1. This is a lean month -- it strikes me that baking biscuits using eggs, butter and flour that I already own is more sensible than buying a packet from the corner shop. It's surprisingly easy and satisfying (the mixture goes from this-is-wrong, this-is-wrong crumbs to pliant dough as I knead it). I feel very good about having a dozen golden biscuits in the tin, and two rolls of dough for future use in the freezer.
2. Ikea's instructions depict a sadsack character looking despondently at a heap of bookshelf parts. The next box shows two smiling characters -- this is clearly a two-man job, so we do it together.
3. "It's starting to feel like our house now, with bookshelves in every space," says Nick. We sit for a moment on the bed and look over our handiwork (and armiwork -- carrying books down from the attic takes a lot of muscle.)
