I’m off to the Cybher blogging conference ….. Yay

Posted on April 27, 2012 by

Name : Caroline
Blogs : Middleagedcred.com
Twitter ID : @Middleagedcred (used to be @Cazbattweets)
Height : 5’6″
Hair : Short, brown
Eyewear: Sometimes known to sport some

Cheers!

Five things you should know about me…

1. I have two adopted children, one husband, one hound and a cat.
2. I am studying for an Engineering Degree (as you do).
3. I am a relative novice to blogging so very much looking forward to Cybher.
4. I have ushered for Eddie Izzard and met him in the bar of the hotel after.
5. I don’t like Facebook much.

Really looking forward to meeting you all. See you in May!

Cybher 2012

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We are so nearly there….

Posted on April 25, 2012 by

Well, it has been some time since I blogged about the house. I keep meaning to start a new blog, and as the next major thing is round the corner, delay it. Oh, and there is always the factor of time.

The weatherboard cladding is now across the whole front of the house and the scaffolding has been removed here. It felt a little odd not having scaffolding – like the house had suddenly become nude, but we are very pleased with the finished look.

View of the front

The long awaited kitchen is in progress. The units are in, save for a few doors that need replacing, the granite has been templated, painting the kitchen is in progress and the tiles have been delivered. I’ve had some fun in the kitchen with colours. Having chosen very plain units (biscuit colour), I am putting white and a sludgy green on the walls and adding some very busy wallpaper.

The wallpaper chosen for the kitchen

The wallpaper is being used sparingly. La Petite feels it should be coloured in but have mentioned that if she goes anywhere near it with her felt pens, she is for the high jump. I have promised her some offcuts of her own to colour in.

And the kitchen has got to here…..

Kitchen progress

The other room I have had some fun with has been the en suite to the master bedroom. The family bathroom is a small, odd shaped room so we decided to cut our losses and install a large walk in shower, rather than squeeze in a shorter than average bath. Because of that, we have done the opposite in our ensuite and put in a luxurious bath. The electricians humoured me and installed a diffused uplight at the back of my wine glass shelf next to the bath. I’m in heaven!

My wine glass shelf, complete with back lighting

A weird thing happened this weekend. I was working in the study at the front of the house and two guys appeared in front of the window. I opened the door to speak to them to find they were the partners of the daughters who used to live here. They were checking to see if there had been any post for them, but it was fascinating to catch up with two people who knew the house of old. One of them admitted to having stumbled across this blog, which took me completely by surprise. They gave me contact details and went on their way, but I offered their other halves the chance to come and see the finished house. I may not have mentioned this before, but the plans we implemented had already been devised by the girls’ father before he died, and I guess it would be completing the circle for them to see his vision finished. I hope they feel they are welcome to come and see.

How I would have managed this project without internet shopping, I will never know. The wallpaper site www.wallpaperdirect.co.uk has been a real godsend. Once you select the paper you are interested in, it is displayed in several room scenarios, which is really useful to try and see how a pattern looks over a larger area. The best bit it that once you have been supplied with some samples through the post, it appears to always be accompanied by a 10% off voucher too! Three other internet site I have found brilliant is www.webtiles.co.uk, www.appliancecity.co.uk and www.web-blinds.com. All sites (with the exception of appliancecity obviously) will send samples through swiftly, price very competitively, and all have been terrifically helpful. I would add that this is not a sponsored post. These companies have just been great to deal with.

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Herman the German Friendship Cake

Posted on April 3, 2012 by

Earlier this year, I was the lucky recipient of a Herman. ‘A what?’ You ask. I did the same. It may be that I am the last to know on this but, if you haven’t heard of it either, it’s a lovely concept and, better still, involves CAKE.

Herman turns out to be a container of uncooked sourdough, accompanied by a sheet of simple instructions.

Day 1: put me in a large mixing bowl and cover loosely with a tea towel or cling film,
Day 2: stir well,
Day 3: stir well etc, and so it went on.

In a simplest form, a cake mix, but on a wider scale, this is a lovely opportunity to create something with the children and share the mixture on with some friends. A great activity for the Easter holidays too.

