Photo 365 - 6

Well things should have been getting back to normal today as Simon is back to school and Christmas and New Year are behind us.  However the children do not return to school until tomorrow so today I had my 2 best girlies.

As you can see some drawing was in order for part of the time.  They did "thank yous" so we got through  a fair number of envelopes!  They are such good girlies.

Tomorrow I really will be back to normal.   A post Christmas MEGA tidy and clean up is the order of the day!

Photo 365 - 5

Not the best day today.  We spent a few hours at the doggie rescue kennels this morning and made the discovery that quite a lot of the dogs had wet bedding.   Everyone was incredibly upset.  Three Counties do not own the kennels.  It is a private boarding kennel. This should have been noticed. Three Counties do supply the bedding for them to use for the rescue dogs.  We are incredibly short of bedding right now so I have spent most of this afternoon appealing to anybody I possibly can for quilts and blankets.

It was even more upsetting coming home to Loulou who has a warm house and clean dry bedding. So wish that we could do more. Today's photo (which was taken today despite it appearing to be a Christmas shot!) is of Loulou opening the last one of  her Christmas presents.

Someone asked the other day about the tumour on her ear.  It has been this size for over a year.  It is not operable at her age.  It is not growing and it does not bother her in anyway.

Photo 365 - 4

Saturday.......means it's kennel day. For over 18 months now we have spent every Saturday helping at the Three Counties Dog Rescue.  Even when the weather is foul which it certainly was today.

This is Tess she is one of Simon's favourites.  I admit to a soft spot for her too.  She is a Rottweiler.  She is around 4 and has been at the rescue for most of her life.  She is very loving and adores Simon.   You can check out Tess and her friends here.

Photo 365 - 3

We have had a fairly lazy day at home today.  We did go out this afternoon as we had to go and collect Alfie's ashes. Not something we were looking forward to although I am pleased to have him back.  We are both incredibly sad and upset all over again.

This evening has been equally lazy.  Simon has been catching up on school work ready for the new term next week and I had a good old chinwag with my cousin Wendy.  We are now relaxing with Loulou.  I can't get used to the idea of it being just the three of us now.

Please note that Simon is in his tatty garage clothes!

Photo 365 - 2.

Day 2.  We spent time at the Three Counties Dog Rescue this morning. It was very muddy and the first dog we had out jumped all over me with excitement.

It was jolly cold too.  But at at least it didn't rain.  I obviously didn't take this photo but it was my camera and I did take lots of other shots.  Just wanted to show you this one and I think it counts.

365 Days of Photos.

As I mentioned in my earlier post today, I am intending to try and complete 365 days of photos. That is a photo a day for a year. This is not like my daily photo theme that I used to do. There will be no theme and no rules. This will just be a simple photo taken sometime during my day. On some days if I am busy it may just be a photo, no words.

So here we go.  Number 1.

Clearly this was not taken with my new camera!  It was taken with my phone. I wanted to show you my lovely Christmas present from Simon.  It is a Nikon P520 bridge camera.  It has 42X optical zoom!  It's a gorgeous shiny red!!!  I am in love.

January 1st 2014

Out with the old and in with the new.  Happy New Year to you all.  I hope 2014 treats us all well.

I always feel a great deal of excitement on the first day of the New Year.  It’s the idea of a blank canvas just waiting to be written. It’s similar to the feeling that I get from a brand new book.  Every page is a discovery and adventure.   I wonder why we only tend to get this feeling on New Year’s Day, after all every day is a new canvas.  There really is nothing special about the 1^st of January. It is just a day like any other. 

Nevertheless, I do welcome another year. I like to look back over the year just gone and to reflect on the good memories made. I try to be thankful for all those good things in my life.  I don’t make resolutions but I do like to look ahead and set some goals.

So I am sitting here thinking and now I am going to share a few with you all………………….

Lose some weight, increase fitness level and health.  This is not a resolution but an on-going promise to myself.  As an added incentive I and another volunteer at the Three Counties Dog Rescue are going to do a sponsored slim to raise funds for the doggies.

That brings me to another goal.  To try and come up with new ways of fund raising. The dog rescue is absolutely desperate for money.  It costs around £15,000 a month which is a lot of money.

That takes me on to my sewing.  I haven’t made much from it so far. I need to concentrate on the items that do sell. I want to double the sales that I made in my first year.

Other goals are to do with learning.  I had a lovely new bridge camera for Christmas.  A Nikon P520. It has all the manual controls that you would find in a full DSLR.  I think it may even do the washing up! I want to learn how to use all those functions properly.  It is my intention to try to do a photo a day.  A 365 Photo diary.  We’ll see.   It may just help me get the blogging habit back.

Lastly, I intend to try out a new craft each month.  That seems to be a decent amount of time to try something out and get a feel for it.  If I take to something and enjoy it then I can take it on.  I am going to begin with knitting. I will keep you posted on progress.

