2 days away, I am so excited!

Goodness me I have been so busy, and I have been given so many wonderful things by some lovely wonderful people....

I believe in a good deed being re payed later in life and the balance of both sides of the coin... I had a pretty poor time of it at the beginning of the school term and it was a real struggle but it paid off in the end and Jamie got a place on the school bus...

since then I have been scrabbling back some control over my life I am standing down from the PTA on Thursday and I even managed to say no to a request to chair the Pre-School committee... ( I am not usually good at saying no! ;D) and I have been asked to start a craft club at our village hall, something like a knit and natter but you can bring any kind of craft you like... I have also said no to running it but that I am happy to go along and teach people to crochet if they would like to....


I then exchanged a few emails with a lovely lady called Susan Ashman and I arranged to pop down to Brympton D'evercy House near Odcombe

where she is working at restoring the interior of the country house which is currently being used for weddings and will be the venue for residential courses


Mum, Danny and I had a wonderful morning looking around the house and mum told Susan what each room use to look like and who it was used by back in the 1960's when my Nanny and Grandpa Tucker where housekeeper and caretaker when it was a boys school... Mum had also found photocopied receipts that dated back to the 18o7 and paperwork from when my Great grandfather on my dad's side was a Carpenter for Sir Clive Ponsonby Fane


plus a very interesting letter my great uncle had written to Charles Ponsonby Fane telling of his memories of when he was a carpenter with his father at the estate



My brothers use to play in the house and the whole family use to spend Christmas's there as Nanny and Grandpa had a flat in one of the wings, it was amazing to think that my nanny use to cook for all the boys in that very kitchen where they now prepare food for functions and weddings

Well Susan will be running 2 day residential courses teaching interior and exterior design from Medieval to present day, using hte house as a visual aid every month after Christmas and she has asked me to be an assistant (nothing grand but with my family connection and fabric design background I might be helpful to have around, I hope! :D), I am stunned and so very pleased only the week before Mr P and I had been chatting about what we wanted to do when we were about to leave school and I wanted to get a job working as an interior designer... Mr P wanted to be a farmer... but our respective parents had other ideas and I went to art college studying surface pattern design and Mr P started working as an electronic apprentice...

So it would appear that fate has given me the chance to redirect my life and I am so pleased to have been given the chance to work in a place that my grandparents loved living and working in

Perhaps fate will also assist Mr P sometime in the future.... mind you he will need to do something to change his direction as if I hadn't started a blog I would never have gotten to know Susan. Last week she rang and invited me to a tester/taster 2 day residential on Tuesday, my initial reaction was "wow, yes definitely but I won't stay because of the children...." then after I had hung up I thought " I am not indispensable and I am sure Jamie who is 11 will be fine and Danny who's 3 will be with mum on Tuesday and Wednesday so staying the night in between won't hurt... "

but I still felt so guilty that I was considering doing something just for me... I won't lie I did ask Mr P if it would be okay, I think I needed someone to give me permission to abandon my parenting duties for 2 days...

So after I received permission and I ummed and ahhhed for about 2 minutes I decided that everything happens for a reason and I emailed Susan to accept the invitation to stay and now I am so very excited

I have to go and find my suitcase and the wash bag lovely Nicola sent me in a swap and work out what to wear and get some batteries for my camera...

the anticipation of a night without having to put Danny to bed and all the other rituals of being a mum, cook and houskeeper will be left in other peoples capable hands for just one night .. it feels like I have won the lottery!

Other thoughtful gifts I have received this week were from 2 lovely ladies at the village cafe on Thursday, one gave me a pattern book for crocheted socks, and I have been looking for one of these for months and then another lady gave me a bag full of wool... I seem to be receiving so many thoughtful gifts of late

So I must apologise for my lack of popping by and I promise to catch up with you all at the end of the week but now I am off to dig out a suitcase and get myself packed and ready for my 2 day break, even if its dull and drizzly the sun will be shining because for once in my life I am grabbing hold of an opportunity of a lifetime and living for the moment and its exhilarating

hugs to you all
take care
Alex
x