After following the instructions for a period of time, the sourdough needs to be split into four, three sets of dough given away to friends, and the fourth kept to be cooked. An edible chain letter with added benefits – cake!

Right then. Keen to get started?

Well you will need the initial start up instructions to make the ‘mother’ sourdough, which you will be able to share with friends from Day 9.

INITIAL INGREDIENTS TO MAKE A HERMAN

• One pack of active dry yeast
• 60 ml of warm water
• 460g of plain flour
• 230g of castor sugar
• 500ml of warm milk

• Stir the dry yeast into the warm water until dissolved

• Gradually add flour and sugar until mix thoroughly, then add the milk

• Cover the bowl loosely with tea towel or cling film and leave for 24 hours

Once this stage has been completed, you are ready to start with the main instructions (which is the bit you pass onto your friends with their sourdough)

It goes like this…..

Hello, my name is Herman.

I am a sourdough cake. I’m supposed to sit on your worktop for 10 days. You CANNOT put me in the fridge or I will die. If I stop bubbling, I am dead.

Day1: Put me in a large mixing bowl and cover loosely with a tea towel or clingfilm

Day 2: Stir well

Day 3: Stir well

Day 4: Herman is hungry. Add 300g of plain flour, 225g of castor sugar and 240ml milk. Stir well.

Day 5: Stir well

Day 6: Stir well

Day 7: Stir well

Day 8: Stir well

Day 9: Add the same as Day 4 and stir well. Divide into 4 equal portions and give away to friends with a copy of these instructions. Keep the fourth portion.

Day 10: Now you are ready to make the cake. Stir well and add the following:

• 150g of castor sugar
• 150g of self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 160ml of cooking oil
• 3 medium eggs beated
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cooking apples cut into chunks
• 200g of raisins
• 2 heaped tsp cinnamon
• 2 heaped tsp baking powder

Put the mixture in a lined baking tin in the oven at 180C for about an hour, or until cooked.

This is where I have to come clean and admit we never actually did the last stage … cook the cake. That’s why I haven’t got a photo for you, but I did get to eat ‘offspring of our sourdough’ cake at a friend’s house and it was delicious. I don’t have an oven at the moment and have had to manage with a microwave for a few months during house refurbishments, but next week, all with change.

Try it and let me know how you get on.

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The secret Center Parcs …. that I am willing to share

Posted on March 25, 2012 by

I have been meaning to put fingers to the keyboard for sometime on this topic.  It will not make me popular with those already in the know, but it seems unkind not to share it. This is not a sponsored post – simply a my family to your family insider tip!

By now, it is probably common knowledge the Center Parcs in Europe are cheaper than those in the UK, but we have found one that seems to offer just that little bit more – a ski dome.  It’s not a small either, with 5500m2 of real snow, and there are always some moguls and a few jumps of varying sizes for those feeling brave.

Montana Ski Dome offers three levels of tuition in either skiing or snowboarding for all those six and over, and there is also a snow acclimatisation session for those aged four and five, where they play in the snow and generally mess about.  In addition, daily passes can be purchased for free skiing for those not needing lessons.

I have visited the Center Parcs website today to provide some up-to-date costs, and the price for a package of three x one hour midweek sessions is 68 Euros for an adult and 57.50 Euros for a child, which includes the cost of ski and boot hire.  It is also possible to hire ski wear too but we have always taken our own.

We decided that it was a very inexpensive way of finding out whether skiing suited our family, without committing to an expensive week somewhere in Europe.  If the children hadn’t enjoyed it, there were plenty of other things to do at the Parc.  However, it wasn’t a problem for us! They both loved it.

Both children have learnt to ski in Holland, and my son is also a fairly capable snowboarder thanks to them.  Their first ski holidays in The Alps caused much mirth as the ski instructor said he had never come across children who had learnt to ski in Holland, that well known mountainous country!  He also said that people who learn to ski on dry ski slopes are considered complete beginners by the ski resorts whereas those who have been on real snow in a ski dome are not.

