Mutterings of a Mad Woman

2010-11-02T20:39:00.002Z

Rhian's new blog!

Rhian has decided that she would really like to become a photographer. In order to showcase her work she has set herself up with a blog - pop on over to www.rhian.me to take a look! (you can click through to her flickr account from any picture to see more!)

2010-06-27T20:55:00.003+01:00

More Flowers

Last time I posted it was daffodils, spring had sprung.

A couple of weeks ago Kira and I replanted last year's pots with petunias and trailing lobelia. The lobelias are growing nicely, but aren't particuarly flowering yet, but the petunias are fantastic!

Apart from these pots, the whole garden is grass, so they really do add a splash of colour - well, that and the hastily purchased paddling pool!

2010-04-09T20:30:00.005+01:00

Spring is Sprung!

Rhian has been busy taking photographs recently!

Here are the most recent - spring is definitely springing around here, about time too!

2010-03-12T21:18:00.002Z

New Additions to the Family!

I would like you to welcome the new Davis girls! Pip (on top) and BD are Kira and Steve's new pets. They are Bearded Dragons, and are approximately 6 or 7 months old.

I'd never really thought about reptiles as pets before, but we visited some friends who had a beautiful leopard gecko, and Kira was really taken with him, so we investigated what was involved in lizard keeping.

We decided on the Beardies as, unlike Gecko's, they are not nocturnal - so they are actually awake the same time we are! They are happy little characters, really quite entertaining :-)

One of the funniest things is what happens when you turn their lights off at night - it's amazing - you flick the switch and literally 2 minutes later they find their spot, shut their eyes, and don't move until the lights go back on in the morning!

They do grow to be a couple of feet long, so they're in a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft vivarium, which is huge but will last them - these aren't the pets for you if space is short, but at the moment they're situated on Kira's bottom bunk!

The other thing is you can't be squeamish about insects, as they eat live locusts or crickets, which you also have to look after!

But, so far (we've only had them a week), I would recommend them as pets! They're certainly more interesting and quieter overnight than Rhian's gerbils!

Realising what is important

2010-02-17T08:01:00.000Z

Last night the fire alarm sounded in the hotel we are staying in. It was about 11.30 (I later learned) and we were all asleep.

"don't stop to gather any belongings".

I didn't. In my sleep fuddled state the only precious items I left the room with were my children. (and our coats, and 2/3 pairs of shoes!)

We were the first people out.

My Mum came out several minutes later, fully dressed, wearing glasses and putting on her jewellery. It was dark, but i wouldn't be surprised if that was a hint of eye shadow I could see glinting in the moonlight! She expressed surprise that we were already outside, she had stopped off on her way out to knock on our door!

It was, thankfully, a false alarm, and 15 cold and arm aching (remember we didn't have a full complement of shoes!) minutes later we were allowed back in.

I did learn some things from the experience.

1. If you like to sleep without a lot of clothes on, think carefully about what might be to hand in case of an emergency. (luckily last night it was a short jersey dress - the night before it would have just been a jumper!)

2. Maybe think about leaving your handbag somewhere easily grabbable, with useful things like car keys in it!

And The most important thing I learnt last night.....

3. However awful my children have been during the day, when adrenalin kicks in, they were the only thing I wanted to save.

A few days in Plymouth

2010-02-16T20:03:00.000Z

My sister is down in Plymouth for a few months, and we have used half term as a good excuse for a visit! We arrived early afternoon yesterday, and will be heading back tomorrow after breakfast!

Yesterday we just had a walk into town and a quick potter about, then today we have been to the aquarium! Unfortunately Lou wasn't feeling very well, so she retired to her sick bed this afternoon, but the rest if us spent a lovely afternoon with my gorgeous and lovable niece.

This is the fantastic turtle, Snorkel, who was washed up on the Devon coast about 20 years ago. She is virtually blind, suffers with epilepsy and also has balance problems. She bumbles her way about the tank, bouncing off each wall and obstacle as she goes round, but for me she is the absolute star of the aquarium, and I could quite happily sit and watch her gracefully (until she gets to the limits of the tank!) swimming around all day.

And here they are, the three amigos :-)

Afternoon stroll - the Devil's Punch Bowl

2010-02-07T15:59:00.000Z

This afternoon, to stop us going stir crazy and to get us out of the fast becoming a money pit house and plumbing nightmare, we headed over to The Devil's Punchbowl at Hindhead.

We headed off down this magical and innocent looking path, only to find it peter out about half a mile into what looked like dark and damp rain forest! The vegetation was really odd, the place obviously doesn't get a lot of sunlight and there was an awful lot of beautiful feathery moss growing up everything!

There was also an awful lot of bizarre tree formations!

And 2 very peculiar children lol!

We did get a little "misplaced" (I wouldn't admit to being lost - I knew where we were, just not how to get back to the car park without retracing our steps!) but it was a lovely afternoon.

Fantastic Weekend

2010-02-06T20:55:00.000Z

Last weekend we had our annual family "end of January" weekend away. This year we chose Weymouth as our destination, mainly because we thought Lulworth Cove was so lovely last summer I really wanted to go back and walk up the steps and over to Durdle Door.

Once again we were really lucky with the weather, and we all enjoyed the beautiful, if rather muddy, walk.

Saturday afternoon we walked along the beach into Weymouth itself, and Sunday morning we walked to the other end of the beach. We stopped off at our friends new venture on the way home, and I can very highly recommend The Shoe Inn in Plaitford, near Romsey on the A36. I have to say Kevin cooks the best roast potatoes I have ever tasted!

Since we've come home we've had a bit of trouble with our plumbing, and have decided we can't put off replacing the boiler any longer, so it's time to tighten our belts to pay for it!

This is my first "mobile" post from my iPhone, so lets see how it goes! It might result in some more frequent posting!

2010-01-12T21:23:00.003Z

Fun in the Snow!

I'm truly bored of the snow now - it's been hanging around for a week, and the disruption to every-day living and transportation is getting dull! Rhian didn't go back to school until today and is wearing "mufti" all week, and Kira went back yesterday, but isn't starting until 10 every day this week. Sigh. I've got a job to go to! Luckily they are being very flexible and allowing me to flex my hours so facilitate the school run later, but it's a proper pain in the rear, I can tell you!

Anyhoo, before I got bored of it we've had some great fun in it! And it has been incredibly pretty. We've had some amazing icicles hanging off the front of our house - I don't think I've ever seen such icicles in the UK before!

Photos are all on my facebook page, but here's a few of my favourites!

2010-01-01T17:03:00.002Z

Reflecting

So a New Year, indeed a new decade, has begun.

Last night we were reminiscing about where we were 10 years ago, on the Eve of the New Millenium - a massive occasion we an amazing build up. We were at home here with Steve's parents and sister, I was 7 months pregnant with Kira, and it was right up there as one of the most dull New Year's Eves in history!

I then got to thinking about what had happened to us as a family during the "Noughties".

Firstly, and probably the most influential thing to happen in our family ever, Kira Charley Davis entered the world! The whirlwind that is Kira: beautiful, lovable, fiesty, firey, charming, grumpy, soppy, funny - you never quite know what you're going to get, but she's certainly a character that the family would not be without! She's grown up from a huge newborn to a tiny, wheezey baby, through speech therapy to a non-stop chatterbox, and is now a lovely (mostly!) "nearly 10 year old" (as she will oft remind us!) with her own sense of style.

Rhian has grown up from a cute 4 year old to a very beautiful, stylish 14 year old. A constant worrier, with nothing to really worry about, she is now taller than me, and still growing. Something to do with her father's gene's I think!

On the other hand, Steve has shrunk! Height-wise he's still extremely tall (obviously!), but he is otherwise almost unrecognisable from the man he was 10 years ago! Work has been steady, only 2 jobs during the 10 years, and he enjoys work (well, as much as anyone "enjoys" work lol!) and it's a short commute and sensible hours, which is important to him and us all as a family.

I'm still in the same job I was 10 years ago, but the role itself has changed completely. I also enjoy my work, and the hours suit family life very well.

House wise, we're still in the same house, but the extension last year made it more suitable for our needs. The extension was a relatively pain-free, and to be honest we'd wished we'd done it years earlier!

The saddest thing to happen during the decade was my Dad's illness and death, and he is still very much missed by us all.

Our first holiday of the decade was to Lanzarote, then we had 8 years of camping (I was going to say "fabulous camping", but some of it was, but some of it, latterly, just wasn't!), and our last holiday of the decade was to Lanzarote. All of our holidays have been good fun - we've made a point of having at least 2 weeks a year, and most years we've had a week at Whitsun as well as 2 weeks in August.

All in all, apart from a couple of blips, the decade has been very good to the Davis family

So then, looking forward, where will we be in 10 years time? What shall I predict?!

Rhian - will be 24, I'm thinking she'll be 2 or 3 years out of university, and will be maybe an engineer of some variety. She'll be rather tall, and very glamorous!

Kira - she'll be nearly 20, and I think she'll be at university studying IT. I don't think she's going to be any taller than me, or at least not much taller than me (!), but she will also be rather glamorous, and I think she'll definitely have highlighted hair!

Steve will be rapidly approaching 50, and will be counting days the days to retirement! He will still be riding his motorbike, and I think he'll be a uniformed ATC leader (I don't know the technical terms!)

I will be only a tiny bit behind Steve age wise, sadly! To be honest I have no idea what I'll be doing - I'm hoping when the kids need less input I'll think of something new to do!

So just some random thoughts there to share with you - I'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

2009-12-06T21:34:00.002Z

Peas in a Pod?

Some people say my girls look alike, some don't (they maintain they don't, I'm in the "do" camp!)

Today was the annual "putting new school photos in the frame" ceremony, where we lay all the photos out to see how they've grown.

This year we compared them at the same age - very similar around the chin and nose I think, but different around the eyes, and hair, obviously!

