Jarric

This makes me happy. Whether you can make sense of it or not, happiness is good

I know! I'm actually irrationally annoyed about it, I just can't get my head around the thought process that would have lead to that. One of the chimney breasts has been removed (it would have been a 2-up 2-down with a fireplace in all 4 rooms originally), and the loft has been converted. There were drawings done for the loft conversion to add structural support to the new top floor, but there's no way of knowing if that work was done or if the chimney breast was removed safely (without major exploratory work to check at least). Ah well, if it falls down I will at least know why! Thank you! It definitely helps knowing someone who can help with these things - my dad was a carpenter so I've been using his help for a lot of stuff. You and me both! I'll try and get a proper update up later, but thanks for checking in Thank you! I know, right? Last week was a good week, we got a lot done. Totally neglected my goals and the forums, but it was important to let the house come first while I had the chance to deal with it.

Good news about the surgery date - and although you have to wait a bit I guess that works out quite well with allowing you to go on vacation first? Hope your knee gets better quickly.

Warlock ? . But yeah, you probably chose correctly. More specifically it would be whichever side can give him the most power. Thanks man! I'll have a think when I have the brainspace to do this and to level up. ETA: love Ghostess's new tattoo, that's really pretty!

Well done on the PR! Some of that extra #30 must be muscle if your deadlift has increased that much at least.

Wardrobes before: Wardrobes after: New door locks and cat flap: Before shelves (you can see some of the brackets for the old floating shelves): New shelves:

Well I've been dreadful at updating this thread. Ah well, such is life right now, sorry guys! Thursday evening I drank many beer, watched Questing Time, and eventually passed out on the sofa. It was rather nice! Friday morning I opted not to wake up early, particularly after the beers and the sofa sleeping, so I didn't work out. The plan now is to get fully back on the workout plan next week, as I really want to keep up wit the progress I've been making. I got to the house with WW and met the electrician. He was a lovely bloke who said the best thing would be to re-wire the whole house, which is something we absolutely cannot afford, but he's given us prices to do the minimum work to make the place safe which is good. I also met a met who was inspecting for woodworm, and whom I paid £90 for less than 5 minutes work as he said there weren't any problems to worry about. An expensive way to get a simple answer, but at least that's something we can draw a line under. We also did some bits and pieces round the house. I spent a surprising amount of time trying to fix the doors on the bedroom cupboards/wardrobes. They are double doors, and whatever monster installed them decided they should open in the same direction rather than opening away from each other so it looks like they are two separate cupboards rather than opening into one big useable space. So I got most of the way through flipping the doors round into a sensible fashion. Meanwhile Dad fitted a cat flap and the final front door lock, so that's all sorted now. WW stripped some old wallpaper and cleaned walls ready for painting. Did very little in the evening as we got home late and were knackered. Protein was had, no teeth brushing or foam rolling. On Saturday I got up and went for my long run. I was as slow as a very very slow person, but the weather was lovely and I very much enjoyed myself regardless. Managed to take a nice picture of myself too: https://www.instagram.com/p/CL2RQBvgBLq . When I got home I had lunch, and then headed over to the house again. I spent a lot of time being annoyed that I couldn't use the free wifi I'd been using as I wanted to have the rugby on while I was working, but I finished sorting out the wardrobe doors (eventually), and took our new shelves off the wall ready to paint the living room. I also fixed the front door lock which Dad had fitted but which didn't quite work with the existing lock. WW joined me when she finished work and took a bit more wallpaper off. This update is already long, so I'll update Sunday in full tomorrow. In the meantime here's the todo list so far: Replace locks front and back Fit cat flap Get wall ties checked - agreed quote, booked for June Get roof leak fixed Contact damp proofing people the see if any guarantees in place - e-mailed, apparently they didn't do the work? Contact structural engineer to see if structural works were done - e-mailed, got what little information they had Paint living room - walls cleaned, need to do a load of wall prep and paint next week, colours chosen Paint bedroom - need to do a load of wall prep and paint next week, colours chosen Paint hall and stairs - next week, currently planning colours Paint kitchen - next week, currently planning colours Carpet bedroom - WW waiting on call back Clean remaining carpets Sort wardrobes (doors and floor storage) Deep clean kitchen - made a start Get gas safety checked - Booked for 2nd March Get electrics safety checked - Done, just need to book remedial work Fit new lights in living room Replace lightbulbs throughout Get internet installed - Booked Run ethernet cable to top room Fit shelves in living room - done, just need to put them back up when painted Sort workout gear storage Buy downstairs sofa Buy upstairs sofa bed Put balustrade in top room Gut outhouse and decide on re-fit plan Fit fire alarms - alarms in house, will fit as ceilings are painted Get woodworm looked at Fix bathroom window - replaced hinges, but they don't fit well; trying to work out solution

Yeah, fair enough! And thank you. The speed you jumped into DMing though I think you would have done it anyway - I know it took me months (maybe years?) to pluck up the courage to run my first game. Hey Fearless! *waves back*

Good to hear you've got a move in date for your new place; hope the move goes well! It probably is just the increased volume, possibly combined with the stress of moving apartment. I'm sure you'll get into the swing of this workout volume soon enough.

I'm not sure my DM tips are worth much. Not compared to, y'know, actual money anyway

Wednesday - week 2 day 3 Yesterday was a good day. I decided when I transferred from sleeping on the sofa to sleeping in my bed at 2am that I probably wasn't getting up early, so I had a lie in until about 8am. I had a quick shower, and then started work. Work was ok, I managed to get some old stuff cleared and out of the way, so that'll be less stuff I have to do when I'm next in. I've also started having old Questing Time episodes on in the background whilst I work, which is a lovely bit of background noise. In the evening WW cooked turkey burgers, and we watched the Diablo D&D one-shot from BlizzConline: I'm a huge fan of Diablo, having played approximately a billion hours of Diablo II as a child/teenager, so this was a real treat. I also actually did some foam rolling! Protein was had in the morning, and teeth were brushed before bed, so generally a good day all round. * * * This morning I got up and went for my run. Again I didn't get out until about 6.45am, so I didn't have time for a workout when I got home, but the run itself felt really good and was pretty fast compared to my normal morning runs. Admittedly my runs should be faster as the ground isn't a boggy swamp at the moment and I can see where I'm going now I'm running at sunrise, but it still feels nice. Work has again been ok, and it's been lovely knowing that I'm not working tomorrow or next week. Wrapped off a few bits and handed them off to the colleague looking after my e-mails. This evening I'm free so I'll be watching Questing Time and drinking beer, which will be nice. Tomorrow I'm going to the house to let the electrician and the woodworm bloke in, and to generally sort some more stuff out.

I'm not sure I can make it worth your while for a few weeks work, but I'd love the help!

I thought you meant you'd got 11 at once for a minute there; you had me really worried!

I know right?! Our GM sent me a message yesterday, in response to that session, saying "I suspect next session might start off a bit unfair for Urah; it's very likely she'll get the jump on you. Does Urah have protections against fear effects?" ? I know! Having a list to add too is helping to keep me sane right now.

Hope you get a negative test back soon mate. In the meantime, keep on with those pullups! I only got 11 on Monday, so I'm heading backwards towards you.

Week 2 - the story so far... Monday I got up and did Strength Protocol day 18: This wasn't too bad to be honest. Not pictured are the pullups - 4 sets of max reps with 2 minutes rest between. I only hit 11, 7, 5, 6 reps, so maybe so maybe the workout took more out of me than I initially thought, but that's fine. Followed up with some handboarding and stretching. Work was ok; things are a bit calmer now, but I did struggle with focus. After work I picked up WW and we went to Tesco for food. In the evening I boiled some eggs for the week's breakfasts, having forgotten to do so on Sunday night, and watched some Crit Role. I forgot to foam roll and played on my phone until it was too late to do so. * * * Tuesday I lounged in bed for a bit, and then got up for my run. The run actually felt really good - I got out a bit late (6.45 instead of 6.15) and the sun was coming up, and it was a bright, warmish morning. I actually enjoyed it. No time for a workout when I got home though. I really struggled at work, just couldn't focus or get the motivation to get things done. I did do a chunk of work in the end, but it was far from a productive day. In the evening I cooked a pepper, potato and tomato stew, topped with whipped feta. It was not as nice as I was hoping; I think it would have been better to just crumble feta over it rather than blend feta and yoghurt together. I may try it again that way and see how it comes out, but in the meantime I've got two lunches of it that will need eating up. After that it was time for Pathfinder, our Mummy's Mask game. I had a really good evening in various bits of roleplay and combat with the group. The best bit was that my bloodrager Urah fell foul of an aura of persuasion from an evil sphynx. That meant that I thought everything the obviously evil creature said was a great idea. None of the other players know that this has happened, so I had great fun playing along with this subtly and saying how good it would be to worship Areshkagal rather than our current god. I've looked up a quick description of Areshkagal which I think adequately portrays her: "Areshkagal is a faceless, six-legged female sphinx whose midnight-blue fur is sparse enough that her pale, ashen skin can be seen through it. Draconic wings sprout from her shoulder blades, and her tail is the front half of a viper. This viper's mouth speaks riddles to her prisoners, and her face is rumoured to be so hideous that, on revealing it, Areshkagal sends onlookers mad, to their deaths, or worse. Some legends claim the Abyss itself cannot bear the sight of her countenance." For some reason the party haven't yet noticed anything wrong with me agreeing with an evil sphynx and suggesting we worship a demonic deity, so I think I'll be giving them some stick for that if I live long enough to snap out of it. After Pathfinder I decided to have one last drink in front of the TV. Having had that I fell asleep on the sofa in front of The C Team, and woke up to go to bed about 2am. Woops! I did not brush my teeth between the sofa and bed. * * * So so far I've not done any foam rolling, I'm 1/2 for teeth brushing, but I'm spot on for this week for protein and running.

