Simple Abundance...

Ok it's been a bit of a week/fortnight from hell on the house front - you name it and it has broken this week..no joke! For starters the kettle and tumbledryer died - now replaced. Then there were the blown off tiles from the roof - thankfully now under TLC by Dave the builder (who incidentally is not the low-life builder who is responsible for fixing it - he seems to have a problem answering his phone whenever we put a call through to him). All I can say about him is 'all work 100% guaranteed.... my A&%E!!!! Then there was the car trouble - which started out as a big problem at the start of the week but after a bit of running around to Renault garages, has now been downgraded to a minor problem thanks to mum's neighbour who is a mechanic.

Then Sky broke down - gasp - no tele for Christmas!!! Horror of horrors! Thankfully he arrived today and took away the offending damaged part so we are back on track to see The Wizard of Oz, White Christmas and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! Then throw in my unclearing laryngitis and icky throat (ongoing for 10 days now). Doc gave me a presscription today for antib's which can be heartily and liberally washed down with vino - his words! Happy Days!

....And finally the piece de resistance - the sewers! For two weeks now we have had intermittant plumbing - no flushy flushy (well paper etc - NiiiCCCCCEEE!!!EEEEUUUGH!) Mr Dyno-Poo (to quote a pal who is having similar woes!) have been no less than fantastic at sorting out our problem at very short notice i.e. CHRISTMAS WEEK where nothing usually get's done. Anyway nothing comes without a price and our super fast typed up estimate comes in at a snip at €4k which luckily has been downwardly revised from €6K - (see getting better already).

Mr Insurance Assessor called this morning to see our problem up close and personal (so to speak!) and he still can't confirm if it's covered as accidental damage from my husband's heavy handed attempt to be Jim'll fix it. Will know more after Christmas when they are inspired to open our file and look at it -as the Christmas work parties are now in full swing and no loss adjuster is prepared to open my file when everyone around them is on a boozy Christmas lunch....

However despte all this C%£P on my doorstep this week (literally I kid you not!!!) - enough to send a woman over the edge with a bottle of gin... for some strange reason nice things kept happening to me today- like the postie deliveries of lovely crafty goods from a friend as a Xmas pressie, phonecalls from people just ringing cos they were thinking of me, and a visit from a dear friend who gave me the most beautiful Christmas candle and a wonderful book called 'Simple Abundance' which celebrates the little ordinary things that enrich your life. It couldn't have come at a better time - thanks girls!