What do you think?

2009-10-20T20:12:00.002+01:00

Still Menu Planning

It's been a while since I mentioned cooking on this blog - but I'm still loving it!

This week we've had:

Chilli Pasta Bake
Turkey Wellington
Pot Roast Meatloaf
Chicken Mexicano
and tomorrow we're having Sweet Potato Tagine :-)

The girls are still eating everything - it's amazing!

We had my Mum round for dinner on Sunday, and she was amazed with the Pot Roast Meatloaf, and she took some of the leftover Wellington home as well :-) Unfortunately she also popped into drop something off on Monday night, and caught me serving up the girls dinner of Bernard Matthews Crispy chicken, and I'd left it too late to boil some potatoes, so I found some Aunt Bessies yorkshire puds in the freezer, and served them up with peas and gravy! Oh well, I can't be a masterchef all the time lol!

The only disaster we've had was a Sainsbury's recipe - Beetroot and Bean Pasta. It was just uttlerly tasteless!

Next week's planned menu highlights include:

Creamy Chicken and Cous Cous
Roast Chicken Hot Pot
Chunky Beef and Tomato Casserole
Mushroom Stroganoff
Sausage Bake

I always have a couple of nights a week where I keep it simple as I have to serve meals up twice - so this week Monday will be a pizza and garlic bread night! (Mondays are a nightmare - 3 different meal times! 1 for the girls, and Steve and I eat individually!)

2009-09-15T19:46:00.004+01:00

One Year ago today....

Our building work started!

I was planning on getting some "after" shots to compare to the "before" shots today - but the weather has been so foul this afternoon I've not been able (or inclined!) to!

But I didn't want the anniversary to pass without a mention. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be better, and I can do some proper comparison shots! (as is my current blog habit!)

What else has been happening?

We're all settling into "post holiday" life, but with the excitement of knowing we are booked to go back. There's nothing better than coming home from a holiday, then immediately booking for the following year - I hate having nothing to look forward to! Next year we've even taken the contoversial decision to take the girls out of school for the last 8 days of the summer term - and by doing so have saved so much money on the flights that we can afford to go for 3 whole weeks, so we are!

Rhian has done such a good job of wearing her removable braces that she was told she would need to wear for a minimum of 9 months, that after only 6 months she has been told she only needs to wear them at night. She's got another review at the beginning of December, at which point I'm guessing they'll be thinking about putting her train-tracks on?

She has also just joined the Air Training Corps (ATC), the Air Cadets! Steve spent many happy years as an Air Cadet as a "lad", and was thinking about volunteering to become a Civilian Instructor. While he was doing this he explained to Rhian what sort of activities the Cadets got up to, and she's decided to join! She got her uniform at the end of the meeting (? not sure of the official name, is it a meeting?) on Friday night, and has set of tonight looking incredibly grown up and smart! (despite the shirt of her uniform actually fitting Steve, and the trousers being held up by the belt!) She appears to be having a whale of a time - came home on Friday very excitable about learning how to light a fire - although she had broken a nail!

Steve is also volunteering as a Civilian Instructor, and is also enjoying himself! He was amazed on Friday that some kids had never lit a match before, and were terrified of them, until I pointed out that probably Rhian had never lit a match either?! Things that we just take for granted and kids just have never done them! Although I really can't remember when I first lit a match, it was probably at guide camp!

This does now mean that I have 3 hours by myself 2 nights a week, so expect some more frequent updating!

Kira is also doing well, and has settled back into school well. She has a best friend for the first time ever, A joined the school about a year ago, and her and Kira get on like a house on fire. Like all kids (or certainly all girls!) they fall out every now and again, but they quickly get over it! I'm really happy to see her with such a good friend, where she can just be herself (they are very similar personalities!). We are trying a new "reward system" after a major behaviour blip just before the summer holidays, and she can now earn up to 25p a day pocket money, in 5p increments. If she earns more than £1.50 in a week she gets a "bonus" and is given £2 pocket money. If she earns less than £1.50 in the week, she just gets to keep what she has earnt. We started this system 2 weeks ago and the first week she didn't get anywhere near getting a bonus! Last week we had an really superb week, she was an angel all week, and she did earn her bonus. This week.... well, lets wait and see! lol! The money is hers to spend however she likes, and to buy whatever (what I would consider "crappy") trend, whatever bling, sparkle, pens, pencils, stickers.... you name it.... she wants. I'll keep you updated!

My Granny Mick

This is my dear old Gran, Granny Mick.

Gran is 95, heading towards 96 in December, and is alive and well!

She is the true matriach of the family. She is a character, a force to be reckoned with, a stalwart in the community, known by everyone and loved by everyone who knows her. She has only just given up driving (she probably should have given up years ago, for the sake of the community she lives in!).

Her first husband, my Grandad, died when I was just 6 months old. When she was 79 she met Bill at church, where he had been brought down from the local nursing home. 2 years later in January 1995 they married, when she was 81 and Bill was 89, and they had 5 very happy years together, at my Gran's house. Sadly Bill died while I was pregnant with Kira, and she has been living by herself ever since, until recently "having the old people for lunch", and driving her friends wherever it was they wanted to go - the shops, the hairdressers, church.

The beginning of last week she had a fall (and it transpires she also had a fall over the weekend, that a neighbour mentioned after the event). Somehow she managed to phone my Mum's sister on her mobile (who knew she even knew how to use her mobile!). She wasn't able to say anything, and it quickly cut out, but it was enough to get M to try and phone her back, and to go round and check she was OK when they couldn't raise her again. They found her lying on the floor unable to get up, and they took her to A&E.

After a night in hospital it was declared that no damage had been done, and she was discharged. A rota was put into place to make sure she had visitors most days, and some "respite" care was arranged for 2 weeks at the home where Bill had been, to get her back on her feet and to enable my Mum and her sister to go on their pre-booked holidays without having to worry about her.

On Wednesday, Mum popped into see her prior to going on her holiday, and became very worried, Gran was unable to string a sentence together, was very tired and was really not at all with it. The emergency GP was called, who said he believed she'd probably had a mini stroke (or a series of mini-strokes, which explains the falls), and called an ambulance for her.

She left her street, where she has lived for more than 65 years, on an ambulance chair, wrapped up in a red blanket, with the neighbours all coming out to wave her off, and check she was OK. She remembers nothing of this, although she did appear to be coming out of her haze-y state.

I went up to see her in hospital on Saturday, expecting to see a very frail, confused old lady who might not know who I was. What I was met with was a fiesty old lady, racist like only a 95 year old can be, still a touch confused (she was convinced she'd been taken "upstairs" in the hospital "because of the concert", and that someone had been sleeping in her bed!), and a little weary, but still very much my Granny!

The decision has been taken (although she insists that she would be OK now to go back to living alone) that she will be moving into the lovely local home, as soon as she is discharged from hospital.

I am very sad that we won't be visiting her in her house anymore, obviously I've been visiting her there for a very long time, and have very happy memories of being there - in fact one of my very first memories is of being there :-) But..... I do genuinely believe she will be happier in the company of other people, with people to entertain, to organise and to share memories with. As she often reminds us, she is a very caring person, it's in her nature, but it's time she settled back and let someone take care of her.

Long Live My Granny Mick! :-)

As for me, I'm just bumbling happily along as usual - I'm one of life's happy bumblers! I'm still menu planning, I'm still enjoying cooking, I'm still really (really!) enjoying my twice weekly body combat sessions (to the extent I get proper grumpy if something gets in the way!), I haven't got a lot to grumble about, and I don't grumble (much lol!). Life is sweet, life is good - what more could I ask for in the world than that?

And with that daft ramble I shall leave you!

2009-09-08T20:48:00.002+01:00

More Comparisons

I try and take a picture of the girls on their first day at school - and this year, while I'm having a run of photo comparison post, I thought I'd compare this year's with Kira's very first day at school, 5 whole years ago, when Rhian was 9, the same age as Kira is now!

2009-08-27T20:40:00.003+01:00

What a difference 9 years makes!

As my facebook friends, real-life friends and twitter followers may already know (lol!) we recently went on holiday!

We spent a fantastic 2 weeks in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote. We've been before, but the last time we ventured abroad was 9 years ago, when Kira was only 9 months old, and Rhian was just 5!

Here they are at La Geria, the island's biggest vineyard - the girls have grown, and Steve has shrunk!

And here they all are on the sofa - a bit big to both fit on Steve's lap anymore!

If anybody has any interest, the rest of our holiday photos are on flickr here!

2009-07-02T19:08:00.006+01:00

What a difference a year makes!

On the 4th of July 2008, just 12 months ago on Saturday, Steve and I embarked on a weight loss adventure!

This is what I looked like the day after our 15th wedding anniversary. I weighed in at just a tiny slither under 12 and a half stone.

This was already down - at my heaviest I had been almost 13 stone.

I was a size 12/14 on the bottom half, and somewhere around a 16 on the top.

Shopping for clothes was a chore, I felt like a bag of spuds in whatever I wore. I didn't feel confident, I didn't feel happy when I looked in the mirror.

It was time for a change.

By the end of August I was doing well, and was well on the way to be more "myself"!

I was back into my "thin" size 12 jeans, which were a snug fit, but I hadn't started exercising.

And here I am today, on the eve of our 16th Wedding Anniversary.

Weighing in at somewhere within 2 or 3 lbs of 9 stone, I lost the weight in 3 months by using weight watchers, and am keeping it off by relatively careful eating, but not excessively so, and by 2 sessions a week of body combat.

I am wearing a size 8 on the bottom, and a size 10 on the top.

My wardrobe has had to be completely replaced, and I am feeling far more confident and happy in my skin and my clothes. My wardrobe has become far bolder than I would have ever worn before, I'm happy to be a bit "experimental" with my clothes. (I even have a "fashion" blog!)