We have now been to this Center Parcs on four occasions, a couple of times with the cousins as the kids love messing about together at the snow dome and in the pool complex.  It is an easy nip across via Eurotunnel (about £100 return if you book ahead), and a three hour journey up to De Kempervennen.  Even with the crossing and petrol, we are quids in on the cost of a Center Parcs UK holiday during school holidays.  We even spent Christmas there this year as we had just moved into our building site and needed a little respite.  The villa was decorated for us before we arrived.

The Christmas Decorations

There are lots of other benefits of this particular Center Parcs.  They have some newer accommodation, Eden lodges, which are very smart, spacious and as good as being at home.  La Petite particularly enjoyed the spa bath.

The Spa Bath

Oh, and I should just mention that the Dutch are the nicest, most family friendly people to be on holiday with.  The absence of howling children and stressed parents is always very evident in Holland.  So if this appeals to you, the place you need to book is an Eden villa at De Kempervennen in Holland

And, although the Dutch speak excellent English, we love the language…..

Whipped cream ...... apparently!

Lowly Worm by any other name

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I Can Smell The Finish Line

Posted on February 26, 2012 by

I’ve been meaning to blog about progress for a while but life has a way of taking over, so here we are now.

The windows are in, we have had plumbing and electric first fix and our bedroom, our bathroom and the Teen’s bedroom and en suite have been plastered and the bathroom fittings have arrived. It has been an interesting time, and probably the hardest two weeks so far. To explain, I only have to tell you the plasterers started on Monday. I guess it’s like having a baby, you forget how awful it is until the next time. Plaster dust everywhere. Even the dog managed to leave a sleeping basset shaped CSI type crime print, after dozing on her bed for a couple of hours, and then getting up.

In addition, the porch brickwork has been completed for some time but it still wants for a roof. This hasn’t caused us too much of a problem, save when it rains as there is nowhere for the water to go. On Monday, it was exacerbated by the plasterers needing water from the leaking outside tap, which is currently inside the porch. The resolution? A natty breeze block stepping stone arrangement over our new water feature. All we need are some goldfish ….

The assault course into the house

As the plasterers arrived, we had to vacate our temporary room. We had started with an outside wall, which was then replaced with the plasterboard wall (to enable the builders to knock the outside wall down), and then the newly formed Teen’s bedroom. I have no photo of the wall.

Stage Two - temporary plasterboard wall with breeze block feature

Stage 3 - The newly formed room (complete with hound)

Sadly, and this is where I am going to have to admit I have become a home improvement junkie, I was terribly excited when the Cedral Weatherboard arrived. It is the first time the builder has used the product too, so he and his team were equally keen to see how it looked. While he manages the work being done, he is not on site every day but made a special visit to see how the first dormer looked, once completed. The material is cement moulded to look like wood, and available in a range of thirty colours. Choosing was the hard bit. It is ideal for providing a weatherboard look without all the maintenance of wood.  The intention is to continue with this around the first floor of the house. I’m really pleased with the result.

A before and after style shot of the two dormer windows

We spent a lovely day today sorting out the leaves and acorns from the trees which have amassed over the last couple of years, before we owned the house. Twelve garden rubbish sacks later, we appeared to have cleared the ground enough to scatter some grass seed down next weekend. Rosie was keen to help but we were worried about her and the road as she has little road sense. The annoying fencing came in useful today as it acted as a large doggy playpen. She was close to us but not in danger.

Rosie in her outdoor playpen

The kitchen has now been ordered, I am halfway through organising tiles for the bathrooms and kitchen and negotiating on a light fitting which is still under discussion with the OH (he doesn’t like it) ….. Watch this space.

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The House Takes Shape

Posted on February 16, 2012 by

The windows arrive tomorrow! Probably a little after they were needed as we managed a balmy 3 Degrees today, compared to the freezing temperatures of last week. I could tell the builders were grateful for a break in the weather. They were noisy today, probably a little more energy for larking around after using it all for keeping warm recently. One of the roofers said the summer was worse than winter. Then the slates are too hot to handle. Certainly not a problem last week.

