Blogging again

I can't believe that I haven't blogged for months & months. Goodness, so much has happened since my last post in April.  Birthdays, fun, sadness, holidays, laughter and tears. In fact, I wouldn't know where to start to recall everything so I'm simply going to start from today.
It's not been too bad weather wise today. We were very lucky to escape the "Jude" storm and It's so sad to read how some people have suffered. My thoughts are with the families that are mourning friends and relatives.
Neil & I visited Auntie Joan this afternoon and she does seem a little brighter. I don't know where she gets her fighting spirit from but I'm so glad it's surfaced again. When I visited with my brother at the weekend we thought that all of her strength had disappeared. Her heartbeat dropped dramatically as had her blood pressure and she had no idea we were even there. Today Auntie Joan walked with her frame & the physiotherapist, along the corridor & back to her room. I had quite a shock as I hadn't expected it at all. I had better explain that my Aunt is now 90 years old and for the last few weeks, has been very poorly. After about 10 days in hospital, she is now in an intermediate care centre as the next step before being able to go home.  I just hope that day isn't too far away.
We have the builders in at the moment & it's now week 5. I have to admit that I'm ready to gave my house back now as the dust everywhere is horrendous. The garage is being converted & the downstairs toilet totally refurbished. I can't wait to be able to tidy up & decorate. When finished, I will have a fantastic craft room, & a new utility. It's so exciting. I've got all sorts of ideas running through my mind & can't help checking out Pinterest for more.
Neil & I have just had a lovely weeks holiday to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary so look out for some photos over the next few days. We had such a great time & fabulous weather.
Well, I'm off to sign up for Fat Mum Slims gift exchange before it's too late. I promise to blog more often so please pop back soon.

Glimpse of a new home.

As planned, we travelled to Portsmouth on Sunday, in the hope of finding out a little more about Sarah and Matts new home. Two and a half hours later we arrived to find an empty house, which was exactly what we hoped for. At least there would be a chance to look through windows and see what the back garden is like. Even luckier for Sarah, the neighbours invited her to see inside their house to give more of an idea of what she was moving to. The house looks much the same as the one they live in now except its 3 bedrooms instead of four. Very old fashioned again but a driveway and garage and a better garden for Dillan. It needs some work to make sure he can't get out, but its a much more manageable size. The down side for Sarah is the fact that it isn't a patch where the other wives are, so she is unsure about settling again. After having such a hard time previously, everyone hoped that this posting would be so much better for them both. Neil and myself have tried to point out all the good points and now we just have to sit back, wait and hope.
After looking around the area and finding out what was in the area, we went for a pub lunch ( of course I had a Sunday lunch because of my diet) and decided to go to Gun Wharf Quays.
The car park was amazing! Yes the car park. Each parking bay has a red or green light above so that you can see from a distance which bay is free. As you drive around arrows and signs show you how many bays are available down each aisle and constantly change as the lights are activated by sensors. Brilliant idea. Gun Wharf will be somewhere we visit quite often I would imagine. It's full of outlet shops, bars,restaurants bowling and the cinema. It's lovely. Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long as it was another long drive home, but all in all an enjoyable day. The photos below show Sarahs garden, lights in the car park and Gun Wharf Quays.

Curtains!!

Like so many people, I am now really fed up with our very long winter. I don't think we've had a particularly bad and severe winter but its gone on for such a long time. I cant wait for some sunshine, it always makes me feel better.
We were lucky on our visit to Catterick. Although extremely cold with some odd snow here and there, I managed to get the outside jobs done that were necessary. I had to layer up but after an hour or so of weeding and digging it was surprising how warm I was. It was also good to get some fresh air. Sarah made a start on cleaning her cooker. Neil came on Thursday as it was Easter Holidays and between the three of us we got quite a few jobs finished for Sarah. The worst being washing and ironing curtains. I hate ironing and there were 12 pairs of curtains that needed to be washed ironed and hung ready for the next family. Of course that means that another 12 pairs which are Sarah and Matts own, also need to be washed and ironed for Sarahs next house!!
Since Easter it's been another mixture of weather. Snow, rain and even a little sun all rolled into one week. It's not been a week any different to any others, with the normal household chores and jobs for myself and Auntie Joan. In fact, I would go as far as to say, pretty boring really!
Nicholas has been away to Tenby with friends this week. They all went last year and stayed in a caravan. Each of them enjoyed it except for the cold weather. This time they've pushed the boat out and paid extra for heating. I'm sure it will have been worth every penny! I look forward to him coming home and telling me about his week, even though it always comes out in dribs and drabs over at least another week.
Yesterday, Friday, after telephone call and emails, Sarah recieved news of her and Matts next house. The only details they get is an address, so google maps and street view come in useful. It must be hard not knowing what your home is going to be like until the day your furniture arrives, you're handed the keys and you actually move in, but that's exactly what happens. There's not much Neil and I can do to help settle any of Sarahs worries except take her the three hours to get a glimpse of the house from the outside. So, that's exactly what we are doing tomorrow. Neil of course will drive and I will try to point out the benefits of living in the area, and all of the good points the house has to offer. It's hard when you know nothing about the town let alone the area and you can't go inside the house, but we need to alleviate all of her fears and help to put her mind at rest. After all that's what Mums and Dads are for.

