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tacitI haven't been writing lately. Not at all. I have written so little that I'm thinking of posting a couple of WIPs just so I can pretend there's a bit of forward momentum in my fannish life. Can I declare my very own little WIP amnesty? Or will Fandom strike me down?
But I haven't just been sitting on my bum. I have been building!
Courses of bricks laid:
But I haven't just been sitting on my bum. I have been building!
So, some of you might already know that my buddy C and I used to run a painting and decorating business, and ditched it about eight weeks ago to buy a house and renovate it. We'd previously done up our own place but that's the extent of our experience - not much. We can decorate... But we do have our share of common sense and enthusiasm, and we're pretty willing to get our hands dirty. So we figured, why not? How hard can it really be?
It's not exactly difficult, but it certainly wears you out. We're pretty determined to do most of the work ourselves - it's partly because of the money, but also we wanted to be proud of what we'd accomplished when it was done. I like picking up strange new skills that I'm unlikely to ever use again. And recently that's been building an enormous extension at the side of the house.
So far we've done everything except dig the foundations (it was cheaper to hire a guy with a digger than to rent a digger!), and we got a brickie in for a day to lay the first three courses of bricks so we could watch him work and learn how it's done. He was one of the legion of tradesmen who thought we wouldn't be able to do it - which I think is pretty patronising. He presumably wasn't born knowing his trade. And if I can get on my equal-opportunities soapbox for a second, I bet it'd be a different story if we were guys not girls.
But, showing everyone that we can too do it is just about the most satisfying thing I've ever done. Seriously. I go to work each day feeling a little bit excited. I ring my parents just to tell them about the house. At the end of the day when my back hurts and I have shooting pains running through my hands I'm still feeling cheery and, god help me, a little bit serene. For fucks sake.
This from the girl who could never quite get out of bed to make it into uni for any lectures.
When this house is done we are so buying another.
It's not exactly difficult, but it certainly wears you out. We're pretty determined to do most of the work ourselves - it's partly because of the money, but also we wanted to be proud of what we'd accomplished when it was done. I like picking up strange new skills that I'm unlikely to ever use again. And recently that's been building an enormous extension at the side of the house.
So far we've done everything except dig the foundations (it was cheaper to hire a guy with a digger than to rent a digger!), and we got a brickie in for a day to lay the first three courses of bricks so we could watch him work and learn how it's done. He was one of the legion of tradesmen who thought we wouldn't be able to do it - which I think is pretty patronising. He presumably wasn't born knowing his trade. And if I can get on my equal-opportunities soapbox for a second, I bet it'd be a different story if we were guys not girls.
But, showing everyone that we can too do it is just about the most satisfying thing I've ever done. Seriously. I go to work each day feeling a little bit excited. I ring my parents just to tell them about the house. At the end of the day when my back hurts and I have shooting pains running through my hands I'm still feeling cheery and, god help me, a little bit serene. For fucks sake.
This from the girl who could never quite get out of bed to make it into uni for any lectures.
When this house is done we are so buying another.
Courses of bricks laid:
| |
8 / 58 (13.0%) |
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 11:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 01:24 am (UTC)And the other amazing part is that I don't have to answer to anyone. Well, except maybe C, but we're usually on the same page. I don't know how I'd go back to a proper job after this.
So, you <3 your job too? (I lurk) What do you do? Everyone should love their job. Doesn't it make life shiny?