I am happy, I feel toned and fit, and I really (really, really!) enjoy my twice weekly body combat sessions.

It's all thanks to Weight watchers, plus a good deal of determination on my part! If you're thinking about losing weight I would just say this - get yourself in the right mindset, and just go for it!

Steve has done far more fantastically than me, but I'll leave him to tell his own story. I'll just say I'm very, very, very proud of my gorgeous, handsome, skinny husband, and I'm looking forward to the next 16 years of marriage :-)

2009-06-27T16:51:00.002+01:00

More Trampolining Pictures!

It's been a while since I've updated, but I thought the bluebell pictures were so lovely I wanted everyone to see them!

Well, that, and the fact life's not been particularly exciting!

I've just been out enjoying the wonderfully warm sunshine with Kira on the Trampoline, and took these snaps and wanted to share :-)

I thought I'd start with this one of her "evil" face! (something, unfortunately, we see quite a lot of! bless her!)

What I really wanted though was a record of how her teeth are! She actually has a gap on that bottom row - between the 4 adult teeth and the canine on the right (as you look at it) - not that you'd notice, it's so small! Obviously everything is really higgeldy-piggeldy (however you'd spell that!), and she is still under the supervision of the same orthodontist as Rhian, with a 12 month check due in October.

And here's just some fun "posing" shots! I think perhaps I let them watch too much "Britain/Americas Next Top Model"!

It's only 6 weeks now until our holiday! I can't believe it's nearly here after planning and booking it last August! I'm just really, really, really looking forward to some relaxing in the sunshine, with nothing to do and nowhere we need to be, with a pool and the beach within spitting distance if we need to cool down :-)

I'm also looking forward to our post-holiday day out - we're taking the girls to their first gig! We thought we wouldn't start with anything namby-pamby, so we're going straight for U2 at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff! (We would have loved to have taken them to Wembley, but we're away when they play Wembley). We get back from holiday on the Thursday, then it's U2 on the Saturday, hardly a chance for our feet to touch the ground!

On a more mundane topic, I'm trying out "soapnuts" to try and be a bit more eco-friendly. So far I've done 2 loads, and am extremely pleased with the results! I haven't put softener in the wash either, on the recommendation of the Sarah, the ebay seller, and the results so far seem great - the clothes are clean and soft! Amazing for a handful of nut shells!

2009-05-10T19:27:00.004+01:00

Bluebell Woods - Incredibly Pic Heavy!

We had a beautiful outing this afternoon, to a wood just outside Micheldever in Hampshire. Steve had been there earlier in the week, and took us all back for a photo shoot!

I'll let the photos do the talking :-)

2009-05-08T16:01:00.003+01:00

More Girls!

On the bank holiday just gone Lou and Mum came over and we headed over to Rowhills for their "Woodland Craft" display day.

The display wasn't anything particularly exciting, but Steve was playing David Bailey, and took this lovely shot of the 3 small girls!

He's been playing with the settings on his camera recently, so hopefully he's getting back into it and we'll have some more lovely shots to share soon :-)

2009-04-28T14:56:00.005+01:00

My Beautiful Girls!

I am very proud of my girls!

Here they are on the beautifully sunny Easter Monday at Gun Wharf Quay in Portsmouth, with the Spinnaker Tower in the background.

Here's Rhian with her normal "looking over the top of her glasses" look!

Kira, looking her normal, slightly cheeky self!

And finally, some fun on the trampoline!

2009-04-28T14:38:00.005+01:00

Another week's worth of recipe ideas!

This current week I have stuck to all the meals I had planned, but had to shuffle them around, due to a lack of forward planning regarding what was happening in real life when putting them on the menu planner!

Meals have generally been a success this week - everyone (apart, predictably, from Rhian!) really enjoyed the Chicken Stew and Dumplings, and it will be repeated (sorry Rhian!).

After a couple of weeks of reasonably uninspired cooking, I hit the recipe books again last night! Steve and I are still eating very sensibly (10.5 stone lost between us needs careful nurturing to remain lost!) and I want meals that we can all eat as I'm done with cooking several times in 1 evening!

The meals I have planned for this week are:

Penne with Sweet Tomatoes, Aubergine and Mozzarella (Jamie)
Pasta Peperonata (Jamie)
Mexican Beef Tacos with salad (ww)
Boston Baked Beans with salad (ww)
Jacket Potatoes
S&S Chicken and Rice
Chicken Kiev, new potatoes and vegetables

I would love to eat together every night of the week, but unfortunately it just doesn't happen that way.

Monday's Kira has her swimming lesson at 5.30, and Steve does spinning at 7.30 - so the girls eat before swimming and Steve and I eat after spinning. This week we will have either the jacket potatoes or Kievs on Monday.

Tuesday I go to combat at 7.00, so waiting until after 6 to eat when Steve gets home is way too late, so we will have whichever meal we don't eat on the Monday night on Tuesday, and Steve will cook ours while I'm out.

Wednesday we can all eat together! yay!

Thursday Kira has brownies, so the girls eat first, and Steve and I eat later - this week I will do something like the tacos where I can re-heat the filling and serve it up twice reasonably easily, without have to "cook" twice, if you know what I mean!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we all eat together.

On the days when we don't eat together, the girls always eat at the table with the tv off, and I always sit with them. Steve and I tend to eat with trays in front of the tv. When we all eat together we always sit at the table, with the tv off.

2009-04-24T17:02:00.002+01:00

This week's Menu Plan, and last week's results!

The only new meal last week was a weight watchers Chicken Stroganoff recipe, which I thought was quite tasty, but got very subdued reactions from the girls and Steve - oh well, you can't win them all!

This week the plan is, in no particular order:

Pot Roast Meatloaf and Brocolli
Chicken Stew with Dumplings, Mange Tout and carrots
Bangers and Mash (finally might get to do this this week - it keeps gettiing "bumped!)
Shepherds Pie
Pizza and garlic bread (you've got to have one "lazy" meal each week! - I'm no Nigella!)
Burgers (although I am home making these, so perhaps some Nigella is creeping in!)

Other Stuff!

The weather has been beautiful this week, and Kira and I have managed to walk home from school every day this week, which has been lovely. Today was chillier though, and a timely reminder that we are actually only in April. It's been a great "taste of summer" though, and I'm certainly looking forward to summer proper, when/if it comes this year! (eek! perhaps this last week has been summer!)

Luckily the weather is looking wet for the weekend, as I seriously need to catch up on inside jobs - like simple tidying and hoovering - and the eternal washing! I hate doing jobs inside when the weather is nice outside! Last Saturday I finally decided to properly deal with the decomposing wood chips at the back of the garden. The plan is to clear the woodchips, lift the membrane, dig out all the tree roots, and then to grass seed. That's the plan!

Last Saturday I was in the garden for 4 hours, and managed to clear a spot the size of the dining table! I was hampered somewhat by 2 enormous tree roots, which were particularly stubborn. They both required persuasion by both an axe and a sledgehammer to finally shift! Luckily Steve saw me swinging his axe, and decided that it was a man's tool and to come out and do some manly work! We took it in turns to swing the axe - and we both ached like I don't know what when we'd finished! It must be true what they say about gardening being excellent exercise!

Anyway, that is a project that'll likely keep us busy for the rest of the dry days in the summer! Then we've got enough decorating inside to keep us busy for the wet days - so busy, busy all over!

I can't believe it's only just over 3 months until our holiday! We are all so excited - I'm just looking forward to (hopefully!) guaranteed sunshine and warmth for 2 whole weeks, and just relaxing, chilling, and maybe some more relaxing :-) But just you wait and see, suddenly Lanzarote will experience the worst August in history - it's a familiar problem wherever we go!

2009-04-16T18:22:00.002+01:00

Finally gone!

I am delighted to announce that finally, after almost 2 years, the molluscum that has been on Kira's left eye has finally gone!

now you see it........ now you don't!

Apparently 2 years is the top end of their normal "life span", and no treatment is required, they will drop off on their own eventually. I had got to the stage where I was beginning to wonder about the diagnoses, and had asked around online about what I could treat it with (aloe was the answer!). At the time I asked it was looking incredibly inflamed and red, and was very sore.

Turns out that was Kira's immune system finally realising something was there that shouldn't have been, and being busy kicking it into oblivion!

Yay!

ps Excuse her goofy face in the first photo!

2009-04-15T15:06:00.002+01:00

Menu Results!

So I promised to report back on last week's planned meals!

Chicken and Potato Masala - delicious, even Rhian enjoyed it!
Bangers and Mashed Potato pie - deferred!
Moussaka - deferred!
Mini Shell Pasta with peas - huge success, absolutely scrumptious! Definitely a "do again"!
Lemon Glazed Chicken - good
Meatballs and Pasta - very good
Crunchy Garlic Chicken - fab!

As you see, a couple of meals were "deferred" as I'd forgotten we were eating at a friends one day, and then another we had our first takeaway pizza since last June!

As I type I'm expecting next week's shopping, and the plan for next week is:

Pot Roast Meatloaf - Jamie
Stew and Dumplings (no recipe for this one, need to get from Mel who made a delicious stew last weekend for us all!)
Spanish Omlette (Delia!)
5PT - (pesto, pea, pepper and penne pasta tea! - family recipe)
Special Fried Rice (Kira's favourite - family recipe)
Cheesey Pasta Bake (Rhian's favourite - family recipe)
Burgers in Buns (hey, who needs a recipe for this! well, I suppose I could try and make my own burgers?! - Jamie has a recipe!)

Last night Steve was doing him and I a curry while I was out at combat, to use up the leftover roast turkey, so I just cooked the girls something from the freezer. This is what I used to do all the time, but since I've been doing this menu planning malarkey they've not eaten what I consider "rubbish" - but last night I did what I always used to do and served up fish fingers, potato waffles and baked beans. They didn't enjoy it at all!

