Photo 365 - 20

The other day when I posted a photo of Simon cooking some of my old friends commented that they have never seen my kitchen since we moved to this house 2 years ago.   Yes, the 2 year anniversary  was on the 15th of December.  Time flies.  Still love this house.

So I took a whole bunch of photos today which I will post later but here is one to be going on with.

It shows most of the kitchen.  Oh and by the way, for those of you that commented about Simon cooking, he is a very good cook as am I!  I do all the cooking during the week and dinner is served as he walks through the door at 6pm.  He will often cook at weekends and holiday times. Just thought I would mention that as some of you seem to have this idea that I never cook!

Wednesday 26th February.

Goodness me it is mid week already. Nearly the end of the month too.  Hopefully that means that spring is just around the corner.  Oh, just seen the date; 26th of February.  I used to do a "My Day"  blog on the 26th of each month.  Do you remember that?  My aim was to document my days activities in photos and to do it every month for a year so I could look back and see how each day differed.  I never managed it for a year!  I think I did about 6 or 7.

Let's give it another go. It is Wednesday 26th Of February. It is currently just gone 7.30am.  Simon has gone to school. As normal he fetched me coffee when he came up to say goodbye.  I am still in bed drinking it. I love this mug with the doggies.

I have lots to do today.  Normal chores, plus painting.  Hopefully some sewing too.  I didn't get around to any painting yesterday.  I did get the old curtains down and removed the tape and linings on one set which I washed.  I also removed the green border from the walls and then I ran out of time as I wanted to sew.  Today I really have to get on with it as Simon made a start on the ceiling last night, so I must show willing.

Let's do a bit of social networking while I drink my coffee. Let's Tweet.

OK time to get moving.

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It is now midday.

I got up, had my shower and had my normal breakfast of one slice of toast with scrambled egg.  Next job was to clean the kitchen including the floor. I figured out why I hate dirty floors...... I am always bare foot.  This is the best mop and bucket ever, makes the job easy.

Then it was time to get the bread maker on as we are nearly out of bread.

Next job was to chop the linings out of the second set of old curtains so I could wash them.  I did it with my kitchen scissors as I was too lazy to go upstairs and fetch my sewing scissors.  It was hard going and I didn't realise until it was too late that I have made a nasty boo boo on my finger. I have totally rubbed off the skin and now it keeps weeping.  yuk.

Next job was painting.  I really needed the ladder but Simon has put it in the rafters of the garage and I can't reach it.  Hence I have been using a stool which is a nightmare as it hurts my knee each time I get up and down.   So far I have done the 2 side walls with the windows in. They have had one coat.  I haven't touched the back wall as I can't move the book case.  I am so cross with myself as Simon was going to move it last night and I said not to worry as I could do it myself!  Hadn't realised how heavy it is!!

I have just had lunch which was a cup of coffee and a milky way. Whilst drinking my coffee I have  just made a little brooch.

Time to get going again.  I want to get a second coat on the walls that I have done so far.  Then I have my online banking to do.  I need to think about what to cook for dinner too.  Will think about that while I am painting.

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3pm.

OK, so the 2 end walls have both had 2 coats.  The Oyster coloured paint is looking like white to me.  Not the same white as the ceiling though!  Hope that isn't going to be a problem.  Don't want to have to do it all again.  The paint was quite runny so I am covered head to toe.  I always seem to get in a mess when I paint.  Got lots of large drips on the dust sheets too.  I have just been round and cleaned a few splashes off the skirtings.

Have just cleaned the brushes and am having  a cup of coffee.  Have got 2 Cornish pasties out of the freezer for dinner.  Need something quick, I think.

I am thinking what else there is to do. Hopefully The paint will be dry tonight and Simon can rehang the curtain poles.  Oh, yeah, must give them a good clean.  Also need to clean the window sills and sand them down ready for a coat of gloss paint.  Need to clean the windows. Pictures can be rehung on those walls once the paint is dry.  Curtain tie back hooks can be screwed back in.

I will get Simon to move the book case tonight and then I just have that tiny bit of wall to do. That will just leave the one wall for the purple colour. Looks like we could be on track to lay the carpet on Saturday.   Hope so.  I hate the chaos of decorating and the way it kind of spreads throughout the house.

Think I shall go and have an hours sewing, take my mind off the mess.

