2011..... What's the new year going to bring you?

I have no plans for this evening... 

I spent most of my informative years babysitting for neighbours so that they could go out

and celebrate New Years Eve... and the few parties I attended were sometimes fun and sometimes not.... 

Since being with Les I have no memory of going out on New Years Eve... apart from the first year I knew him and we went to a beach party at his local pub... which has now been turned into an up market restaurant... :(

Les is unwell at the moment so I dare say he'll be in bed before midnight and I might stay up and watch the fireworks.... but that will be about it... I have never really understood the need to celebrate the start of a new year... and I am not sure why? I've never been one for gatherings of people all jostling for the bar and getting toes trodden on while wearing something uncomfortable and to be honest not very warm and cosy... I think perhaps I have been old fashioned all my life... lol

Don't get me wrong I have partied in my day and I have been as hung over as the best of them.. these days it just doesn't appeal....

     I have started writing a journal after my friend Joanne gave me a beautiful notebook for Christmas... its almost like a mini blog post every day... and in the New Year I have to pay more attention to my blog...  I promise...!

     I also want to get caught up with commitments and clear all the tangled seaweed of jobs that seem to have entwined themselves around my legs... I am feeling a little lost at sea at the moment but I need to stop spinning around and calm the maelstrom around me... take a deep breath and set a steady course....

     I have never been good at facing my fears or dealing with tricky situations and running away has always been my chosen defence... but I think... no.. I know that this is not going to work anymore... I have to stand tall and deal with all the debris that may knock me clean off my feet... this is the year where I will test the theory "that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

     Christmas was good... nothing out of the ordinary... but good.... I think I have finally stopped trying to feel the child like thrill that Christmas use to hold and have realised that the excitement and joy of Christmas was not delivered by it being Christmas it was delivered by my Mum.... She worked hard to try and get me the gifts I coveted... well the affordable ones! ;D
     Mum fed us, cleaned up after us, worked hard to organise parties and family visits.... and I thank her for it... but now is the time for me to deliver these things to my children... Now all I have to do is take all the decorations down and transfer them into storage in my mum and dads garage again... I don't like lofts and the sheds are not water tight or critter proof so mum's garage is perfect! ;D


      This year we stayed home for Christmas dinner and I spent the morning watching a film (The Last Airbender) with the children while Les did the Christmas dinner... and he did a fantastic job too... I helped with prepping the turkey crown and Les sorted the sprouts, roast parsnips, Leeks in butter, roast spuds, carrots and pigs in blankets... after dinner was devoured we cleared up and once I had gotten the girls into the coop we headed for my Mum and Dads with a basket of crochet to relax with... the children enjoyed spending time with their visiting cousins and I enjoyed some quality crochet time... I watched Poirot... and even though my youngest brother blurted out the ending it was still an enjoyable evening... lol

      I received some wonderful gifts from family and friends... My mum bought me these 2 signs but my youngest brother told her they were rude and that she couldn't give them to me... I love them... so it just shows how little my brothers understand me ... lol

     They were 2 separate signs but I am quickly running out of wall space so I have altered them to hang together... and are in full view of anyone entering through the back door...! ;D



 My Dear bloggy friend Lisa Ridgeon sent me a surprise parcel of Christmas decorations that she made... the 2 hanging origami creations are amazing... and the felt ginger bread man, Christmas pudding and snowman are wonderful... and the 2 origami birds will be on display all year around with a couple others that Lisa made me... I will take better photo's when we get any sunshine... its so dull and dreary at the moment... and also I need to photograph and show off a beautiful stitchery that Suzie sent me... I am going to get it framed... and it has inspired me to start a little stitching of my own! ;D


 I bought a Christmas cake from Emily Waters at our village cafe... and its beautifully gorgeously scrummy... Daniel of course loves the icing and I love the fruit cake so all in all we are enjoying the partnership! lol

The chickens are all doing well... Daisy is still laying an egg nearly every day... and Hettie has regrown her tail feathers and seems even more bossy now... and Amber is just trying to keep out of the grumpy Hettie's way... I think as Amber is maturing a little power struggle is emerging... and Amber is standing up for herself a little more often than running away... lol I gave 6 eggs to Les's mum on Boxing Day and she was over the moon...

I hope this New Year ahead of us brings you all as much joy and happiness as can be afforded and that the darker moments are short and unable to cause upset or harm to you and your loved ones...

May days of sunshine and joy visit you all.... love and hugs Alex x

-15 in Yeovilton....

 ... and apparently not going above -2 today....

 I know there are colder places that people live but most of us over here are not geared up for these kinds of temperatures... our homes are not designed or insulated for lows like these and they are also not suited to the humidity and heat that we sometimes get in the summer... basically were buggered! ;D

The girls haven't ventured outside the run for the past 2 days... I managed to get to a local farm shop and buy some veggies and a bin bag of straw so they are cosy at night sleeping in their nest box...

Daisy (White Sussex) is still laying nearly every day... and Hettie (the Wyandote) has regrown her tail feathers and is looking a little better after her moult...

