Good morning all! And thanks for the thanks 
. Thread leading has been a pleasure!
[Necks Grey's home brew with morning toast; smacks lips ... . Throws 
a string of chipolatas to singe for breakfast]
A bit cream-crackered this morning (with full blown headache) but have a full day of cleaning and choring ahead.
Feeling upset because dh made some remarks about the state of the house when he got back last night along the lines of "we are not getting good value out of the cleaners", which is his round-about way of saying the place looks like a pit, which it does.
Demoralised because (a) I haven't felt well this week and so didn't get as much done as normal and dh left without warning, leaving me with a load of extra organisational stuff to sort out (which I think I covered pretty well) (b) I pointed out to him that even professional cleaners (who we have for a very short period of time every week given the challenges of this place) can't clean clutter and the place wouldn't be messy if, like normal people, we had bookcases for books, some kitchen drawers, that I didn't have to keep table linen (and stuff we use regularly for entertaining) in cardboard boxes and that normal people actually put things in what are known as cupboards and therefore don't have a constant sea of crap floating around their home. And (c) it is largely him who likes to entertain and have friends around him but doesn't appreciate the huge effort it takes to pull things together when you have holes in the walls and crumbling plaster. After this 'exchange' he turned over after 10 seconds, fell asleep immediately and snored his head off and I stayed up awake half of the night half fuming and half miserable.
The trouble is, I can see it from his pov, when he comes home exhausted after a mahoosive work trip and one and a half full days of days of travelling and airport delays etc; it can't be nice coming home to a house which is in a constant state of upheaval (not that he seems to pay a blind bit of attention to it normally however). Equally, as much as I want to, I don't appear to have sufficient energy to sort it out atm. And even if I did, the house needs a lot, lot more than cleaning and tidying to get it in to any sort of proper state. Heigh ho.
Sorry for what is hopefully final whinge-fest of the month 
On a positive note: furry one is back and happily chasing squirrels in the garden It's funny, because the colour of his coat is so gloriously autumnal; that he just disappears in to the (small town) garden when he is out there.
Blue hope the unpacking is going ok!!
Welcome back Sayagreatbigthankyou and many congratulations on the new job! Hope you can relax this weekend; sounds as if you have a lot on your plate with your dh away!!
Can'tsee [sigh] I love a clean house for Christmas too aint going to happen here. Truly impressed by your very timely scheduling, great organisation and huge efforts and hard work! [Quakes at thought of having to wash entire contents of wardrobe] Good luck with the builders!
Grey so sorry the sleeping situation has gone back to being so difficult. I hope it settles down again before your dh has to work away so much. Good luck with it all. ARchery sounds like a fantastic antitote to home stresses though. Go easy on yourself while you are so (inevitably) exhausted.
Yay Toffee! So great to hear that the work is going well and that, most importantly, that you are enjoying it! Sounds as if dh is doing sterling work too (and is gaining more appreciation of your former role day by day)!
Fuzzpig Great that FSW visit was so positive and that she had 'seen the light' wrt home edding.
Oh those sort of work situations are awful. Totally invidious because one risks looking petty if you do point it out and yet someone else gets the brownie points if you don't. Sympathies! Could you e-mail/ ring up your boss with some "additional" information that you just come across that might enhance "the work you did on Chapter 4" so everyone gets the right message?
Knitting sorry, no useful advice to offer about greenhouses (wish I did! ) but very excited on your behalf about the thought of buying one. Think designs have really moved on; the choice is so much better nowadays! If it's going to be sited in a passage-wayl, could you have a sort of lean-to type arrangement but with lovely rounded curves ...like this one for example???
Sounds as though your dc have had an excellent half-term hol btw with lots of lovely family expeditions.
Do you happen to know if Spectre would be suitable for a 12 yr old girl? (We were thinking of taking dd and some of her friends.) I have heard that there is one bit where Bond is tortured and one rather nasty bit of eye manipulation which is not for the squeamish.
Big fledgling wing flaps to Dontbuy Everydayaschoolday, Honu, Whoknows, Ellie, Nicknacks Dogs, Scatty Fish Feetheart Saymwa Carpe Fingersmith and anyone else fluttering in or around the coop!
Right, feel like getting back in to bed frankly but had better get on. Only seven hours of daylight left!!
Have a good day everyone!