Monday 26 April 2010




and nothing ever gets finished...... I know the phrase is "master of none" but do you ever go into a shop and see something you like and think "how much!.... I could make that!" and you walk away leaving the item in the shop.... and you never make one either !

I like to think I take after my grandfather and possibly my great Granny (whom I never knew) as I can turn my hand to most things and I am happy to give anything creative a go.... however this ability to do "stuff" does not go un-noticed by friends and family and suddenly "your a useful person to know" and of course because I am a stay at home mum I have all the time in the world.....


for example from the back of my house to the end of the garden is approx 100 feet... its a mix of knackered concrete and gravel and a 60 ft lawn.... so far this spring I have mown my mums friend's lawn twice, dug and planted up my friends front garden and spent yesterday mowing and digging flower borders at my mother and father in laws ( well Mr P mowed and I crawled around edging).... I have had a request from my mum to go around and help clear her garden rubbish from a clear out she's had.... now I love to help people but by the time I get home its too late or I am too shattered to do my own....

This could potentially be my lawn looking out from my back window very soon! ;D

Perhaps I should get one of these to mow the lawn while I am out and about!


Next weekend is a bank holiday and you would think that we will have a chance to get loads done but MIL's birthday is on the 2nd and their veg patch needs rotivating... and as Mr P's dad has just had some surgery we will be digging once again.... and boy do my legs aches today... I am no skinny minny and I am just not built for hard labour... but what doesn't kill you is good for you or some such nonsense....
wanted one maybe two families of flower fairies to tend and nurture and take care of one steadily growing wilderness.....

oh well I had better get on and miracle some tea out of the air.... still without hob, oven and hot water....
thank goodness Danny loves Spaghetti on toast! lol

Take care
Alex
x

Friday 23 April 2010

Happy St Georges Day everyone...

Proud to be English.....


enjoying the sunshine and green fields......


But a little confused about the future!


If Scotland becomes independant from England will the Union Flag have to be changed?

Scotland's flag would dissapear leaving England/Wales and Northern Ireland's flags so our Union Flag would look like this....

Not quite the same without the blue!
If you fancy learning a bit more about the Union Flag visit Project Britain by Woodlands School Kent its a very informative site



Now at the end of our last post we were off to the ....

Danny was fairly impressed and now calls it the airport...



It was free for him to get in and I paid £12 and I can use that ticket to visit for the rest of the year for free.... I think! it was all getting a little confusing.... lol



It is amazing to see these amazing planes and helicopters up close...



I thought Concord was much bigger than this!
We went inside but I don't like enclosed places and was very glad to get out! ;D



Danny the pilot!



I don't much like the big planes.... you would not get me in one of these!



...and yet I would quite like to have a go in a helicopter! weird huh!
My favourite bits were the Cafe... and the gift shop!

8¬)


All being well our next excursion will be to this!


I quite fancy a bit of knob throwing, racing and painting!
look at that vicar go!

lol

wishing you all a wonderful weekend

Mr P and I are driving up to Yorkshire (somewhere near Leeds) to visit a friend.... Mr P think's we're driving up and back in one day! I however will be packing a bag and warning Mum and dad that they may be having the dog to stay for a night as well as the children! lol

take care
Alex
x

Friday 16 April 2010

Oh Hello!

.................remember me?

Well that's Easter done and dusted... our Easter did not go completely to traditional plan we usually have a visit from the Easter Bunny, however this year we spent the weekend ripping out the cooker and hob and extractor fan... phase one of the kitchen renovation has begun.

We did however have way too many eggs and chocolate bits and bobs which are still hanging around the lounge although most has now been devoured or resides half eaten in the fridge.... I think I will have to experiment with my combination microwave and see if I can make some chocolate cookies or muffins with the left over broken half eaten eggs and bunnies..... Jamie was unfortunately ill most of Easter Sunday and I don't think she had even eaten any chocolate... she started off with a bad stomach and then threw up everywhere... the previous day was spent with Nanny and they went to a local town eatery called the Hungry Horse... and to be honest the last time I went there I vowed never to return the bar and restaurant area was yucky and sticky and I had the worst steak ever... The crocheted circle under the cake stand is made from some of the yarn that Jenn (yarn addicts anonymous) sent me for my mothers day swap... I must take a picture of the wonderful slippers she felted up for me... they are so warm and cosy.... I have to admit I have crocheted up some of the yarn already it was such wonderful colours and it called to me! lol

