Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Please and Thank You

I have been housebound today because of the Handyman being here to do the odd jobs. In fact I ended up doing a fair bit myself, and it was a good learning curve, because the lovely Bill had forgotten to bring his specs! Now, as those of you who've ever put together an Ikea Flatpack know, you have to read the 'destructions' and, according to my Swedish friend, follow them to the letter. Bill borrowed a pair of my glasses, but wasn't keen on wearing them, so we had a few false starts until I took charge (at least in the reading department) and insisted that he did it all in the right order. I had already checked that we had all the pieces of wood, screws, knobs etc and ticked them off on the list, so I knew we wouldn't get half way through and discover we were short something or other. The result is brilliant. It looks very good and I'm slowly filling it up, picking the piles of clothes off the floor and folding them into my lovely new drawers. Bill did a good job on the bathroom ceiling, and on my new (Ikea) blind, but couldn't turn off the water to do the tap. I'm going to follow Aims' advice, and find out how to do it myself!

So while I was stuck indoors, I decided to catch up on all my Blog visitors and say my thank-you's to everyone who takes the trouble to read and comment on my Blog. I've begun by adding Blossom Cottage (if only I knew how to embed links!), who is another Aquarian but doesn't seem to have posted since 21st February. Blossom, where are you? Next I've added Milla, who was so lovely and helpful when I was worried about my Daughter and her pre-cancerous cells, last year. She's a Pisces, and lives in Gloucestershire (my first house was an Old Forge in Orridge Street, near Hartpury in Glaarster). Sorry it's taken me so long Milla. Next up, Soft in the Head, whose lovely house in the Limousin has me green with envy. She is always so thoughtful and visits me regularly. Thank you SITH. Then comes Lady Thinker, another deep-thinking Pisces who hails from Sidmouth (that's where I went for my first "dirty weekend" about a hundred years ago - with the man I married when I was 22!). Thank you Penelope, it was great fun catching up with you. That's all I've done today, but don't worry, now I've started, I'll finish...

16 comments:

Mean Mom said...

Some years ago, when my new typist's chair arrived, in kit form, I was determined to put it together myself, before anyone else came home. I was thrilled when I succeeded, but puzzled when I had 2 pieces left over. My eldest son (about 14, at the time) arrived and said immediately 'Oh, I know where those go, mom!' and fitted them in, without even looking at the instructions! Just too smart. He doesn't take after me.

Working Mum said...

Having moved house last year to a bigger place and bought the entire contents of IKEA, my husband and I are thinking of starting our own company making the flatpacks for people!

Rob Clack said...

I discovered, quite by chance, that there's a stopcock in the airing cupboard, which is immediately below the cold water tank in the loft. So I can turn the cold off and almost no water comes out when I dismantle taps, for instance.

Used to be the same with hot, but when we replaced the central heating boiler, the 'engineers' removed the hot water expansion tank from the loft, and although I still have a stopcock on the pipe, I'm not sure it does anything. Not had any reason to try it yet.

And talking of stopcocks, it's an idea to fully work the stopcock annually to prevent it seizing solid. Nothing worse than a stopcock you can't move as the water gushes from a split pipe!

family affairs said...

I too have all my clothes in piles on the floor in my bedroom. Mine, typically is the last room in the house to be attended to. Children all have storage and I very stupidly dumped my Ikea man a little too early!! (not, obviously that it was all about building furniture) x

aims said...

I'm very proud of you! I know you can do it girl!

I always say - 'where there's a will - there's a way!' - - drives people crazy but I get tons of stuff done that way..

softinthehead said...

It is so true that you must follow those instructions to the letter. As we move regularly, we have had cause to dismantle and TRY to re-mantle (?!) various IKEA items. That's when it is good to have a hammer and some glue on hand! Well done.

A Mother's Place is in the Wrong said...

Hi Mean Mom - how very clever of him. I hope he's still a help in times of need! M :)

Hi Working Mum - that's such a good idea. I'm sure there's a knack to it, but not sure I've got it! M :)

Hi Rob - don't know why, but I'm terrified of doing the wrong thing with pipes and water. First find your stopcock and then it all becomes clear? I hope so. Thanks for the advice. M:)

Hi Lulu, that's why I still have Son's bed frame and mattress propped up against my bedroom wall. And Grandson's toys piled up too. At least half my bedroom now looks like it should. Getting there. M :)
PS. Any chance of getting him back to do your furniture - no perhaps not!

A Mother's Place is in the Wrong said...

Hi Aims, I do hope I can fufil your faith in me! Look out taps, here I come. M :)

Hi SITH, well great minds think alike, only this morning I was wondering if I would be able to dismantle and 're-mantle' it again! M xx

Dusty Spider said...

I saw a poster on the wall of a launderette many moons ago that said, "When all else fails - Read the Instructions". A good point well put I thought. We've got Ikea shelves and cd racks and they're great. Actually Ikea stuff is some of the easiest to put together we found. Well done you anway! Go on - have a go at the plumbing, how hard can it be!! I'm with you in spirit! Flick xx

A Mother's Place is in the Wrong said...

Thanks, Flick, I need all the moral support I can get. You're right though, the Ikea instructions were very good, and the finished article looks just lovely. I'm very pleased. M xx

Donna said...

OK..If you're ready..You can copy and paste these instructions to a word processor if you'd rather...Here goes:

How to embed a link in your post:

1) In your regular post I saw the name Blossom Cottage. OK, If you want to link it, FIRST..highlight it with your cursor.

2) Make sure you have BCottage's web address ready.

3) Look in the greyish bar right above your post..See it? Good.

4) The fifth ikon from the left is the "link" ikon. Click on it.

5) A blue Hyperlink box will pop up on your screen.

6) See where it says URL: ?
Type (it already has http:// typed for you, don't repeat it!) The whole line should look like this:
http://www.blossomcottage.blogspot.com

7) Then click OK...That's it!

Easy Peasy...then test it. If you typed in the address correctly, It'll work!!

Happy Easter Sweetie!!!hughugs

A Mother's Place is in the Wrong said...

Thank you Donna, you're a Star! I've printed off your instructions and will give it a go, probably tomorrow morning. Hope your Easter is lovely - it's freezing here!M xx

Elizabethd said...

Or you could come over and join us at PurpleCoo. www.purple.dreamhosters.com
where you will find Blossom etc and links to their blogs. the site started a year ago and is an interesting mixture of people.

A Mother's Place is in the Wrong said...

Thank you elizabeth, have seen PurpleCoo before and wondered what it was. I'll pop over later and have a look. M xx

Maggie May said...

Those terrible ikea packs that look so lovely in the store & are so difficult to assemble. They have reduced me to tears in the past. Completely useless at putting them together.

A Mother's Place is in the Wrong said...

Hi Maggie - I know, that's what I was afraid of. I have this intrepid Swedish friend who thinks I'm pathetic; they don't frighten her at all! Anyway, the good news is that it does look as good as it did in the shop. M :)