Cold, Covid, man flu??

Must be a seasonal thing, around this time last year we were both struck down with a mega flu that took us off our feet, and its happened again!

Started with Jirawan having a bad cough, then getting more and more tired before developing a low grade fever. At which point I told her to get to bed and rest..I kept her pumped up with orange juice and light snacks and cold meds. She basically slept for 2 days... when her fever broke she was still tired and listless but improving.

At which point, Florence Nightingale here, started coughing and getting tired and developing a mild fever... I'm not blessed with Jirawans ability to nod off at the 1st opportunity but I certainly had to take a lot of paracetamol and cough mix...and stayed in bed as much as I was able.

We're over the worst, but as with all these respiratory virii,  the cough lingers and our ribs ache... we'll need a few more days.. of chilling.

But I still had to go to the house daily to take the update photo's and videos and progress is really accelerating in these last few weeks, maybe days even.. A couple of minor issues with the windows not being as we asked but an honourable compromise was reached.

We are on track.. Oct 31 is move in day..18 days.... exciting....and scary.. the costs ramp up..but we'll almost on budget...we will make it.

Ahthankyew

Spend spend spend

Or more accurately, try not to spend, spend, spend.

The hunt for bargains is ongoing, we're finding we can save quite a bit on things when we shop around. And also there's a temptation to spend big on things when we find really nice stuff.

The intention is to furnish the house as minimal as possible, at least to start, we can add things month by month as we go, but this rash of spending as we move in needs to have a hard limit....though don't ask me what the limit is, I was hoping 250K but 300K is probably closer. I will itemise things soon.

But we're doing ok, we've got beds sorted now, TV's, matresses, kitchen units, ovens, hob, hood, couch, Table, chairs, sideboards, units, wardrobes, and at least a couple of options on Fridges and freezers.

We overestimated on the garden, it will be around half what we expected, and we found good deals on a large table, matresses and ovens... as well as the kitchen units, saving us a pretty penny which allows me to get TV's and matresses on order before we move.

Jirawan gets to let her hair down on the garden now and stll keep a bit of cash in reserve for plants, or home gadgets.

We certainly overspent on hand made wardrobes... and one of the beds....But they were just too nice to not buy.

However... as far as we can see, we've got all the main things sorted out... and more or less under budget even if that budget is not totally fixed down, its not red....yet.

But now we have things like bedding, towels, crockery, pots, pans, storage bins, shelves, and things we've not thought of yet... But will discover we need the day after we move in.

There are still some final installments on the build to pay though, almost 1m baht in total, which leaves us with about 2m to fund these last few bits and feed ourselves for a year... its actually quite tight.

Lets hope we can pull this off..

Ahthankyew

Bugger...its fried

The phone is fried... there was water in it...probably from a showe accident where the shower was not pointing down and sprayed all over the bathroom sink...where I had my phone...

But bottom line its screwed, they can't fix it, it still works, and mobile seems to be ok, but wi-fi is dead.. so its kaput.. had to buy a new one.

11K ouch.... an Iphone 13, just 3 months after buying that iphone 12...grrr

But I have learned from this my bank and phone locks are now totally different codes.
5 hours or so later, the new phone is working ok. Lets hope I don't need to replace it in another 3 months.

Ahthankyew

Feckkk I feel so naked

My phone had a small brain hemorrhage this morning, it turned out it has a major fault requiring some internal surgery.

Took it back to the place I bought it, who acknowledged it used to be one of theirs, even though I've lost the receipt and they will fix it...3000bhat (normally 5000 for phones not bought there)

Im ok with that as thats cheaper than buying a new phone and all the hassle of getting it set up again. But what did unnerve me was Jirawan willingly game them my unlock passcode to test it out when they fix it.

Which in turn potentially gives someone access to all my other passwords and app access....

I know Thais are honest, and trusting, but I wish she'd translated his request to me before giving him the numbers...

going to stress a bit now.. Lets hope my bank accounts don't get drained in the next few days.

Ahthankyew

Quickest way to get poor

furnishing a house......

And we've just started. So far we have 1 bed, 1 dinner table, 8 chairs, a sideboard, and now we're agreeing details on a fitted kitchen (partial) made from reclaimed teak, which sounds expensive but compared to the kitchen company prices we investigated its actually at the lower end.. Some of those specialist kitchen places are seriously taking the piss..Having it made by a Baan Tawai craftsman will ensure a solid sturdy set of properly fitted cabinets...maybe lacking soft close doors and sensor controlled lights with auto opening hidden drawers and other bollox they add these days, but still it will look amazing.

Bloody expensive though... And we've still got 3 more beds/mattresses, 3 TV's 6 bedside tables, Sofa, a coffee table, bookcases.
Wardrobes...oh god wardrobes...probably fitted in master, but likely some cheaper options for now in the other rooms. If the fitted kitchen goes as planned, we'll probably get the same craftspeople to do the bedroom(s).

AND!!!! ovens, hobs, fridges, freezers, fryers, plates, cutlery....

Christ the list is endless, and the cost seems to be just as endless.... bargain hunting though, doing our best.

Ahthankyew

Getting ready

We have less than 2 months now till the house is finished, I'm not totally confident they will have it done in time maybe a week over, but we're allowing for that by extending our rental lease a month.

We've started to turn our attention to the not as obvious as it seems, task of furnishing the house. And that means a lot of looking around in different places. We've been to Baan Tawai a few times and bought some stuff...expensive for some things, but bargains for others. Bed, and sideboard, a bit pricey, a stunning 80-100yo table thats being refubed for bargain...even so a drain on the funds.

Now we're trying to find a kitchen...or more accurately half a kitchen, since the builders will provide us with a sink, hob and counter station, with cupboards, along the window wall, but we need a fitted section on the other wall..

Prices are absurd, honestly, what a con, same basic requirements of 2 tall stacks holding 3 ovens and some store, and 3 base units holding drawers and/or cupboards.  Quotes so far range from 50-350K for basically the same prebuild mdf crap.... 

We are also looiking into having them made by a Baan Tawai builder, this is not uncommon, but again I fear it will be on the high side...

We will get a few more quotes and decide, but Im thinking that ikea is going to be the best overall value at around 70K and with free fitting....we'll see.

Follow our daily shorts for progress on the house, and we'll do a few more update videos on it in general as we lead up to the move in, and calm down stage.

Ahthankyew

Walking in straight lines

Its gone.. the BPPV has gone. For the last 4 or 5 days I've woken up and managed to turn around and get out of bed without the room spinning. And walk in straight lines again, not that I appeared, falling down 1 legged man walking, but I was veering off line a lot.
A trip to the doc for my follow up, had her do the test to see if it was BPPV and it did nothing... despite me holding my breath in anticipation of a monster spin, nothing happened.

She has declared me BPPV free, at least for this session, but the thing is it can happen again... bummer

But hopefully if I do the Epley manouvers myself I can treat it and I know what drugs to get to help..

Horrible, horrible experience, I really hope its not going to be a frequent visitor.

Ahthankyew