My daughter sleeps in an aquarium!

Well, what a brilliant holiday this has been - the kids didn't have so long at their dad's, before sickness won the day - Chicken pox for the half-brother and sister, bronchitus for step-mom, and bugs a-brewing for my youngest two... and they so kindly carried everything they could back here :-S

Still, my daughter's all well again now, and my son's improving all the time (Ok, so it's 'ups and downs', but that's an improvement on down!)... and I've got a whacking great headache, drippy dose, aches and pains galore... (nope, not enough to stop me blogging ... only the kids can do that! :-D ), but it could be worse... I could be confined to bed doing nothing, FK!

But, although I've been confined, pretty much, to the house, when my son improved a bit I was able to nip out and get some bits 'n' bobs from the DIY shop... and made my lovely daughter's dream come true!

About a year ago, there was a fire in my R's room (it wasn't hers back then) and it was a smelly mess (anyone who's ever had a housefire will know what I mean by smelly!). The insurance people came in, and painted it with some stuff to stop the smoke marks coming through, and sprayed it with a cherry-smelling steam to remove the lingering smoke odour (which pervaded the house from other directions for a long time to come - from all the things you don't think to get dry-cleaned, or old possessions you couldn't face dumping!), then covered the walls and ceiling with a basic layer of cream and white paint respectively. And that's how it's been ever since.

(The result of a 'night-light' candle left sitting on a plastic storage box!)
btw - although it doesn't look so bad, hangers inside the wardrobe
the other end of the room were totally melted...
and the corridor outside the door was charcoaled!

This was an account of it to a friend at the time:

So, My amazing streak continues... How long is it now? Must be over a year things have been rained down by the powers of the universe :-( And what is it this time? J's room was gutted by fire last night.... It is now a lovely shade of charcoal... and the aroma - so distinguishable!

I have to say that the luck wasn't totally against me - we all got out, and no-one was hurt (apart from one blister on my hand, where I stupidly opened the door [well, how was I to know there was a roaring fire behind it???!!!]). J was particularly lucky, in that I overstayed my welcome on the pc, and he got bored and fell asleep on the sofa - which probably saved his life! The others remembered the fire drills we'd had, and moved like lightening down into the garden! (All except that silly, mutton-headed Sparkey, who had to be kicked out be the neighbour, since he'd made himself too comfortable on C's bed! :-)) My neighbour was the hero of the hour/ night - grabbed a bucket full of water, and rushed on into the bedroom! A couple more like that, and we had the fire out, just lots of smoke and a smouldering heap in the middle of the floor, which the firemen removed...

Poor kids froze their butts off sitting in the car for the next hour, whilst we sorted out what happens next, and the firemen removed all the debris and dumped it out front... But, couldn't help thinking, as I drove over to K's [sister], that we'd had a lucky escape - and hey! We get to have the room and hallway decorated by the insurance company, and once they've fumigated and cleaned the carpets throughout the house (shame I have to come up with the first £200, but c'est la vie!), and I've washed all the carbon deposits out of clothes and linen, it'll be good as new!

By the way, if anyone wants to buy me the winning lottery ticket, I think it's about time that things distinctly improved!

and:

I'm writing looking through a soot-blackened screen right now... what a scarey night it's been!

Just a little while after I wrote to you last night, I heard a door rattling upstairs, and at first thought it was one of the kids messing about. Then I realised they were all asleep, or should have been, so I went up to investigate. J's door was rattling away, and I thought it might be a dog trapped in there, or perhaps he'd left the window open for some reason. Opened the door, and was blasted with flame and smoke!

From then onwards, it was panic stations. Fire alarm went off with the smoke coming out (course I shut the door, but it was there anyway), and I was shouting for the kids to get up. Luckily J had been waiting for me to come off the pc last night, and because I was having trouble with the new M Outlook, I took longer than I meant, and he'd fallen asleep on the sofa downstairs (thank god!).

So, that was it - called fire brigade. new neighbour came charging in and started throwing water on the flames (and amazingly, considering the extent of the damage, more or less put it out before the fire brigade got here) Had 2 fire engines, police car, 2 ambulances outside. They left in the small hours of the morning... and we all went, still in night clothes, to stay at [my sister's].

Wow, it stinks here! and everything's black and greasy :-( The room upstairs will have to be gutted, to check electrics etc, and total redecoration (Hey, I'm not complaining about that!) Got to get new bed and electrical toys.... But all I keep thinking is 'it could've been worse!' (funnily enough, I'd been telling C off earlier in the evening for saying that, because everytime I say it, it is!!! :-( One day things'll change around... Most important thing is we're all safe and sound....

So, although I haven't done all the things I was going to this holiday, being trapped in the house this last week hasn't been a waste of time. R's room got decorated. And apart from another couple of layers of gold round the top (which I'll do once I don't feel so rotten), she lives in her perfect aquarium! :