God is Stirring

It is said that God moves in mysterious ways well there have been a lot of “mysterious” things happening in my house of late. So I take that as a sign God is stirring.

I was going to write, nothing as mysterious as things that go BUMP in the night – but then I remembered the ceiling falling down at 1 a.m. and I guess that is where it really all began…

(you can catch up on that part of the story here.)

When the hot water tank was replaced there came a point where the valve connecting the Aga to the water supply needed to be turned off. I had no idea where to find it and it is only because the cupboards were being pulled out at the time that it was uncovered at all, at just the perfect moment. It was hidden from sight right at the back behind the fitted cupboard with NO access whatsoever.

I’ve been pondering ever since how we can leave a gap to get to the valve and apart from having a false back to new cupboard, which would still be awkward I’d drawn a blank. I knew there must be a solution but it wasn’t something I was going to figure out alone. I’m just not qualified.

Then last week when we had the walls plastered the Aga had to be turned off AGAIN so the plaster didn’t crack as it dried.

Not a problem, so I thought, I could use the new immersion heater for my hot water needs and I could switch the Aga back on in a couple of days and everything would be up and running by the weekend.

If you read my ups and down post the other day you’ll realise that things didn’t go quite as I had planned.

Firstly I discovered the immersion heater wasn’t working when I jumped into a freezing shower!

Then when I tried to re-light the Aga I failed miserably.

I stropped about and stamped my feet, this was all too much to bear.

The only viable option open to me was to call in an engineer to service the Aga and to ask the plumber to come back and fix whatever the problem was with the water heater.

He couldn’t believe there was something wrong with it and do you know what when he came round today it all was working fine!

Now I tried it more than once over the weekend to no avail.

I feel so stupid – except - once more the timing has been perfect.

You see the Aga engineer had already arrived and I’d asked him that all important question.

“Can we move that valve to make it more accessible?”

“Not a problem. It just has to be done by a plumber.”

So when the plumber turned up half an hour later I asked him if he could move it. He checked the size of the pipe and he’s going to give me a ring and get the job done before all the new cupboards are fitted. 

Knowing very little about plumbing or maintenance I have successfully managed to find the right people to solve my problem but I can’t take all the credit.

I think someone else has had a hand in this "mysterious" timing – you can call it co-incidence if you wish but I believe God’s hand is in all of this. 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” Isaiah 55 v 8

I’ve spent so long waiting for this new kitchen, so long dreaming up colour schemes and longing for the day it looks magnificent and sparkly but hidden behind the scenes are all the little details that will make things run smoothly. As I have discovered throughout this whole experience you can’t rush those.

And if God can order events in my kitchen to happen at the right time he might very well be working behind the scenes in those other areas of my life I’d like sorting out too.

More sunshine than raindrops

Splash, I feel the rain drop on my hand as I hang out my second load of washing for the day.

The sky is getting a bit cloudier and according to my friend, who is very reliable in these matters it is set to rain this afternoon. I don’t know how she does it but she always manages to find the most accurate weather forecasts, a useful and sometimes annoying trait!

For the time being I am undeterred, there is certainly more sunshine than raindrops and the washing is getting a good blow but I’m keeping an eye out for any change.

It’s been a good day so far; a productive one and I won’t let a little rain spoil things.

I have had a skip delivered to dump all my kitchen debris in, there is lots of banging and clattering going on downstairs as the old cupboards are disassembled.

The new kitchen cupboards have been delivered and I have had the insurance assessor round to agree to with the quote for the kitchen ceiling repairs. 

With some help I’ve started the sit on lawn mower and I have cut the grass, well the top lawn at any rate.

Now I’m just waiting for the plumber to turn up and fit the new water tank. I am getting excited about the prospect of HOT running water and a luscious soak in the bath tonight.

Oh yes it’s been a very busy day all round.

So I have turned my attention to some forward planning.

I never wrote about it on my blog last week but any friends who follow me on Twitter and Facebook will know that I lost a hard disc drive.

