Sunday

Mr Messy had completely forgotten that he had said I could have a lie in, and he would take the little two for "boy breakfast." Instead he arranged to meet the young lady from the local high school who has been in contact with us to try and arrange to do her work experience week with us. He and Drama Teen went down to the shop to meet the young lady and her Mum and Dad, Mr Messy admires her go getting attitude and has agreed to let her work with us for a week. She will spend Monday to Thursday in the shop with me, learning about the general retail side of things. And then on Friday when Mr Messy is in the shop, he will show her some of the post production editing he does. Then he has also arranged to take her on a shoot over the weekend, if no one has booked him for that particular weekend he will do a shoot with Princess Lollipop. He says the young lady's photography (she brought examples of her work) is good, but she only has experience with landscapes and still life, so he is going to introduce her to shooting people.

When Mr Messy and Drama Teen got back, we left Princess Lollipop with Drama Teen and me and Little Prince accompanied Mr Messy to the flooring showroom to choose the shop's new floor. The one I really really wanted was way too expensive to even consider, so we've gone for a compromise one that is a dark textured oak laminate. It is very hard wearing and scratch resistance, as was proved when the salesman scratched the sample with his car keys and didn't leave a mark. We now have to get our landlord to order the floor for us, as he uses this showroom all the time and gets fantastic discounts :-) The flooring is in stock so it won't take long to get it delivered, I've got to check with the decorator how he is getting along, so that as soon he has finished inside we can get hold of the joiner and fit the floor. It will really feel like we are getting somewhere once that is done, as the decor so far isn't too different to how it was previously, and the electrical work is pretty much unseen, so there doesn't seem to have been much change yet.

After the flooring showroom we visited a textile warehouse and bought Little Prince some new bedding for his new bed. We bought two washable and tumble dryable single quilts, so that if one needs washing he will still have one to use. While we were there we saw a chest of drawers/tall boy that will fit in the shop to have tea/coffee making stuff on top of it. It apparently an awkward size, as I've been looking all over the place and not found anything suitable so far. We also so a child sized leather club chair and foot stool that would look great in the shop, and for photo shoots, that we'll probably get too.

Afterwards we called at the bacon buttie van in the car park and had a Mum, Dad and boy late breakfast/lunch, which seemed to calm Little Prince down about missing his early breakfast outing with Daddy. When we got home Princess Lollipop was very happy to see us, and Drama Teen reported she behaved and was happy to stay with her while we were out.

Mr Messy has gone upstairs to get some photo editing done and also to finish fixing Little Prince's new bed so that he can finally use the slide! We are really proud of Little Prince's patience in not using the slide yet, he has remembered each morning not to use it and only slides his doll down there. Drama Teen has been for a shower and is now doing her college homework, she is keeping up with the responsible attitude and trying to get her homework done as soon as she can, usually the night she receives it.

Me and Mr Messy have been discussing how much we will be able to afford to pay Drama Teen for working in the shop on Saturdays, and have decided to pay her the same as if she received EMA for attending college. She is very happy with this and is probably planning her spending right now!! Earlier in the week we negotiated a deal with her that we will pay her an hourly rate for doing the family's ironing, I was surprised at how readily she agreed to this (I hate ironing!!). She says she doesn't mind ironing and really wants to have her own money, so it works out great for both of us :-)