Boo!

I haven't blogged in far too long, and now I have far too much for one post so I shall have to pace myself!

Firstly, apologies for the long silence. I moved house and was WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS FOR A WHOLE MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!! (and no landline either) I nearly went properly mad. I'm now resident in a lovely Victorian redbrick terraced house. The only downside is the 3G signal is appalling, so my only contact with the outside world was patchy to say the least.

But I'm moved in, unpacked and feeling comfy. The move has meant there is enough space for the girls to live with me part time, so I've been having fun kitting their room out. They are sharing, and agreed on a nautical theme as they both are interested in boats and sailing.  The room is long and narrow so fits the bill rather well, although it makes it very tricky to photograph.

First point of order was to repaint it from a peachy cream to a pure white. Then pine bunk-beds were added, along with a plain and simple white IKEA wardrobe and chest of drawers. Bedding was got from Primark, of all places and a rug again from IKEA.

The fishing float decoration came from a little shop in Southwold

Then the fun began :-) I got out a canvas board, a ruler, pencil, permanent black pen, acrylic paints and ...

Then I had all this rope left over so I thought, hmm ... nautical knots :-)

From top left we have: bowline, reef, full round turn and two half hitches, Sailors' Cross, figure of 8, clove hitch and a ship's mat in the centre. They're glued onto some blue board and I just need to nail some spacer wood around the back of the frame to make a proper box.

And lastly (for now) I had an IKEA mirror in my craft stash ...

I found some clipart, printed it out, traced it onto Freezer Paper using a light box, cut them out with a craft knife and sponged some pale blue acrylic through them. All sealed with matt varnish.

I'm going to add a rope handle like the beach hut picture, but the drill is currently elsewhere.

The next project will be curtains. I found some gorgeous fabric in Dunelm Mills in Rugby.

moving, perhaps ...

So I've decided to try and move from Rugby to Coventry (a full 15 miles, for those of you not familiar with the area). Rugby is a small town that doesn't have a great deal going on and has really suffered in the financial down-turn. Coventry is a medium-sized city with lots of arts and music stuff as well as all the usual urban amenities.  So why, you may well ask, did I move to Rugby last year in the first place? Children!

My youngest has been at school in Lutterworth, while my eldest is at Princethorpe College (between Rugby, Coventry and Royal Leamington Spa). Rugby was the obvious choice as Meg could get a school bus from Princethorpe to Rugby, and Rachel could get a public bus from Lutterworth to Coventry after school. This meant that, although they couldn't easily live with me, they can and do come and stay overnight at least once a week after school, as well as stay every other weekend. So what's changed? Rachel will be going to Princethorpe along with Meg in September so there is absolutely no need for me to be in Rugby any more. There is a school bus to Coventry from Princethorpe, so I can live there just as easily. I've even found a house, yes a HOUSE! It's the same rent as my flat, has 3 bedrooms, separate sitting room, dining room and kitchen, and a garden. All in all it's about twice as much space as I have now, if not slightly more. It's a mid-terrace Victorian bay-fronted house in a well-maintained residential road within walking distance of Coventry centre.

But it's not all plain sailing. Firstly, the previous tenants apparently left the place in a mess so it's being refurbished, and the landlord won't let anyone look round and has given no date of when it will be finished. Secondly, I don't have a salary and am dependent on my ex-husband to pay my rent, which he does utterly reliably, but letting agents are a bit nervous about people who can't prove they earn enough a month to pay for themselves. Thirdly, the rental market is moving extremely quickly and I'm terrified I'm going to get "pipped at the post".

So I've made a bold move. I have picked up the paperwork to start the lease process WITHOUT HAVING LOOKED AROUND THE HOUSE. I have seen lots of interior photos, and a mid-terrace Victorian house is a standard kind of affair with predictable room sizes etc., so the risk is mitigated. But still. The letting agency don't really like people doing this because you have to pay an administration fee as a way of securing the property and paying for the references to be done, and so forth. And they get people doing all this, going to see the place, deciding they don't like it after all and trying to demand their money back. Which is against all the rules. Obviously I am 99.9% confident that I won't want to back out of the lease. I've driven past the house, had a look around the area, at the outside, at the bus routes ... and all seems just right. The house and street are both well-maintained. There's no peeling paintwork, or dodgy window frames. It has modern double-glazing, a little gravelled front garden and railings, on-street parking, sound-looking roof.

Next I have to get Jon to fill in the guarantor form, and take it back to the agent to see if I'll pass the references. She's given me forms for "unemployed" which I often feel as though I am, but strictly speaking I'm not. Whether that makes any difference, I just don't know.

Oh, and I've got an interview for the PGCE (teacher training) course at Birmingham City University. So hopefully I'll be in training for a proper job soon ...