This week in Home Diaries, I chose to work from home as Storm Bram was heading over to Ireland on Tuesday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain. However, on the flip side we weren’t able to finish the sauna that we’d started assembling the previous week. There was a break in the weather though on Friday and Harry managed to apply a sealant to the wood before it rained again. We’ll see what the forecast is like for next week but it would be nice to get it done before Christmas.
If my grandfather had lived, Friday would have been his ninety-seventh birthday. I still acknowledged the day by posting about it in the family WhatsApp group with my aunts and uncles.
Dad came over on Saturday to lend a hand with hanging the new lights in the kitchen and dining room, and also to put up and connect the mirrors in the new bathrooms. It had been ages since he had been down here because he was looking after Mum while she was unwell, and he mentioned that the changes to the house were ‘massive’ and that ‘your mother would have been very proud of ye’. It made me feel really good, but also a bit sad that Mum couldn’t see it.
The utility room renovations continued. I replaced the internal door, added the handle and lock and will finish the architrave next week. Oh, when I first tried installing the new internal door I managed to crush my little finger. Ouch! I took a day to recover but got back to it. Once that was done, I had a blast putting together the base units with the integrated fridge that matches the units in our kitchen. The countertop will be perfect for our appliances, and, as you might expect in any Irish home, we’ve got an Airfryer!
The new wooden flooring installed last week beautifully finished off the ground floor’s living, dining and hallway areas, finally replacing the months of us having to walk on the concrete subfloor. The arrival of new sofas and curtains transformed the house into a home. We also picked up a locally sourced Christmas tree and decorated it.
Jay Kelly started streaming on Netflix, a Noah Baumbach film starring George Clooney. I’m only able to watch films over two nights these days but enjoyed it. After seeing a scene on social media I bought a Paramount subscription to rewatch Star Trek: First Contact. I’ve been a Star Trek fan for years and remember our dad watching The Next Generation when it first aired in Ireland in the nineties.
We participated in a video conference call with a few other intended parents. We were watching a presentation from the CEO of ‘Not My Tummy’ about a new approach to finding a surrogate. This approach even led to the creation of this blog.
We only managed to get outside for a short walk once or twice so our steps have been practically non-existent. Screen-time is way up though, but that’s because of the rubbish weather!
On Sunday evening, we popped into town for pizza. We both really enjoyed the impromptu ‘date night’.
RMx
8th - 14th December, 2025