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10.30pm

Well here I am and the day is nearly over.  I had more than an hour sewing!  I made another brooch and a wall hanging which still needs it's back.  Will show you them in tomorrows post.  Didn't get time to do my banking. 

Simon was in at 6pm as normal and we had dinner, Cornish pasties, mash and veggies. It was quite nice.  That was followed by a cup of coffee for me and a cup of tea for Simon.  I then spent some more time working on my wall hanging while Simon finished painting the bedroom ceiling.  He has moved the book case for me so I will be able to finish that painting tomorrow.  The room is in absolute disarray and the book shelves are planted right in the middle. 

Hate it when it is so messy but it will all be done  by the end of the weekend........hopefully!

Simon is now downstairs doing school work and I am about to have a bath to scrub off the paint!  After that I shall relax in bed and catch up on a bit more of the networking lark for my Fabrilushus shop. 

So there you go, that was my 26th day of the month.

Wednesday 26th February 2013.

Good news and other stuff

First the good news.  Little Jackson is home with his Mummy and Daddy.  Yep, he really is.  I have seen it with my own eyes as we visited them yesterday. Already 6 weeks old but still not due to be here for another 4 weeks yet.  He is a little miracle.  He has done so well.  He still has his feeding tube in place and that will probably be there for a few more weeks.  He is having around half his feeds from his Mummy but they have to take it slow as it uses up lots of his energy to feed and breath at the same time. He was weighed yesterday and is an incredible 4lbs 12oz!  Mummy's milk is good stuff!

Here are a couple of the latest photos.

Now, to the other stuff.

Why is it that I can quite happily ignore dust for weeks on end (months actually) and yet I cannot abide dirty floors?  Wretched housework takes up so much time.

Why are there only 24 hours in a day?  Who decided that?  It is no where near enough for all that I have to do.

Just recently, I seem to be busier and busier.  Today so far, I have done the kitchen, top to bottom, including cleaning out the fridge and the oven. Haven't yet done the floor.  I have done 2 lots of washing, which will generate a ton of ironing in a while.  I have had a a general tidy of other areas.  I have made 3 more of the paper "logs", that eats up time.  Oh and I have also made a felt brooch and cut 3 more.

I need to get on with some sewing this afternoon as I have a couple of orders.  Yep, actual bona fide orders!  A bag and some burp cloths.  My little shop is beginning to get noticed and to get a few sales. Stuff is also still selling on EBay.   One of the things that has been quite a big learning curve for me is the importance of social net working via sites like Facebook and Twitter.  There are others too.  It seems that if you want to sell online then you need to be networking all over the place.  Seems to be true as it has got some sales for me.  Plus all the success stories that I read have big followings on lots of different sites.  It pays off,  BUT, it takes up lots of time.  People contact you and you need to reply. Time, time, time, not enough time.

As an added time eater this week I also need to get our bedroom painted.  We went to the auction on Saturday, well Simon did, I went to the dog kennels.  Let me start from the beginning; the local auction had a big sale of carpets from a bankrupt company.  We went and looked Friday evening and chose several that would be suitable for our bedroom.  It is time to finally finish that room as we have done no more since Simon finished building the wardrobes.

Simon went on Saturday and bid on a nice neutral coloured one which he won for £70.  Brilliant bargain as the price label states £365.   He went and fetched it home yesterday and it is currently residing in the downstairs hall and half in the bathroom!  The dogs have to hop over it each time they go in and out of the kitchen.  It probably isn't helping Alfie's legs.

Anyway, having got the carpet we realised that the sensible thing to do would be to paint before we lay it.  As we want to get it laid this coming weekend the painting is kind of urgent.  Simon will do the ceiling one evening as I can't do ceilings.  I have the walls to paint and the woodwork. The woodwork will be a doddle as there are just 2 windowsills and a door all the rest is stained and is fine.  Even the walls are not a major job as most of the back wall is covered by the built in wardrobes, the side walls are small and have windows in so the main wall is the one with the door.

After some consideration between green and purple we have gone with purple.  Cadburys purple!  Only on one wall though!  The rest will be in a very pale oyster colour.  We purchased some new purple silk curtains on Saturday and they should look nice against the oyster.   Our new cuddle chair is a kind of pale oyster, beige kind of colour, so very neutral.  Oh, forgot to show you that.  It was delivered last week and we are very pleased with it. Also finally got a set of shelves last week for my teddies.  Got a bit upset arranging the teddies as a lot of them were my Mum's. I have yet to work out what to put on the bottom shelves but it doesn't much matter now as it will all have to be moved out to lay the carpet.

