Camp Casey After I got two coats of stain on the future office floor, we set up trundle beds like so: Notice the amount of floor space given over to her highness (i.e. round bed is hers). Despite which she had to join David on his bed this morning: While workmen
Bless this mess The living and dining rooms used to be full of tool boxes, piles of rubbish, lumber, buckets of plaster and grout and so on. Now they're full of luggage, kennels, bags, shoes, etc. That's my backpack vacuum in the foreground. We're using the rattan
Moving day, part two Today I got on very familiar terms with my new vacuum. If vacuuming were an Olympic sport, I would be a multiple gold winner. In America, I had a commercial grade backpack vacuum (think Ghostbusters). Having a dog and two cats and a dusty old house means you really have
Moving day David honestly thought we could move everything from Crawfordsburn to Cherryvalley in one day, clean the Crawfordsburn townhouse and set up pets and beds and clean plaster dust in Cherryvalley. I didn't argue with him on this because I knew he would come round, and he did. In
Staining, day 2 This is my future office. The stained section represents an hour of (backbreaking) work. This and the master bedroom have a single coat of stain. We now have to decide if they are getting a second coat of stain and whether or not to polyurethane. Partly this is a decision
Mop up I left our "new" house around noon Monday, while the electrician was just getting warmed up. When I returned today after a down day yesterday, all the lights were hung. I was like a kid, running around flipping switches. The lights look great, although I'd like
Brit TV We never bought cable in the U.S., so our TV watching consisted of watching Jon Stewart online and watching DVDs or downloaded films on the TV screen. Here, the TV (and commercials) are generally better, so we have gotten sucked in. Plus, you have to buy a TV license
And she's down I started the day at the house (where two electricians and two carpenters were hard at work) vacuuming all the sawdust we created over the weekend. I want all dust out of the house before we begin staining floors. I vacuumed door panels, outlets, radiators, stairs, spindles. I know I
Sanding, day two I got artistic: I spent years removing oriental bittersweet vines from my property in Pennsylvania. Some bright soul took cross sections of the vine bases, which have interesting colours, and laid them flat in an artistic arrangement. This is my homage to that person. Note the beautifully sanded floor--a real
Power tools We spent yesterday cleaning all the floors in the house. We didn't have face masks so heaven knows what we ingested. Today, we sanded. And sanded and sanded. This is me with the edging tool in the guest bedroom killing the floor. It is a heavy bugger and
Britain runs on . . . Tea. Oh yes. Tea and biscuits. One of the finest, most civilized ways to spend a 15-minute break from life. Last summer I was in a charity shop and I saw this service, which I had to buy because of the beautiful "A" monogram (which you can'
Ulster runs on . . . I need to write five posts today to catch up so it's a good time to run photos. If America runs on Dunkins, Norn Ireland runs on Dory's. We've been doing A LOT of work on the house lately and so the fish &
TenX9 I've probably written before about TenX9 [http://www.tenx9.com], where nine people have 10 minutes each to tell a true story. Tonight's theme was "home." Last month was "money." The idea started here in Belfast and has now spread around the
The Empire Laughs Back I went to the Empire Music Hall [http://www.thebelfastempire.com/hire/] tonight to hear some local comedians. One of the best jokes was about the guy in 50 Shades of Gray, who grew up near Belfast. The comedian said the actor had to, of course, have an American accent.
Hershey's vs. Cadbury's I heard a radio programme the other day in which people were doing a taste test comparing chocolate from a Belfast boutique chocolatier [http://www.cocouture.co.uk], Cadbury's and Hershey's. The consensus was that Hershey's leaves a chemical taste in your mouth whereas
Mixed marriage What that means here is a marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant. Someone at church this morning was talking about a Catholic boxer from her home town (Monaghan) who was in a mixed marriage. I thought she was going to say he married someone originally from India or Nigeria,
A steamy Valentine's Day Yes, you guessed it. We steamed off yards and yards of wallpaper. Most of the rooms are done so we are focused on the hallways. Then we went to Marks & Sparks and got another Valentine's dinner for two. We were worn out not so much from stripping
Marks & Spencer's ...is one of our department stores and they have an amazing food section. Their Valentine's special was a take-out three-course meal for two and bottle of wine for $30. David picked it up at work on Friday then met me at the house, where I'd been
Down day When I want to procrastinate, I clean. The townhouse is now spotless. I haven't made much progress on readings for my classes, however. I truly wonder how students have managed to graduate from high school and college since the introduction of Facebook, texting, IMing, tweeting, and all the
Back in the saddle I've finished the first two weeks of a six-week half-semester. I'm taking two environmental law classes and one class on approaches to legal research. The readings have been deadly, as usual. I know more than I ever expected to about carbon trading, the Kyoto Protocol, stranded
Dillon vs. Dylan The Irish Dillon means faithful friend. The Welsh Dylan means of the sea. This is according to Ann, who walks Dolly and Dillon in the morning with her husband, John. I learn a lot in the mornings walking with my various morning walk friends. I'd say walking the
All our worldly possessions Came in this truck: Went through this door (note that I rolled out the carpet): Through our lovely living room and dining room: And into the conservatory, the only room in the house not under construction: A few dozen boxes went into a crawl space, and 4-6 big items went
Let there be light I have now bought 10 light fixtures for the house. I am also refurbishing the two that came with the house. One is bronze: The other was spray painted bronze and I'm spray painting it silver. We sold all but two of our lamps in the U.S.
Best find, bar none I bought this light last week at an auction shop (you buy it at the ticketed price or wait until it goes into a monthly auction and take your chances). I paid $90 and I just love it. It will go into the conservatory, which will be in need of