Now back to the kitchen ..... I have now been without a water heater/boiler since last May... I currently have to boil the kettle every time I wish to wash up, luckily or manky old shower heats the water for the baths and the grown ups predominantly shower... the bathroom will be next to be made over but that's a headache for another day! ;D The water tank-heater use to be in Jamie's bedroom and it took up a lot of space in her not so roomy room! so when it started tripping the electric we knew it was time to switch it off.... eventually we drained it and removed it and it was lucky that we did as it was starting to leak and was completely rusted away at the bottom.... that would have been a real nightmare if it had burst!
anyway we decided to fit an instant hot water heater in the kitchen as we don't have gas in the village it has to be electric and the extra space in Jamie's room is fantastic and it should be cooler in the summer too...
Unfortunately to get to the area that we need to run pipes for the new boiler we have to take out awkward cupboards and it was decided that the kitchen did not work in its present format and a re-design would be in order.....

We only have 2 rooms down stairs (well apart from the bathroom, which is almost too small to fit a bath in!)
anyway Mr P thinks its too small, and sometimes I agree but when I think back to the house I grew up in with at times 8 of us living there and the front room was completely out of bounds as it was "for best" and "Christmas" I grew up in about the same space as I have now... so I want to prove that I can make it work and that we can survive in a smaller property...
so I have designed it with a boot area by the back door, coats hung up and storage for shoes etc (pink button) and I would like a floor to ceiling stud wall where it says low wall, Mr P still needs convincing though... ;) then you come to the breakfast area (kettle, toaster, bread bin etc) the blue button is the door to the lounge and the red button is the door to the bathroom.

Phase one (the breakfast area) has been almost completed, (the under counter oven, halogen hob with a 3oomm cupboard either side and an extractor fan with a 300mm cupboard either side use to live here...) well that was all ripped out and the two 300mm base cupboards were kept and new white doors have replaced the dark oak ones.... the oven was recycled as it was a single oven and I would like a double eye level oven.... the halogen hob is wrapped up in the lounge waiting for phase 3.... its a little old and worn but if I re-use it I can warrant spending the money saved on the new oven... Mr P thinks me mad but waste not want not! lol

Do you remember this?


I bought it on eBay for £40....

well I sanded and sanded and you guessed it sanded some more and now I have this...
and I am so pleased with it... the cornice around the top was damaged on one corner so Mr P removed it and I am very pleased with the clean effect plus I can store some of my less used items up there... The worktop is beach which I have just oiled with boiled linseed oil and the once the freezer and wiring has been finished I will take another picture...

I am amazed at how much bigger the kitchen is looking with the black tiles removed and the black worktops gone ( I think the previous owner was a goth... no really she use to have a skull attached to the front of her black BMW) anyway I am really pleased with the effect so far... phase 2 is due to start this weekend, although there has been a change of arrangement from the drawn plan... the Larder fridge will go next to the lounge door and the 300mm cupboards will go at the other end... that way the milk is closer to the breakfast area and you don't have to walk past the eye level oven which will be in the middle.... I know it all seems so trivial but I have never had my own kitchen in the 2 homes we have owned, always made do with somebody else's ideal... this will hopefully be my ideal..

Mr P made a comment that the new area looked very country.... well as we live in a village and I have always wanted a big farmhouse kitchen with a cosy chair and a fire place I think I am doing the best I can with the space I have... lol

I have to admit that this is not the only thing that has kept me away from blog land... a close friend is dealing with tricky times as she works through relationship issues and needs a ear to listen and a friend to be there for her and I am happy to help in any way I can, plus Danny being poorly (and he is very much back to normal now, and it turns out that 2 other children at preschool had the same symptoms... weird or worrying!?) plus Jamie is just being an early teenager driving me nuts with her expectations and wants..... add to that Mr P's employer is currently laying off contractors and we are holding our breath to see how far they go... he's having his contract renewed monthly so its a case of taking each day as it comes and going with the flow!

What will be will be and everything happens for a reason, its up to me to find the positive in everything that happens and guide my family safely through the patches of rough water we might have to navigate... and that is what I will endeavour to do

Life can be a real challenge but life would be so dull if everything were handed to you on a plate

mind you if anyone wants to hand me a couple days of "dull" sat on a sunny sandy beach I am not opposed to accepting it! lol

Thank you to everyone who has sent me messages to check I am OK... you are all so very wonderful and lovely!

take care
I will be back soon.... gotta get on and take Daniel to Yeovilton air base for the afternoon... I won a free child's day pass so I will let you know how interesting a load of airplanes are later! ;D

Alex
x