I am surprised at how many different types of foods they will now eat without a murmur - I can place virtually anything in front of them, and they will eat it! How fab is that! Even vegetables, even curry, chickpeas, lentils, Rhian even ate something with nuts in it the other night! This would NEVER have happened before!

We are all eating far more healthily than we ever have done before - I'm using recipes, and making them low fat, by choosing sensible options (for example, I generally ignore Jamie's "good lug of olive oil" unless it's absolutely necessary, when I usually substitute a good few sprays of fry light!

If anyone wants any of the recipes just let me know!

2009-04-13T20:39:00.002+01:00

Easter!

There's another Easter been and gone!

We've had a good one, busy but relaxing.

I had Thursday off work, and spent the day with my sister and my niece. We went donutting in Aldershot to start with, then had lunch in BK (you've just got to, haven't you?), then headed home and spent the afternoon chatting and riverdancing (don't ask lol!).

Friday I started the day by fitting in an extra Body Combat session for the week, then we had our old friends Catherine and Paul and their girls for lunch, and a chilled afternoon was had by all :-)

Saturday Steve was destroying his soon-to-be study with his very manly drill, putting in about 6000 double plugs, ready for "Nick-the-Plasterer" who comes in a couple of weeks to skim the walls. The girls and I headed over to Basingstoke to get Kira replacement clothes for the ones I took back after her birthday (I'm not buying her any clothes she's not seen and actually tried on ever again! awkward bugger!). We then went over to Mum's to see Aunty M who had brought my Gran down to stay with my Mum. We stayed most of the afternoon, giving Steve plenty of time to make a lot of noise and mess!

Yesterday I did Body Combat again, and Rhian came for a swim, while Steve and Kira prepared a "turkey and all the trimmings" lunch for us, as well as Mum and Gran. We even had Easter Crackers! It was lovely to have Gran here, as she's not been here for ages. She liked the extension :-) After lunch Steve put "Lips" on for the x-box, and we even got Gran singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (the only song she knew! lol) - how cool is my 95 year old Granny!

Today we woke up with no plans at all, and had a very lazy morning! After Brunch (it was too late for breakfast by the time we actually got up!) we decided to head down to Southsea and make the most of the sunshine! Us and everybody else it would seem! We parked up at Southsea (finally finding a parking space a bit back from the front, with the added, unexpected, advantage of it being free!) and walked round to Gun Wharf Quays (or Gunky Wharf, as we call it!). Steve is loving his new slinky figure, and stocked up on several new t-shirts, a rip-curl top and a holiday shirt! It's so good that he can now buy clothes in shops :-D We then sat in the sunshine with a coffee (Steve) and ice-creams (me and the girls) before walking back to the car.

The girls and I then donned our roller blades, and we had a quick skate up and down the front, before heading home for tea.

It's been a lovely weekend, everyone has got on well, there's not be a cross word all weekend! I love being a family when it's like this :-)

I've got the day off tomorrow as well - although we've got to wait around tomorrow morning as we're having the Dyson "Hoover" serviced - and they'll be here "between 8 and 1". We are hoping to get to the cinema at some point, perhaps!

2009-04-02T19:15:00.004+01:00

This is how the Garden Grows!

From this unsightly mess! (you can't make it out particularly well, but it's a crazy paving old pond surround, and a bank down towards the garage, covered in shrubs and (mainly!) weeds

(what you can't tell from these pictures is that the steps are acutally in the middle of the garden - there is as much wall to the left of the steps as you can see on the right! - just to give a bit of perspective!)

To this......

To this!

We are so pleased! We knew it was going to give us a lot more space, but even we hadn't appreciate how much the usable space was going to grow! We've actually gained at almost half as much again!

2009-03-30T20:26:00.003+01:00

Menu Planning

I've really surprised myself recently! I decided a little while ago that far too much food was going off in my fridge, my cooking was more "heating up" than true cooking, and we were eating far too much pre-prepared food.

I decided to try menu planning. I sit down on a Sunday or Monday and plan what we will be eating for the following week (starting on Thursday). I then use that menu plan to do my online Sainsbury's shop, to be delivered on Wednesday afternoon.

When the shopping is delivered I write the "best before" dates next to the ingredients for each meal (well, the soonest - the meat, for example - I don't write down when the lentils will go out of date!), then I use these dates to plan which order we will be having the meals in during the week, and these then go onto the planner which is blue-tacked to the kitchen cupboard.

A few weeks ago I decided I was bored cooking the same old same old week in week out, so I got some recipe books out! I have loads and loads of cook books, but do I ever use them? do I heck!

Until now!

I started with a "low fat" cook book and cooked several meals from this. I moved onto some weight watchers cook books, with 2 weeks of meals planned from those. This week I've moved on to Jamie's Ministry of Food.

I still have some "fall backs" for some evenings when we just need something quick and easy (Monday swimming lesson nights, and Thursday brownie nights, for example) - but generally we are eating far better, far healthier, far more variety and far more fun meals than we ever have before! I'm having such fun - I can't really believe it! The cupboards are full of ingredients we've never eaten before (lentils, chick peas, stock cubes, masala paste, to name a few!)

So far I've only had one disaster (creamy mustard and sausage pasta was just not good - my fault more than the recipes I think!), but lots of successes.

This week the menu plan was:

Thursday - Spag Bol
Friday - Pizza and Garlic Bread (pre-bought for the end of the week!)
Saturday - Pot-Roast meatloaf (see previous post)
Sunday - Moroccan Chicken and couscous
Monday - chicken Kiev and roasted veg (pre-bought kiev)
Tuesday - Jacket Potatoes
Wednesday - Sausage and Lentil Hot Pot with broccolli (thank you Kate - top tip!)

Next week we will be having, in no particular order (until the shopping arrives!)

Chicken and Potato Masala (don't tell Rhian Masala is curry!) (ww)
Bangers and Mashed Potato pie (kids fav)
Moussaka (ww)
Mini Shell Pasta with peas (Jamie)
Lemon Glazed Chicken (ww)
Meatballs and Pasta (Jamie)
Crunchy Garlic Chicken (Jamie)

so only 1 "tried and tested" meal next week - which is a bit daunting!

I'll report back with the results next week! If anyone wants a copy of my "shopping planner" just let me know your email address - it's just a couple of simple tables in word!

2009-03-30T14:28:00.002+01:00

"Pass it on"

I cooked a recipe from Jamie's Ministry of Food cook book the other day. With all my raving about it several people have asked for the recipe, and Jamie tells us to "pass it on", so I'm going to! (in my own words, to avoid any potential copyright issues, hopefully!).

Pot Roast Meatloaf - serves 4 - 6

2 medium onions
1 teaspoon ground cumin (I didn't have any, so used cumin seeds instead)
1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander
12 cream crackers (I used "light" crackers to save unnecessary fat!)
2 teaspoons dried oregano (again, I had none, so I stuck in a bit of spicy italian herbs!)
2 heaped teaspoons dijon mustard
500g minced beef (I used turkey mince, as a lower fat alternative)
1 large egg
2 cloves of garlic (I used garlic puree, life's too short to be peeling garlic!)
red chilli to your taste (didn't have any, so stuck in a pinch of chilli flakes!)
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 400g tin of chick peas, drained
2 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (didn't have any, so skipped this bit!)
12 slices of bacon (I only used 5)
1 lemon (I didn't use this bit either)

To make the meatloaf

preheat oven to 200.
peel and finely chop 1 onion, and fry with cumin and coriander until soft and golden, then put to one side to cool.
smash up the crackers until they're very finely smashed
mix up the cooled onions, minced beef (or turkey!), crackers, mustard, oregano and the egg with your hands (yucky job!).
Pat the mixture into a rugby ball shape
Rub it with a little oil (I sprayed it with some fry-light)
put it in the oven for half an hour (maybe a bit longer for turkey mince, which isn't as good "rare" in the middle!)

To make the sauce

peel and roughly chop the second onion and fry with the garlic, chilli, paprika and salt and pepper until onion cooked.
Add worcestershire, chick peas, tomatoes and balsamic, bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes.

To finish off and serve

Remove the meatloaf from the oven and pour all the fat from the pan over the rosemary leaves and mix up well (this was the bit I didn't do - not a big fan of rosemary, and actually I had no fat from my turkey meatloaf!)
Spoon the sauce around the meatloaf
lay some bacon over the top of the meatloaf and sauce, then scatter over the rosemary leaves (if you did that bit, obviously!)
Put back in the oven until bacon turns golden and sauce is bubbling (Jamie says 10 minutes, but my meatloaf was not cooked in the middle at that point. I'm not sure Jamie would recommend it, but at that point we were in a hurry, so I stuck it in the microwave for 5 minutes!)

Jamie says to serve with a mixed leaf salad and some wedges of lemon. I served it to my salad hating family with broccoli!

Enjoy! (and pass it on!)

2009-03-28T15:55:00.003Z

All Mine!

I've had my eye on a Suzuki Swift for at least a year, and my intention was to look at getting one when changing the vitara. Steve and I had a discussion a few weeks ago as the Vitara has done me proud, not a problem in the 6 years + we've had her, but she is getting to be a dear old lady car, and things will need doing soon, like exhaust and servicing, so we decided (well, I decided) now was as good a time as any!

We saw a lovely little blue one 2 weeks ago, but the dealer wouldn't shift at all on the price, and we felt it was overpriced for it's age and mileage, and they wouldn't shift, so we walked away.

Since then I've been scouring the autotrader website daily, and yesterday afternoon saw this little beauty - she ticks all the "essential" criteria, and even met my "desirable" criteria (I'd put an arrow in the brochure to the rear spoiler extra, with the label "nice" lol). (can you tell I'm in HR?!).

So this morning Rhian and I headed down to the south coast to take a look. The price was right, we took her for a spin, then after some umming and ah-ing (it doesn't do to look too keen apparently - I'd not let on yet that I'd driven for an hour and a half to get there - if that's not keen I don't know what is!), we paid a deposit, and come next Saturday morning she'll be mine, all mine! I'm going to be unbearable for the next week! (apologies to anyone who knows me!).

