"Shall I just keep out of it and put the kettle on ??" ...."ooh that sounds like a good idea !"

We are on week 6 of the works on IvyH. That's 6 weeks of sleeping in the spare room. 6 weeks of dust sheets on the stairs. 6 weeks of no wallpaper on the wall's revealing an interesting combination of pinky / lilac and chocolate brown in the hall that I've now stopped noticing ! 6 weeks of "water's going off" 6 weeks of battling to clear up any dangerous clips of electric cable, carpet grips, random nails that prove attractive to 3 year olds ! ...6 weeks of me getting the teas in !!

As I am now thinking of adding this to my answers in the 'What is your Profession ?' box....Interior Designer, Mummy, Tea Lady....I thought I would share my tips on 'keeping everyone suitably refreshed' ! So here goes :

1. Before they arrive do a shop, you will need the following items :

1. Tea bags - lots

2. Catering pack jar of coffee

3. Milk

4. Sugar - I can't remember buying the previous bag - I'm on my second bag since they started work !

5. A small plastic tray - its not good trying to lug around a standard size one when you are squeezing along a landing dodging the decorators scaffold and the electrician's hidden among the floor boards - there just isn't the elbow room ! Mine is about 15cm by 25cm cost a couple of quid from Ikea and can fit 4 mugs on quite nicely.

6. A selection of cheap multi coloured stoneware mugs. There are a number of reasons for this one :

(1) How many men do you know who could tell you how much an Emma Bridgewater mug costs and therefore, why it should be treated with a little bit of respect ? Don't risk your everyday mugs its just not worth giving yourself something else to worry about.

(2) If you get different colour random mugs you can assign each person a mug dependent on their coffee / tea / number of sugar combinations removing any confusion as to which cup has 6 sugars and which one has 4 - allowing you to speed up your making and delivery time.

I'm not talking about a major investment I got 4 different coloured ones (quite nice shades of taupes, creams, charcoals aka white, mud and grey !!) for £1.50 each in John Lewis so there are definately some bargains to be had out there if they can do them for that price.

2. Frequency of Refreshments : I've assigned the following times as a suitable balance of frequency and quantities of liquid :

(1) On arrival 8.15am

(2) 10am - keep those sugar levels up

(3) 12.30 to go with lunch

(4) 3pm who doesn't need a 3pm nudge !

3. Cakes ! Cakes are for Friday's only as there is no way that I could give out cakes and not join in myself ! The exception being birthday's - I don't go in for the singing but Small1 is usually happy to oblige.

This was supposed to be a blog about where the works are up to but it seems I may have been brain washed into having the same priorities as the builders...talking of which its 15.05 so I'd best dash back to the kitchen !