Wow, I've done loads!

Well, I have been so busy since my last entry! Caitlin's bedroom is finished!!!! (If I'm completely honest there are still one or two finishing touches to be made but they are going to have to wait a while longer). The hard work was definitely worth it, it is definitely a 'princess bedroom' just like she wanted.

I still have the huge task of sorting out all the toys into the new storage, don't want to face that one at all!





Then there was a mad rush to get ready for the holiday, with the house in complete chaos from the decorating. We had a lovely week just relaxing and doing holiday things. We have already spent 4 weeks in the area in the last two years and seen lots of the local attractions so we didn't bother doing that this year. We just did simple things to keep the girls happy like going to the pool, the adventure playground, the 2p arcades and that sort of thing. The weather wasn't good enough for the beach so we just had 3 or 4 short sessions down there. While we were there my friend Sarah drove over to visit as she lives close by. That meant that Caitlin got to meet up with her pen friend Amy. The girls played really nicely together while Sarah and I enjoyed a cuppa, choccy biscuits and most importantly a good chat. Sam (waves) has been telling me for ages I should make a montage so I had a play around with our holiday photos this morning and managed to create my very first montage! I'm reasonably pleased with the result although the photos are a bit blurry in it.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

On Sunday it was Andy's birthday. We celebrated with a quiet day and a Chinese takeaway for tea :)

Then, on Monday, Hannah and I went down to Oxford to meet up with Elly and Sam. Sam and her family were having a break at the guest house owned by Elly's mum. I got lost in a different place than where I got lost last time I drove down to Elly's, but made it there eventually. It is always a joy to meet up with Elly and her beautiful boys and it was very exciting to meet Sam, her partner Tony and their daughters Bethany and Eloise for the first time. We all visited the Oxford University Natural History Museum, which looked absolutely fascinating but I missed a lot of it trying to stop Hannah from destroying the exhibits. She showed particular determination with the ones marked 'fragile, do not touch'. After a cuppa and a cake that were literally worth their weight in gold (!) Hannah and I set off home.











Unbelievably, Sam and Tony hadn't had quite enough of us on Monday, and it was lovely to have them and the girls here for tea yesterday on their way back up to Yorkshire. They brought my girls some lovely presents which have gone down a storm, how thoughtful and generous. There is one blessing from Hannah having liver disease which I see every day - the wonderful friends I have made who I never would have met otherwise.



Today I have had a Sharon day! I caught up with some paperwork and phone calls this morning while Hannah was at pre-school, and did the holiday montage. I relaxed while she had her nap and played some free poker. The girls went to Von's for tea so I did a few jobs and went out to the shops (by myself!). I feel refreshed having had virtually a whole day to myself.

Tomorrow I'm off again! Caitlin's class are doing an assembly in the morning and they all have something to say. After that Hannah and I are popping over to BCH to visit Angie and Adam. Adam is inpatient for a scheduled procedure (it was today, and went very well, thank goodness) so we are going to have some lunch and meet up before Adam is discharged and they fly back over to Northern Ireland.

Oh, my garden...never did I think I would say there was too much rain! The weeds are going berserk (although I have had a good cull in the last three days) and some of my plants which are in tubs without great drainage are dying from too much water! However, I do have flowers (yippee), and I am getting out there in between showers of rain to do some tidying up, so once that is done I will be out there taking pics.

Caitlin's Bedroom

It's a nightmare. The details are tedious, but I can sum it up with: 70 year old plaster and some wierd sticky residue that nothing will adhere to without cracking. Nothing, that is, until we tried Polyfilla base coat. Hurrah! However...two coats of that, two of pink, painting the (artex!) ceiling and the skirting still leaves much work to be done. I have also discovered that the plaster starts to fall off one of the walls if you use a power sander on it :| Trying not to think about that.......and won't be using the power sander on it again or trying to attach anything to it like pictures........

Holiday

Only 12 days to go!!!!! (Trying not to think about washing and ironing)

I am really excited! Last year I just had a wrong feeling about it being so soon after mum's death. I still enjoyed it because of the girls, but I couldn't feel the same excitement about it. This year I just want us all to relax and have lots of fun. I am also really looking forward to meeting up with my friend Sarah and her daughter Amy - who is Caitlin's pen friend - while we are away.

More excitement

Just after we get back from our holiday Sam is going down to Oxford to stay in Elly's mum's guest house. So, I will get to meet up with Elly and meet Sam and her family for the FIRST TIME all in one go!

Anniversary

Mum's anniversary and the time around it was hard, but I got through and my family did too. Now that difficult time has passed for now I can feel myself wanting to get on with things with mum's spirit with me. That is a relief because it is also hard on Andy and the girls when I get down.

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.