What else do I need to update on? Oh, the garden!

We've been talking for ages (it's what we do well, talking - action is always a little harder!) about having a wall built down the side of the garage and bringing the garden across to meet it, and this week Ray has been back to build us a new wall! I've got some "before" pictures that I'll post when it's finished, but basically we're gaining about a third of the garden back to usable lawn, rather than aged weed-covered crazy paving and a bramble/shrub/lilly filled mud bank! It's actually the bit of the garden that gets sun for the largest part of the day, and into the evening, so roll on summer!

Right, I'm supposed to be stripping wall paper - and I'm not getting very far doing this! We're staring on the (well, Steve's) Study this weekend! Slowly slowly, we'll get there eventually! It's only been 6 months since the building started, give us a chance!

2009-03-14T19:30:00.002Z

Birthday Week!

As though of you who know us, the week starting 6th March is always pretty hectic as far as birthdays go!

Kira starts the week on the 6th, Lou follows on the 7th, I'm on the 9th, Mum is the 10th, and my cousin David is the 11th! It;s also a manic week at work, with 4 of us in one week, so I'm guessing there's always something in the air at the beginning of June!

The birthday girl chose to have homemade lasagne for her birthday tea, so we spiced it up with a candle!

and, of course, pudding was birthday cake!

Kira got 2 bunches of flowers on her birthday, and so did I, so the place looks a lot like a florist at the moment! I've been a bit snap happy, and here is one of my favourite pictures.

And finally, on the picture front, here is a picture of my 2 beautiful girls!

I had a lovely birthday, and got a lovely new laptop, amongst other things! Steve surprised me with a lovely evening out at the new curry place in Farnham, the Mahaan, and it was excellent - I think we may well have found our new favourite curry house!

Braces
Poor Rhian has moved onto the next stage with her braces, and now has a mouth absolutely full of plastic :-( She has a top brace designed to widen her palate, and we need to widen it each week with a key.

Her bottom brace is designed to move her bottom jaw forward, to correct her overbite. This involves big chunks of plastic, and corresponding wedges on the top brace, which forces her bottom jaw forward. As a result of these big wedges, she is unable to actually close her mouth. She needs to wear them 24/7, apart from eating, sport or language lessons. She appears to be fine with them though, thankfully, although pronouncing "s" is a bit tricky still, and she sounds as if she's talking with her mouthful. It's only for 9 months, and will hopefully be worth it all in the end (the orthodontist reassures me!).

I'm amazed at how quickly her front teeth have straightend out already with the "train track" - it's only been on 3 weeks, and already they are in a position she says she would be happy with even if they don't change anymore!

New Car?
After having inherited some money from Grampy last year, I've been thinking about changing my car. I love my Vitara, but I've had it for 6 years, it's 9 years old, and whilst I've never had any trouble with it I am aware that it's aging, will be needing a new exhaust before too long, and it's in need of a service, and those 2 things together would be heading up to the value of the car itself!

I've been fancying a suzuki swift for a little while now, and today I decided it was time to start the process. I spent 2 hours cleaning my car this morning, ready to take it to any dealers we found with swifts in for a part-ex value.

We found one today, and Steve is in negotiations with them regarding the price. We are prepared to walk away from it if they can't do what we want - it's a buyers market, and we aren't in any hurry! But I am excited about getting a new car though!

2009-02-19T20:32:00.007Z

Braces!

Rhian had her orthodontic appointment on Tuesday, just to have her impressions taken for the removable braces she has got to have.

Imagine our surprise when she came down 20 minutes later with these! They are just on her top front 6 while she has her removable braces, then they will be all round, top and bottom.

She's doing really well with them so far. And we keep reassuring her that the soon she starts, the sooner they'll come off and she'll have beautiful straight teeth to match her beautiful smile :-)

Ripley's Odditorium

On Monday I had the day off work, and I took the girls up to London. We started with a boat trip on the Thames from Waterloo pier to the Tower of London and back again, with Lou and Milly, who we met at Waterloo station.

After lunch the girls and I went to Ripley's Odditorium in Piccadilly Circus. It sells itself as "5 floors of Wonderment" - Mmmm.....

It was interesting, don't get me wrong, and there were lots of fascinating bits and pieces. But there was definitely NOT 5 floors - a lift takes you up to the 5th floor, then you follow the laid out route, which ends on the 3rd floor and then the lift takes you back to the gift shop! Even my terrible maths makes that only 3 floors!

We did enjoy it though, Kira and I stood next to one of the world's tallest men...

Rhian sat in this enormous rocking chair!

and we had a fantastic 20 minutes in the mirror maze - which I think is worth paying the extra for, otherwise we would have probably been round in about an hour!

One of the girls went free (see next bit!), saving £15, but once we had paid for the mirror maze the entrance fee was £47 for 3 of us, which I thought was quite expensive? (perhaps I'm just not used to paying London prices!).

Bargain Hunter!

It's been a bit of a 2 for 1 week! Prior to our London outing I had saved a third on my family railcard renewal with a code I found on hotukdeals and I got 2 for 1 vouchers for the boat trip and Ripley's from daysoutguide. Tuesday evening I went on a girls night out with my lovely friends Janie, Alison and Kate, and I found vouchers for 2 for 1 on main meals at vouchercodes and yesterday Steve and I went to the cinema (saw The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button - highly recommended!) using the "Orange Wednesday" 2 for 1 deal!

Extension Update!

We are still at it (but we've lost a whole heap of motivation, and we're "at it" very, very slowly!).

Kira is now in her lovely new, very pink, bedroom, and is now fully furnished with a desk, chest of drawers, bedside cabinet and a wardrobe!

In her old room there was literally only just room for her bed and a chest of drawers, so she's very happy with her new room, and all the storage! She's able to hang clothes up for the first time ever - and suddenly she's found a whole load of clothes she'd forgotten she'd ever had as they'd been stuffed at the back of drawers!

We also finally had the flooring laid in the utility room and toilet last week, and Steve fitted the loo roll holder, towel rail and mirror, and I did the tiling on the splash back. Just a bit more priming/glossing/grouting/curtain hanging in there now and it's done! (well, it will be done, eventually!).

2009-02-11T17:34:00.005Z

New Sofa!

From this...
Our once lovey, now sadly saggy, 12 year old sofas, which have seen us through thick and thin (literally lol!), has been replaced!

The new model ("luigi" from SCS, if you're interested!) arrived early this morning! It's huge (10ft 10 x 8ft), but it fits nicely in the room :-)

Apart from a scuff and a hole (sigh), it's gorgeous, and fulfils my main criteria: I was insistent on a sofa with a "hug" - I wanted a sofa to sit in, not on, if you know what I mean!

2009-02-02T20:59:00.003Z

The Big Snow! - 2nd February 2009

These were my wellies - unfortunately Kira's wellies proved too short for the deep snow, and she ended up with very cold and wet feet!

Measuring the depth of the snow - 10 inches!

sledding on the drive!

After lunch we headed into Farnham Park, and had a fantastic time sledging on the compacted snow. Unfortunately the photos of that (including a couple of me sledging!) are on my phone.

Mum is due back from Egypt tomorrow night, where she has been for a month in the warm sunshine! - I think she's in for a bit of a shock!

2009-02-02T20:28:00.005Z

Weekend Away!

We spent the weekend in the Isle of Wight! We went across on Friday night, and spent 2 nights at the Wight Mouse Inn. It was a very, very cold weekend, with temperatures not getting above 4 degrees, and the wind blowing a hooley at almost 30 miles an hour, but we didn't let it stop us!

Our room on the first night was freezing - it was on the corner and the secondary double glazing didn't actually fit the windows, so the draft was tremendous. This wasn't helped by the fact the radiator in the bathroom wasn't working - we daren't have a bath for fear of penguins and icebergs!

Saturday morning we walked along the cliff path from Whale Chine, which we used to visit as kids (and called it "Ladder Chine" due to the extremely steep steps you have to negotiate to get to the beach - sadly these have fallen into disrepair, and you are no longer able to get to the beach)

We popped into the Isle of Wight Pearl Centre which was little more than a selection of retail outlets. We had a quick lunch there, and then drove round to The Needles. Everything was closed, but we weren't bothered. We headed down the steps to Alum Bay, and we were literally the only people on the beach.

It was lovely to sit throwing stones, chasing waves (Steve, being the biggest kid of the lot, was the one who got wet feet!)

We had a wonder around Yarmouth, which is a super little town. There were no big chain stores, and all the shops seem to sell everything! The girls and I both bought neck protectors and gloves in the chandlery, which definitely were a necessity the next day!

When we got back to the Wight Mouse the manager told us that he had been unable to fix the radiator, agreed that it was artic cold, and suggested we move rooms. The room on the second night was lovely, warm and away from the howling wind and draughts.

After a good night's sleep and another cooked breakfast, we headed back to the Needles for a walk to the Needles Old Battery. Once again it was bitterly cold, but we warmed up in the tea room!

The walk back to the car was excrutiating, and both girls were really suffering with the wind blowing straight at us. (despite the wind protection pictured here!)

We didn't have long before we had to be back at the ferry, but we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Garlic Farm, where we tasted all their delicious relishes and sauces, bought a few, and had probably the best garlic bread I've ever had for lunch. My personal highlight of the garlic farm was my first ever real-life sighting of a red squirrel!

Of course today we've had "The Snow", and I've got pictures that I'll pop into another post shortly!

2009-01-18T16:55:00.003Z

Saturday Silliness

All I wanted was a nice photo of the 3 of us that happened to be sitting together on the sofa....

It's true, my husband is a nutter :-)

2008-12-27T16:15:00.003Z

We're there!

