More paint and flowers, and sadness

Decorating Caitlin's room is proving to be less than fun. I don't have anything personal against the people who previously owned our house, but I feel distinctly unfriendly towards their decorating and home improvement philosophies. Underneath the wallpaper was a thin layer of polystyrene. Whatever adhesive thing was used is not a surface I would recommend painting over, as the one wall I tried it the paint keeps cracking. So between scrubbing that off, filling and sanding I am getting pretty fed up. I'm trying to do a couple of hours on it each day but it's tough when you don't see any improvement. Really it needs replastering, but so does the whole house. And that is way down the list, and in particular after the things which should be done before replastering (rewiring, new windows, oh and rebuilding the back of the house......and all the other things we can't afford) You might be wondering why I don't just put wallpaper up. Unfortunately we have seen that the wallpaper adheres to the walls about as well as the paint does, which is not a lot. And on a budget, and with the walls in such a poor general state, it is difficult to justify an expensive primer. So even when it's finished, the walls will still look pretty crappy, but hopefully the overall effect will be OK. She is getting a new bed, toy storage and curtains, and I hope that eventually it will all be worth it!

The explosion of flowers in the garden should be any day soon! There are a few already and lots of buds just waiting to fill my garden with colour. I bought a lovely red cordyline on Friday and some asiatic lilies. I put the lilies next to an azalea I bought and that flowerbed is turning in to a bit of a tribute to Mum. Those two plants were among her favourites. My first attempt at planting seeds is going well. The night scented stock seeds which got dug up by a cat having a poo didn't seem to care and are all sprouting well. I collected a lot of seeds from my lovely delphinium I bought last summer (good job as it has not reappeared despite allegedly being a perennial). I planted them in a seed tray and they didn't do anything for ages, then just one or two started to appear. Now the whole tray is filled with little seedlings! The next challenge is extracting them from the seed try into individual pots...all the guidance I can find is "when they are large enough". What help is that? I also scattered some candytuft, larkspur and cornflowers. I am undecided as to whether they are sprouting or whether the little seedlings in that vicinity are actually weeds.

I just wanted to share the verse on the little garden plaque that Andy got me at Christmas time. There is an author but as I wouldn't be able to see in the dark I will have to credit them later.

"The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden,
Than anywhere else on earth"

Mum's first anniversary is this coming Sunday. This is a difficult time.

Strawberries

Elly and her two gorgeous boys, Arthur and Sylvan, came to visit yesterday. I think Elly will agree that this has proven to be the most stress free visit yet. For the first time we actually seemed to have chance to chat for more than 30 seconds at once without major chaos ensuing from one child or another! (Although of course there are still many topics left for future occasions.)

Arthur once again decided that the most interesting things in my house are Hannah's toy vacuum and the cat litter tray. Hannah's main focus of interest was Sylvan - she loves babies but is somewhat overattentive towards them. I often encounter tricky situations where I have to gauge whether or nor a mum is just being polite, or really doesn't mind my grubby toddler mauling their precious baby.

Elly treated us to a takeaway lunch as a belated birthday present for me (thanks Elly! xxx) and I bought some strawberries for afterwards. Rather than dish out a portion for everyone, I just prepared a bowl for sharing. Now you can picture the scene....the strawberries were placed on the table. Arthur, Hannah and Sylvan had one each. Sylvan took one bite of his strawberry and then sat on it. Elly cleaned up squashed strawberry from Sylvan's clothes while I wiped it up from the carpet. Our attention returned to the bowl of strawberries....completely empty! Hannah and Arthur both had at least three each in their mouths. Literally this took about 30 seconds, for the two of them to polish off about twenty strawberries. Amazing. Even more so if you bear in mind that they had previously eaten two large sausage rolls (Hannah), one sausage roll and most of a cheese and onion pasty (Arthur), and a cream doughnut each.

Hooray! for kids with liver disease who scoff themselves full of calories :D

Let's get busy - put your puddlebusters on!

I have been very busy in my garden, and I am ridiculously excited about my little collection of infant plants. This time two years ago, I was digging up weeds. This time last year, I was digging up weeds. Now, I am planting things. FLOWERS are on their way.