Thank you! And you're right of course, but I also find it fascinating to compare. Thanks! I'm glad I had the holiday time to use up, it'll be very handy. It helps that we have a deadline - I'm moving in at Easter whether the work's done or not, so I've got a strong incentive to get it done.

Great news on all the health stuff! You do know that the exercise counts, whether or not you wear your HRM, right? By all means track stuff, that's good, but if you can't get a new battery you can still do the workout and you'll still get the benefit.

Yeah, that's the problem, it's quick enough to do if you can do it as a full time job! It could be worse; my dad bought his house in 1994. He swears that it's nearly finished now

Week 1 stats Mileage: 12.02/116 miles for the challenge - barely over 10% of my mileage at 20% of the way through the challenge; not an easy start Foam rolling: 1/3 - £4.17 to the computer fund and £8.33 to the mortgage account Teeth: 3/7 - £5.36 to the computer fund and £7.14 to the mortgage account Protein: 6/7 - £10.71 to the computer fund and £1.79 to the mortgage account Todo list: Replace locks front and back - almost there, just one front lock to add Fit cat flap - bought, to fit at the weekend Get wall ties checked - agreed quote, booked for June Get roof leak fixed Contact damp proofing people the see if any guarantees in place - e-mailed, apparently they didn't do the work? Contact structural engineer to see if structural works were done - e-mailed, got what little information they had Paint living room - walls cleaned, paint next week, currently planning colours Paint bedroom - next week, currently planning colours Paint hall and stairs - next week, currently planning colours Carpet bedroom - WW waiting on call back Clean remaining carpets Sort wardrobes (doors and floor storage) Deep clean kitchen - made a start Get gas safety checked - Booked for 2nd March Get electrics safety checked - Booked for 26th February Fit new lights in living room Replace lightbulbs throughout Get internet installed - Booked Run ethernet cable to top room Fit shelves in living room - bought uprights, dad making shelves Sort workout gear storage Buy downstairs sofa Buy upstairs sofa bed Put balustrade in top room Gut outhouse and decide on re-fit plan Fit fire alarms - alarms in house, will fit as ceilings are painted Get woodworm looked at - booked for 26th February Fix bathroom window - replaced hinges, but they don't fit well; trying to work out solution Not the best week ever, and weirdly I thought I'd scratched more off that todo list than I have too. Still, I was feeling stressed at the start of the week and ill in the middle of it, so I'll take what I can get. Saturday I got up later than planned, so only did a short run before working on the house. Sunday I didn't feel like doing anything, so other than running D&D nothing is what I did - hence the low mileage. Week 2 should be better - I'm only working 4 days and I then have 10 days off (pretty much). Hopefully I should have a lot more of that todo list ticked off, and a lot more mental energy, after I've got through the next couple of weeks.

Great job on week 1 man, especially getting all that done while being on the road all week.

I'm still finding that hard to compare to here; the situation's so different. That house you shared is 85% bigger than mine (mine's about 650sq ft), and less than 60% of the price. Tax here is different though. We have to pay council tax, which is about £260/month, but we have to pay that now in our rented house and it doesn't change if we own the house (it is based on the size of house you live in though). Instead of a property tax we have stamp duty, which you pay once when you buy a house, and is something like 1% of the value between £120k and £250k, 3% of the value above £250k and 5% of the value above £500k. We didn't have to pay stamp duty though, as we qualify for various schemes designed to stimulate the housing market. Overall in your example a person on median would have $700/month left after mortgage, tax, insurance, and utilities. That sounds reasonable, but I don't really have a concept of what that would be like to live on where you are. Thanks man - I'm excited to make some progress and share it! Ok, so the value of our place is about 7 times my income, or about 5.75 times our combined income. Our monthly mortgage is about 60% of my personal income though, or 40% of our combined income. I suspect that a chunk of that disparity is that we own a very small percentage of our house, which means we're paying off a lot of interest as well as the actual principle. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to putting our stamp on it. Equally though I wouldn't mind not having to do everything, so it's a double edged sword! As part of the purchase documents we got a damp report and quotation for damp proofing works, but no confirmation of whether the work quoted for was undertaken. I've managed to get hold of the people who quoted it, and they say they didn't do the work. The thing is, the house isn't damp now and it was when that report was writted, which would imply that someone did some work. But we don't know for sure and I can't think of any way to find out. Thank you! I'm liking the project, but I wish I could have a month off work to just do it to be honest! It's not quite the same trying to get stuff done on a weekend. Thanks man! I can't wait to show you.

Yeah, I found the same when Starpuck was showing me places she was looking at in Illinois - if there's one thing Americans have it's land to build on! Wow, that's amazing. My only consolation looking at all these places is at least I don't live in London. Or Esher in Surrey, where apparently "Properties in Esher had an overall average price of £956,936 over the last year."

Ok, so I promised you so photos of the house, and here are our 'before' photos. Spoilered for size: As you can see it's all pretty grubby and in need of some love, but hopefully with a bit of paint and a bedroom carpet it'll look a lot better! Also, turns out the wide angle camera on my new phone bends the edges of the image, which is interesting. Wednesday I woke up feeling pretty crap. I didn't feel like working out, so after I dragged myself out of bed I did some yoga instead. I felt a bit lazy for that, but the time I had breakfast it was clear that I actually wasn't well. I felt sick, and really really tired, and I struggled my way through the day. After work I picked up WW and we went to B&Q to buy some more door locks and other bits. Dropped those by the house and took the pictures, and then came home and chilled out. I did not foam roll . Thursday I still didn't feel great. I did drag myself out for a run first thing, but only a very slow 2 miles. Work was ok, and I was feeling better than Wednesday if not actually well. I ended up on the phone to Virgin Media for ages trying to sort out moving my internet to the new place, but on the plus side I eventually got there and will be upgrading from 100MB to 200MB broadband for less than I'm paying now. Because I was doing that I then had to get back on finishing off my work, and with a job taking much longer than planned I didn't finish until 20 to 7. After work WW cooked dinner, and then it was time for Pathfinder. We had a nice time drinking beer and killing ghosts, even if I was deliriously tired by the end! This morning I didn't feel like getting out of bed, so I lounged for a while reading D&D stuff before dragging myself up for some yoga. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I'm definitely much better, so planning to be back to usual programming from tomorrow. The todo list so far: Replace locks front and back - some done, everything bought to fit at the weekend Fit cat flap - bought, to fit at the weekend Get wall ties checked - agreed quote, waiting on date to book it in Get roof leak fixed Contact damp proofing people the see if any guarantees in place - e-mailed, apparently they didn't do the work? Contact structural engineer to see if structural works were done - e-mailed, got what little information they had Paint living room Paint bedroom Paint hall and stairs Carpet bedroom - WW waiting on call back Clean remaining carpets Sort wardrobes (doors and floor storage) Deep clean kitchen Get gas safety checked - Booked for 2nd March Get electrics safety checked - Waiting on call back to confirm date and cost Fit new lights in living room Replace lightbulbs throughout Get internet installed - Booked Run ethernet cable to top room Fit shelves in living room Sort workout gear storage Buy downstairs sofa Buy upstairs sofa bed Put balustrade in top room Gut outhouse and decide on re-fit plan Fit fire alarms - alarms delivered, will fit on Saturday Get woodworm looked at - got quote, sorting inspection date Fix bathroom window - hinges bought, on Saturday's todo list

Wow, that's so much space for the money! That's a little over twice the floor area of the place we've bought, and the garden is something like 25x the size of ours!