Simply the best.

Monday came around too quickly. The garden still has some snow lying around and it's still freezing!
Nicholas phoned this morning as he had hit a pothole and his windscreen now has a very large crack in it! After a quick visit to Morrisons, Sarah and I had to stop and take some photos of the potholes for him because its always dark when he comes home. It was embarrasing standing in the middle of the road as people drove past, obviously wondering what on earth I was doing! The things I do for my children.
Afternoon jobs consisted of packing Sarah and Matts clothes and christmas presents ready to take to Catterick. There are boxes and boxes and with only 5 weeks until Matt gets home we really need to get everything taken to their home. I've no idea how its all going to fit into the cars as there is so much.
On to Tuesday. While Neil took Riley to the vets for his chemotherapy injection and check up on his paw, Sarah and I went to Auntie Joan's to do her cleaning. Next was a very quick trip to town for some shopping for my Dad and money for Auntie Joan. It was extremely cold again and I certainly didn't want to be outside for too long so we raced about to keep warm and get home as soon as we could.
After Lunch I had a visit from Cheryl, another of Neil's cousins who I try to catch up with as much as possible. Unfortunately it isn't often enough as we are both busy and as we all know, time just passes us by. However it was good to have a chat and catch up with each others news.
Our local vet is pleased with Riley's progress and has spoken to Caves in Taunton to discuss the next step. The good news is that we can start to reduce his mediction. From today we are cutting out more tablets and cutting others down. It's great news, although I know I will worry as we wean him off more and more. I didn't think we would would ever reach this stage or that Riley would even recover. I know he can relapse but for now its the best news possible.

Hotel in the Cotswolds!

Friday 22nd March saw Neil and I, Heather and Rob setting off for a hotel in the Cotswolds. We had been planning a couple of nights away for some time and decided on the Cotwolds as we didnt want to travel too far away. We just felt in need of a break. The hotel looked lovely online and was advertised as a Luxury Cotswold Hotel. I was a little surprised when it was about 3 miles away from Gloucester centre so "Cotswolds" was stretching the point! Anyway our weekend started at 5.30pm on Friday evening, when we picked up our travelling companions. Heather is Neil's cousin and we go away as much as possible for days, weekends and even our fortnight holidays. We are guaranteed lots of laughs as the four of us get on so well. Oh the fourth member is Rob, Heathers partner.
Our rooms at the hotel were very clean and tidy. After a quick change ( after all, we had been travelling for about an hour, haha! ), we met for a drink in the bar while ordering our dinner. Everyone enjoyed their meal and our waitress Elsie was a real character. Slightly forgetful and reminding me of Mrs Overall from Acorn Antiques, she added a little something to the restaurant and the evening. After retiring to the bar for hot chocolate and cookies ( which I'm afraid were dreadful), it was time for bed.
Unfortunately Heather spent most of Saturday in bed so we visited Nicholas at work in Gloucester then spent about an hour at Swindon outlet. By the time we returned, Heather was feeling much better and ready for afternoon tea. This turned out to be a scone with cream and jam, over which we recounted the most appalling breakfast any of us had ever had! Never mind, if Saturday nights dinner was as good as last nights then all would be forgiven.
Oh dear, carrot and ginger soup which had too much ginger added. No one could eat it and I'm sure no one in the kitchen had tasted it before serving. The blood in my lamb ran all over the plate, which for me is a total NO! Dinner turned out to be another disaster.
After another dreadful breakfast and more undrinkable coffee (we hadn't had a coffee that was palatable since we arrived) it was time to pay the bill and visit some cotswold towns.
The hotel had been a hotel of two halves. Excellent and appalling food. Lovely hot chocolate but awful coffee. Some very pleasant staff but some very rude. All in all strange but we still had a good time.
We drove through Bourton on the Water,Stow on the Wold, Moreton in the Marsh and Broadway and then had a fantastic meal at the Red Hart in Kington Worcestershire. Gorgeous.It was a shame the snow and freezing temperature had stopped us from exploring as we usually would, but the weekend had still been a success. I hadn't laughed so much for a very long time. I did say we were guaranteed lots of laughs.

A Trip Down Memory Lane.

