short and sweet

My daughter went back to school this week, on a Wednesday, which is a nice day to start. Beginning the school year with a three day week is a lovely way to ease into the school year. See, it's easy to come up with a different hairstyle for each day (v important) and something novel for fruit break (variety, spice of life and all) and a new and interesting breakfast (gotta tickle those little tastebuds). I'm also finally getting used to the quietness of the house and getting stuff done.

The housework's falling down though. Now the new school year's started I think a rough plan's going to have to be worked out. We usually clean together on a Saturday, but this weekend will be spent painting AGAIN. Although, in exciting news, it will be painting the pavilion at the end of the pool! Our speedy, speedy carpenter started on Tuesday and on his first day laid the deck. On the second finished the deck and put up the uprights, then yesterday he did the beams and lined the ceiling (making sure there was space for our ginormous chandelier to hang).

So on the weekend, the white paint comes out and we're slapping it on. The tin on the roof goes on today (pale grey, to match the roof of our house) and he's delivering the timber that forms the slats that are going around three sides so we can give them a coat before they put them up. It's all looking so lovely. My hubby also bought a bar fridge to put in there to keep water (and, ahem, champagne) cool. It's hidden away in the wall of built-in cupboards designed to lock away all the pool stuff.

We also had turf laid in the courtyard and it's incredible what a difference it makes - it really cools the whole yard down. After six months or so of dirt in various guises it's so lovely to see a pretty verdant covering. And once the hedging plants are planted in the boxes along the pool's edges it'll be a veritable oasis.