This month sadly we lost our beloved dog Saffi; she was only eight years old and had had a history of illness but still her passing was unexpected.
We are left with our oldest dog Sooty who is 13 1/2. He doesn't appear to know what's happened.
It's a sad time for us and she's left a big hole in our lives. 
We have continued to work hard by ourselves on the house albeit progress is slow! As you can imagine we don't have a lot of time as Richard works more than full time but we're happy and living comfortably!
The exterior of the house is now finished - we have guttering and fascia and the house is completely sealed and weathertight. This has meant we have achieved our final sign off !!!!! 👍😁👏👍😁👏
This is such great news for us and we are waiting for our final mortgage payment.
It will give us the opportunity to get the driveway done and finish some more internal jobs and pay some debts!
We still need to achieve final sign off from Local Authority Building Control; this may take a while yet and importantly with a new build we can claim the VAT back. At this stage it is quite a substantial sum! 💷
We have had a guy round to design the garden and drive - all the hard landscaping and we're hoping he will start soon weather providing! I have lots and lots of ideas but not a huge budget, it's often been quoted as "Champagne ideas & Lemonade money!"
We will work with the landscaper and have to do some of this work ourselves to keep the cost down but the driveway has become quite a priority due to the mud which keeps travelling inside - any rain just turns it into a horrible sticky mess as it's clay, very difficult to live with!!
Idea for terracing
Idea for decking
The house is proving to be warm without any heating on which is good but only in the main living area at the moment - I think this is due to a combination of appliances giving off heat and bodies! We're finding upstairs less so and in fact even in what has been quite a warm October the bedrooms seem quite chilly.
Once the towel rails are plumbed in we're hoping it will be less cold?
What is very interesting is when we first started this project people would say - 'Grand Designs' 'Kevin McCloud' - I would scoff and say what a load of rubbish but on reflection, most of what Kevin McCloud says and what happens on Grand Designs is true! Most if not all of the scenarios that happen during a self build are true! I don't agree with "it would take twice as long and cost twice as much" which is one of his sayings though; and although it certainly has taken us longer (but not yet twice as long) it definitely has not cost twice as much! I suppose this is because we simply didn't have twice as much to spend!!
On reflection we could've had many more advanced technological things put into the house too and this is an area which is advancing at a rate of knots! We didn't necessarily want some of them and often could not afford them! We have built what we think is a modest family home with the luxuries we wanted; things like the integral vacuum cleaner, a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system, air source heat pump and so on.
There are so many things like electric glass that changes from clear to opaque - here's a link if you're interested http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JQhDxgGjkok All sorts of wacky things we could have spent thousands of pounds on but we did not want any of that & feel satisfied we've chosen well to suit our lifestyle.
As we now approach the winter months (which I am informed will be a harsh one) I am looking forward to almost hibernating! We are both feeling quite exhausted and certainly need to recharge our batteries!
I'm hoping to spend many months in my studio getting my products made to sell and organising some workshops. I have so many ideas and can't wait to get stuck in!
I am still sick of painting doors but I plod on with it and Richard continues to lay floor tiles: we are nearly completed in the hall and weirdly I long for a downstairs toilet again!! it's amazing what you miss? It will seem a luxury for a while!
We are also hoping to finish the study before Christmas, we have a lovely baby grand piano which we miss and it would be so nice and relaxing to sit and have a sing song round the piano like we used to!
This room has been planned as a music and office combined; 
I'm thinking we should get a small sofa in there and like this one from IKEA - http://m.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/art/00245050/....
...talking of Ikea I have had a major problem with them. I received a phone call (after many trips to Coventry and Wednesbury to buy an item that was listed online but when I got to store was no longer available!!!) telling me the dishwasher hinge would now be available in February 2015 - well considering my kitchen was purchased February 2014 this is totally unacceptable! I asked how they would resolve it they asked me to go to my local DIY store and purchase a hinge from them. B&Q sell 50 different hinges!!! Watch this space as I am currently writing a stinking letter to customer services!
This month we also spent a long weekend away in Harrogate - a much welcomed break. We went along with many of our new friends we have made in Pebworth.
I have not talked much about Pepworth on my blog but must say that we have found it to be a fantastic village with a really superb community feel.
We have become very involved and really thrown ourselves into all the things that go on here; Harvest supper, quiz night, dinner parties, barbecue parties, choir to name but a few! I've even joined the Village Hall Committee!
One of the things we may do next year is join a group called the 'Pebworth Porkers' it's a group of people (led by our local farmer) who rear a number of piglets using a Rota system for feeding. Once fattened up they go off and are humanely slaughtered and then turned into delicious cuts of meat. We have also bought half a lamb from our a local farmer Nick & Lucy which was superb! Really love supporting local suppliers!
And so now we are busy concentrating on Christmas as we spent the last two Christmases at my parents. I am looking forward to being in charge this year! I seem to be inviting anybody and everybody! Of my 4 children only 3 will be able to come this Christmas as my son is in Cyprus (with the army) and not home until January. We'll Skype or FaceTime etc.
But for now I'm enjoying making my Christmas cake and planning where my Christmas tree will go etc etc...
See you in November
Wendi x
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