Another month...
Now I’m posting less frequently - every month or so - it’s occurred to me just how much changes during that time. I still have to post some photos of the new house, but looking at the ones I took in July it’s unrecognisable already.
We’re hitting continual snags every time we try and get a job done, but the plasterer’s in this week and next. After that it’s the joiner and then carpets are being fitted. The electrician has been and done his thing. The bathroom’s being done at some point, possibly once we’re in. Scheduling and sequencing it all is difficult but realistically we need to get out of our rented house as soon as possible, as paying rent and a mortgage is a huge financial strain and we’re having to dig into our savings to make up the shortfall every month.
Not ideal as that takes away from money we could be spending on our own property.
The extension - whether single-storey to begin with (due to budget) or, hopefully, double storey - is also going to have to happen once we’re in. Right now the priority is getting the current house fit to move into.
Coordinating and project managing the whole thing between us is hard work.
So: what’s new?
The summer holidays are flying by. Joe’s been spending time with his grandparents while I go to work, and that in itself is an 80 mile round trip for Jay every week. We’re thinking next summer we’ll look into out of school clubs for some of the time then he’s close to home.
Also: he’s ten in a week and a bit. How did that happen? He’s about to start his final year at primary school. I think because he’s quite young for his age (and the youngest in his class) it seems inconceivable that he’ll be going to high school in a year’s time.
I’m trying not to think about it.
Completely off-topic by the way, but in the below picture you can see the brewery Jay works at. It’s high in the hills, off in the distance, and he gets great views from up there. Head Office is an old farmhouse and the rest of it is trendy wooden agricultural-looking buildings. There’s a cafe and farm shop too, and office space for hipster small businesses.
Last week, the weather was unbearable and we were trapped at home. It was just too hot to go out and do anything. Sleeping was difficult too.
This house has huge picture windows, and they face south. We can’t open the doors and windows very wide because the cat might escape and he’s too small to go out on his own just yet. So it’s felt tropical and airless and just horrible really.
But Wednesday we did a little ride out to the garden centre and yesterday we went across to Haworth. Joe got his usual bag of sweets from the sweet shop, and we stopped off at a farm shop and bought some Victoria plums.
On the way home we took a little amble around the nature area in Oxenhope and the rays of sunlight coming down through the trees and illuminating the water looked like an impressionist painting. The rowan berries are out, and trees are full of apples. Thistledown’s floating through the air. It’s much cooler now and we’re relieved.
In other bits of miscellany, I have four books on the go right now. But I’m mostly reading the latest David Sedaris - I just love his writing and can relate to so much of it.
We watched Hubie Halloween again the other evening. A bit premature I know, but I’m ready for autumn. I always am, but after the heatwaves I feel like I’m done with summer and will be happy to see the back of it.
I’m still working hard on the magazine. It’s been a huge undertaking, and I probably couldn’t have chosen a worse time to start. A six-week summer holiday where I’m either at work or entertaining Joe has meant I’ve been struggling to squeeze in the time, but Jay’s been great and - as ever - gone above and beyond to make sure I can escape to the office.
I’m still being ridiculously ambitious as the plan is to get it ready to go to print by the end of the weekend. To-do list as follows:
Set up and style three more photo shoots
Edit photos and add images to magazine in InDesign
Check formatting, resolution and proof read (lots of times)
Figure out how to do the spine
Choose software for making a flipbook
Get ISSN numbers for the printed and digital versions
Convert document to a PDF
Format it for the print company (hope it’s not difficult)
Turn it into a flipbook (ditto)
Figure out how many copies to order
Add both formats to online shop
Let people know it exists (i.e. promotion, not my strong point)
So, lots to be getting on with.
Joe’s away until Tuesday evening (!) so I’m going for it. I’m working Monday and Tuesday next week, and Saturday too, but everything has to be finished and ordered so wish me luck!
I’ll be celebrating once I get past the finish line. There’s no going back now so fingers crossed I don’t come up against any major obstacles (a few days ago I spent hours trying to figure out adding page numbers then my computer slowed to a standstill and… well, it wasn’t a pretty sight).
Have a great weekend.