You can see the horrid existing curtains here. The carpet isn't too bad but it was just here when we got the house.  It will be nice to have new.

So, once I have finished my coffee, I need to get down the old curtains.  I shall wash them and then take off the header tape and cut out the linings as they will be useful.  The curtain fabric is gross so I shall throw it out.  They are the curtains that were here when we moved in.   Then I need to strip off the green border.  hopefully it will come away easily, don't want to damage the paper behind it. Actually it probably doesn't matter too much as we are going to put another border over it anyway. Then I guess I can start slapping paint around.

These are the paint colours.  We are going with the one on the right.  That is the border you see there too.  haven't tried out the oyster.  It had better be the right shade as we have a big can of it.  I'll let you see the end result in a week or so when it should be totally finished.

OK, best shift myself now and get on with some more jobs. It is already midday and time is rapidly disappearing again.

Log maker

My Dad has got us a new toy.  He saw it advertised in his newspaper and as it wasn't very expensive he thought it would be worth giving it a go.  According to the hype the "logs" burn for up to 2 hours which would be fantastic if they do as real logs are expensive, as is coal.

It is a simple idea.  You shred up your waste paper and cardboard, soak it in water for a few hours, pack it down inside the brick mould which is in the press, apply a plate thingy to the top, put one handle through the other and press down to squeeze out the excess water and compact it.  Then you lift it all out and turn out your brick shaped "log".  Of course they then have to dry out thoroughly before they can be used.

Ideally it would be best to make them through the summer when they can dry outside in the sun.  Mind you, if our last few summers are anything to go by that will not be an option and leaving them outside will result in a soggy mess.

So, I have given it a test run this morning. I was initially tearing the paper up.  Then I hit on the idea of running it through the shredder.  Only problem there is that I gradually feed through more and more and then the stupid thing jams up.  Not really sure that it likes newspaper either as it seems to be clogging the bit in the middle which tells it to run and so it keeps running even when I am not feeding it.

Once the paper is shredded it goes into a bucket of water to soak for a few hours.  That is the easy bit!

Then comes the mucky bit, getting out handfuls of the stuff and squeezing out as much water as possible before packing into the mould.

OJ, apply plate, cross the handles and PRESSSSSSSSSSS .................  It is flipping hard work!  I don't actually think that I have enough strength in my wrists to do this stage justice.  I think it will have to be Simon's job.

Once that is done it is a simple job to lift out the mould and turn them out.

They are very wet so are going to take forever to dry. Here are two that I made this morning

And here is one that I made earlier, all nice and dry and ready to go.  Well to be fair, my Dad actually made it earlier!  He didn't fill the mould so this is a thinner log than mine.

I hope they do work.  It would help save some money if they do. We need to try out a few once they are dry to see how long they last.  Obviously if they burn up in minutes then it is a total waste of time.  However if they really do burn for a few hours then I can see "log" making being a big part of my future this coming summer.  As they are brick shaped they will be easy to store.

Now the burning question  (pun intended!) .......  has anyone tried one of these themselves or know any one that has?  Do they work or are they a useless waste of time?  Let me know before I waste too much of my time.  

OK, it must be coffee time after all that hard work!

10th January

A third of the month gone already, just in case you hadn't realised!  It's been a funny kind of a day.  A lethargic day.  I haven't felt the best but then on the other hand I felt better than I did yesterday.  I'm not ill.  Both ears are hurting and sort of itching.  I can hear fine. I am treating them with lavender oil. My left knee is playing up too.  It is a different kind of playing up to what I have had before,  It is like a deep ache more than a pain.  Feels a bit as if there is a massive bruise but there isn't.  It is slightly swollen, sort of above and to the side of the knee cap and it is quite warm to the touch.  Strangely my skin also has a mottled look down my leg.  No doubt one of you Doctors out there will advise me.  Of course I shan't be going to the doctor because I don't like them and anyway I'm not ill, so there.

