.
    "Well, you don't need lots of space to be sat down really, do you?" Andy pulled his mouth into what he thought was an encouraging smile. "Notice the high level shelving for all your books and papers and pencil pots." He watched the backs of their heads as they lifted their eyes to the ceiling.
    "In any other house that'd be called a picture rail," Mr muttered, taking one step into the study.
    To be fair, one step is all that could be managed. And when he pulled the desk chair out and sat on it, the back legs ended up on the landing, forcing Mrs-to-be to take one step back. "The desk is tiny."
    "It's a space-saving design, created by the previous occupant in a midnight moment of genius," Andy chipped in, hoping he'd remembered that right.
    Mr swivelled in the chair and fixed him with sharp eyes. "It's just a wider than normal windowsill."
    "Yes, it doubles up as one of those too." He was getting flustered now. He really needed this sale.
    Mrs-to-be flung her arms around Mr's neck and hugged him. "Darling, it's perfect. How much is it again?"
    Had he done it? Andy choked the words out. "Three hundred and fifty thousand."
    "We'll take it," Mrs-to-be said, before Mr could open his mouth...    

Something old, something new...

My old kitchen is reduced to this:

My new kitchen arrived. Most of it looks like this...

The rest of it? Well, it looks like this...

...and this!

I'm reliably informed it will look a whole lot different 

again by tomorrow.

Slow cooking a kitchen

Things are progressing - slowly - in the kitchen.

Jack came last Sunday. Kitchen ripped out. (See previous blog post if you missed it)

Monday, the skip arrived.

Electrician came Tuesday. New wiring in.

Wednesday...nothing happened, because the electrician had allowed two days and didn't need them, and we think it was too late notice to get the plasterers in a day earlier.

Thursday. Plastering and insulating. I suppose I should've expected a bit of a mess when I was asked if I was having a new floor, because if we were, they wouldn't bother putting down protection... But blimey O'Reilly! It wasn't just the odd splatter of plaster here and there - everywhere was covered. There were great dollops of the stuff I've had to chip off, because the floor we will be having won't be very smooth if I leave them. So, a bit disappointing that the level of tidying up wasn't as high as other workmen we've had before, but the plastering itself was good. Pretty much all the walls and the old Artexed ceiling are now smooth and lovely.

Friday...nothing happened. And watching plaster dry is almost as interesting as watching paint dry. Mr Squidge said we should've rigged up some time lapse photography.

Today, we've welcomed the Squidgelings home from their separate, second camps of the year; Squidgeling T told us about white water rafting at Holme Pierrepoint and announced he wanted to cook more (!), while Squidgeling J hasn't stopped telling us about her adventures with i.Doody's Circus at Poacher 2017.

And STILL we're waiting for the plaster to dry. It had better dry by Monday. The fitter's coming back then because the units will be ready for beginning the rebuild.

It might actually start looking like a kitchen again, soon... *fingers crossed*

The arrival of Jack the Ripper

To be honest, he's more 'Jack-the-ripper-outer'; he arrived about half past two this afternoon (yes, on a Sunday) to start taking everything out of the kitchen ready for the refit.

Just before he started, my kitchen looked like this:

As a result, my dining room now looks like this:

It's the hall - but I didn't fancy bins and
cat food on the carpet!

There are a few bits and pieces down in the garden room - kitchen table, chairs, a few pots and pans - as well as three cupboards and a chunk of worktop we've salvaged from the old kitchen to reuse as a bench seat/cupboard combo in the garden room. Fingers crossed, Mr Squidge will still be able to work round it all to fit the insulation and internal walls this coming week...

By the time Jack went home, my kitchen was (understatement of the year) even barer:

And just look what's in the yard!

Too late to change my mind now. Skip arrives tomorrow. Plasterer soon after.

Wish me luck!

Cooking up a storm of memories

We're about to have our kitchen refitted. We've been in our house for 25 years and the kitchen we have was put in well before we moved in. It's still a good kitchen but it looks dated, so we've gone for it - decided to have it all taken out and replaced.

At the moment, I'm clearing out the cupboards, finding all sorts of stuff that has collected over those twenty five years. Like...

Thirty assorted conical party hats, most foiled but some covered in smiley faces; 300 red, white and blue drinking straws; millions of disposable forks and spoons (no knives though. Weird) and party bags that were never used in the 'birthday' cupboard. 

Lids with no tubs and tubs with no lids; the 'nibble pots' we used to use for snacks at bedtime when the kids were small (now Squidgeling T just 'nibbles' straight from the cupboard); three teapots (yup - three. Why, when I usually dunk a teabag in a mug?); a squillion wine glasses; thirteen glass pudding dishes from when I had a thing about posh creme caramel; two aprons that have never been used; various vases of odd shapes and sizes; cook books we've barely used... You can imagine what the charity shop's going to say when we turn up with some of that lot.

The art cupboard's been sorted and the Hama beads, acrylic paints that are still liquid, a margarine tub full of leaded pencils and various sheets of assorted card, and decorative edged scissors have all been forwarded to a friend who runs a craft club.

Out of date packets and tins (severely out of date - 2013!) have been binned (there weren't many as we're pretty good about using stuff up) and expired medicines from Mr Squidge's various operations bagged up and returned to the chemist for disposal.

And the grand sorting of the Squidgelings' artwork... Oh. My. Word. The memories that dragged up... I've always loved having the kids' art displayed, even if it did make the kitchen look a little cluttered. As new artworks were created, the old ones joined a growing pile on top of the cupboards - and it goes right back to when Squidgeling J could just about hold a crayon and Squidgeling T was at the finger painting stage.

