See saw of a day.

It's a hard one today. It was up and it was down. He wanted to buy some tiles to put under the cooker so decided we needed to go to the local hardware place. I spoke to his mum who said that she had seen some in the Sally Army place and this changed hubby's mind. We would go there instead. So off we tootled. This place is like an Aladin's cave, and I just knew what was going to happen, but said nothing and breathed deeply.

I like going here. I like having a mooch about. It never ceases to interest me what some people give away, and what some people buy. There is alsorts here, and if you were setting up home you could furnish it and kit it out for about £200, which I think is fabulous. I don't mind buying second hand things. I like the idea of it being recycled and that you save a fortune.

We took an age finding the tiles, because his mother's directions are worse than mine, and they were at the other end of the warehouse than where I thought they would be - but that could be because my directions are worse than hers lol. We bought 12 300cm tiles that match our kitchen (believe it or not) for £5. Bargain :o). We then went and had a bit of a rumage around all of the sections. I like the kitchen bit - well I like it all, but I do like the kitchen bit. Middley saw a tupperware box that was full of silicone bits and bobs, a spatula, ladle etc, and the princely sum of 5p was attached to them all. I got a whole new silicone set for the princely sum of 35p. I was mega happy. I was happy again when looking at salt and pepper shakers because hubby spotted a set that sat on a little tray and it had a mustard pot with the little spoon thingy that goes with it. That was £1. The fact it matches my butter dish was just a delightful bonus.

We then went and had a look around the sitting room area. I knew this was going to happen... There was a lovely painting, in a lovely frame (for a change) and that was it. We were having it. Now it was £20 (and upon further inspection at home, the print itself was selling for £48, without being framed, so it was a bargain), but it meant that there had to be a re-jig of paintings on the wall, and that the hammer would come out, and the tape measure (dear God, when that comes out I shudder). My painting (the only one I have) had to be removed and put up at the top of the stairs. His other painting (purchased there too) had to come down to go where my painting was. New hook thingies had to go up because the one there wouldn't hold it on it's own, it needed a partner - which meant the other one had to come down so the spacing would be correct. He then decided the older painting that's been up for ages needed to be rehung, all whilst I'm trying to make tea...

Anyhoo, back to the shopping experience. Once we'd gotten the tiles, we went to Homebase. Full of people - of course it is, it's a bank holiday weekend (well in England it is, not in Scotland, and we had hopped over the Border so we were in the land of English, so it was hotching there). We had to get side strips for the bench where the cooker is (still smiling), then we needed adhesive for the tiles. "No sweetheart, you need adhesive that goes onto wood, not concrete. It's floorboarded". Then he decided he wanted spacers for the tiles. "Can't we just use matches?" said I. So we got a big bag of spacers. Then he wanted a tile cutter. Lord, I worked out that six tiles would fit the space perfectly, why we're going to be cutting tiles is beyond me... Then we had a wander, and I really, really wish I'd gotten the batter jug (pancake mix batter, not wallpaper lol) but I didn't. Pfft. We went and paid for the items, with the bonus of an extra 15% off and tootled back to the car.

Going to the car they were selling turf at £4 per m2. I asked if that was cheap, because mum had been looking at turfing her garden. "No". Ok. I sillily said that I'd thought it wasn't bad, but the fact I don't know what turf goes for really meant that I didn't know if it was a good price or not. (Must keep mouth shut in future CT) He got himself into such a tizz about this turf being expensive and how stupid I am for not knowing this that he couldn't say s"cue"uare meter right (never mind him not being able to say it, due to this keyboard I can't write it...). It kept coming out as "Smare "cue"ueeter". I smiled when he did this - not because I was laughing at him, but because I liked the way he'd mashed the two words together. I didn't say why I'd smiled, but I'd smiled and don't I know how stupid I am for smiling, because that meant I was laughing at him saying that £4 was not expensive for turf. He stomped back off to the car with me trailing behind.

I had a pain behind my eyeball (like brain freeze - or even a red hot poker, which is funny because they're polar ends of the heat scale to one another, but both fit the description perfectly), so when we were at his mother's she gave me a tablet. Not sure what it was, but it was good lol. She and him had a niggle and I could see him getting wound up, so bravely (and I'm putting it down to this magic tablet) I said "Could you stop now please? You're winding him up and whilst he'll bite his tongue here, when we get home he won't, and my head hurts and it will tip me over the edge". "Precisely" said his dad. Wow.

So since getting home, I've had the "you don't do this, that or the other" drip, drip, dripping from him - it's like Japenese water torture. I've also got to ring the Benefit man on Monday, the Tax man on Monday and the Mortgage people on Monday. Why? I'm not really sure, but I'll just go with it for the moment though.

I have caught him looking at new kitchens tonight. So we've had a coffee in the kitchen and sat discussing what we'd do to the kitchen when we've saved up enough. Why are we doing all of these renovations? To make our house nice for us? Don't be daft. It's so we can sell the house and go and live at the Sea side on an Island off the coast of Scotland. "Yes dear" said I. We'll never get another mortgage - crikey, I struggle with the one I have, and the thought of moving all that way - which pre illness I would have done, I'm not doing now. Yet, for the moment, I'll just go along with the plan. We always seem to go over the same ground when he's having a little set back, and moving house is always it. So for now, I'm just agreeing with him. He hasn't asked me to send off for details of houses yet, which I had to do last time, but we'll see how long before that starts again.