Now where was I?  Oh yes, a funny day.  A cold day too.  Freezing and horrid fog that didn't really clear the whole day. I hate winter.  Heard on the TV that they are saying that snow will be covering most of the country by the weekend and it will last 3 weeks.  Great, I hope they are wrong.

It's been cold in the house today too.  I realised about 10.30 this morning that the heating didn't seem to be working.  I was cold.  I checked and it was on but all the radiators were stone cold.  It has been like that all day.  At 7pm this evening the boiler made some noises and we thought it was coming back on.  The upstairs bathroom radiator is boiling.  All the other radiators upstairs are luke warm.  All the radiators downstairs are cold.  What the heck is going on now?  We just had the new pump last week. We are wondering if there could be a problem with the programmer thingy as it happened before.  We are going to see if it comes back on tomorrow.  It had better or I shall be moving out. I don't do cold.  We have lit the fire tonight in the living room.

I had a knock at the door this morning while I was having my breakfast.  It was a lady wanting to know if I had lost a Husky.  She had found one wandering along towards the main road that goes through the village.  She had managed to get it back to her house and as it had no collar or identification on it she was trying to find where it lived.  So I put on my coat and ventured out into the cold and fog to help her.

We discovered that it lives in the very end house of my road.  Strange I haven't see it before.  Later the lady who found it told me that when she took it back there was no one home but the next door neighbour came out and said that she would take it and put it back in the garden. She said they leave it in the garden.  Poor thing, I know he is a Husky and has a fur coat but it is still very cold.  Not to mention if he has escaped from the garden once he can do it again.  I phoned up and told Gyll and she said she would call round this afternoon to check on it.

After that I did a bit of housework as usual and then some sewing.  I have made 2 padded cases today both of which turned out too small!  The first was a phone case and I measured my phone very carefully.  The second was for an iPad and yes I measured my iPad very carefully.  Before you ask I did add on for the seam allowance.  I was right cheesed off.

I spent the  afternoon going through the folder for the dog sponsorship scheme.  Remember that I have now got responsibility for this. It seems that it is nearly a year since anyone was sent a newsletter and they are supposed to get 3 a year!  So first job is to write to everyone and apologise and explain.  I composed a letter and I have sent it to all those that I have email addresses for.  Tomorrow I will print out hard copies for sending via snail mail to the rest. Now I need to contact those whose sponsor dog has been re-homed and get them to choose another.  It all took quite a while.

Dinner was a bit odd too.  I am still waiting for the glass to arrive for my oven door so it is still out of action. Not thinking this morning I had got some chicken breasts out of the freezer to do country chicken!  I ended it up frying them and serving them with mash and veggies.  It was quite nice but I don't generally fry.

After dinner I spent an hour in my sewing room and I have started on a wall hanging the same as the one I made for Kathy.  You know the one, depicting English spring time.  Several people have said how much they like that so I am going to put one in my Fabrilushus shop.  Thank you all for checking it out and for your kind comments and suggestions.  I'm not really a business woman though Pammy!  I like making stuff and if I can sell it for enough to buy more fabric so I can keep making stuff then I will be happy.  Hopefully I can make a little bit for the doggies too as I am donating 10% of each sale.    It's worth a try and if it doesn't take off  well I'll just put bits on eBay.  I also want to have plenty of stuff to sell at the dog show in the summer.  All proceeds from that will be for them.  I don't think I am going to be making my first million any time soon!  Still it keeps me out of mischief!

OK, time to go to bed with a hot water bottle, some cocoa and a book.   Night, night.
  

A pants day

Yep, today has been pretty pants.  I woke up with a headache and had to take tablets.  I didn't get out of bed until 2pm.  I even slept for a while.  It lingered for most of the afternoon.

We popped down to Tesco mid afternoon as we had run out of tea bags of all things.  I don't drink tea so I didn't much care but Simon was beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms.

As we were out we called into a builders merchant and managed to get a new shower head which was good and I also persuaded Simon to stop so that I could go in the Crafty Patch shop and see if they had the 3 ply wool that I need for Verity's baby shawl.  Good news was they did have it.  Bad news was it cost me £30!  She had better use this shawl until the child is at least 10.  By the way I am not making it, Denise is making it for me.