We made it to Christmas, in one piece, and we're back into the living room!

So let me remind you what our living room looked like, back in September (and for 10 years before then!)

Shocking eh? Like a load of students moved in, wrecked the place, and moved out again? Or, actually, a rather messy family of 4, with loads of clutter and a terrible habit of not tidying up?

Now, fast forward 3 months, and what has happened! We now have a fully functional, proper, grown-up living room!

We are really, really chuffed with it! Now we've just got to keep it neat, tidy and clean! The new sofa should be arriving towards the end of January, and we're hoping that will just finish it all off beautifully :-)

Here's another shot, taken about an hour earlier than the last one - showing how light it is at the far end (and I think the tree looks pretty!)

Things moved pretty quickly last week - the floor went down on the 19th, and it looked like this!

And we wasted no time in getting the tree up, and decorating the fireplace! Our decorations normally go up on the 12th, so the 20th was really late for us!

Gary, the Carpenter, came on Monday and put the skirting down.

Last week also saw the arrival of the toilet (I shan't bore you with a photo unless I get any requests - it's just a normal toilet!) and the curtains (thank you Mum!), and doors everywhere. The builders have basically finished inside, and all they need to do now is lay the slabs on the patio outside. They have done a fantastic job, have been reliable, lovely to deal with, and very reasonable (cost and attitude!). If anyone needs a recommendation just let me know and I will happily pass on his details :-)

By Christmas Eve we had a fire in the grate, the sofas back, the tv on (do you recognise the conductor from Polar Express?), pressies under the tree and all was good in the world.

Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos on Christmas day, but basically we went over to Mum's, and Steve cooked over there (while the living room is ready, the rest of the house is still in a state of turmoil!). As usual he did a fantastic job - managing to feed 12 people a very lovely turkey dinner at a reasonable hour. For the first time in more years than I can remember, Lou, Jon and Milly joined us which was really lovely, and Catherine, Paul, Zoe and Freya (our good friends, who we've spent the last 3 or 4 Christmas Days with). We had a lovely, relaxing day, with everyone getting on well, and the girls all playing beautifully together.

We're all off now until the 5th January, and currently we have nothing planned! We will have to rectify that as we're already going a little stir crazy! The weather looks like it's going to be beautiful, but bracing, so perhaps a winter "wrapped up" walk is in order? Poor Steve would love to go out on his bike, but unfortunately it is garage bound - the garage door (which has been awkward since we moved in) gave up the ghost 10 days ago, and a replacement won't be able to be fitted until the new year :-( At least it's now stuck closed - although it took Mum and I (thank you again Mum!) a good hour to wrestle it shut in the dark and the pooring rain (and when we finally did I was on the inside!).

I'm planning on doing a "reflective" post in the next few days, so pop back soon :-)

2008-12-15T16:52:00.002Z

It's a Fireplace!

Steve and I are delighted to announce the safe arrival of our new baby - the fireplace!

A massive improvement on the old one, I'm sure you'll agree with me :-)

Really are into the final stages now - the living room floor goes down on Friday too!

2008-11-29T19:39:00.002Z

End of Week 11!

It has been an absolutely crazy week for us here - so much happening!

Monday night the fireplace was taken out of the living room (I'll need to take a picture!), ready for the new one to be fitted on the 15th.

We've had 3 carpenters round to give us quotes for the floor in the living room. We've chosen a beech floorboard effect laminate, and they will be round to fit that (hopefully) around the 19th. This is dependent on the screed going down this week, which depends on the plumber putting the pipes down for the radiators this week, which is not certain yet.

The plasterer has been in since Wednesday, and finished the living room yesterday.

The carpenter was in on Thursday, and he has fitted Kira's bedroom door, the cubby hole door, and fitted the skirting in her room.

After putting on the emulsion/water coat in Kira's room last weekend, we started with the colour! We let Kira choose!

This is dulux "sweet pink", which she has on 3 walls.

This was my plea (trying to get some excess paint off my brush before lunchtime!)

And here is her 4th wall - dulux "sexy pink"!

Steve gives her 2 years max before she asks us to repaint the "sexy pink" something more grown up!

I've been painting like a crazy woman all day today, starting at 9 this morning, and apart from a quick lunch stop, carrying on until about 4.30! We do now have the 50/50 coat on in the extended bit of the living room now too though, so that's ready for colour. We decided this morning to go for "natual wicker", which is very similar to magnolia - basically a neutral base colour. We may well go for a darker brown colour as a feature wall on the chimney breast.

My aim for tomorrow is at least to get the second coat on Kira's ceiling (which is plain white!), and the first coat on the living room extension ceiling. I might try and get something on the walls too - or the second coat on Kira's walls perhaps. I might concentrate on the living room tomorrow - I'm just a little bit worried about the timescale in there! I can't do the existing room as the plaster skim is not yet dry, but that should be dry in a couple of days so I'll have to crack on with that during the week. I want to get all the painting done before the fireplace goes in, and most definitely before the floor goes down!

On a different topic - thank you to anyone who voted for Kira's school in the People's millions - we were very disappointed on Wednesday when we heard that unfortunately we hadn't won in our region - but on Thursday it was announced that we had won the highest runner up prize! We actually had the second most votes in the country - with only our direct competition having more votes than us - so we were awarded the whole £50k! This will enable the school to have a very much needed playground upgrade - so thank you again to anyone who voted :D

Rhian has a busy week - she's dancing in the school production of High School Musical. They have 3 performances, starting on Wednesday this week. We are all going to see it on Friday night, after Steve and I have spent the afternoon Christmas Shopping! She has to spend all weekend at school in rehearsals - and the poor soul has lost her voice, but is soldiering on :-)

Tomorrow night Steve and I are going to see our friend Paul's band - The Beatniks - at the Bat and Ball in Farnham. We've not seen him in this band, but we're looking forward to it, particuarly as they do 60's covers so it should be fun :D

2008-11-24T17:07:00.001Z

A Quick Plea!

Hale School (where Rhian used to go and Kira currently goes), is a regional finalist to win £50,000 from THE BIG LOTTERY FUND (The People's Millions) to refurbish our Infant Playground and swimming pool.

Telephone lines will be open from 9.00am to Midnight on Tuesday 25th November 2008 (that's tomorrow!). The number will be displayed on the Hale School website www.hale.surrey.sch.uk on the day and will be available in The Daily Mirror. (The calls cost 10p from a landline and up to 10 calls from the same number will be accepted.)

ITV (Thames Valley) will broadcast details of our project at 6.00pm - 6.30pm on Tuesday 25th November 2008.

In the meantime please tell ALL your family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues NOW as we need as many people as possible to vote for us. This is a great opportunity for us so do look out for the telephone number and please vote for HALE SCHOOL.

Thank you!

2008-11-24T16:54:00.002Z

Week 10 (I think - I may be losing count!)

We've been partly plastered!

This is our controversial/retro serving hatch!

On Sunday Mum came over, and we did a spot of "synchronised rollering" lol. This was the coat of 50/50 (emulsion/water) paint to seal the plaster. It was a highly messy job!

Kira's room is all ready for "proper" paint now, and Ray and Graham put the coving up today too - so really ready!

We hit the diy stores yesterday and bought all the curtain rails, which Ray has very kindly agreed to pop up for us before he leaves (whenever we try it always results in a whole host of blood, sweat, tears and swearing!).

2008-11-16T19:48:00.005Z

Busy Weekends! End of Week 9!

While the builders were away at the weekend we decided to crack on with the decorating preparation in the living room.

This is "Team Davis" at about 9 o'clock last Saturday. Our tasks for the day were to strip the wallpaper, skirting and coving, and to try and work out how to get the artex off the ceiling.

You can see the partition wall was still up at that point, which the builders had put up to spare us the worst of the dust when they knocked through.

Turns out it wasn't an issue, as as soon as the first bit of coving came off, and exposed a "corner" of artex, it literally fell off in sheets!

Ray and Graham took the partition wall down on Thursday, and by lunchtime today we had acheived all this!

We are extremely happy with the lovely new room - it was great to see it in all it's lovely airy, light glory!

This is the view from the extension back into the living room. Sorry about Kira, I took about 10 photos of the living room and the extension, and she raced around the place making sure she was in every photo!

I'll finish the photos with a shot of a man with his (borrowed - thank you Garan!) power tool!

Steve has worked like an absolute trojan all weekend. He has channel into walls, run cables, sunk sockets, wired up new sockets and generally sorted out about 15 miles of cables all round the living room!

If you think he's looking different to how you might remember him looking, take a look at his latest blog post to see what a difference 7 stone makes!

It's going to be a busy week in the house, with the plasterer starting tomorrow. He will start in Kira's room, moving downstairs when he's done up there, and ending up with a skim of plaster in the living room - probably in about 2 weeks time! The fireplace is being ripped out on Friday afternoon, with the new one currently scheduled for fitting mid-december. Today we have ordered our new sofa (verrrry exciting!). It's all coming together!

2008-11-06T18:13:00.003Z

Week 8, Day 4

I am delighted to announce the safe arrival of our 4th bedroom!

How grown up does that sound - we live in a 4 bedroomed house!

This is the door-hole!

The view from just inside aforementioned door-hole!

View from far corner!

Kira won't know what to do with all her space! Although it will fill up quickly with all her junk, and bed, and wardrobe etc. etc!

2008-11-04T17:37:00.003Z

Week 8, Day 2

The Grand Unveiling!

So today the scaffolding came down, revealing the extension in all it's glory!

To me it's looking like it's always been there, it's really a part of the house, not like something stuck on the back, which is exactly how I think an extension should be, so I very pleased :-)

Today Graham and Ray took down the outside of the back of the living room wall, so we're beginning to get a feel as to how big the room will be.

The plumber isn't coming until Thursday now, but we're ready for him so it's not a big bother. We've also got to make room on the landing for them to knock through up there, which will be a bit more of a pain, but needs doing :-$

2008-11-03T16:17:00.002Z

Week 8, day 1!

