Speed painting and Feeling Old

We had our son Danny here for the night on Tuesday.  I fed him, and then he and Keith set to and moved out the oak Arts and Crafts sideboard in the sitting room, and then we all set to and somehow managed to get down the very heavy Victorian mirror which sits over it (imagine 6 feet long by 3 1/2 ft high, with a carved oak frame and a King's head in the centre - sadly it lost its original tendrils of wooden foliage before we bought it at auction many years ago for just £28.  A corner of the mirror had broken off but we had hoped that this was down the back of the mirror and could be glued back in place and a swag of something artfully draped over the break.  Unfortunately, it wasn't and we had to shell out £90 for a replacement mirror.  Anyway, with me on the screwdriver - not an easy job as some of the weight of it (it probably weighs a hundredweight) was on the screws which made trying to remove them a difficult task.  When all this was done, and the wall clear, then I had to set to with my paintbrush and paint the first coat on, then shoot upstairs for a bath whilst it was drying, then back down again and paint the skirting board white, and then a 2nd coat of Copper Blush on the wall.  If you have ever done speed painting, then you will know how tiring it is. I was so shattered that I was falling asleep watching the film Danny had chosen, and couldn't read a word before my head hit the pillow and I was sound asleep.

Then yesterday morning it had to all be reinstated, the drawers and cupboard contents put back in - though I had a cull of Granny C's glassware and washed it all and have put much of it in storage in the attic cupboards.  Ready for when we "move".  Yeah, like that is going to happen any time soon . . .

But if I thought the heavy lifting was over, when I came back from dropping Danny back at home in town, we realized there was another heavy lifting job - the 3 metre length of B&Q worktop which needed to be manhandled onto Keith's Workmate for cutting to length (and shape) and then taken up to the house.  Well, that was a blardy struggle, I can tell you!  I've just looked up the weight and they are 52 Kg - basically, a hundredweight.  It felt like that too!  A 2 man lift is a lot easier for two men than it is for an ageing bloke and his feeble wife!!  Anyway, we managed, and though it took three attempts to get it cut exactly to fit (a little bit had to go into the corner abutting the draining board) we eventually did it, after traipsing backwards and forwards with it 3 times . . .  It looks lovely - faux marble but it really looks like the real thing and is a great improvement on the worktop that was there before. 

The Panny has a loaf in it as we were down to the last couple of slices of bread.  Loading it up was my first job this morning - before I even had a cup of tea.  The stoneware Dundee marmalade pots for the utensils are one of my little foibles, a nod to Tess of the D'Urbervilles who used one just like the oldest one on the left, as a vase with some flowers in on the grave of her dead son, Sorrow . . .

Right, this won't do.  After going to a patchwork class yesterday afternoon, this morning I am off to my friend Dawn's to have my first proper lesson in lace making.  Yippee!!