15 sleeps to Christmas

Well it looks like Christmas won't be at my house this year. With all the rain the concreting is still yet to happen, and for some reason the contractor doesn't rely on weather forecasts, so Tuesday and Wednesday just gone were good, he was able to finish the jobs he had oustanding, but then he says I'll come Thursday, to which I say it's going to rain in the morning and clear up as the day goes on. He calls my Mum Thursday morning and says he can't start it because of the rain??? My Mum said she doesn't care - it just has to be done in time for Christmas.

The skylight has been a massive improvement to the internal toilet and a number of times people (including myself) have commented they were about to turn the light off in the toilet when coming out, but then rememebered it isn't on, haha.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT have the builder install built-in robes if you plan to have them fitted out. The fit out was done earlier this week but because of the way the shelf is installed, by removing it trashed the wall. This will now have to be patched and painted sometime in the future. When I put the pictures up over the weekend you'll realise what a waste the builder's effort is. If I were to do it again all I'd ask for is the external wall - as I think this is nicer than a retro-fit by the wardrobe company. I would say no doors, no tracks, no shelf, no rail - just a L shaped wall or the walk-in cavity and door. This way you have all the space to the ceiling to play with and all the space from wall to wall.

Waiting on a costing from a landscaper as the drainage really needs to be fixed otherwise the yards will continue to flood, regardless. What he wanted was for the concreter to do his stuff and he'd take over from then, but I've got a feeling they will have to work on the site together. The landscaper needs to get the drainage done before the fences go in, so my promise to my dog that she'd move in for Christmas looks like it has gone out the window.

Other than that I potted a michelia into pot and its sitting out the front on the portico. I plan to prune it into a sort of conical shape and it will hopefully obscure the view of the outdoor GPO that the builder put to high up the wall.

A glass skirt fell out of a light fitting last night and it appears that the flared part cracked at the waistband and then it sat on the globe which caused some plastic of the socket to warp and the skirt, globe and spring that holds it all together just fell to the ground.

The kitchen add-on should happen next week, which will mean things can go to their final homes. The whirly-bird that went in seems like it is doing the right thing, generally the house is moderate at all times, but the walk-in-robe in the master and the garage are permanently stiffling so so vents are going to be installed in the ceiling to allow the hot air to escape.

The solar electricity is not yet booked in for installation as the demand has meant there is an under-supply of units.

The air-con is booked for January as a neighbour asked what the delay is, the slab outside that the external unit sits on, and he suggested having the external unit fitted on brackets to the wall... Thanks for that, I have no idea why the company didn't suggest it.

So the to-do list is: concreting, air-con, landscaping, fencing, grass, clothesline, shed, solar, and finish setting up the study.