Andrew had the "M-Drive" connected into our home computer network and it had stopped working months ago, I thought as a result of a computer crash downstairs – my computer knowledge is pretty basic – that was Andrew’s department. 

I decided to try and connect it to my laptop, there are documents on there I need access to if I am going to turn unravelling-edges into a book. It was also where we stored our family photos and who knows what other gems beside.

Fortunately I took the hard drive with me to the computer shop and asked how to connect it, I thought it was just a question of buying a lead with the correct adaptors.

The woman plugged it in and it started making the familiar whirring sound.

Now I always thought this was normal but apparently it’s not a good sign. 

“A noisy hard drive is a broken hard drive.” Were her exact wise words as she extolled the virtues of backing up documents.

I left the black box with her so she can try to gain access to its deepest darkest recesses, meanwhile I bought a new memory stick and I have been copying files all morning.

Most of my writing is on my blog, accessible to EVERYONE but there are some bits I am working on that I have never backed up, at least not since the M-Drive stopped working. 

And the thing is my laptop has started making noises, suspicious sounding whirring electronic clunking noises that I now recognise as not being terribly healthy. I suspect my laptop may be coming to the end of its life and I NEED to be prepared. 

I’m not getting caught out again, if I’ve learnt nothing else over the past few weeks with the saga of the water tank it’s always listen to your intuition and get things sorted sooner rather than later.

And as I finish this post the rain is coming down. It started to fall just as I pulled out of the drive on the school run.

Fortunately my workman, who's also the husband of the friend with the accurate weather forecasting skills, got the washing in for me.

So it’s just a little damp – no harm done there - a little rain never hurt anyone :-)

Five Sentence Fiction - Conquer

Lillie's word for this week's Five Sentence Fiction is CONQUER.

It took me a while to decide where to take this one but I finally came up with this tale inspired by a true life event, which I may explain tomorrow if time allows...

Man or Mouse?

 

Some fears are irrational but that doesn’t stop them holding us to ransom.

Take for example the mouse problem, Penny would scream hysterically every time we saw it scuttling across the kitchen floor.

I laughed at her from the start, told her it was so tiny it had to be more scared of her.

“But you should do something about it; you’re the man of the house.”

So I bought a trap and I’ve caught the blessed thing, now I just have to conquer my own fears and set it free. 

So what's the point of Venn Diagrams?

As we sat at the table eating freshly baked scones and drinking tea my friend made the sweeping statement that we learn an awful lot of rubbish at school that is of no use when we leave.

“Venn diagrams!” She announced, “When are they ever useful?”

The subject moved on but my brain was stuck pondering this conundrum.

I interrupted the conversation, “I know when you have used a Venn diagram without even realising it.” I’d had my eureka moment and I set about explaining how she had used the principals learnt at school.

That evening I got a text from her.

“Have you done a blog about Venn diagrams yet?!"

Now she may have been joking but this post is especially for my friend – you know who you are! And for anyone else who has ever wondered why we have to learn so much “drivel”!

As in our house there are three people in my friend’s house; mum, oldest son and youngest son.

Draw one circle for each, overlapping them like this.

Each person has their own likes and opinions represented by their own circle,

When it comes to, for example, choosing a holiday destination to ensure everyone is agreeable you have to pick somewhere that pretty much fulfils everyone’s desires, preferable the bit right in the middle where all the circles intersect. Or at least a high percentage of the holiday has to fall within these parameters.

My friend had a great destination planned for their family holiday this year but her boys weren’t at all impressed by her suggestion. So she re-considered and came up with a plan that suited all their tastes. All without the aid of a diagram but she could have drawn one. Maybe next year she will – on second thoughts – I know her too well and she probably won’t.

“Have you just thought of that?” she quizzed.

Well yes, I had but I don’t think that makes me especially clever just a bit nerdy – I always did like maths problems to solve. Next year I will be the mother sitting at the kitchen table drawing circles getting my two boys to choose a holiday.

Maybe learning all about Venn diagrams at school really did have a valid purpose after all, preparing us for that hardest of all family tasks - trying to keep everybody happy!