Midweek Musings: eBay agony and parenting solo again
My god I am knackered! Oli has been leaving for rehearsals this week at 8.30am and getting home at 11pm (which I am sure is against EU working hours but anyway). And Daph has suddenly turned into Mrs Clingy/Whiny, and now shrieks if I'm not in the same room as her and looking at the exact same thing as her ALL THE TIME.
NO MUMMY YOU MAY NOT PASS GO AND GO TO THE TOILET FOR TWO MINS. NO MUMMY YOU MAY NOT DRINK OUT OF THAT GLASS. I WANT THAT GLASS! NO MUMMY YOU MAY NOT CHECK YOUR EMAILS GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NOW NOW NOW. NO MUMMY HOW DARE YOU TRY TO EAT SOMETHING OFF YOUR PLATE I WANT IT EVEN THOUGH THE EXACT SAME THING IS ON MY PLATE.
She's also started pulling on my trouser legs, which is kind of cute but actually quite painful when she decides to headbutt my shins. I need ALL the gin tonight, I tell you.
I have to say too what an ABSOLUTE IDIOT I was for gloating about her sleeping through the night in my last post, as she has now decided to do the most weird random wake ups ever. Her naps have also gone to pot over the last few days - 20 minute crap naps are the order of the day and then she wakes up screaming. God knows what's going on in her little brain but I think it must be developmental as I can see her personality changing a lot too. Oh, and she is very definitely pointing - hurrah! And also giving 'cuddles' (launching herself at you and biting the nearest piece of your clothing with an impressive intensity as she buries her head in your shoulder) and 'kisses' (blowing raspberries against your cheek) if you ask her. Which is just about cute enough to stop me leaving her out for the bin men.
In other news, we decided to sell some furniture on eBay last week and my god, what an absolute pigging palaver it has been. I do NOT recommend it. Not only is eBay's UI ridiculously un-user friendly, trying to sell something is also the most complicated process ever known to mankind. I just want £300 for this furniture right? I added a Buy it Now price but missed the fact that there's a 'Best Offer' button you need to untick, and so I am receiving offers left right and centre, accompanied by passive aggressive emails from strangers telling me to 'get back to me soon yeah so we can get this thing sorted', even though they've offered £100 less than I wanted. Then there's another handful of cheery chaps who keep trying to offer me cash and do it all outside of eBay, excusing the derisory amounts they're proposing by claiming I'd pay the difference on fees if I went through eBay officially. Then there's people asking me to arrange couriers for them. I did actually manage to sell one piece for the amount I wanted but now eBay keeps deleting my messages to the buyer because I want to include my contact details (which is fair enough right, when you've already sold something!?), causing all manner of bloody confusion.
I just want someone to buy this friggin furniture for the price I have asked and come and collect it themselves. How can it be so complicated? HOW! I want to defect to Gumtree (in hindsight I should have just done Gumtree to start with) but eBay keeps telling me I can't cancel the listing because I have offers I haven't responded to or something... I mean, god. Life is too short to spend two hours a night emailing people called chelseaponies354 and cables4u976 haggling over a tenner. How do people do this for a living?!
Midweek Musings: eBay, babbling and paint
Hello, hello! As suspected, I've been having a manic week or so since we got the house, trying to get everything ready. We're hoping to move in closer to the end of July, so I'm going to take a two-week break from blogging (a summer holiday if you will!) while we get everything sorted, as it's a bit too chaotic trying to fit everything in right now. And no one likes those crappy short posts bloggers do apologising and saying how they're too busy to blog, do they? Ahem. Decorating a house that's 40 minutes away in the car with a baby that needs to nap between 1.30pm and 3pm every day in her own bed (nowhere else will do now apparently - a new thing, she will ONLY sleep in her cot) is a bit of a logistical nightmare. But I'm enjoying the challenge. I think (so far!). Here's a quick update of some things that have been happening, for those that are interested:
1 The house has ginormous windows. They are three metres wide in some rooms. Which is lovely, but means finding curtains or blinds to fit is an absolute piggin' nightmare. An expensive nightmare too (all that fabric!). Last night I discovered the immense stash of vintage curtains for sale on eBay however, and literally lost four hours of my life trawling through them. You have been warned. Now I just need to convince Oli that pink velvet curtains are the way to go... Hmm, what was I saying before about there being too much pink in my flat?
2 In non-house-related news, the first time we took Daph to see the house, she started babbling. And not just a bit, but PROPERLY babbling, babababababa and gagagagagaga and dadadadada and all kinds of similar things (although she's yet to do mama or any 'm' sound). It's literally the cutest noise in the world. We finally have an appointment next week for her to be referred to a paediatric specialist about her development which is of course ironic, because now I can no longer say she doesn't babble. I am so relieved, but also a little in shock. I also highly suspect that the Teletubbies have something do with this new skill.
3 We're painting most of the house white, just to begin with. But in our bedroom, I wanted to go dark - I'm totally obsessed with dark paint at the moment. We're testing the above three colours from Farrow & Ball today, but my money's already on Railings (which I have on my front door to my flat, and I love). Inchyra Blue is one of their new colours however, and does intrigue me - there aren't that many examples of it being used online yet as it's *so* new so I'm keen to see how it turns out. Will it be too blue? One colour I really just can't get on with in interiors is blue, dunno why. I love the teal-y green of it, but then that's also quite a commitment to colour, whereas Railings is basically a dark neutral. Ooooh, so excited (loser).
4 Another exciting loser development - after years of getting angry with crappy washing machines, I have finally treated myself to a Miele. It arrives tomorrow and I am more excited about it than pretty much anything I've ever bought online. I bought it from Appliances Online and have been so impressed with their service. And prices. Check 'em out if you're in need of some white goods (and no, I wasn't paid or given a discount to say this).
So yes, that's about it from me. A thrilling update I'm sure you'll agree. I shall be back in a couple of weeks when we are hopefully finally all moved in. Can't believe we'll be getting all our stuff out of storage after nearly a year now - will be intriguing to rediscover what we actually have. Hope you are all having lovely summers - at least the sun is shining today - and speak soon!