SHATTERED BUT CHUFFED

Hub and I have just returned from helping Daughter 2 to move house. We’re counting our ailments … Hub has been having trouble with one of his feet and does physiotherapy exercises daily. He helped to move D2’s piano … and could hardly hobble the next day. Who would have thought that pushing with one’s arms would hurt the foot??

I got conjunctivitis AGAIN on the day we went down – and along with my painful back and sore arm I added mouth ulcers and and galloping eczema, made worse by wearing rubber gloves to do the cleaning. BUT NEVER MIND :>> the back is improving and so is the eye!

It was complicated by D2’s consultant refusing to let her have the time off she needed for the move. He insisted she went in on Friday to do her ward round, so it’s just as well we were there for the furniture movers in the previous house, who turned out to be a bit of a cowboy outfit and so we kept our eye on them |-| At the end they tried to charge her for things they hadn’t done, as well as breaking one of her wardrobes and badly scratching her piano >:XX

But hey, she said. That’s what you get for choosing movers who are cheap, and trying to save money :??: D2 can be very forgiving!

Anyway, we started straight in the same day with unpacking in the new house, and by the time D2’s hub brought Danny and Wizz round their bedroom was all ready for them.

Son turned up that day and the following day and he and I stayed in for various callers while Hub and D2 went off to IKEA to buy beds, tables, cupboards etc. So the Virgin man came and good gracious, everything worked! 88| I think he was as surprised as me. The guy who had bought a bike thing on ebay from her turned up to collect it, and then there was the lady who wanted to collect the armchair she had bought on ebay.

D2 had organised Son to do the selling, so he was au fait with all the details. Even so, we were a bit surprised when this lady turned up without any warning. Bit daft, we thought, coming all this way without making sure there would be someone in.

She came with her elderly Mum, in her 80s and just out of hospital. Was she expecting her to help carry this large and awkward armchair??

The next thing was, that try as they might, she and Son could not get it into her car. He had previously offered to send her the dimensions but she had refused, saying she would take the risk. Well, she took it all right – and had to drive away without the chair in the end.

D2 was philosophical. Never mind, she said. I was beginning to regret that I’d sold that chair – it fits quite nicely in the living room! Meanwhile Son was busily refunding the lady her money – so all’s well that ended well.

D2 worked like a dervish. We were putting in 12 hour days but she was going without stopping for 18 hours. We packed it in at 8pm on Saturday night but when we saw her the next day at church she said she had finally got to bed at midnight – and in those 4 hours she had put together the benches for her dining table, the wardrobe for her bedroom and the bed – only without the drawers. At least she got a good night’s sleep, ready for another long day.

I cooked the meals and made her sit down and eat – I know her. Otherwise she would have made food for the kids and got by herself on toast, diet Coke and chocolate. And her a doctor, too :crazy:

Hub and I saw how much she had to do on Sunday so decided to stay on and spend the rest of the day helping her unpack, put together more furniture and look after the children. We crawled home gently today, normally our day off, and took in the new National Trust place at Stowe http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stowe/ Finally arrived home around 5pm.

So catching up with you guys a bit now – take care! :wave: And looking forward to a Quiet Evening :zz: