Happy Easter!

Hi all (none),

I just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a happy easter, and hopefully one that has been less tedious and back-breaking than mine has been! Suzy and I (with some help from a few parental deputies) have been getting the place ready for our first open house which is set for the 29th of April. Basically it has involved shifting furniture down stairs and out of the attic and into local storage, packing boxes and re-arranging rooms... all because your average home-buyer is too freaking stupid to picture a place as livable if it is too "personalised" or cluttered.

We have chucked our massive and impractically large computer desk, and in the meantime bought a cheap $20 desk from Ikea which is a little more space-friendly. We swapped the spare double bed with a single from my parents, and now our study looks like a nice little bedroom. We also cleared out the bigger chest from the main bedroom, to give a bit more breathing room, and have cleared out the attic almost entirely, leaving just some full bookshelves and a little nook for watching DVDs etc. We had planned to put the computer up there too, but the little ikea desk works perfectly in the second bedroom so we left it there.

On the outside, we had a bit of a debacle. We got some more decking oil, and decided to renew the original coat we put on it when it was installed. We did one coat, which worked like a charm, and then put on a second. Unfortunately, the second coat was apparently a bit thick, as rather than soak into the wood properly, most of it decided to dry on top of the wood, and go all shiny/sticky and basically making the deck look like crap. We tried cleaning it off with detergent, terps and sugar soap but non of it worked. The only option left? Sand it back and re-oil the sodding thing!

I got some paper, and went down on my hands and knees sanding away... after about 5 planks (about 1/5th of the total) I had more than had enough, so I gave John a call and borrowed his belt sander. It was a bit late to fire it up tonight (technically we were OK, but felt guilty anyway) so tomorrow after work that deck is getting sanded but good!