Project 366 Photo Diary : Week 17

Into the second week of holidays and, after sorting out the patio last week, this week the plan was to dejunk the house and have a good spring clean.

Sunday 19th April - For the first time in ages, we had a proper roast dinner today. Roast chicken, roast potatoes, carrots, gravy, ... yum ! Afterwards, as it was a sunny day, Pierre asked if we could go outside on the big car park opposite our house so that he could ride his bike. Well, normally I say no, but as we're going back to school in three weeks anyway, it seems kinda pointless trying to keep ourselves away from everyone else - I'm sure we'll all come into contact with the virus or at least the carriers, which is what the government originally said when they shut the schools. Anyway, we headed outside, with our signed attestation in my pocket, giving us the right to an hour outside, and, as the car park now had two families riding bikes/scooters on it, we went for a big walk around the block. It was lovely to take in the sights of spring, with blossom and flowers everywhere. Heading back home, we crossed the car park opposite our house for the first time in over a month and I noticed a hole in our roof ! One (or maybe two) of the tiles where the roof joins the chimney has slipped down, leaving a hole. I wonder how long it's been there !

Monday - Today's job was to sort out someone to fix the roof. As I expected, I phoned about fifteen companies that were shut or not answering their phones, then finally, someone picked up - phew ! I had to send photos (not easy with the sun just behind the chimney !), then sign a quote sent by email. They will get back to us. We finished off out on the patio, doing a Yucky Science kit with Pierre, then playing Monopoly twice (after raiding Sophie's room for all her old craft kits - she did say we could !).

Tuesday - After yesterday's unexpected day off my house-cleaning mission, I was back on track ! I started catching up on laundry, then attacked the bathroom, cleaning and dejunking the cupboards. There are so many review products that never got used or finished so I was handing things out to the kids and being ruthless ! Finished off with a video chat with my parents, then watched some episodes of The Society with Sophie on a Netflix party - you watch the same thing at the same time and have a chat box at the side of the screen. It's a nice way to stay in touch when you can't see each other. The Society follows a group of high school kids who come back from a cancelled summer camp to find that their town is empty, their houses abandoned and their town surrounded by dense woodland. They struggle to keep things going and work out what's going on.

Wednesday - Another day sorting out the bathroom, and the laundry, and the cooking, ... Then I gave myself the afternoon off and played Monopoly with Pierre again. Finished off cutting Juliette's hair (she wants to go shorter - it used to be down around her waist, then a year ago, she chopped it up to just below her shoulders - this time, it is just sitting on her shoulders). Watched more of The Society with Sophie on another Netflix party.

Thursday - I took a day off tidying the house today and went shopping instead, as we were out of orange juice, apple juice, squash and potatoes. As they're all heavy, they're all the things that get left when I can't carry any more ! I did some baking with Pierre, making butterfly cakes, and cleared out some packets from the back of the cupboard, making black cherry jelly and caramel flan.

Friday - The caramel flans that we made yesterday had cooled down in the fridge, so we were ready to squeeze the caramel topping over them. It had gone very firm in the sachet though, so this didn't go quite to plan ! They still taste nice though, luckily. A quiet day today, with more tidying, some blogging and another Netflix party with Sophie.

Saturday - A quick bit of DIY aka bodging ! The metal hose that attaches to the shower head has corroded and needs replacing. The DIY stores are all closed though (just found out that they reopened yesterday in fact, but there are big queues of people waiting to get in), so I "mended" it by wrapping Duck Tape all around the bit with the hole. It'll work for a while (and if it doesn't, we'll just use the shower attachment in the bath).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter