Fourth bedroom coming together, a new door and lights wired...coming along nicely.

I've been lax again in keeping up to date with the house goings on. 

Last month we finally fitted a shower in the bathroom and now there's just the skirting to be fitted.

The wee man's shelves are all painted and they are now choca with toys. We had a bit of a sort out and the hallway is now lined with toys that need to find a new home. The kids keep getting them out and playing with them; typical, they've not been touched in over a year! 

James has been ploughing away splitting the room that had once been part of a bedroom and the front hallway. We're making a small fourth bedroom/study and an en-suite for our room. The stud wall is up, insulated and plasterboard. 

He has also been putting up insulation and plasterboard in the hallway between the original beams. The plan is to get them cleaned eventually so that the old oak and the craftsmanship can be on display. There's a lot of beautiful beams throughout the house that have been painted black that we hope to one day strip back.

You can see the very old wallpaper on the nine beams

The best bit of all is that James has wired in lights in the hallway so you can walk around at night without falling up the step into the extension. The only issue is that you can't yet turn them on downstairs so we have to turn them on in the light or take a torch upstairs for the initial journey as the switch is at the furthest end of the corridor! You'll be pleased to hear there are plans for a light switch at the top and bottom of the stairs too.

This week the wee man got a door fitted to his bedroom. He said a few weeks ago that he would like a door for Christmas from Santa. That made James and I feel pretty shit so we moved the job up the queue. I've probably said before that hanging doors is the one job James is crap at (he says this not me) so we have to pay a carpenter to do the job and money is a bit tight at the moment. The guy did an excellent job and I did the first coat of varnish this afternoon.

Whilst I painted and made a stew for tea, James plastered the ceiling in the new bedroom; we're back to being efficient and getting things done around the house.

Here's a pic of pud helping me pot up some seedlings that I'm growing from seed I saved this year from a plant I bought.

Lastly, James got a new car as his last car died. It was an automatic and a Rover so the gearbox replacement was more than the car was worth. We got hold of a stop gap car for £300 to tide us until next year but it kept not starting so we've bitten the bullet and had to borrow to get a newer one. Not part of the plan, but it's essential when you live in the sticks to get to work and earn money. Anyhow, it's 10 years old, but low mileage and James loves it, so it all works out in the end.

Trip to the big smoke and Legoland

We have been at the collecting tokens game again and this time got some free tickets to Legoland, Windsor. The little man is obsessed with anything Lego and particularly keen on Lego Ninjago at the moment (weird that, with all the advertising for the new movie coming out!). As we had to drive all the way there we decided to book a Premier Inn the night before and make a weekend of it.

We took the train from Slough into London and took the kids round the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. I have never been to either as I never went to London as a child and have only been two or three times as an adult, and more to the point I really wanted to go!! 

There were awesome fossils in the Natural history museum and some amazing exhibits at the science museum including the Apollo 10 command module, George Stephenson's Rocket and Wells cathedral clock (oldest working clock from 1386) and a euthanasia machine (I have a morbid fascination).

We also wondered round Hamley's (the huge toy shop) but to be honest that was like a small slice of hell on earth. You have never seen so many people being vile in a confined (overpriced) space. Kids thought it was amazing though, so I suppose that's the point, it's not really aimed at me is it?

As you can guess we totally ran out of time to look round the city so we'll have to make an effort to go back. We walked past the Liberty's building which looks so beautiful, I will make a beeline for it next time.

We took plenty of food for packed lunches to cut costs and had a huge cooked breakfast (wee man calls them roast breakfasts!) to fill us up on Sunday morning and had a fantastic time both days.

Legoland was relatively busy so there was quite a bit of queueing, but nothing too onerous. We had two tired teddies on the drive home.