Sunday 17th March didn't get off to a particularly good start. I woke up feeling pretty awful. Only a cold, but awful none the less. I suppose it was obvious that it had to come my way as Sarah has been feeling poorly all week. It seems that no matter how hygienic you try to be, germs like to spread themselves everywhere. As I spend so much time with Sarah at the moment her germs were always going to spread my way. I did bring her up to share though so its not totally her fault.

A few weeks ago Dad recieved an invitation from his younger brother, my Uncle Alfie, to his 60th wedding anniversary celebrations. I used to love visiting Uncle Alfie and Auntie Phyls house when I was growing up, but don't see them at all nowadays. In fact the last time was at Mums funeral 10 years ago. The same goes for my cousin Jill and Dads three sisters, Olive, Sylvia and Rene. There are also a whole group of cousins and other relations that I haven't seen for much much longer. 60 years of marriage is a great accomplishment and we promised to take Dad to see everyone, so with Nicholas and Sarah, we all set off to Monmouth. I enjoyed the few hours we spent with everyone, catching up with cousins and cousins children, meeting partners for the first time and generally going over the "old days"! Jill and Lorna had pinned up some photos of Auntie Phyl and Uncle Alfie's 60 years together. They were fantastic to see ( if you knew me you would know just how much I love photographs) but one in particular jumped put at me as soon as I saw the display. It showed my Nana and Grandad celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. My Mum had a party for them and the family at our house all those years ago and although I don't remember the day too clearly, I do have some recollection. I was quite taken back when I saw the photo, as I haven't any of them together, and this was exactly how I remember them. It was fairly difficult to keep the tears away. Jill has said that she will send me a copy. It will be amazing if she does. I will be waiting for the postman every day just in case and if I do recieve a copy it will make an appearance on my blog, but for now, here's some of the long lost family.

Feeling a little flat.

The weather has been a very mixed bag this week and to be honest that's how I would sum up my time since last Sunday. It was lovely to see some sun streaming into the conservatory and I just wanted to sit in there with my coffee for hours, if only I had had the time. The conservatory is my favourite room in our house but during the winter we have to move back into the living room as its just too cold for comfort in there. I think that although we haven't had a hard winter it seems to have been such a long winter and I will really be glad when its over. No sooner than the sun was shining it was absolutely pouring down and so cold. Then, to my total dismay, it was snowing and actually quite blizzardous. The weather seemed to settle a little more by the end of the week until last night when, yes that's right, more snow! Thankfully it hasnt stuck and by today although it was cold, the sun had managed to put in another appearance.
My week as you will see was just as mixed. On Monday I decided to make a start on sorting out my wardrobe and drawers in the bedroom. Our bedroom needs decorating so a good spring clean is also in order. I've been quite ruthless (in Sarahs words) with my clothes and at last I can actually see what's in my wardrobe. A visit to the charity shop is now on the list for this week to drop off several bags of clothes that are no longer required.
Tuesday brought yet another trip with Riley to Caves Vetinerary Clinic in Taunton. Riley was due a check up and at our last visit it was suggested that we would have a plan of Riley's future medication and that he would be discharged. We had to wait for blood test results before they would administer Riley's cyterabine injection as sadly he now has a nasty infection in his toe. After the great news that his operation had all gone well and after about 8 weeks he no longer had to wear a bandage, it was so sad. Poor little thing has had enough troubles since December and I really thought it was all coming to an end. How wrong I was. It seems that the meningitis and other problems are under control but now his foot is slowing up a full recovery. We came home from Taunton feeling totally deflated, very flat! At the moment we don't know if we've got to back again as it all depends how the infection looks tomorrow.
The next three days were spent sorting more cupboards and drawers, cleaning at Auntie Joan's and food shopping.
Yesterday Neil took Sarah and I to Cheltenham. We had a visit to The Range, Next Home and BHS Home, which was great. I love looking at the home shops and departments but usually find so many things I would love or so many ideas of things that I would like to do in my own home. It would possibly be much better to stay at home, or at least Neil would think so. We also called into a store which was new to us, Wholefoods Market. It was amazing. The fruit and vegetables looked fantastic, so fresh and very colourful. They are stacked very carefully and sprayed with water every few minutes. The spices smelled gorgeous, the beans and pulses looked great and the choice of coffee beans left me not knowing which to choose. Every department and aisle in the store was clean colourful and very well displayed. It was a superb shop. Everything fresh and wholesome. We will certainly visit again.
I'm very behind with my photo a day, which I'm not at all happy about, so maybe I need to spend next week catching up. Somehow.
A few photos follow, mostly from our visit to the Wholefoods Market and I will be back tomorrow to tell you about my trip down memory lane. It was lovely to see family this afternoon, that I haven't seen for at least ten years and many that I probably haven't seen for maybe! Anyway that's a story for tomorrow.