Come and tell us your dull and unexciting news 32: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

Here is a link to the prior thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5148913-come-and-tell-me-your-dull-and-unexciting-news-31-calmly-through-the-day

Welcome to all regulars, lurkers, and new contributors! Everyone is welcome to join.

Note there is one minor change to the thread title. "tell me your dull news" has been changed to "tell us...". I thought it was more in keeping with the spirit of the thread.

@MissConductUS you could put through colours into AI and ask for a complementary colour for the windows based on the walls and cabinets.

You could do it with a photo, but it might be more effective if you put in the names of the paint colours or better still, the Hex number or Pantone Colour.

Ask it to give you the name or number of the colour so you can tell your decorator/paint shop.

@MissConductUS We have one of the Le Mans pull out units in the kitchen. We put tinned goods, jars and things we use regularly in it, so it gets used daily. We’ve had it for 14 years and had no problems with it, it’s very well made thank goodness. I have to remember not to swing it back in too hard, as things sometimes fall off the shelf and it’s a scrabble to get it out. As you can see they hold a lot. We also have a tall pull-out larder, for packets, dried goods and cereals, because we had a narrow space between the oven and wall cupboards.

Thanks everyone for the very nice comments. It's not all roses, though. Havoc has ups and downs, as do I.

Good news! I tracked down the radio play I heard last night. It's part of a series being performed on Broadway.
You can find it as a podcast under This American Life, dated Jan 12, titled Try A Little Tenderness. The play begins about 8 mins in. It is absolutely worth your time to listen to. 💕

yeesh, that was a busy few days. Been swimming a lot and back in the normal swing of things. I managed my swimmer's ice mile - it's not 'official' as the people of the International Ice Swimmer's Association don't tend to hang around our little lake, but I did it according to the rules and I'm happy. Won't do it again as the aftereffects were noticeable, but it also feels great to have done it.

@Umanresources so that's what that pull out tray thing is called! the kitchen in the house we moved into has them and they are great. Tough and so useful.

@Mumtobabyhavoc you asked a few pages back about avian flu. It's a concern here but in the end ducks are not really indoor creatures so we take the risk. Athough we did keep some ducklings who were hatched in September in the living room in a pen for one winter, as they don't have enough oil in their feathers to survive the cold for a few months. That was a bit of a talking point when friends came to eat with us.

@MissConductUS your kitchen is really coming on well! :)

I grew up with the 'eat everything on your plate' rule. Fortunately my mum was a good cook and I was a fairly easy eater ...

That pull out corner cupboard thingy looks fantastic but I can’t get my head around how it pushes back in. Our last house had an inaccessible corner cupboard. We filled it with things we rarely used but it was a pain having to take everything out to get at the things right at the back.
I love the idea of a box of chicks in the house Duckling but I’m guessing they are not litter tray trained. I imagine it’s quite hard work keeping them fed and cleaned out.
I am enjoying a quiet start to the week before it gets busy with lots of one of appointments. Out for a girls meal tonight which will be nice.

@@DandyDandylion it was indeed!

The Le Mans unit just goes back in with a bit of a push. Super easy.

Iwandered, luxury vinyl flooring is a very good choice. It's very durable, quick and easy to install and much less expensive than most other options. We put down an LVP floor in our main hallway 15 years ago and it still looks lovely. Our kitchen designer saw it and asked if it was new. Here's a picture of where it meets the new floor in the kitchen. That's my son's room on the right. Yes, it is a tip. 😁

We would have liked to use the same LVP in the kitchen, but that particular pattern is no longer made.

Dandy, the narrower end is pushed in, then an arm inside the cabinet swings the larger half around the corner and in. It is somewhat magical.

Thanks, Duckling, we are making good progress and the builder is doing a great job.

Math, those quartz slabs will be fine in the cold. They're made of ground quartz held together by a hard plastic resin. What they don't like is heat. You can't put a hot pan on them or you risk melting the plastic resin. On the good side, they are non-permeable and impossible to stain. I don't put hot pots or pans on the counters anyway. If I have to take them off the stove I put them on a trivet or a cutting board.

The carpenter is installing the cabinet pulls and kick plate pieces today.

Thanks Miss that sounds ideal. I'll look into it ( though we're still waiting for the gas fire to be removed & a chimney liner dropped in, so we can fit a log burner)

The carpenter has come and gone, having installed the cabinet pulls, leveled the doors and installed the nickel kick plates. We were short five of the pulls. He thinks the cabinet vendor ordered the wrong number. They've been ordered, along with the decorative door panels for the back side of the peninsula. Those should all be in next week.

I like the pulls. They're brushed nickel.

The pulls compliment the soft gray of the cabinets so well, MissC.

I was glad I slathered Vaseline onto my face before heading to work this morning. The wind chill made it feel like 50 degrees below freezing. We are going to get all the way back up to freezing on Saturday. It will feel like spring. I saw kids shuffling to school wrapped up like polar explorers. Local districts had school as usual, but many districts in outlying suburbs shut for the day.

It was astonishing to see footage of snow in Louisiana and Houston today on the news. We have none, just the bone dry air and the cold. I'd prefer snow.

The Pulls are what we call handles I think .

Well...I mean ..I know we call them handles and use the word handles ...I am presuming you mean the attachments to open the drawers and cupboards !

We call them handles or pulls. Pulls seems to be the preferred term among the tradespeople, while handles is used more by everyone else. The carpenter has been calling them pulls, so I guess I've adopted that.

The carpenter is off sick today, but the painter is here painting the ceiling. I'm working from home today. It was -1F (-18C) this morning, which is the first time in a few years it's been that cold here.

good lord, -18C!

