Being 15 weeks pregnant I must admit my energy level for DIY is significantly lower than pre-pregnancy. While I can do the same jobs as usual, they leave me exhausted within half a day, or for a few days after. This has meant a slow in progress.

One job I was keen to do was cutting back the mini-meadow and the road verge outside the house. Since laying the hedge, the extra light has made the verge grow rampant, with fast growing grasses and ground elder taking over. We want to give the more interesting native plants a chance, so will cut and rake for a few years to try and drop the soil nutrient levels, which will encourage wildflowers.

The mini-meadow has been developing well, from a patch almost entirely filled with ground elder, it now contains a range of grasses, ox-eyed daisy, bird’s-foot-trefoil, yarrow, selfheal and cow parsley. With the help of a strimmer from our neighbour, and my visiting friend Becky’s muscle to remove some tree saplings, we cut and raked it. There’s few more bigger stumps to tackle, and Japanese knotweed to treat, but it’s getting there. I planted a few more species I had collected as seeds or cuttings from local hedgerows; crosswort, creeping cinquefoil, autumn hawkbit and red clover. Hopefully next year will see the meadow being more diverse and interesting.

Meanwhile, Chris has been working his way through the massive pile of firewood we made after cutting down a few trees in the garden. We’ll have to get the fireplaces in the house sorted for the winter to take advantage of it.

He also took down a ash and holly in the front hedge. It was a shame to lose these trees, though neither was that nice to look at, but they had fallen sideways as the soil in the sinkhole had settled, and their root plates pushed out the wall lining the drive. With the trees cut back we can now fix the wall. The ash should resprout in time but sadly a big cut will probably finish off the holly.

As well as preparing for indoor fires, Chris also cannibalised our old washing machine and some left over garden poles to make a firepit. I was just glad I could finally take the rest of the washing machine to the recycling center, after it’s lived in the garden for a few months.

My painful weekend job was sanding, refilling, sanding again and painting the downstairs toilet. Despite being a small space, the various crevices and awkward corners, made it an absolute pain to do. After three coats it’s good enough until we tile, and then it can have a coloured coat of paint. Next we need to finish the boxing and paint the wood. For such a tiny room, it seems to have endless jobs.

Chris continued with his TV unit, sanding the filler and painting on an undercoat.

He also sanded the kitchen step and treated the wood. It still needs one side attached but unfortunately Chris has missed placed a small piece of wood to finish off the edge. It’s highly likely it was left on the floor and disposed of during cleaning.

With the baby due to arrive in March, this winter will see a big push to finish up the inside of the house. There’s not such a big list of jobs left – I just need to find the energy to do them.