the house update du mois

Once again I have failed to do anything with my lj this week. My excuse is that most evenings I have been gardening. ( Lengthy blether about garden work that may interest some of you while utterly boring others ;) )

It's quite funny: having budgeted to buy the house, we're having to budget several years into the future to pay for all the improvements. This year's big job was damp proofing the downstairs and painting all the rooms, next year's is removing the horrible lumpy render from all over the back of the house, finding out why our kitchen ceiling is sagging and doing whatever structural stuff needs doing to fix that, & replastering Richard's small room. The year after that we can finally replace the horrible cheap kitchen that is falling apart (although this may need to be moved earlier if it gives up entirely), and the year after that (2007) we can finally landscape the back garden: assuming that no major disasters occur before then, requiring us to rejig our plan. Planning 4 years into the future? That's scary.

I am still amused by the person who should know better who suggested we'd want to move house again "about the time we have children". Richard was distressed by the implication (that one of our friends didn't know us that well), but I pointed out it was literally true as the time we want to have children is never, and the time we want to move house again is... never.

my mum, and me and childfree

Just to follow on from my last post, I would like to mention that I actually had a decent conversation with my mum about being childfree yesterday. She is 110% supportive of my decision, which is reassuring. I know lots of people whose parents have put pressure on them to "produce grandchildren", which is apparently upsetting even if you want children. And I am an only child, and thus The Only Hope. But my mum pointed out that, quite apart from all my medical issues that would make pregnancy A Bad Idea, I have never had any desire to have kids. So I was thinking about that( ... )

The really quite amusing thing is that we talked about H & D's commitment ceremony the other week. It was an amazing day - really special and beautiful - and yet Richard & I said to each other afterwards "We're never doing this!". Just the thought of having to invite all kinds of relatives I never speak to makes my stomach hurt, let alone the thought of actually exchanging vows that are honest rather than what's in the official Church of England marriage ceremony. (H & D made frequent, if not explicit, references to "supporting your relationships with others"; one of the best men was another of H's partners; and the formal photos included the happy couple surrounded by their chosen family. Anything less than that at a ceremony of mine would be lying, imo.)

Well, apparently several of my aunts and uncles have been asking my mum when Richard & I are going to get married, and my mum has been busy telling them that we're not - we don't see any need to. I'm just amused and also surprised and pleased that my mum understands my lack of desire to get married when marriage isn't available to everyone, and also understands my lack of desire to have a non-legally-binding commitment ceremony if it involved having pretty much any of my relatives.

My mum utterly gets on my nerves at times, and my parents' inability to actually sort their lives out has been driving me mad for a long time - but all that being said, she's hella cool.

*dies laughing*

Apparently in this month's "New Woman" magazine, there is an article about how to dress to pull a millionaire, with the views of four millionaires - a city banker, a random posh bloke, "rap star" Harvey from So Solid Crew, and "Rock God" Chris McCormack! (Not that I would read New Woman unless I was sitting around bloody bored at the doctor's surgery - I heard it on the internet, so it must be true). As Richard said "Millionaire? I doubt he's even a thousandaire."

Oh God, I just saw a scan of the article - rotfl! The pretentious Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen-style twaddle attributed to him is really quite amusing. Also, the photo confirms my suspicion that Mr McCormack is looking bloody rough these days. Although not as rough as his brother, the (allegedly ex) heroin addict.

God, I'm bitchy about my "favourite" "rock stars"! (unless they are freezepop, who are immune from criticism by virtue of being too damn cute).