Once home I gave the new shower head a test run before my bath and am pleased to say that it has made a big difference and we now have a half decent flow.  Might buy another one and see if that improves the upstairs shower.  Guess some of you might be thinking that it is odd to have a shower before my bath but I hate washing my hair in the bath hence the shower but I still wanted to have a bath as I love a good wallow in the bath. I was still feeling a bit grotty and a bath is relaxing.

Simon offered to cook dinner, grilled bacon chops and cauliflower cheese.  I was on the phone to my Dad when there was an almighty crash.  He has broken the inner glass door of my oven.  I had taken it out yesterday to clean as something had got splashed on the inner side.  It took ages to clean as I soaked it in washing soda.  I was very careful with it and had left it on the drainer in the utility room to dry.  It didn't get put back in the oven.

Simon realised that it was missing when he went to put in the cauliflower cheese.  He had the oven pre heating for 10 minutes.  He went to put the glass in, apparently being very careful and then his fingers touched the glass of the outer door which was very hot........you can guess the rest.  So first job tomorrow is to find out where I can get a new glass door. Bet it will probably cost a fortune.   I can't use the oven without it which will be a pain as I use my oven pretty much every day.

We finally had dinner after clearing up all the glass which had gone everywhere and I have a feeling there could still be bits we missed and I walk around bare foot all the time..............

This evening we were out at Gyll and Max's house.  They are the owners of the dog rescue.  They were having a little get together at their house  to sort a few things out.  I am going to take over doing the newsletter that goes out to people who sponsor a dog.   It was a pleasant evening with a few glasses of the red stuff.  

It is now 11.30pm and my head is niggling a bit.  Guess the red wine may not have been such a great idea.  I think it is time to head to bed now. I have a couple of magazines to read.  One of them is my Popular patchwork one and I really enjoy that.  Think I shall go and make some hot chocolate.

3rd January 2013

Well yesterday didn't pan out the way I had planned.  Instead of just pottering around at home we ended up going to Peterborough. I decided that as it is 4 months since one of the towel rails fell off the wall in the bathroom it was about time that we got another one.  You may recall that Simon was going to mend it but.... well I have heard that one before!

So off we went to B&Q.  Now I thought this was going to be simple.  Straight in, grab a towel rail, pay and out.  No such luck.  There were loads to choose from.  In fact I never really would have thought that there would be so many.  After all a towel rail is a towel rail isn't it?

Let me tell you that it would seem that it isn't.  They come in different sizes and shapes!  It was actually really frustrating and irritating.  I just wanted a basic towel rail the same as the one that was apparently not repairable.  They didn't have one like that.  The ones that seemed best were too long.  Simon suggested a round one, you know a towel ring.  Well we have one of those by the sink and they take hand towels.  I needed this one to be a rail as it is for bath towels.  We have another rail in there which is large but this rail is the one by the shower cubicle...............Oh my god, I can't believe I am writing about towel rails!  Long story short, we ended up with a small rail so I have to fold the towel in 3.  I'll live with it.

Oh, forgot to say that as it had a different fixing to the old one it meant that new holes would need to be drilled which meant purchasing a drill bit for tiles and glass!  How can men turn something so simple into needing to buy some new tool?

Anyway, as we were in Peterborough we decided to look in a few furniture stores for a chair for our bedroom.  We have been meaning to get one since we moved in.  We went to Furniture Village fist but didn't see anything there so headed to DFS where we were given coffee and biscuits on a tray!  I had a coffee in the first place too but had to get it myself from the machine.  It was free though. I wonder when they started giving out free coffee? Maybe they should do that in the supermarket.

Another long story short before I go into a long waffle......... we have purchased a swivel, cuddle chair in cream.  It is this one below but as I said in cream.  It will be delivered in 4 weeks time.

So that was yesterday.  Today has been a bit rubbish as regards to getting things done. We had a plumber here at 9am to do the pump on the heating.  I can't remember if I said that just before Christmas the heating all packed up for a day?  We were freezing.  Oddly the next day it started working again but we had a plumber out to check and when he looked at the pump it had obviously been leaking long before we moved here. It was encrusted with a thick layer of lime deposit and what almost looked like crystals! So, a new pump was needed.  It is done now and we are £350 poorer.  Hopefully though it will be quiet .  The old pump was so noisy that we would turn the heating off at night!  When my Dad slept in the room where the boiler is he nearly woke us in the middle of the night as he was so worried about the noise!