We have windows!

This was the window for the study (as I shall now been calling it! Previously known as Kira's room!)

And this is the hole it was waiting to be fitted into!

And by the time Kira and I got home from Gran's, here it is in situ!

We also have a back door, and a bathroom window (yay!), and 3 more windows in the extension - but here is the one I'm most excited about! The patio doors at the back of the living room :-)

2008-11-02T21:42:00.002Z

Week 7 Update

The extension saw it's first snow!

Since this photo was taken the tiling has been finished, the electric cables have been run, and we are just waiting for the windows and doors to arrive, hopefully tomorrow :-)

Once they are in it's all systems go - and the disruption really starts inside the house, with the living room being knocked through on Tuesday, and the plumber lifting floorboards in the living room on Wednesday, for the new radiator at the front of the living room.

To that end we have done a lot of shifting around this weekend, with us now (or soon to be, we had to take a break from moving the tv and satellite to watch the GP - Yay - Go Lewis! What a knicker-gripper!) "living" in the dining room! It's very cosy!

Kira has an INSET day tomorrow, so I've got the day off work. Rather than hang around here with the window chaos happening, we are going to visit my Gran in Coulsdon. She is a lovely lady, but is sadly getting slightly confused recently (she will be 95 in a month, so it's to be expected really I suppose), so we're going to be "ladies who lunch" with her :-)

2008-10-27T16:30:00.002Z

Week 7, Day 1

I don't know how we've got into week 7 already! Sometimes it feels like they've only just started, and at other times it feels like they've been here forever!

It doesn't look like a whole day's work there today, but they've been doing the fiddly bits! (and never having done tiling myself, I've no idea at all how long it takes! But I can vouch for the fact they were hard at it when I left home at 8.15 this morning, and were still hard at it when I got home just after 3!)

The windows are currently due to be fitted on Friday, and then they move inside - and that's when the fun really starts I guess!

Once the window is in in Kira's old room Steve will move all the computer stuff up there (it's final resting place - that's his new "den" lol), and we will move the living room contents (some of it - obviously not all of it will fit!) into the dining room, to "facilitate" us getting the living room ready for decorating. The plan is to get the plasterer to pop a skim of plaster on, so that all our walls will be lovely and smooth and just need painting. The builders are also going to replace all the coving (once we've taken it off) and I need to ask them to do the same with the skirting.

So, it's all looming at the moment - and I'm trying not to think too much about it!

Today was the first day of half term. Kira had the orthodontist at 9.15, who was pleased with the way her top front teeth have come down after her supernumary was taken out. She is on a 12 month review this time, as he wants to keep an eye on the tooth coming down next to the big top front ones, as it's coming down at quite an angle, and he wants to make sure it's not going to affect her bite, which may misalign her jaw if left untreated. He also confirmed that the tooth coming up next to her bottom front ones is completely squashed in, but said it will find a way through eventually, but it may well displace others on it's way - but that it will all get sorted out in the end. He did say that he thought she would probably need braces eventually too - but that they wouldn't be able to say for definite until all her adult teeth come through - but that her teeth were already pretty crowded and probably wouldn't get any better - so much the same as Rhian :-( I don't know where they've got these teeth problems from - I didn't have any orthodontic work, and Steve only had very minor work - so they're just weird! I guess it may be a case of something like Minney teeth in a Davis jaw, or vice versa, and that just not being a good combination!

After the orthodontist we met up with Lena, Jonah and Jasmin and went 10 pin bowling, and then to Pizza Hut for lunch - as always it was lovely to see them, and although Rhian always moans before we meet up with them, the kids always get on really well, and Lena and I get to get a good chat in (although not as much as we like these days - the older kids are such ear-wiggers lol).

After lunch we popped into Woolworths to pick up some treats for Rhian to take with her on Thursday, to her last ever day at Playscheme! I remember taking this tiny little person to her first ever day at playscheme about this time 8 years ago - I can't believe it's time to stop going! We'll be leaving her "home alone" during the holidays while I'm at work, but I'm sure she'll be fine, and will probably not even get out of bed for most of the morning! Her first holidays will be the Christmas holidays, but I looked at how long she'll be on her own for, and there's only 1 day when Steve and I are both at work - so that's a nice gentle break-in for her!

2008-10-23T19:03:00.002+01:00

Week 6, Day 4!

Ray and Graham have been busy tiling this week, once the tiles finally arrived on Monday!

Ray's done a really good job matching the tiles - and the extension is finally looking like it's part of the house, rather than a section stuck on the back!

2008-10-19T20:00:00.002+01:00

Photo Update

Uploaded some photos from my phone yesterday, so thought I'd share them!

Here are Mum and I at the end of "Steps Under the Stars" - it was 4 in the morning, and we'd just walked 10 miles from Shalford Park in Guildford, to Farnham. It's not too late to sponsor us - just click here to get to our justgiving page :-)

As a teenager me and my friends used to spend most of the school holidays cycling around the area around Rowledge, near Farnham.

One of our favourite haunts was a place we called "Milnes Wood". We'd take picnics, and spend the whole day up there, chatting and "having adventures".

The weather was beautiful last weekend, so Rhian and I decided to go for a bike ride. We cycled out through Alice Holt Forest, and then made our way back to Mum's down the country lanes.

Half way home I decided to take a little de-tour to see if Milnes Wood was still the same as I remembered it.

And it was! There was a lot of litter about, but I was very happy to see the main attraction was still very much in place....

The rope swing!

When we were kids it just had a stick tied to the bottom of it, but it's gone all sophisticated and now has a plastic bin lid! Much more comfy!

Rhian really enjoyed it......

So I thought I should give it a go!

(I would like to explain this was still my cycling outfit, I hadn't done a risk assessment on the rope swing and decided that alot of personal protection equipment was required!)

It was fab :-)

2008-10-19T12:08:00.004+01:00

Before and After!

Steve and I started our diets on 4th July (after celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary with a curry blow out!) This was me then.

I look like I'm pregnant, I'm sure you'll agree! (which, I can totally ressure you, I AM NOT!) I was a tight size 12/14 on the bottom, and wearing a 16/18 on the top to cover the lumps and bumps.

The figures I blogged back then were:

weight: 11stone 6.25
waist: 33 inches
hips: 40 inches

2 weeks ago I reached my goal weight, which went down as the weight went down!

The statistic today stand at:

weight: 9 stone 5.5
waist: 28 inches
hips: 36 inches

I've had to invest in some new clothes, and am now wearing a size 8 bottom, and a size 10 on top - a very, very happy bunny! I'm feeling way more confident in myself, happier and fitter too. If you're thinking about shifting a bit of weight, I would stay stop thinking about it and get on and do it!

This is all thanks to weightwatchers, which I've been doing online only.

Steve is doing fantastically well on his diet (think 6 stone fantastic!), and is blogging about it all here. It's really nice to see my lovely husband back to his hunkiness, having lost the "c" from the beginning of the word lol!

2008-10-14T16:18:00.003+01:00

Week 5, Day 2!

First an "arty" shot, looking up from the current back door! Today they have boarded up the outside of the upstairs.....

and then started with the batons for the tiles :-)

Bad news is that they have just discovered the fuse box needs replacing (apparently bakelite isn't the "in thing" for fuse boxes anymore!), which will be over and above the original budget, but hey-ho!

2008-10-09T16:14:00.001+01:00

Week 4, day 4

And now we appear to have the most expensive gazebo on Alma Way (and for those of you from the camping trip - it's completely unlicenced lol - Mr with his clip-board would have a fit!)

2008-10-08T16:56:00.002+01:00

Week 4, Day 3

Roof frame today! :-)

2008-10-06T16:39:00.002+01:00

Week 4, Day 1

And today the timber framed upstairs went on!

It's huge!

No builders tomorrow as the scaffolders will be in again to move the scaffolding up so the roof can go on!

2008-10-02T16:50:00.002+01:00

Week 3, Days 2, 3 and 4!

Things seem to have slowed down a little bit, until the timber frame goes up, so I've not felt the need for a daily update!

Tuesday the builders spent all day putting up a partition wall in the living room (to stop dust, which is has now we've masking taped it all round lol), and knocking a big hole in the wall to house the steel beam.

Yesterday the steels went in - one above the new patio doors, one in the hole in the house, and another one between the two. They also put all the joists in for the new bedroom floor.

This is Kira's new bedroom!

This is the view from Kira's current room into the new dining end of the living room!

This is the current view from Kira's old room out to the garden.

Today the scaffolders came and moved the scaffolding up a level, so we can now get in and out of the new back door hole without crawling!

And the builders took all the tiles carefully off the back of the house. (they will be reusing them.)

another one!

2008-09-30T16:42:00.001+01:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

2008-09-30T14:17:00.002+01:00

Week 3, Day 1

It doesn't look as if a whole lot happened yesterday, but the lintels (is that how you spell it?) are in over the windows, and the walls are working their way skywards :-) We've not got too much further to go with the brick walls, as the upstairs is a timber frame.

The view through the new back door

2008-09-30T14:07:00.003+01:00

Week 2, Day 5

Sorry for the delay in posting - been busy getting on with life!

Anway, the scaffolding went up on Friday!

and Rhian took the opportunity to view progress from it!

We can't believe we've gone from this 2 weeks ago.....

and this at the beginning of the week to having something that is beginning to look scarily like an extension :D

High School Musical Preview!

2008-09-27T13:23:00.001+01:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

2008-09-25T17:20:00.002+01:00

Week 2, Day 4!

The inner half of the cavity walls have gone up today - and one of the toilet walls!

The view from the current back door.

The view from the back gate.

The view from the garden (which doesn't look very different from yesterday).

2008-09-24T18:42:00.002+01:00

Week 2, Day 3!

They've really cracked on today!