So 2014 is set to be a good year for us.   A challenging year quite possibly and a year of change if Simon decides to cut his working hours further.  I’m up for it though, so bring it on, I can’t wait to get started.

I’m sure you have all been setting your own goals today and whatever they may be I wish you luck with them.  I wish you love health and happiness and as always I wish you ENOUGH.

BYE BYE 2013

WELCOME 2014

When is a resolution not a resolution?  When it’s a goal!

A time for reflection.

Tuesday 31^st December 2013.  New Year’s Eve or Old Year’s Night.  A time for reflection.  As always we had our ups and our downs. 

Our highlight of course was the birth of little Jackson.  It was a scary time when he came into the world at just 29 weeks.  Verity and Steve had to be so brave. We all did.  He is nearly a year old now and doing really well.

The worst event of 2013 has only recently happened. The loss of our Alfie, who crossed the rainbow bridge on the 19^th of December.  We will love and miss him always.

Looking back it is the ups that I want to remember tonight and for which I am grateful for.

I am blessed to have made it through another year pretty much unscathed.  I have my health, my family and my home.  I have many friends.  I have the luxury of being a home maker and have time to do my own thing as well as time to work with the doggies. I have so much to be grateful for.

I hope as we pass the midnight hour and enter the New Year that 2014 will be a good year.   I hope that it will bring each and every one of us ………. Enough.

Happy New Year.

Our Christmas

So did you all have a great Christmas?  Ours was lovely.  We spread it out over 3 days to ensure that we saw everyone.  We collected Saskia from the station on Christmas Eve and went over to Coralie's as we were not going to be seeing them on the big day.

Christmas day was lovely as it was just the 3 of us to start out,  Saskia was up first to make the coffee and then she had a stocking of presents in our bedroom.  She had gifts for us too.  We were doing a secret Santa thingumy this year so she wasn't supposed to have anything for us.

We went to Sam and Lisa's house for dinner.  It was the very first time in the whole of our married life that we have not cooked Christmas dinner!  It was lovely!  Everyone then went to Coralie's but we went home to be with Loulou.  It was quite hard not having Alfie with us. We miss him so much. It was nice to have the evening just the 2 of us.

Boxing day was a lovely slow start again with just the 2 of us.  Verity and Steve arrived with Jackson just after lunch and everyone else came shortly after.  We had more presents and a great time, finishing up with a buffet.

The following day we hit Kiddicare for pram shopping.  It took some time time to find the right one and we actually ended up buying a Mothercare one. Saskia is thrilled with it which is the main thing.

I thought you might like to see some photos.

 

   

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 So that was our Christmas in a brief nut shell.  Saskia went home on Saturday and we are now alone again.  Only 360 days until we do it all again!!

Happy Birthday Saskia

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Saskia

Happy Birthday to you.

My baby is 28 today!!

My baby is expecting her very own baby!!

Hope you had a great day, 

love from Mum and Dad 

xxxxx

Christmas Eve 2013

Not sure how it is already Christmas Eve.  The year flies by so fast.  We are doing OK.  Still incredibly sad over Alfie.  Loulou is at a loss.  She doesn't know what to do and keeps crying. I don't know how to help her.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop by to wish you all a very Happy |Christmas and enough Blessings for the coming year.

I Wish You Enough

I wish you enough love in your heart, and enough communion with your soul.

I wish you enough light to illuminate your lessons, and enough dark to integrate your wisdom.

I wish you enough giving to open your heart, and enough receiving to bring you home.

I wish you enough activity to sharpen your mind and strengthen your body, and enough rest to bring you peace.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright, no matter how grey the day.

I wish you enough rain to nourish your garden and to  appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough gentle wind to lift your hair and your dreams

I wish you enough storms to clear away the old and make room for the new.

I wish you enough dirt to grow your herbs and flowers and to keep your feet firmly on the ground.

I wish you enough clouds in the sky to inspire you to reach beyond them.

I wish you enough birds in flight to delight your eyes and enough birdsong to serenade your ears.

I wish you enough kisses and cuddles with children and animals to bring you simple joy.

I wish you enough friendship to remind you that you are not alone.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and ever lasting.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough starlight to inspire your imagination and enough moonlight to stir your soul.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

Alfie

I know that I have been missing here for absolutely ages. Life has just been happening around me. However I just wanted to do a quick blog today as lots of my friends here knew that our Alfie hasn't been doing too well.

It is with much sadness that I have to tell you that we lost our beloved Alfie on Thursday the 19th of December. It was very peaceful and he died at home in our arms in his favourite place on the sofa in the living room.  We are beyond distraught and will miss him always. He is with his Mummy Rosie and also Buick and Sandy.

Little Evan told Coralie that he knows Alfie will be OK because he is with Rosie and she will show him around and tell him where everything is. Children see things in such a lovely way.

Run free my baby.  We will love you always.

I have missed my blog and all my friends here. I know that I have said it several times over the last year but I really do intend to try and get back into a regular blogging habit.  We shall see what 2014 brings.

In the mean time, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and blessings for 2014.