I'm not a gardener and very much learning as I go along, so I'm not getting complicated. The one thing we kept from the miserable collection of actual plants that were here when we moved in is a lavender bush. My mum thought it was wonderful ('real old fashioned lavender') and after I pruned it well last autumn it is looking really good and has lots of buds on it.

I have been raiding the local greengrocers for plants every time I go as they have a good selection of cheap good quality bedding and basket plants. My favourite purchase so far (and my most extravagant at £3.99) has been a wonderful trailing fuschia which is extremely happy in my hanging basket. My sister in law has been enthusing this evening about the great selection of plants they have in the market right now, so as I have a little extra money this week I shall be heading down there sometime in the week.

There is still SO much to do, like getting a wall built that isn't about to collapse, and making a play area for the girls, and doing SOMETHING about the concrete hardstanding....but I no longer feel like the garden needs rescuing. Just improving.

I was asked about who the four readers are (see last post). I meant Lisa, Elly, Liz and Andy (*waves*). Apparently Sam is also a reader too (*waves again*), so I stand corrected that I have a whole FIVE readers! Could there be more? Don't be shy!

I have been doing quite well on a decluttering mission the last few days. The plan - to use the cupboards to store things we actually use rather than things we don't, and hence stop leaving the things we use lying around all over the place. Things are now looking good downstairs (I have kitchen worktops!!!), apart from some toys that need taking upstairs and some stuff that I need Andy to help me move. The result at the moment is the upstairs is a complete war zone, but phase two is to cram all the clutter into the loft and then bring it down a bit at a time to sort out. This will also help with the great decorating plan which is back on now I can afford some plaster repair stuff.

The busy theme has continued with work. With exam time coming up I have quite a few extra students and I have 7 or 8 lessons a week for the next few weeks. So far I have managed to protect my Saturday evenings (here I am!) but I'm not sure how much longer that can continue! I am enjoying it, especially as I know things will slacken off after the exams (although for the first time I have 4 students - all fortnightly, so really two per week - who will be carrying on next academic year, which is a nice security).

I promise pictures of my flowers, when I have enough.

Small victories

I am tired and it's late (for me!), but I wanted to briefly celebrate some good things that have happened in the last couple of weeks.

I have some extra students up until the exams. AS Level too - my favourite. This means I am busy but I really enjoy my lessons. They really do provide all the positives of teaching without any of the negatives.

I had the appeal hearing for Hannah's disability allowance (previously twice rejected) and she has been awarded middle rate care! This entitles us to other allowances too and will make a big difference financially. But that is less important than the fact I feel vindicated.

Regular readers (*waves to all four of them*) might remember The Great British Gas Saga. (Highlighting my blogging inadequacy here by not being arsed to provide a link to it). After my previous lofty statements about how they would not provide me with one kWh of gas more, I hit a problem. The bill holder. Which isn't me. So I had to give up...or so I thought. Yet today I get a letter informing me of a 25% decrease in our monthly payment. When I phoned the bill holder to let him know about this exciting development, he mentioned that BG had been one of a number of companies in trouble recently about exactly how much of their customers money they currently have. A coincidence....I think not. I will not eat my previous words....as soon as the debit balance is cleared, it is Powergen all the way for us (take note bill holder, I know you are one of the four readers......)

Oh, and the sun has been shining, and I have been gardening....:D

Smiley update

We have booked our holiday for 16th-23rd June - Hurrah! I was worried that since I left it so late that the accommodation we wanted would be booked up. We have not reserved the same bungalow as last time, but have gone for pot luck as an added element of excitement.

Dad is (hopefully - still awaiting confimation) home from hospital, so I will hopefully take the girls round to see him soon.

I equipped Caitlin with new summer clothes yesterday to her unbridled joy. It also makes me feel like a better mother to see my child in clothes that fit her......

The weather has been very summery and as well as the girls having a riot out in the garden - everything from an evil concoction (the POTION) in the empty sandpit to digging up weeds and sliding down the slide a hundred times in succession - I have been enjoying my spring bulbs planted last autumn and been thinking about this summer's plans for it.

There are still 11 days left of the school holiday, and one of them is my birthday :D