So today is the BIG day – the workmen arrived at just before 08:30 and began dismantling the kitchen and the house bathroom – it is only 10:00 now and already the kitchen has no appliances in it, not upper cupboards and only carcasses for the lower cabinets…

We will try to get photographs from beginning to end to show the progress along the way and then post them here for reference.

For starters here are the initial photos…

We have completed the painting including gloss work in the master bedroom although it is drying overnight.  We have also had the carpet requirements measured up and have ordered the carpeting – hopefully it will be fitted within the week.  Then the bed that we ordered on Monday can then be delivered and put in place, making it a room that we can sleep in once again.  Elliot will be very pleased to have us out of his room – last night all four of us were in there sleeping given that Olly was under yet another of his now infamous temperature issues 🙁  It started yesterday at 1pm…

We arranged to take Olly to the doctors this morning although typically by the time we got there the drugs had done their job nicely meaning that he was on top form and demonstrated no issues whatsoever.  However, we did learn from the investigation that it is indeed his tonsils again.  So that is the third time in under three weeks.  We also learned that the medical folks prefer to not take them (the tonsils) out nowadays, unlike when Simon and Tim were younger where they ripped them out a little more readily.  That said, when pressed, the doctor did suggest that if 6 incidences of tonsillitis occur in a 12 month period, ten they do tend to seriously consider their removal.  When Simon pointed out that we were well on track, with 3 diagnosis’ in just over 3 weeks, the doctor did somewhat go quiet.  We went in well prepared with a list of each and every incident since 2009 🙂

The cold weather from the weekend seems to have been held away for the last couple of days as we are enjoying 8 to 10 degrees Celsius as opposed to -4 to -5 Celsius that we (ahem) enjoyed at the weekend.

The fitbit that Simon purchased last week is pushing him quite well, so much that Simon actually walked down to the shop and took a very long way home to get his daily steps up above his target 🙂  Apparently the device is something that we all should have – the question is when should the user get involved in all the other crap that can be integrated into it? 😉

So, a new week commences, more ice found on cars and more household upgrades are taking place.  Also, daddy turned the heating from always on (as we set it for when Becca and Matt stayed over the weekend watching the dogs for us) to OFF (dummy thought he had switched it over to time controlled – NOPE – just OFF 🙁 ) so it was slightly colder in the house this morning – BUT not freezing as we might have expected given it was -% Celsius overnight…

The ice on the windscreen on bobby this morning took the better side of 10 minute to be cleared, before daddy could get to the gym. 🙁  Then, when he did get to the gym, it seems that the few days off have really set daddy back somewhat 🙁 Just goes to prove that you really do have to stay on your game in the fitness place…

We have been to order a new bed this morning and are heading out to look at carpets tomorrow – hopefully we can get the two in place by mid next week which then gives us a few days to sort the decorating…

Now, onto Crash Mode….   After collecting Tim from his hotel on Sunday morning, we noted that the interior lights were on in the car and we could not extinguish them – we then also noticed that the dashboard was not displaying the speed as per normal, but instead was listing something called Crash Mode and that we should refer to the owners manual.  SO Tim began looking in the manual but was unable to find the words Crash Mode – possibly due to the high levels of alcohol no doubt still affecting his eyes 🙂  Anyway, we pulled over and chose to reboot the engine – thankfully, not only did the engine start up second time around, but it also cleared the Crash Mode from the system.  Astons definitely don’t have the most robust computer and electrical systems in the world – good job they look like they do and roar like they do 🙂

The safe was fitted this morning and already has the watches safely stored inside along with the spare keys for the cars (well, ALL of Tina’s keys are in there 🙂 ).  Finger print scanner and 6 digit passcode protection is the name of the game – the unit itself has been secured to the floor by bolt AND some mega epoxy – as the guy said, this safe is not coming out of this house without a fight 🙂

The chap that is building our bedroom furniture is really cracking on well – he should be done by Thursday night – a full day early – spot on given we are heading North for the weekend 🙂

It looks better than we imagined it would and the lights etc that are built into it are pretty neat.  The main wardrobes and bed side cabinets should be fully completed today leaving the entranceway to be finished tomorrow.

Mummy has been out in search of bed linens and shirts for the buys (and a pair of replacement pants for Olly – he seems to have lost a little weight since just before Christmas so his suit pants are too big 🙁

Simon has just ordered a new set of weighing scales for the house as they have wifi built in and will automagically detect who it is that is stood on them and then update their weight online, ready for analysis via the iphone / ipad / pc etc – pretty cool.  On top of this, he has ordered a FitBit Ultra wireless fitness pedometer that also monitors sleep patterns – all the above is put together and an iPhone app can be used to input foods intaken as well as gym sessions / bike rides accomplished to calculate where he is going wrong with either lack of fitness or too much food (or indeed both)….

• Withings Body Scale
• FitBit Ultra

Let’s see if this helps him shift a bit of lard… 🙂