That took up all morning and was quite stressful as the dogs do not like having someone in the house so get over excited and I had to keep taking them outside to the garden when the plumber needed to go in the utility room.  Also the front door was open so we had to keep the dogs secure.  It was bloody cold with that door open.  Simon sat at the kitchen table doing school work.

Not long after the plumber departed Coralie turned up with the boys which was nice.  She stayed a few hours and we had a nice catch up chat. Simon went with Sam to collect some large metal cabinets from the barn and got back just after Coralie left.  He had the girlies with him so I got to see all 4 grandchildren this afternoon.   By the time they went it was dinner time and since then I have been vegging in front of the TV.

Not sure what we might be doing tomorrow. The plumber looked at one of our showers which doesn't have a very good flow and advised that it needs a new showerr head so maybe we will go and get that. We shall see.

Thursday 20th December

OK so I have been bad at blogging again but you know it is nearly Christmas and I have been busy.  This is just a quick catch up on a few things.

Firstly my Alfie.  He is doing OK. We have had one week on the prescription diet and so far so good. He seems to like it and he isn't missing out on treats as I give him a few morsels of the food when he would normally have a treat.   He is managing to "wee" a bit better.  It is sort of spurts rather than drips.  So far we have not had any more trouble with leakage so I am only mopping the floor once a day. We have lots of waterproof bedding thingies now but so far they have not been needed.  Simon will collect more food, antibiotics and pain killers from the vet tomorrow to see us over Christmas.  I spoke to the vet today and she is pleased with progress so far and will see him after Christmas.

I am sitting typing this with half an eye on the news. They are predicting more rain and floods across the country.  It is appalling. It has rained here very heavily all day.  The garage is partially flooded again. It is coming in from the back corner and we think it is because the guttering which drains into a water butt simply cannot cope.  Thank goodness our house is safe.  It must be truly awful to have your house flood.

It has been another busy week here.  I have been sewing some last minute bits and pieces for Christmas.  I am really pleased that I have made about 95% of  our gifts this year.

On Tuesday Simon and I went to Stamford, a town about 15 miles away.  He was collecting some wood from a wood yard. We had a quick whizz around the shops there and I got lots of little bits and pieces for a stocking for Saskia.  We gave up doing the Christmas stockings a few years back but as Saskia will actually be here and waking up in our house on Christmas morning I thought it would be nice.  We won't tell her, we will just hang it on her door when she goes to bed so that she can find it in the morning.  We shall tell her that it is her job to get up and bring us coffee and biscuits in bed and then she can open it in our room just like they all used to when they were little. I miss those days.  I have made her a little stocking from Christmas fabric.

When we got home on Tuesday it was to a freezing cold house.  The heating was not on.  Simon checked the pilot light which was fine.  We both had a fiddle around with the timer and the thermostat....nothing.  It was freezing and I do not do cold. Simon phoned a plumber who came out on Wednesday and said we need a new pump.  Strangely, overnight on Tuesday the heating restarted but the plumber said it can do that.  It has been OK since but did go off for a while this morning.  I hope it doesn't give up all together as he can't do the work until the 8th of January.

Yesterday I  did a bit of the Christmas food shopping.  I went to Tesco in Bourne on the 4.50pm bus and Simon picked me up on his way home.  It meant that I didn't leave Alfie for too long.  It wasn't a bad idea but it was very cold waiting for the bus and I also got soaking wet as of course it was  raining.  I still have more to do which I will probably do either tomorrow afternoon once Simon gets home or possibly on Sunday.  Simon will be home early tomorrow as it is the last day of term and they finish an hour or so earlier than normal.

On Saturday I shall  be helping at the dog rescue kennels as normal. Simon is collecting Saskia from Stamford station at lunch time and they will come to pick me up and drop of her cat at the same time. She couldn't find anywhere in Leicester to take her cat so it is going in the cattery here.   Saturday afternoon we have all 4 grandchildren coming to make paper chains which should be fun.  Not sure yet what is happening on Sunday or Christmas eve.

Oh, just remembered something, I keep meaning to tell you all that Coralie raised £327 for the Three Counties dog rescue with her sponsored ride.  Here she is after it was over with her friend Les who also did the . Thanks to everyone who kindly sponsored her.  The doggies will be very grateful.

