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Showing posts from March, 2023

Utility Renovation: Tiling and Cloakroom Fit

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Honestly, where to start with the tiling disaster. I had 4 leftover boxes of tiles from Easy Bathrooms from when I did the upstairs bathroom. These are the porcelain tiles in. What was suppose to be a 2 day project to lay the tiles and fit the bathroom, turned into a 6 day fit, spread over 3 weeks.  The plasterer didn’t square the room so each individual tile had to be cut to size, making it very tedious. The flooring was also unlevel so we ground up some of the concrete to make it level. He bought fast drying adhesive to make it quicker, but it was still wet when he came back so couldn’t grout. Then finally grouted the tiles, only to not be able to colour match the finish.  Of course, once that was done, it was time to fit the toilet and sink, but there was a missing part for the toilet. Due to the placement of the waste pipe, a flexible toilet waste pipe extender was required to get the flexibility of a functional angle.  It took so many days and weeks to finish but the toilet and s

Bloom & Wild: March 2023 (Review)

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Another month, another bouquet of flowers. I still think this is the best Christmas gift I ever could have asked for. I love flowers and I love getting a little surprise present every month. I was a little disappointed with the available options this time so I decided to let them pick for me and I couldn't be more happy. I did reach out to customer services to enquire about this though and they have confirmed which bouquet I will get next month and it's going to be very different so I am quite excited!  I received The Gita bundle. The main flower in this bouquet is yellow roses. These are known as a cheerful bloom and also the flower of friendship. It has 15 stems including roses, alstroemeria, limonium, hypericum and eucalyptus. You can purchase your own  flowers and enjoy the perks of fresh flowers in your own home. Flowers have actually been shown to improve mood, reduce depression and positively influence your mindset. They also act as nature natural conversation starters a

The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks (Review)

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Another week, another book review from my Jamaica holiday. Growing up, especially as a young teenager, I grew up falling in love with every Nicholas Sparks book and all the film adaptations. Every single story of love set my expectations high for the man in my own romance fairytale.  The Wedding is an interesting sequel to the ever-famous The Notebook. Instead of continuing the story directly, it shades the life of Noah and Allie’s daughter and her husband. After reading what ended up being a not so happy ending previously, I wanted a happy and loving story so I was very disheartened when I first started reading.  Sharing the journey to rebuild love again, following a 30 year marriage coming close the divorce, we go through the journey from the male perspective and understand the emotions involved when relationships get placed on the back burner and not prioritised. Despite never being married or in such a long relationship in comparison, I found myself relating to so many of the emoti

Winter Sun, Beach Walks and Dancing Shows! / Jamaica 2023

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A girls trip holiday to Jamaica to celebrate my mum’s 60th birthday! Part 1 is day 1 - 4.  Click here to watch the vlog or see below.  Day 1: Travel Day, Welcome Jamaica and White Party  We set off bright and early on Saturday morning. We woke up at 5am to set off for 6am. The flight was at 10am, but as it was an international long haul flight, we had to arrive 3 hours early.  I always say that my holiday begins when the suitcase is loaded into the car, but I know a lot of people find travelling quite stressful and worrying. We ended up getting through check in and security, having a little time for shopping and then having breakfast at one of the restaurants. We didn’t have much time to spare before the flight, until it was delayed nearly an hour.  Once we were finally on, we enjoyed watching films and I was pleasantly surprised to find that all drinks on the flight were free too. I also enjoyed the meal of pepper chicken and rice, followed by a sandwich for afternoon tea towards the

Utility Renovation: Building a Stud Wall and Plastering

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I'd originally booked for one building company to do the full job of the utility room, but as things fell apart, I decided to just do one step at a time which has made it slightly more complicated looking back, however at least it got things moving.  My dad built a big wall in his garage last year, as he split his quadruple garage into two double garages, making one into a yoga studio for his girlfriend. It actually looks really good and I was impressed with the finish so I asked if he could build the wall in my utility room because it's only small. He thankfully said yes and made it my Christmas present. Of course, it was suppose to be completed last year but nevertheless, it's finally been built.  He came over and built a stud wall out of timber first. He used a piece at the top and bottom, then 5 longitudinal, building around a 2 foot door frame and finishing it with plasterboard so that it's ready to be plastered.  I had arranged for a number of different plasterers