dear diary :: in a quandary

Yesterday was my second day off – I barely remember Thursday as I was in recovery mode and probably on auto pilot when I attempted to clear and clean out the fridges, freezer and pantry. And then I got carried away and started on the oven. For some reason it looked like something had exploded in there but I cannot think what. I ran out of the Oven Mate I use so it is only half way to clean. Another order has been made to Lakeland as it is currently on offer (buy one get one half price) and I added in a baking mould that makes Easter egg shaped cake pops ready to decorate. The grandchildren will love that. I was able to use my £5 off voucher too.

Yesterday I had to ring John Lewis. Last October we finally had our new kitchen installed after only 30 years of waiting and I was so excited – it is the very first kitchen I have ever chosen. The John Lewis designer, kitchen fitter and electrician were marvellous and so helpful but sadly we had issues with the project management and co-ordination….. In that there wasn’t really any. I can appreciate that the Covid meant all the case managers were working from home and not in the office, but the one allotted to us suddenly disappeared off the scene and we were left not knowing who we should deal with and he had left us with some wrong delivery and templating dates.

This meant that during the installation I ended up on the phone….a lot…..doing some of the co-ordinating and ringing around for them to get things back on track. Anyway, it turns out that we should have received a ‘care package’ at the start of the installation with details of our order and all the guarantees – we didn’t and it was only after I had thought about the lack of paperwork we have that I made the enquiry yesterday and was told about it. They are going to send one to us and also advised to write to them about the issues we had. The lovely lady I spoke to did apologise profusely and said it was not their normal service. I agreed with her on that point. So we shall see what happens in the next few days. Overall I am happy with the kitchen and I would use them again but I do think they have a training issue on the co-ordinating side.

After lunch we drove up to the local garden centre; it was quiet so we could wander around and didn’t have to be aware of ‘socially distancing’ with anyone. I bought some seed potatoes – I had decided on Pentland Javelin again but they only had large bags so I chose Arran Pilot instead, an old variety I believe and ones my FIL used to grow.

As I had a £15 gift voucher I also bought a black metal beehive shaped frame to put over my cat mint to protect it from the cats, a new coir basket liner and 3 small pots of bulbs to add a bit of colour into my outdoor planters beneath the living room window. I did sneak in a shrub too – Pittosporum Silver Queen for the front border. The ticket reckons it is hardy in the UK; let’s hope that includes our region as it can get very cold on our road being fairly high up and near to the moors.

Whilst we were out we called at Sainsbury’s – not too bad in the car park so we reckoned it would be safe in the store. We had packed a flask of hot chocolate to drink before doing the shopping which helped to warm us up. We didn’t need a lot, a few items of fresh fruit and veg to get us through next week and some bread.

At the moment the seasonal shelves have a collection of Mother’s Day gifts and some lovely Easter bits and bobs. I was tempted but I shall get my mum flowers I think and make her a chocolate cake, she will enjoy that more than a gift. I did buy an Easter craft bag for Little L and a decorative cardboard egg for each of the grandchildren which I will fill with little chocolate eggs.

I found this cute little box of colourful felt flowers – they might make some simple Easter cards if I have the time. So apart from the chocolate that is Easter sorted – I have learned to buy things when I see them rather than thinking about it for too long and then finding they have all gone.

I also ordered the new washer online from John Lewis yesterday – I chose John Lewis because I had £100 worth of vouchers to spend with them from the ONS survey we are part of and they have some offers on at the moment. Both of the models I narrowed my choice down to were out of stock earlier this week so I put in a request for an email to be sent when they came back into stock. It was a surprise then to find an email had dropped into my inbox yesterday afternoon whilst we were out and it was for my preferred washer. After much debate and research I have decided to stick with AEG as my old one is now 16 years old and has been completely fault free all that time (and would probably go on longer if we had it fixed but I prefer to put the money towards a new one that will be even more efficient on water and power). The new washer programs are very similar to my old one so I won’t have to learn a whole new language to get it going and it has a spin speed of 1600 which is a plus when washing towels as the higher spin speed takes out more water to cut down on drying time. My old washer spins at 1800 but these are no longer available. It does mean though that you need a very stable floor otherwise you would find them travelling across the floor if they become unbalanced. The washer also comes with an additional free 5 year warranty (which is worth quite a bit in itself), free installation and free removal of the old washer.

Job done. It arrives on Friday. I think our clean clothes will just about stretch to that.

So what is our quandary you may wonder? Well it is the old ‘shall we shan’t we’ debate and here I am referring to whether or not we try to put the new flooring down in the utility room and decorate before the new washer arrives on Friday. It would be benficial to do it now whilst we can put the old washer outside ready for collection and that would leave us with a clear space to work in and no heavy washer to keep moving around. The downside is we will have little Freddie for 3 of those days so it might be difficult. The alternative would be to have the new washer plumbed in and then wait to redecorate and put the new flooring down once our granny daycare services are no longer required and put up with the fact that we would have to keep disconnecting and moving the washer.

Weighing up the options we decided it was preferable to go ahead now and get it all done. We will only have until Friday to get everything sorted but having a clear space to work in is very beneficial and will make putting the flooring down a lot quicker. But will it be quick enough?

So once again we will have our noses to the grindstone to beat the clock and get everything done and ready for Friday’s delivery. No rest here then!

And the dirty washing is mounting up…..or should I say mounding up in the spare room.

But I do feel a sense of satisfaction that I can cross quite a few little jobs off my to-do list and will hopefully end February with a completed task list. For once.

Message for Suzanne at Life at No38 if you happen to be reading this – I cannot comment on your blog Suzanne unless I am a team member it says but there is no follow button either. Maybe like Sadie you don’t want comments at the moment but if you do you might need to adjust your settings to allow them. x