What a day!

Well, things are calming down a little here (I'm pleased to say), though the exhaustion that went with all of the effort at work and home is still there.

On Friday I even managed to leave 3 hours early and take back some time that was owed.  Did the weekly shopping, came home and chilled for an hour and then went for a very cold run.

Yesterday on the other hand was not so superb...

I was woken up at 2am by someone drumming their finger nails on...  Something.

Mrs Stacy was woken by it two and asked what I was doing.

Strange.  Then I welt wet spots appear on my head.

Yup, the new dormer flat roof has sprung a leak somewhere.  Not serious, but serious enough to mean that the bed is now in the middle of the room instead of by the wall and there is a bucket just in case it rains enough to cause it to leak again. On Monday we have to call, and get them to come and fix it.  Gah!

Then we went to pick up the pushchair and car seat from the shop. A trip that should have been so much fun and really exciting, but we were exhausted (it took a while to get to sleep after I had moved the bed and I was expecting the drops of water to follow us across the room...) and so we get there not in the best moods.

And we needed sheets for the cot, and blankets and some other stuff. We got the blankets, no problem there, but can't find sheets.  At all. It seems that the cot we bought, that can turn into a junior bed, is a strange size - 10cm longer than most beds and 10cm shorter than those at Ikea.  So we have to do some searching for real sized sheets or get some longer ones shortend.  Great...

Then we went to get a stand for the baby bath that we bought a couple of months ago. Only to be told that they don't sell stands for the one we bought (even though when we bought it we were told that any standard stand would fit). So now we have to try and find the receipt to take it back and swap it for a more expensive one that does fit the stand.  And if we can't find the receipt then we just have to throw it away and buy a more expensive one.

So far this was not going to plan.

Then we got to the counter to pay for the things we could find, and collect the pushchair etc.  Someone went to fetch everything whilst someone else tried to do the bill.

And tried is the right word. There was no way to call up the bill that we had, even though there was a 400 euro deposit payment on it.

The manager came down and also struggled, so that in the end they gave us the deposit back as a credit voucher and then entered the whole order again.

Though here I have to admit they were very good.  Anything that had gone up in price they reduced to the price when we ordered it, and anything that had gone down in price they gave us at the new cheaper price (which saved about 50 euros I think - the cost of the new baby bath actually...)

We drove home a little under the weather, on the one hand it was so exciting to actually have the baby things in the car, but on the other it was such a worry about the bed sheets and bath (and the leaking new roof) that we could not be as smiling as we wanted to be.

In the afternoon we went to Ikea to get the remaining furniture for the new bedroom. Two bookshelves, a bed (very important now that our bedroom had developed a leak) and a chair for the baby room.

We walked around trying to find all of the things we needed, got to the magazine and started to load up the trolley. Ug.  I say we, obviously Mrs Stace can't load up the trolley, so I had to pick everything up and load the trolley.  And 2m long 50cm wide packages weighing in at about 60kg are not easy for one person to lift!

I managed to put everything into the car (thankfully the front seat also folds flat so that the 2+m long packages could go right to the front) loaded the other boxes and nearly collapsed.

Had an oliebol with raisons (so unhealthy, and so nice - it's a good job they are only available at this time of year!) - and yes that does translate to oil ball - whilst getting my breath back and went home.

Where I had to unload the car by myself. Loaded up the living room and managed to sit for 5 minutes whilst having a drink before starting on the bed (like I said after having the leak I wanted a place to go should our room get damp!).  I unpacked in the living room and just took the bits I needed to the attic for the instruction page I was on. A couple of hours later we had a very complex bed made, complete with 4 drawers to get some storage back in the room!

Then one billy cabinet (where I sliced my middle finger along the edge of one of the pieces) and then a very rushed dinner!

Another billy cabinet whilst regretting eating too quickly, a tidy up and I managed to make it downstairs in time for the first dance of Strictly!  Phew.

Apart from the fact that we are really starting to dislike the judges (we not mute the stereo when they are speaking), and their obvious favouritism for one contestant, and dislike for another, it's a bit of relaxation that we enjoy.

And then to bed, in our room, where I managed to kick the leg of the bed that was now in a strange position in the room so hard that it still hurts now, 10 hours later. Which means of course that I can't run today.  But then again the pain in my muscles from moving a couple of hundred Kg of furniture to the attic is also making that rather hard! I'm just glad I went on Friday!

But, today is a new day. Unpacking the pushchair will be fun, and this afternoon we a (probably) going to go into town and do our Christmas shopping for each other. That is always fun!

Right, time for another cappuccino now!