Snow Day

Snow was forecast overnight, but there was way much more than we expected this morning. This is CarbBoy's first glimpse of the winter wonderland. The kids were, of course, togged up in ski wear and out there whooping and hollering before I'd even finished my tea. No snow fun for me and Mr B though: today was finally Beam Day - mark one.

The corner of our house where the worst leak was has a very broken floor in the attic, which is all to be replaced, and a slightly broken floor on the first floor. That's where we started, putting companion beams in to support the slightly rotten main beam between the ground and first floor. Happily the joists are all fine. After more lifting, hauling, grunting, drilling and shoving than I thought could be squeezed into one morning, the first beam was in. I think this is the first DIY task I've been involved in where I actually felt a bit in danger - Mr B hammer drilling into a wall, with almost nothing supporting the two storeys above, and me supporting a beam that's too heavy for me and just hoping the whole lot wasn't going to fall down on us. Happily, it didn't...

Once the beam was properly sat in its holes, we propped it up so it was at the right level - and at that point decided it was time for lunch! Vegetable and ham soup hit the mark, and then I ran away to start taking the kids to their clubs. Later, there was cementing in of the beam and the long task of getting the cement to set in temperatures near freezing...

Anyway, the mum-taxi routine was a simpler task today than normal - with riding and football cancelled - but driving conditions were atrocious - lashing rain and so much water on the roads that anyone going more than 30mph was just aquaplaning along. I think snow would have been better: people here drive slowly in snow, but in rain they just keep rattling along at 70mph, sliding all over the place in the rain. Sigh. Anyway, somehow I made it through all the various journeys with only a few tricky moments, and happily Mr B volunteered to do the late shift with TallGirl's basketball, leaving me to get on with dinner. Which, thanks to Dotty's suggestion, was spaghetti carbonara with the home made super-salty bacon. A triumph! I've never much liked carbonara - always thinking it was too sickly and creamy. But, according to my Italian cookbook, it doesn't have any cream in at all - just bacon and eggs. So, what's not to like about that? Not a lot, turns out.

A late night watching telly and nursing all our sore muscles from the morning's exersions.

EDIT: Now here's something from the day I don't want to forget. Mr B saying to the kids they should congratulate me on my hard work on the beam raising, as there are not many women who would be prepared to do that. I know, on reflection, that that should irk me in many ways. But it was meant as the highest form of praise, and I've learned in all my years with Mr B to take compliments in whatever form they come. So there you have it. I'm, basically, great. (Ok, I'm extrapolating a bit, and I know I'm supposed to be so over all that and full of self-affirmation but a little bit of praise, even delivered indirectly, is still ok.)