Luckily for them I order sweetcorn cobettes instead of tinned sweetcorn so they had a real treat on Friday... 

Obviously we could have eaten the corn on the cob but I felt they deserved it more than us...

 The snow is so beautiful... and I can't believe how quiet the main road through Mudford is usually its the main route that the emergency services use to get to the A303 and we hear sirens regularly through the day but yesterday not one came through... at times like these you can imagine how lovely the village must have been before cars were so prevalent and everyone had one... back in the days when a car was a luxury item not a necessity and expected right....

The clouds and fog cleared today and the sun shone in a beautiful blue sky it reminded me of an Italian ski trip ...I went on when I was 15 it was over Christmas and I went with the school ...24 years ago.... goodness gracious me... I feel really old now! ;D

They are predicting more snow tomorrow... but we have nowhere to be today so its another day of games, eating and perhaps a little crochet...if I'm really lucky... !

Daniel started complaining of a sore throat, earache and tummy ache last weekend... and for once I got my arse in gear and popped him to the doctors on Wednesday... she thought he might have an ear infection so she gave him antibiotics and he's been getting better... however this morning he's complaining of tummy ache again and the ear that wasn't blocked and ache-y now is... I have seen a lot of entries on Face book reporting adults and children with the same symptoms so I think this might be a bug that's going around...

So today started at 4:30am as Daniel "wasn't comfortable" in bed... although I certainly was! ;D

and I am wrapped up with a blanket doing this blog entry... its 13 degrees in the kitchen and I think the lounge is starting to warm up a little now that I have revived the glowing embers to a flickering fire...Daniel is on the settee under his duvet...

I think today will require the slow cooker and a chicken casserole and I have a hankering of suet dumplings too... definitely warming comfort food on the cards today... 

Wherever you may be warm or cold

take care

Alex

x

Expectations, assumptions and fairytales....

     Life is full of them... you grow up watching musicals and happy ever after endings where men are romantic and chase after their true love to make them theirs, you hear of those few true romantics that exist that do whisk their girlfriends and wives away for romantic weekends and buy them gifts and flowers and make an effort to make them feel special and loved... but you soon realise that this is a minority not the main.... but you never loose the hope that one day this will change and the man that you have chosen as your partner will one day lavish you with love and a gesture that makes you smile from the center of your heart to the tips of your toes... 

     Being the youngest of 4 and the only girl I had so many assumptions as I grew up... I assumed as I neared 17 that like my friends at school and college I would be given driving lessons for my birthday present and that like my brothers a car would be made available... they drove dads Maxi... but nothing happened ... no lessons appeared and I had met my first boyfriend at 15 and a half and we were together for 7 years...he drove me around and my dad would fetch and carry me the rest of the time... mum doesn't drive and it would appear Samways women do not do this...

     When I eventually met Les in 1996 I still didn't drive and at 25 I had an idea of getting married and doing it differently to my cousins and middle brother who had weddings of escalating amazingness as fashion and venues grew in size and splendor... I did not see the point in trying to match these events but I had an expectation that dad would look forward to walking his only daughter down the aisle... Les and I got engaged in Brighton a month or so after we got together and we were met by no real reaction apart from surprise... no party no gifts no cards... that I can recollect... I am not sure if you usually get any of the these things but again ... expectations! 

      So Les and I researched weddings and decided that we would get married abroad in Austria, his Uncle loved Austria and visited it many times during his life and as I had never met him before his death and Les's mum was very close to her brother we thought it would be lovely to take his mum and dad there especially as at that time they had never been abroad, my dad would not go to Austria as he was stationed there during the war and mum suggested that we just go off and get married and come back and tell them... which would have hurt Les's mum and dad... so instead we just lived as married people and have been engaged for the last 14 years...

     So we bought a house, got a dog... had a baby! and Les and I live as a married couple, faithful and true in our relationship... we support each other and have moments when we despair of each others inadequacies... but we have never argued never screamed and shouted at each other whether this is a good thing or a bad thing I have no clue.. its just the way we are... a few years later when we could afford it we had Daniel and I became the mum that I couldn't be with Jamie as our situation required two incomes at the time and Jamie spent the bulk of her childhood with my mum... which I resented....

     Daniel was born in High Wycombe where we lived for 18 months and I became a grown up.. no mum to make my life easy by "helping with the baby" I had to cope, I had to learn and as I have very few memories of Jamies childhood it was like being a new mum... and when we did eventually move back to Somerset I was begining to be me.... 

     So after a few years here getting more niggled by the assumptions of neighbours, school and officials that I am Mrs Porter I have decided that its about time that I do have the same surname as the rest of "my" family and as I do not covet the attention of walking down the aisle and as I am not a religious person I think I am more spiritual in my beliefs and that the registry office looks like an office... I am opting for the unconvential and just changing my name and title by deed poll... Les and I will both have new rings to replace our engagement rings

     So I have paid my £53 and the paperwork is hopefully on its way... I will sign it in front of a witness who also signs it and thats it! all done.... I will have 3 copies of the document to send to the DVLA, Passport office and bank and I will be known from that day forth as Mrs Porter, a Samways no more!