Latest view of the front

Having marked out the layout for the bedroom and two bathrooms in the upstairs of the extension, I was invited to check it out. I did wonder if the invitation was to see if I had enough backbone to climb their ladders and traverse the scaffolding, but as a daughter of a Trinity House pilot, I am ace at negotiating ladders, and these are easier than the ones from my childhood, no encrusted barnacles or green river slime to avoid. And great views from our temporary scaffolding balcony.

View from the top

And at last a decision on the kitchen. We have chosen a kitchen from Wickes but I just didn’t feel right about it. The builder mentioned that after living in his house for six years, he had just discovered his neighbour manufactured kitchens and would be happy to quote. A couple of brochures later, a two hour discussion in his showroom, and the kitchen has now been agreed.

First fix of the electricals and plumbing is just being completed, and the plasterers are in on Monday so our house is turning into a home….

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Grand Designs – The week I had a sense of humour failure …

Posted on January 29, 2012 by

It had to happen.

I have been so calm thorough this project, although it would be difficult to be anything else with such a great team on site. It is the Tree Department of the Local Authority causing the strife.

Most developers clear as many trees as possible from land before applying for Planning Permission. I have always thought this a terrible shame but I am afraid I completely understand now. In fact, I would think twice about buying a house with large trees in the garden. We have had to erect fencing around the trees and carry out a Survey, which totals an additional £4,000 for us.

From this Survey, we have been told to remove the builder’s signs, but not the wood supports in the ground (perfect for tripping someone up), store as little as possible on site, and have no skip on the driveway. This week, the scaffolders moved one tree protection fence to bring some scaffolding planks and poles through a gap, and a chap from the Council appeared for a ‘routine visit’ shortly after. The builder is convinced that the lady we are dealing with is camped up a tree nearby with binoculars trained on the property.

After a brief exchange by phone, when she declined the opportunity to meet with me, we have now agreed that at least we may have skip on the driveway as it is concrete anyway and probably lighter than our 2 ton estate car. All I can think is that they are not particularly busy at this time of year.

Anyway, enough of the negatives. This is where we are now at:

Latest view of the front of the house

As you can see, some of the tiles of the existing roof have been removed ready for re-tiling the whole expanse in slate. The architect proposed a simulated slate originally, but when we looked at it with the builder, we all agreed that we needed to go for the real thing.

The view from the back shows you that we have no tiles at present, and whilst we are excited at the progress, we are more than a little concerned about the impending weather this week.

A view of the back of the house (photographer standing on bench!)

I can’t help thinking the builders are expecting snow for Monday too as they covered the whole of the back of the roof with plastic before leaving on Friday.

I have just got to the point in the project where I have ‘decision fatigue’ at the number of things we have to make decisions on, and some of these items are costly so I don’t want to make any mistakes. We have specified a kitchen but are waiting for one more quotation, and have at last managed to make a decision on the material and colour of the bi fold door. The choice is uPVC or aluminium, and the range of colours is approximately 600. We have taken the safe line and opted for black aluminium.

The choice I am really struggling with is the colour of the weatherboarding to the top half of the property. The vision is a ‘New England’ style property with clapperboard to the top and render to the bottom half of the building. We have found an amazing product, made by Marley, called Cedral Weatherboard, which looks like painted timber but is, in fact, a clay like material. Unfortunately, it comes in about thirty colours and I cannot quite decide. I have seven colour samples and have just ordered another three in an attempt to make a shortlist. Currently, it is between two colours I already have but let’s see when the others arrive.

We have bravely let the Teenboy chose his own bathroom colour scheme, as he has a good eye for such things. He has decided on black sparkly flooring, white tiles and a silver and black bold mosaic. Very masculine but also very tasteful. I managed to pick up some ex-showroom stock from the bathroom store we use for his bathroom, so he has quite a swish basin too.

I appreciate I probably horrified you with the view of the kitchen in the last blog so felt I needed to balance that by showing you the sitting room. It is not only habitable, but decorated, and save the glut of furniture and temporary doors and curtains, the finished product.

The sitting room

I’m sure it will all fall into place shortly, and I do appreciate how lucky I am to have this wonderful opportunity. However, I sometimes wonder if Kevin McCloud was here whether we would be having any problems with the tree lady at all, or whether he would have sweet talked her by now.

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