Himself decided to throw himself down the stairs last night – OK, only the last 4 steps and he didn’t get hurt – just made a lot of noise. And to think he complains if I swear! Our stairs are made of concrete and very steep – the house was built just after the Second World War and each one up the road is slight different. None of the walls are level either – which also makes Himself swear. It’s great being married to someone who’s good at DIY most of the time – especially if I’m not in the house when he decided to pick up tools – he’s got this really funny idea that I’m a builder mate. Nothing could be further from the truth – I get bored easily, then I start to mess with things. Just like the time I cut my finger on the Stanley knife, I was only going to change the blade.

We have to gut every room we decorate. When working on our bedroom, Himself decided to look at all the loose floorboards and stop them from squeaking when you walked over them. He basically put extra screws in, not a problem and Stee helped so he didn’t need my assistance – I could be foreman and watch. They had a bit of a problem with the one floorboard; it wasn’t sitting in place very well. Now here's an idea, Himself would stand on it and Stee would be in charge of the screwdriver. No, still a problem – take it out again, said Himself. Now I have never pretended to be the world most knowledgeable when it comes to DIY, but even I had an inkling that the sound of hissing that could be heard as the screw was removed probably wasn’t the greatest of omens. The strong smell of gas that accompanied it sort of confirmed my initial feelings. Nothing happened for a couple of seconds. Have you ever seen three adult try to get through a door at the same time? – I’d imagine it looked quite funny. Of course we couldn't find the key that opened the gas box – why don’t you put things away where they can be found, Himself said. Excuse me? When did I become the Keeper of the Keys. We got it open eventually and turned the gas off and then had to wait for Andy to come out and repair it.

He a bloody perfectionist as well – if it’s not exactly right, he starts again. Aren’t you lucky, people say - he does such a good job. Yes, and whilst that is very true they fail to notice the time scale involved. A year and a half to finish the bathroom. The problem being the house was adapted for my mum – so the bathroom had a walk in shower, toilet and sink. He eventually got the bath in one Christmas Eve – it was the best present he had ever given me. OK it had no sides to it, basically it was just the bath with the two taps fitted – but after only having the shower for twelve months as far as I was concern Father Christmas did exist. We are still working our way through the house and have a fair bit to do, including the kitchen. He’s decided that he wants to build his own units – so with that in mind I reckon I’ll have a new kitchen by 2012.

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We’re Pumpkin Lantern making this weekend. We have an unspoken agreement, Matt and I. I acknowledge that he is way too old to be making a lantern out of a pumpkin – he’s just doing it to humour me because I enjoy it - and then I also fail to notice how much he’s enjoying himself in the process. We make a good team.

Himself hates Halloween – he gets fed up with answering the door. Personally I love it – it dates back to when I was young I suppose. My mum had what they call a roman nose or a witch’s nose – it was hooked. Apparently that was the first thing she looked at after I was born, and that wasn’t straight way – I nearly manager to kill us both. I got stuck and they had to use forceps to deliver me. Start as you mean to go on – that’s my motto. When they held me up to the glass window a day later, my Dad told the Sister that I wasn’t his baby; my head was black and blue with large sores on the sides. I’ve still got a tiny bald patch on the side of my head where the hair has never grown.

Mum used to tell me she was a good witch and that she used to ride a broomstick on Halloween – now you know where I get my imagination from. She also told me she could do magic – but all of this could only take place on the 31st. I believed her – she’d ask me what I would like as a treat and then produce it out of thin air. I can still remember her producing a jam doughnut the one year – she told me when I was older that she had it up her sleeve – I apparently had a thing about doughnuts at the time, so she had a pretty good idea what I’d ask for.

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We're off out for a meal tonight – Himself has promised me a packet of crisps *laughs*. We still haven’t decided where to go on Monday – if we go anywhere at this rate. I’d be quite happy to just visit some of the places near here and come back home in the evening. Home bird – that’s me. Sometimes the amount of hassle sorting everything out so we can get away spoils the actual enjoyment of the trip – Stee offered to come and stray and keep an eye on my Dad and Matt, but I’m not that fussed. As long as Himself and I get some time together, just the two of us – I’ll be happy.

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I awoke this morning to a beautiful sky – a bit different to the freezing fog we had 22 years ago. So I look some pictures.

This one reminded me of lava