OK, I'm out of here now. Time to make some hot chocolate and snuggle in bed. I have some magazines waiting to be read.

One year on.

Fifteenth of December was the first anniversary of us being here in this new house. It is so strange; in some ways it seems to have flown by and it is hard to believe that a whole year has gone. At the same time it feels as if we have been here forever.  Just one year ago we were still in our old house in the city.  One year ago we were so stressed out not knowing if we were coming or going.

What I can tell you is that we are so happy that we were able to move.  We loved our old house and it served us well for 25 years. It was a large, family home and we had happy times there with our 5 children.  My memory is full of those good times and I will always be grateful that we had that home.  That said I have not once been back and I have no desire to do so. Home is here now and I love it.

Village life is different.  You know your neighbours here and they know your every move! I knew my immediate neighbours in the old house but hardly ever saw them.  It is quiet here.  I LOVE that.  We have to plan more here as I can't just walk to a supermarket any more.  There is the village post office store which sells essentials but that isn't quite the same thing.   However Julie who owns the post office knows who we are and chats to us and saves our magazines. You don't get that in the big supermarkets.

We have achieved a lot since we moved in. (much is still to be done!)  Do you remember those first photos that I showed you half way through January?  Do you remember we had no internet until half way through January!  We have been looking around us this weekend and patting ourselves on the back for what we have completed so far. Inside, the 2 main things were the living room and our wardrobes.

The living room has undergone a transformation. It was the room in most need.  When we moved in it had blue and white striped wall paper with bright yellow paintwork.  The carpet was a revolting, faded, blue floral affair.  The fireplace had blue tiles and horrid white painted wood.    It was not a good look.  We also had mismatched furniture that we had borrowed whilst we waited for our new suite.  Turned out we had to wait until April.

These photos above taken last Christmas show the awfulness!

Today it is painted in neutrals with a neutral carpet.  The fireplace has been transformed with black granite and  beautiful sweet chestnut wood that Simon spent hours working on.  Even the curtains in there are finally finished!  My blood sweat and tears went in to them.

Another major difference is our own bedroom.  We had no wardrobes when we moved here as our old house had them built in.  Simon did them many years ago.  For months and months all our stuff was on a hanging rail while Simon built us new ones.  From the outside they are simple mirrored sliding doors but the inside is all custom made to suit our needs.  He did a great job.  Technically it isn't quite finished as the part above needs to be painted.

Outside we have changed the look of the front by removing the huge Rosemary bushes that were preventing anyone from getting to the front door.   We have hung many hanging baskets.  We have built a small shed at the end of the back garden for the garden tools and bikes.  Of course we had all the fencing replaced along the right side of the garden after the dog incident!  That involved the removal of all those leylandi trees.  It looks very different.  Then there is the garage extension!  That huge thing ceratinly makes that side of the garden look different! It is finished now.  Well mostly!  He still has to insulate the roof.  He is currently moving stuff over from the barn that he rents.  Think he is hoping to get it all moved during the school Christmas holidays.

I mentioned earlier that there is much still to do. The priorities for 2013 are mainly the garden outside and painting the kitchen and redecorating our bedroom inside.  The garden needs a lot of work.  We didn't grow any vegetables this year.  First priority is to get the end of the garden fenced off so that the dogs will not be able to get into  the veggie growing part.  Once we have it fenced then we need to get the ground cleared  and rotavated in preparation.   I also want to prioritise getting that area down the side of the house paved.  It is currently gravel.  It is the area that I referred to as Simon's building yard when he was doing the garage.

Right now of course nothing much is being done as Christmas is just over a week away. I don't feel organised or ready for it.  Last year we managed to move in, unpack  and get ready for Christmas in just 9 days when the family arrived so I guess I can do it this year.   It is a quieter one this year.  There will be ourselves and Saskia and Verity and Steve for dinner.  I expect Coralie may come by in the late afternoon but not for long as she is doing the night shift.  Wonder how many Christmas babies she will get?  Josh is having dinner with Sam so I expect we will go down to see them for a few hours.

On boxing day the whole family is going to Verity and Steve's house........ except us.  We have been told by the vet not to leave Alfie for any longer than 2 hours.  Verity and Steve live in Cambridge so it will take us that long to get there!  For the first time ever it will be just me and Simon and the dogs for boxing day.  I'm sure we will find some way to amuse ourselves!