It wasn't broken. A spatula/fish slice was blocking something. I asked Neil if he'd checked everywhere...!

Anyway, it's all good, I can wash dishes easily again :)

We've bought Aliza some 6-9 month sleepsuits. We don't want to buy her too many clothes now since we're visiting the States in 2 weeks--my mother will buy her stuff, I might see things I don't see here, and with the exchange rate it will be a bt cheaper to shop there. But she's out of her 3-6s so that's that. I think she's just too tall! It's mainly rompers and sleepsuits that are the problem. Dresses aren't too bad. And she's got plenty of room weight wise, her clothes are just too short.

We wanted to get her a high chair as she fusses when we eat or when I'm in the kitchen working and I think it's because she's too low down. Unfortunately, none were suitable yet--from 6 months only. I'd seen one on the Mothercare website that said 'from birth' so I thought there might be one or two that would be OK at this point, but apparently not. Oh well.

Neil got a new toy: digital TV recorder :-) Now we can actually record things and watch them later!

Had to go back 280 posts. (I have to say, I didn't read all of them that carefully--most community posts got skipped and I skipped all the memes. But anything important, I DID stop and read!) I really should've just gone through the filter that's only people, not communities.

We have our heat back, so we all get our baths tonight. Yay.

Last night the thermometer said it was 25 in the lounge. Neil and I were thinking "no way". This morning, the midwife came in (thermometer showing 21.7) and said "ooh, it's chilly in here".

I knew it was wrong last night, because I had to put another layer on Aliza (her hands were cold).

This afternoon, Neil got another thermometer. It says it's 18.

Take that, expensive egg. Annoying though, it's dead easy to see at night...

Woke up to discover that our combi boiler isn't working. That means no heat and no hot water. I'm not sure what the problem is exactly but Neil worked out that he can't fix it. He's called the landlord (well, the landlord's parents; the landlord isn't in the UK at the moment) and they can't get a plumber round till tomorrow. Did I mention we're having 10 people over today??

Ironically, we can wash dishes and clothes, but not ourselves! (Dishwasher and washing machine are self-heating.) This does mean I can finish the cooking I was doing, although the kitchen itself will be messy.

ETA: Yay! Landlord's father called back; he found a plumber who can be here this morning. :)

It really is stupidly huge. But COMFY! :) (had a test nap ;) ) Might take a photo after Neil helps me get the duvet into the cover...

My laptop has been dropped off for repair.

I thought I broke the kitchen scales (the display went funky and it wasn't weighing accurately, the numbers would just go all over the shop) so I bought new ones. When I got home I had one last check of the scales and they were working. Must have dried out (made the mistake of washing them under running water). So I got to go back and return the new ones. Neil and I then looked at gadgets in John Lewis, before vowing to see how much space our existing stuff takes up before buying any new junk. :) Seriously considering buying an ice-cream maker, though. Just one of the ones with the freezable bowl; I can't justify the space/expense of one with built-in refrigeration.

We've also ordered a new bed and mattress. :) 6' king, yay! We didn't get a no-flip mattress, but it is a very nice pocket-sprung, good and firm. (I HATE squashy mattresses.) Shame it will take 4 weeks, and we're moving in 3. But it was good to order it this weekend as we saved £400.

Repairman got here 15 minutes ago. Within 5 minutes he'd diagnosed the problem: something caught in the filter. He says, "did you get an error message--E20?" Me: "yes." Him: "Ah, E20, filter blocked message." Me: "I told that to the guy Saturday and he said I needed a new logic board!" How silly, wasted 5 days and his time. If I'd known about the filter I could have had clean laundry Saturday.

Anyway, I'm out of Persil, so the laundry will be done this afternoon. Funnily enough, I was passing the Persil in the supermarket Monday evening and said to Neil "Oh, we're almost out of Persil". He said "the washing machine is broken, what good will Persil do us?" Should've seen sense and bought it then so I'd have it when the machine was fixed!

(Oh, apparently Persil doesn't mean anything in German. I was curious, because it means parsley in French. Which is a weird name for a detergent, although my dog had tablets with parsley in them that were meant to freshen her breath, so who knows.)

After calling 4 different numbers (the number on the website told me to call the branch, the branch said I had to call someone else, who gave me a job reference number and ANOTHER number to call) I have arranged a repair for Saturday. It's an all-day call. Oh joy. Still, at least it's only a couple of days and I can survive till then.

The clothes that were in the rinse cycle when it died are now illegally (as in, against block rules) hanging on the balcony. I'll risk the wrath of the caretaker rather than having them mildew. Luckily, it was skirts and T-shirts, nothing embarrassing. Neil threw out our drying rack, DOH! They'll take ages to dry too because they were absolutely soaking wet. I wrung them out, but it's still no patch on 1600 spin.

We ended up going to IKEA--needed a filing cabinet, and some furniture inspiration. We'd actually not wanted to buy new furniture, because our medium-term plan is still emigration, and why buy something you're only going to have to sell for half of what you paid? But events have conspired against us.

We need:
1) A new sofa and armchair: our current ones are knackered. I don't just mean they look knackered, I mean the springs are going or gone.
2) A new bed. Our current one isn't knackered, but it is too small. It's a 4'6" double. Neither of us gets a great night's sleep as it is, and with a bump, it's either going to be a new bed or Neil sleeps on the sofa. We've agreed that it's going to be a new bed. ;)

The bed we're definitely not buying until we've found a new flat, because that will determine whether we can get a superking (6', US King) or not, which is what we really want. And we're not buying that at IKEA because their sizes are non-standard (they do 140 and 160 instead of 135 and 150cm).

The sofa we probably won't buy just yet either (easier to just dump old one when we move) but we thought it was worth a look. We failed to be inspired. I think the trouble is we don't really know exactly what we want, other than "3 seater" and "comfy". A sofa bed is tempting but would probably be more than we'd want to spend and would likely only be a 2-seater.

Speaking of flats, we've got to start hunting for a new one soon. This will be fun :/ We're only renting (this place needs some work before we can sell it anyway) but we're still somewhat demanding. For example, it's either got to be ground floor or have a lift, because getting a pram up and down steps will be a nightmare. (It's difficult enough managing luggage in ours, which has a steep flight of steps up to the entrance.) Ah well... at least we're not wedded to living in a particular area, which will help!

Left massive bill and a dirty bath. But I can have a shower!