the builders are coming tomorrow!!!!!!

[mckenzie]

Help, has any one else felt this sudden panis attack feeling in this situation and if so, how on earth did you cope with it?

We moved house in July of last year, my DH and DS who is now 21 months old. We'd been in our old house for over 8 years and had it just how we liked it, lovely kitchen/bathroom etc and now we've moved to a much older house, owned by very old people, but a house that has huge potential due to it's size, location etc.
The builders are finally coming tomorrow to start doing some internal jiggery pokery and to build a fairly substantial extension to the front, side and back of the house.
So, this evening my DH and I have moved 2 wardrobes and a sideboard into the guest room (1 of the few rooms not to be touched by all the work and the only one that was looking remotely nice), we've moved the tumble drier into the front lounge, DH's suits are in DS's wardrobe, all my bags are on top of a wardrobe in teh guest room.... I could go on but you probably get the picture by now. I knew full well that we would have to go through this messy, awkward patch to get the results that we want but now that it's started, I'm feeling a wave of panic. Realistically, it's going to be 6 months of upheaval. How do we cope? Does anyone have any tips on handling builders/mess/not being able to find anything?
And how will I keep DS from falling into the footings when they start digging?

Sorry, I'm being a pathetic woman, an embarrassment to the sisterhood for not being able to deal with something so feeble when others are fighting a war.
Pleas ignore me but thanks for letting me rant.

mckenzie, you have my total sympathy. We had builders in for 7 months (they ran late and finally finished 2 weeks before baby no. 2 arrived - and she was a week late!). We had the fridge freezer in the living room for 6 months - as dh often said, it was a bit in the way, but very handy for getting a cold beer when you were watching the TV . I did a lot of babysitting for friends during those months - the bliss of sitting in a clean and tidy house for an evening!

BUT: the site foreman said to me, early in the build, "this will be very hard for you, but almost as soon as we've gone you'll forget all about it". And he was right - having the extension was so great that all the stuff we'd endured paled into insignificance almost immediately. So just try and remember that IT WILL BE WORTH IT.

And feel free to come on here and rant any time you need to let off steam.

thanks Sobernow and Azzie. It started off great this morning, they tunred up when they said they would and the Boss chap did a great Donald Duck voice which made DS chuckle and kept him from wriggling while I changed his nappy. But then, we discovered that when we ordered the bathroom suite (the first job that they're doing is the ensuite) we forgot the taps! So, fingers crossed that when I go back to the shop tomorrow, not only will I be able to remember which set of taps DH and I chose, but they'll also have a very short delivery date.

Did either of you guys make your builders lunch or did they bring their own?

Mckenzie you have my sympathy. We had internal works done last year, builder said it would be a 2-3 week job and it lasted 4 months! DD was 6 months when it started but she seemed to like the builder and his mates!! However nice they are though, I wouldn't get into the game of providing lunch for them, I don't really think they would expect it anyway.

I did make a few cups of tea today but normally I wont be around so much and so they'll have to fend for themselves. I didn't offer lunch today but then thought later that maybe I should have done but I wont now. Thanks for your comments.