It's all getting very busy

OK, so since the last post on this blog a lot has been happening.

Once we'd made our decision to press ahead with the work Rachel got on to Mr Mortgage, and he came out to see us. At first it felt like we'd be paying him through the nose for something we could do ourselves, but it turns out all the fixed rate mortgage deals are coming off the table but they can get an application in under the wire using their system. Nice one. Hopefully we should be hearing something firm next week.

The biggest area of development is with the kitchen - down to us to specify and order - which we did at the weekend. We took advantage of a Bank Holiday deal at Wickes and ordered a very nice kitchen from their Manhattan range. We've also ordered our appliances through them, which is expensive compared to what you can get them for elsewhere, but some selected discounts and a free dishwasher tipped the balance there! The deal is a killer too - we put 10% down, get 12 months interest free but don't pay anything until delivery, and we can change our mind on part or all of the order. If everything goes belly up we can cancel and get our deposit back. Amazing!

We've also started packing. Well, a bit. We cleared most of the dining room and took the stuff up to Horton-cum-Cuddle-Me. Looks like there will be enough room in the garage for our stuff. I've booked a van for the 5 May, and will see if anyone else is around to help out on the day as I doubt my back will last.

We've got a meeting lined up with Mr Architect and Mr Builder tomorrow where we get to do hard-nosed negotiation and ask for the front wall to be rebuilt in the price too! We'll see...