Is it really only three weeks since my birthday? It feels like it's nearly time for my next one.

My house is unrecognisable, Steve has had his operation, and I'm exhausted.

Steve first: his operation was two weeks ago now, and he's still on heavy-duty painkillers as he hobbles around on crutches. His physiotherapist says he's doing very well, and he's got a mini-skateboard to help him do the gentle exercises he's been given. Bless. Euan and I stayed at his house for the first week, both sleeping in the back bedroom because Steve was awake a lot at night and needed plenty of space. So that was a tiring week - a bit of extra running around to make sure we had everything we needed, getting up a bit earlier for school and work, and I was constantly on edge in case the sprog tried redecorating Sylvia's house or feeding toothpaste to Gelert, the dog.

To Euan's credit, he was a star. He didn't mind who picked him up from nursery, he remembered (mostly) not to jump on Steve's leg, and he didn't complain about the turbulent routine.

Then last weekend I attacked my bathroom, chiselling all the tiles off, taking the shelves down, and getting rid of that horrible bath caddy thing. I wasn't thrilled at the condition of the wall beneath, but I can't say I was particularly surprised. In fact, given this house's past history, I was mildly relieved that there was an approximation of plaster underneath, and that it wasn't all held together by spit and matchsticks.

So in the evenings I have been popping round to Steve's house, then coming home and filling in a few more of the gaping holes in the wall. When I peered behind the sink and bath, I realised that caving equipment would have been more appropriate than the tub of filler I was holding. Ah well, I'm sure I can bodge it just as well as it was bodged before, which will just have to do.

(It's like the time I painted the wood panelling in the front room, covering some yucky orange woodstain with nice, clean, crisp cream paint. It wasn't long before the damp in the walls got to the nails, creating rusty orange streaks from each one. Then I saw that there had been logic behind the garish colour choice. Sigh...)

As it stands, the bathroom just needs sanding and tiling by Thursday when Steve's friend-of-a-friend Wilf comes to fit a new sink and some shiny new taps. A bit of a makeover that will hopefully make it a much nicer room. With a shower! Can't wait.

And I've got a . A sofa so comfy I just want to hug it all day. The old one was falling apart, and could only seat three squashed people. The new one dominates the room and could seat about seven fat people. See, I'm taking the reported rise in obesity very seriously. As an extra bonus it covers up quite a lot of the manky carpet. Next on the shopping list, a rug. Then the room will look almost presentable. Note to self: no more parties.

As I minor aside, can I ask you what kind of an idiot doesn't have a key to their own front door? The answer is: the same kind of idiot who only tries to open aforementioned door eight hours before the scheduled delivery of a large sofa. Yep, the key that has been hanging from my front door handle for the past two years turns out to be the wrong one. I put it there thinking, "If I dozed off in this room and a fire started in the kitchen I wouldn't be able to get out." Wouldn't it have been ironic if I actually had needed to get out in a hurry? I'm sure I would have been laughing my socks off.

So I've also had a visit from a locksmith, who told me that it's a very good quality lock, and a nice solid hardwood door, and whoever had put it all in place had spent a fair amount of money. In his words, "No-one's coming through this door without a key." Of which he gave me two, after re-levering the lock. I had previously assumed the front door was just as bodged as the rest of the house, but no, turns out it's quality. Which makes it a shame the back door is made of wood as strong as... cardboard. Ah well.

Euan's room has also changed drastically. I'll admit with a certain amount of guilt that it used to be a disgrace. Most of the room was filled with junk, and only Euan's cupboard and bed were accessible. And the cupboard had collapsed and been repaired about three times, and the bed couldn't take my weight, only Euan's.

So the new furniture had all arrived, and I've spent a few days putting it all together. The alcove has had a rail fitted for all my clothes, and just needs a curtain across it. Euan's got a wardrobe and chest of drawers, and a proper big toy chest. And one of those rugs with roads all over it for his cars. I always wanted one of those - not that it's for me, honest! I even filled the holes in his walls at the same time as doing the bathroom. Several trips have been made to the tip and the charity shop, and now I just have to make sure it all stays tidy.

I didn't intend to tackle three rooms at once, it just happened that way. The sofa wasn't due for another couple of weeks, and the bathroom just has to be done before Wilf comes round. So it's been a juggling act trying to get everything done as well as spending some time with Steve.

I took the day off on Wednesday, and when I went back in they'd changed my job again. I'm now only going to do the Class 2 NIC debts two days a week, with the rest of my time being taken up by NTC. That is, the recovery of overpaid tax credits. So I'm going to be getting in touch with people who have received too much money, in a lot of cases through no fault of their own, and asking them nicely to give it back. I doubt they'll be pleased to hear from me. There are worse jobs in the office, but I can't think of many. Ah well, I'm sure it will be a character-building experience.

Oh, and no-one's completed the Bedlam Cube yet. Everyone who's seen it has had a go. No luck. It's incredibly difficult. I love it.

Woo, yay, birthdayings!

I had a big lie-in on Saturday, followed by breakfast and presents in bed. In addition to the flatscreen TV and DVD player that Steve's already set up in my room for me, his Mum and Colin had bought me a digibox to complete the set. All very shiny and silvery. They got me a pretty necklace-and-earrings set too, and from Steve was a new mobile so snazzy that he's getting jealous, and the Bedlam Cube, which looks like a fairly simple puzzle but has so far befuddled us both. All you have to do is fit the 3D tetris-style shapes back into a cube. How hard can it be? There are over 19000 solutions. And we can't find a single one. If Euan cracks it first, I won't be happy.

So the rest of the day involved mooching around, dropping Euan off with Uncle Dan overnight (brave Dan) and going to the Pant yr Ochain for tea. Very yum. Then back to Coedpoeth to crash a 30th birthday party, which ended in a lock-in. It was a very good way to get drinks bought for me but not have to organise a party myself.

Sunday was spent collecting Euan and sitting in the Jolly Jungle eating a full cooked breakfast while the sprog used up some energy. He went down the Big Green Slide for the first time. I would have been more impressed if he hadn't dragged me all the way to the top to go down it with him. Normally I can't wait to get in there, but I was tired and mildly hungover... and a bit scared I would get stuck in the twisty slide!

Yesterday was a fraught day. It was supposed to be the day of Steve's knee operation (they're going to borrow some of his hamstring from the back of his leg and staple it to the front, to make him a new cruciate ligament, since he's been careless enough to snap the original). So he ate breakfast extremely early before he had to start fasting, I took sprog to school, we went to the hospital and got checked in, he answered a billion questions to numerous people, they prodded him a bit to make sure he was OK, and we waited for him to be called. And waited. And waited. Eventually his surgeon strolled in, and very apologetically explained that they were missing a tray of instruments and wouldn't be able to operate.

So all the tension and build-up was for nothing, and it's been rescheduled for next Monday. At least we've had a chance to look at where he'll be - very nice, as the NHS are paying for it to be done privately to reduce their waiting list.

So it was a bit of a strange day today. Expecting it to be just as turbulent as yesterday, it was almost a letdown to have to go to work as normal. We finished early, and Steve took Euan to have his hair cut (school photo tomorrow) while I put some fresh bark down for the chickens, even though Christina had me up at 6am with a rather squawky, if enthusiastic, wake-up call.

She definitely thinks she's a cockerel. Poor chook. On the other hand, Britney keeps going very broody and making an indignant trilling noise when I scoop her out of the nesting box. The other day I took some advice and dunked her in the water butt for a few seconds, to bring her body temperature down. She paddled slowly for a few seconds, then decided she didn't like it, and flapped like a nutter. But at least she started laying eggs again. So it was worth the mild guilt.