@mathanxiety that sounds absolutely ferocious cold too.

Roofers were supposed to start today but now it's Monday. The lead guy seems very meticulous and helpful, so we're hoping for good things.

Snow in Houston?! <faints>

The tree surgeon came today and reduced the rowan to a manageable size. He got two jobs from the neighbours as a result who told him they thought he'd done a terrific job. He was thorough and cleaned up properly, and quite cheap.

He also looked at the front handkerchief and said the tree that blew down in the storm would have to remain tethered for at least two years because its roots are so shallow - 30 years ago the builders laid the garden on top of hardcore which they should have taken away. The box hedge in a massive pot has box weevil and has died so he will remove it along with some nasty invasive plants, cut back one of the thorny bushes and tidy up, using peashell from the back garden that he is redoing.

He should lay the back patio in the summer, so we'll have a lovely outdoor space by the end of the year.

Just back from the gym. Managed to get onto the lat pull today.(There’s an issue with men supposedly buddying up, but actually jogging while they talk.)

Only 20kg, 5 sets of ten plus 3 sets of biceps curls but not bad for a fat, unfit nearly 65 yr old.

@MissConductUS coincidentally DH was telling me the other day how his colleague had LVT and was very pleased and he's angling for us to have it if we change our flooring (current flooring 21 years old and still looks good I think). Yours looks fantastic so think I would like it but we are not going to change it quite yet.
@DucklingSwimmingInstructress did you swim a whole mile in open water? That is amazing!
@Umanresources I would like a pantry but we live in a new build and pantries are not usually part of them.
Just got back from DS's first interview in Liverpool. 9 hours of driving in a little over 24 hours, but was nice to spend time with him.

@DandyDandylion This is what the Le Mans looked like after it had been fitted. It’s on a swivel/hinge thingy, which makes it quite easy to pull out and push back in, although you have to be quite gentle with it, in case things fall off.
@sproutsandparsnips the larder is just a pull out tall cupboard, which I tend to overfill and have to sort out every few months. I manage to put smaller packets and boxes into storage boxes as the shelves are quite shallow, but the gaps are tall. I do love a good organise!

Our Le Mans is really old (25 years?) and stained and it's still going strong. Whole kitchen needs renewing but roofers first. My partner is officially moving from Germany to the NL to formalize our current living arrangements, and he's taking a significant paycut to do so sadly (I did tell him maybe we're better off leaving things with him arriving and leaving as a sort of long term migratory partner!) so a new kitchen will have to wait quite a while.

@sproutsandparsnips I did. I did. It's taken about 7 - 8 years of winter swimming to build up the experience and the ability to withstand the cold, and the last 400m were really hard - didn't enjoy them, and normally I love the bright fresh vivid feeling of the cold water. It's physically very good for me - being in nature, the action of swimming, the cold water benefits - but it also helps me mentally a great deal. Things get on top of me sometimes and my thoughts fly off in all directions, and when in the winter water it's like all the jigsaw pieces come back together, I'm just in the moment and not worrying, and you get a great boost in mood afterwards. And the long warm shower is great :D

@WearyAuldWumman 20kg isn't bad at all at our point in life, is it? I'm pretty impressed with 20kg.

I’m even more impressed by your swimming @DucklingSwimmingInstructress .

I have a friend who does wild swimming around Fife - sea, lochs and rivers. Don’t think I could stand the cold!

Duckling, your swimming is very impressive. When swimming in open waters, do you have a life guard or other swimmers around in case you get into difficulty?

Sprouts, I think the only difference between LVT and LVP is that the former are square and the LVP are rectangular planks about 60" long, made to mimic wood planks that are commonly used in flooring here. If your floor still looks good after 21 years I wouldn't rush to replace it either.

Uman, we got similar tall pantry cupboards in this remodel. I can't wait to fill them up.

It's been so cold here that the reservoir is well and truly frozen over. It's probably strong enough to walk on,but I would never try it. They've had to cancel ferry service on the Hudson River near me because it's almost frozen over too.

We now have most of the crown molding up, the ceiling has been painted, and the wall on the left side of the room has been painted. The windows have also had a primer coat done.

That's gone really fast @MissConductUS ! it's starting to really look good!

We don't have a lifeguard no but on anything over than 600m my partner comes with me, though he usually reads on shore in his heated waistcoat. I also swim in winter in maximum waist-deep water, and usually shallower. Post menopause cramp can be an issue, so shallow is safer.

There is quite a large winter-swimming club two mornings a week and I'm kinda shy but when I do go and they're there, it's always nice.

Miss, kitchen is really taking shape!😃
Ducky, are you in Netherlands?🧐
Weary, meant to applaud your gym efforts. 🤗

Had baby at 12-month check and all is good. Had a nice neighbourhood walk with some jigging of about 90mins plus a stop at the playground this afternoon with dc and had baby at play school this morning. So, active day today. 😄
We've got high cloud today, but it's still fairly bright. Temp is 4c and will drop to -2c tonight.

Hope all the UK people are staying safe on this stormy day. We were just out of the amber warning for wind. We are apparently only getting up to 60mph gusts which sounds and feels like plenty thank you. As a result I am mostly staying home. Have seen three reports on local social media of different roads being closed with trees down so school run might be interesting.
Have also spent far too long watching airplanes trying to land on flight radar but must get back to real life 🤣

Storm Eowyn sounds really scary. Weren't they saying 'storm of the century possibly'?

@Mumtobabyhavoc yes, I'm a British ex-pat in the Netherlands. Came here for love, which didn't last, but my children are very much Dutch. My partner now is German from Dresden, grew up behind the Iron Curtain, so we're quite a European household =)