Back in the Study

Having run out of excuses, I started the gloss painting this morning, with the large window on "my side" of the study. I'd been dreading this - the first time I'd painted sash windows that weren't already painted shut. Worse: windows we'd paid to have refurbished. It turned out not as bad as I expected (yet more proof that the fear of something is always worse than the thing itself) and although the end result will require some scraping of paint off glass, at least the windows still move freely.

After a short break for lunch I resumed with the door frame and skirting board, but I hadn't quite finished half of the skirting before Nikki came upstairs to point out that if I wasn't careful I'd have spent the entire Bank Holiday painting, and enquire whether I wouldn't rather stop soon and relax?

I don't think I'll ever stop being awed by Nikki's capacity to (a) know how I'm feeling; (b) say the right thing; and (c) make me feel OK about not achieving some self-imposed target. I'd wanted to get the first coat on the whole room today but this would certainly have taken up the rest of the afternoon and left me feeling pretty knackered. Not to mention it not being entirely necessary to finish the whole of one coat in one session.

With a sigh of relief I painted up to the next corner and called it a day.

While I was painting Nikki had been researching PCs online and I soon discovered an ulterior motive to the "stop painting" suggestion when she wondered whether it would be worth a quick jaunt to PC World to look at what was on offer.

Once we'd completed a circuit of the store the machine we wanted was a no-brainer. We both stood drooling over the latest top-spec Compaq machine with 3GB RAM, a 500GB hard drive and built-in wireless networking and TV card. We had to rein ourselves in though and be realistic. This was to be a new machine for Nikki and since she uses it for email and browsing, with a little low-end gaming thrown in, this tasty machine was totally over spec'd. For about £500 less we found a more sensible machine bundled with a 20" flat panel monitor, and rushed home to find a better deal online. To our surprise the best offer we could find was £40 MORE than the store price, so I guess we'll be returning later this week to part with some cash.