I found the random circles that had had to be labelled as bits of the car Squidgeling T insisted he'd drawn. The fire engine I'd drawn for him to colour in, completely red and with a small tube attached for the hose and a piece of paper stuck onto the roof for the ladder. Squidgeling J's first attempt at writing her name and a proper, colours-in-the-right-order rainbow over our house-with-the-blue-door. The very wonky Taj Mahal (you can see every single brick) from Year 3. The banner that was made to celebrate Mr Squidge's Coast-to-coast charity bike ride. Hand drawn Pokemon creatures, and robotic dinosaurs that transformed into planes...

I realised I've not had fresh artwork for a long time, and it'll be strange in my newly fitted kitchen to have bare cupboard doors, but at least I've kept some of the very special pieces to look back on in years to come.

It's been quite liberating to get rid of things we don't need and to focus on what we do. I'm just hoping that, when we put everything back into the new cupboards, we won't suddenly want something we've let go...

Refit begins next week, fingers crossed.

Holidays!

Just got back from our holiday in Greece. Seven sun- and sea-filled days with the rest of Family Squidge, staying for the first time ever in a (nearly) all-inclusive hotel with water sports, sailing and fitness activities.

I had a completely computer-free week, which is why I've not blogged for a wee while. You know what? I didn't miss it either. Perhaps I need to give myself a break from the electronics and social media every now and again, focus on what's important.

Anyway...while various members of Family Squidge were off doing all sorts of energetic stuff  - Squidgeling T and Mr Squidge went cycling nearly every day; Squidgeling J sailed Lasers and learnt to windsurf and paddle board; Mr Squidge also learnt to sail (with some spectacular capsizes and a few head encounters with the boom); Squidgeling T had a go at water-skiing and remained upright - I pootled about in a kayak or sat by the pool or the sea, rubbing in the Factor 30 and soaking up some rays.

Squidgeling J on a paddle board

Squidgeling T about to water ski

Oh - I did Aqua Aerobics too. Unfortunately I'm so short, I couldn't reach the bottom of the pool properly, so I had to tread water pretty much the entire time...! And on the last day, I had a joyride in a catamaran with Matt. They go SO fast! (And you get a very wet bottom because it's only a mesh platform between the two hulls...)

Me, on a catamaran with Matt the instructor. 

I wasn't completely lazy though - I took Rurik with me. For those who don't know, he's not a fifth member of the family. He is the main character of a novel I wrote just after the very, very first draft of StarMark, about nine or ten years ago. I've been thinking about reworking the story for a while, and while away, I came to a decision. More of that in a mo.

There are some things that stand out for me from this holiday.

Instructors - so patient and informative and friendly. Those in the kids' clubs are especially worth mentioning. The trust that the kids had in these young people was incredible. The most-said name of the week was definitely 'Archie', usually preceded by ''Come on...' though we realised there were quite a few young Archies about!

Swallows...there were hundreds of them! And a lot had chosen to make their nests in the corners of the room balconies facing the sea; it got very noisy at times, especially as there were a lot of baby birds. The nearest nest to us was on a neighbouring balcony, but the adult birds were sitting on eggs rather than feeding babies. We did see one nest fledge from the corner of the terrace restaurant, which was really funny as they couldn't work out how to get back into the nest again and kept colliding with each other. It did mean that, combined with the bats that came out from under the roof tiles at night, the resort was pretty well mozzie-free, with only a few bites between us. Thank goodness!

Feed me!

Sunsets. Awesome sunsets, especially the one the night we went to Lefkada.

One of our evenings out, at a very trendy hillside restaurant

Family Squidge in Lefkada. We're all the same height because
the bridge is a steep curve...and guess who stood at the top?!

Activities. Such a range...though doing the Vounackered 100km bike ride in 39 degrees didn't appeal! I could've gone to the spa, learnt to sail a one-man dinghy, windsurfed, paddle boarded, kayaked, done HIITs (a fitness thing, apparently), Pilates, yoga, played tennis...

Food. Delicious. Lots of it. Huge variety. And such lovely waiters in their turquoise checked shirts. And the egg lady...she'd been doing the fried/omeletted/boiled/poached eggs at breakfast for seventeen years in the same hotel. She was never without a smile and a 'Hello, lady!'

New friends. Having always had self-catering holidays, usually where there were very few English speakers - tourists or as a second language - in the past, it was weird but rather lovely to be able to chat to folk over a drink or dinner or during the activities.

Definitely came away grateful for the break after the stress of exams and all the usual end-of-term stuff. And it was good to have thinking time about writing, which means I'd better tell you about that decision I made.

I've got two novels on the go at the minute - my thief story, which sort of got passed over because of the course I've been doing with church, and the Crystal Keeper's Daughter which stalled half way. Neither of them are completely rubbish, but neither of them fill me with enthusiasm. Then I've got Rurik. His first adventure (there are five planned) was completed a few years back, but having read it through while away, I realised that, compared to Kingstone or StarMark, it reeks of fairly novice writer.

So...

I've decided to rewrite what was 'Adventure in Ambak' as 'The Mage of Merjan'. Rurik will become...Rhoda...or Ulrika...or Rika. Female, anyway. And she is going to have SUCH an adventure - it may well be the start of my first ever series! So I'll be working on that over the rest of the summer and into the autumn, with the aim of finishing the rework by Christmas. (I've got a kitchen being refitted and a daughter potentially going to uni in the meantime, so I'll grab the time where I can!)

Enjoy whatever you're doing for the holidays, and I'll be back soon.