I think we'll go out for a meal and its strange but I feel so excited at the prospect of being a Porter... I have even found a ring that will mean something to me as its my birthstone (Peridot) with Les's birthstone (diamond) either side... I hope they still have it in stock...

Unconventional .?.. perhaps.... but for anyone that knows me... its very me! ;D

very honest and open, you wear your heart on your sleeve and always try to remain positive and look on the bright side even when things are really tough.
You are always thinking of others and should spend a little more time thinking of yourself xx

Beki  (facebook blogfriend!)

the above is so true... how can someone who I have never met in person know me so well..? ;D

this is something for me.... oh and I eventually learnt to drive about 6 years ago when I worked for the council they paid for 20 lessons as they wanted me to take on the driving of a 3 and a half ton van to do collections...

This post is more a diary entry and a theraputic release... Mum dislikes me being so open and honest, its not the done thing... but if it helps me its worth doing... 

I hope your all having good weekends... Daniel is suffering from his first bad stomach so I am reasoning with an almost 5 year old that popping in your pants could have tragic concequenses... 

take care

Alex

x

What if....

Now I am no scientist (as my dad thought I should do languages and typing... as girls are secretaries!) but I have been reading up on ideas and views why our weather is so out of kilter.... and I have come across a fascinating but slightly terrifying theory.... 

Its all to do with the gulf stream....

 

and apparently its what gives Britain its fairly warm nondescript temperatures and weather patterns... the warm seas from the gulf stop us from freezing like Moscow and Northern Canada... which are level either side of us on the globe...

So if the gulf stream has been disrupted by melting icebergs or BP oil disaster in the gulf of Mexico, has this effected our climate and plunged us into an earlier than normal winter....

Are any of you stocking up, preparing for what might be a long cold winter and if so what kinda things are you doing?

I know I have to stock up on coal and wood... should have pulled my finger out of my arse and stocked up all over the summer but you keep putting it off till tomorrow... and suddenly tomorrow is cold grey and not nice at all!

  I don't have much in the way of larder storage but I really aught to stock up and as we only have electric perhaps I aught to get some gas canisters for the camping gas stove we have....

Should we be preparing for what might be a real corker of a winter after all it couldn't hurt... 

and what about our neighbours... we should be checking on them and making sure they are all okay... shouldn't we? or is that being pushy and nosey...?

I'm glad my youngest brother still lives at home... at least I know that there is someone there to make sure they are warm and the path is safe and that they have food in the house...

Do you know your neighbours? do you talk to them make conversation with them or is it a quick dash to the car and off to where ever your life takes you?

I know my neighbours 2 doors either side of me... I know others by sight in the village but I would have no clue if they have family or assistance or someone to call... at what point can you say... "they are not my responsibility?"

Hypothermia is the biggest killer at this time of the year and you can get too cold and then actually die hours later... once your back in your home... I keep trying to tell Jamie that she has to wear a coat to school and a hat and gloves... but she just gives me that look... she even told me that they are not allowed to wear scarves at school...

Please be careful out there my dear friends

wrap up warm in many layers and slap on your hat and gloves.... make sure your phone is charged and has credit...

I think it will be an interesting winter this year...

take care

Alex

x

Well it arrived....

 and the chickens are not much impressed... 

Well to be honest Daisy the white Sussex was very dismissive of it all and strode through the white stuff like it wasn't even there... the youngster Amber, the beautiful Barnvelder... (front of the bus queue!lol) was not impressed... she flapped and squawked and hopped to her mum over by the hedge... and then not to be out done the scruffy Wyandotte Hettie had to do the same... we were going to call her Rosie but Hettie seems to fit her nicely... she seems to be always het up about something... we have only had about 2 and a half inches of snow but its enough to make everything look seasonal...

Amber is beautiful... and really nosey... 

The Eglu run has been roofed and has a complete side covered in... plus its under the flat roof that the previous owner parked his tractor in... no word of a lie... he collected and restored old fashioned tractors... he had 2 here when I viewed the house...

This is all the lawn and an area of gravel that the girls have to roam around in... they have made no breaks for freedom and hopefully are content with their new area...

I am trying to get some Verm x into them as I have found some big spaghetti like worms in one or two of the droppings in the coop... however whether they drink any water while there's snow to eat I have no clue... I might have to get some of the pellet form instead... and perhaps see if I can find a vet or something to do a dropping analysis...

Due to the snow the buses aren't running.... therefore Jamie can't get to school and Mr P can't get to work... so Daniel has had the day off too and Les has driven the car to work...

Such a hardship having to stay home and play in the snow! lol

Daniels barn is on the drive ready to be gotten rid of... luckily I put the bags of wood that mum got me inside to keep dry ... 

I hope you are all keeping warm and our electric key meter is eating money like its going out of fashion... we put £40 in it last week and we've put another £40 in today... I think its going to be a long expensive winter if the temperatures don't pick up a little... 

Well I suppose I had better get some lunch... 

and work out what we're having for tea...