This is the view from the current back door! The window directly in front of you is the one that will be above the tumble dryer, the one to the left is the toilet window!

This is the new view from the back gate, and that's the new back door directly in front of you!

This is the view from the back garden (what a difference 10 days makes!)

This gap is going to be our lovely new patio doors and low level windows :-)

And this is our other cat, Dot, testing the strength of the new walls!

2008-09-23T17:50:00.002+01:00

Week 2, Day 2

So, today we have a floor slab, and a bit of wall! I'm really excited that you can see where the windows are going to be at the back of the living room - it's going to be so light and airy :-)

And here is the Supervisor, Elvis, who has been the foreman while our neighbours have had their extension, and now they've almost finished he's watching our guys like a hawk!

2008-09-22T16:02:00.002+01:00

Week 2 - Going Up!

I can't believe how much they've achieved in 1 day!

Tomorrow the concrete floor slab will be laid, then it's up up and away!

2008-09-21T14:23:00.002+01:00

Just some photos from the weekend!

Firstly, my big girl got her first ever ride on a motorbike - and it was a big hit! Steve picked her up her own helmet and gloves last weekend, and she popped on my protective trousers and jacket - which were a little on the big size, but fine!

I'm dead jealous as I've not had a chance to be pillion on the new bike yet - but apparently it has way more space that the old one.

Kira decided to use the scaffold plank for a bit of catwalk practice!

And this is the gauntlet we have to dodge everytime we need to go out the back door (which seems to be an awful lot at the moment!).

This photos also shows our names, recorded for all time in the foundations!

Yesterday was also the day I walked 10 miles, starting at midnight! Have a look at my other blog for the details! (too tired to type it out twice!)

2008-09-19T14:49:00.001+01:00

testing - couldn't put a second post on yesterday, so just checking before I do a big update!

2008-09-18T16:58:00.002+01:00

Day 4

And after a long wait (the concrete was due at 12, but didn't arrive until 3.15!), we have foundations!

The builders won't be back now until Monday, so no more "extension" updates until Monday!

2008-09-17T18:30:00.003+01:00

Day 3

This morning saw the arrival of the digger!

Will he make it through the gate?

he did :-) Expert driving!

Sadly they did manage to dig through the electricity supply to the garage, and blow the house fuses at the same time - only discovered when they wanted a cup of tea!

The fuse is fixed, and the electricity restored temporarily to the garage.

The footings are nearly dug - just got to have the holes checked by the building inspector tomorrow morning, then the concrete comes tomorrow afternoon!

Steve seems a little disappointed that it's not a very big space, but it's what we specified, which was the minimum we needed (and could afford!).

2008-09-16T17:25:00.002+01:00

Day 2!

The builders have been hard at it, even though the digger didn't make it today!

Here's the new view from the back gate (which isn't actually there anymore!)

There was chaos in the street as the skips arrived at 8 this morning! (both skips are now full, in case anyone was planning on coming round with their junk!)

Don't fall in Kira!

And, just for my fellow Cosy Mama Sebbie, the "hated hearth" lol

2008-09-15T16:58:00.001+01:00

Day One!

What a difference a day makes!

2008-09-14T16:41:00.005+01:00

The quiet before the Extension begins....

Today was the last day before the builders arrive - I can't believe it! We moved into this house just over 11 years ago, and almost straight away we began talking about extending the house. We never decorated as "when we extended" we would need to do it then!

So here we are, on the eve of the builders arriving! Tomorrow morning the builders should be arriving at 7.30 (yawn! I'm going to have to make a proper effort in the morning - not slouching around in my baggy old pj's until I'm ready for work at 8.30!).

I am planning on blogging extensively as the work goes on, so today I have taken some "before" shots....

This is the view from the back of the garden. The cream coloured scruffy looking thing on the back is currently Steve's study. This is being knocked down (hurrah!).

This is the current view from the front of the living room. The whole back wall is going! Steve's study is through the door.

This is the inside of the study! (recorded for prosperity - I'm expecting it to be gone by about Tuesday!)

This is the current view from the back gate. As you might be able to make out, the "study" used to be some kind of conservatory! The previous occupants of our house obviously owned cowboy boots and a stetson!

Over the course of the next few weeks (the builder reckons about 12, I remain sceptical!) we will be adding 2.5 metres onto the back of the living room, a "utility space", a downstairs toilet and a 4th bedroom (Kira's current room will become Steve's study, in case you were thinking we were planning more kids, or you were feeling sorry for Steve losing his "den" lol)

I'm not sure if I'm excited, or trepidatious! (is that a word!). We've certain got a lot to do ourselves in the next few weeks, to facilitate the build, as it were! We're going to move both girls into Rhian's room, as Kira's room needs the window being made smaller and is having a "light pipe" fitted, so she can't really stay in it! We're also going to strip the wallpaper in the living room so the plasterer can skim the walls (or more if required) so we will have lovely smooth walls to paint! I am also going to completely replace the fire surround and hearth, which I've never liked!

So..... wish us luck!

2008-09-08T14:51:00.003+01:00

First day back at school! (for Kira, poor Rhian has been back since last Thursday!)

Comparing this to the photo from last year, on my desk at work (and sadly apparently not anywhere the computer!), Kira has turned from a little grinning gappy girl, to quite a young lady! (and she's nearly grown into the cardigan!)

Rhian has just grown upwards!

2008-09-01T16:07:00.002+01:00

Kind Friends/New Shoes!

I am today the very grateful recipient of these:

from my friend Kate - who even, very kindly, delivered them to work for me!

Thank you Kate :-)

2008-08-23T08:29:00.002+01:00

Extension

We had Ray, the Builder, round on Thursday morning, and we're all good to go!

The study will be demolished sometime in the next 4 weeks (eek!), and the building proper will start on the 29th September! I can't believe it's finally all going to happen!

The logistics are a nightmare though - we've got all the study stuff to house somewhere, and we want to redecorate the living room while it's in a mess anyway. Kira's current room is getting a new, smaller window and a sun pipe, so that will need emptying too - and I've just remembered the bathroom's getting a sun pipe too!

The current plan is to move a lot of the superfluous stuff from the living room, Rhian's bed and a lot of study stuff into Mum's garage (thank you Mum!), and to move both girls into Rhian's room for the duration. (which will be quite a feat, considering the almighty amount of junk each of them have in their rooms!). Once Kira's new room is finished and decorated, both girls will move into there while we decorate Rhian's room (she's mortified that she's 12 and still has orange walls and winnie-the-pooh curtains!).

It is very exciting though!

2008-08-23T08:17:00.002+01:00

Holiday
Was a complete wash out! We headed down to Woolacombe on the Friday, all full of excitement and really looking forward to 2 weeks of sandy beaches and lovely camping. We got the tent up in the dry, after a slight argement, and Steve hurt his back and that already put him on a "camping downer". Saturday the weather changed, and we spent the day wondering round Woolacombe in the absolutely pouring rain. Sunday was the same, Monday was the same. Tuesday morning was the same, but we went to the beach anyway - and it cleared up in the afternoon and we got some wicked body boarding in (amazing fun!). Wednesday there were 50 mph winds, hailstones and more rain. The 5 day forecast was for much the same, and we decided to call it a day and "holiday from home". Those of you that know us and our general love for camping will know that the weather must have been pretty shite for us to have made that decision - we're hardened campers!

The campsite was lovely though - Warcombe Farm - with the best facilities I've ever seen on a campsite. The heated floor in the shower block was a particular treat :-)

We stayed true to our word, and once home we have had days out and generally explored places near home we would never have normally done (Winchester, Hampton Court and even Birdworld!). Steve even had his first ice-skating experience in 20 years!

The silver-lining to all this is that Steve has agreed that next year we go abroad! We are looking into revisiting our favourite Lanzarote - and the girls are extremely excited :-)

We will go back to Woolacombe - but probably not in a tent!

Did manage to catch this photo of Rhian on the trampoline though..

Test

2008-08-02T14:49:00.001+01:00

Hello

Posted with LifeCast

2008-07-30T15:19:00.002+01:00

Update

Changes are going well - Steve has already lost over 2 stone, and I've hit the half a stone mark - which I'm really chuffed about :-). Steve is doing his "slim" as a sponsored slim, so if you want to donate to the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, hop over to his blog and click on the "donate" widget on the right.

The trampoline has gone down an absolute storm, as I knew it would! Last night Steve got home from work to find all 3 of us on it - playing "crack the egg" :-$ (don't ask!)

School Holidays are going well, so far. Tomorrow the girls are at Mum's, and Steve has them on Friday and Monday. We go on holiday a week on Friday - that's crept up really fast!

I'm now the proud owner of a sparkly new IPhone, so I will see if I can work out how to blog from it, and maybe update my blog while we're away!

2008-07-04T09:12:00.002+01:00

All Change! (hopefully!)

Steve and I have decided it's time to shift some weight. He's decided to do the "drastic" route, and I'm going back to the tried and tested Weightwatchers.

OK - here's the stats:

weight: 11stone 6.25
waist: 33 inches
hips: 40 inches

My initial aim is to lose a stone, with an ultimate goal of ending up at around 10 stone, for life! Before I had Kira I used to hover easily around the 9 and 3/4 stone mark, but since having her we've got older, and eat far more take-aways, and it's just crept on.

I've taken some photos of Steve this morning, and I'll get him to take some "before" shots of me tonight, and hopefully we'll see some difference before too long!

Watch this space!

Boing, Boing!

After many, many years of me telling Steve how much the girls would love a trampoline in the garden, and how much play value it had, he's finally given in! I've struck quickly before he's changed his mind, and currently have a 10ft trampoline with enclosure on order :-) I think the girls are going to be really excited! (of course, I'm not! lol)

2008-07-03T14:26:00.002+01:00

Recognise these people?

(sorry it's sideways!)

3rd July 1993 - 15 years ago this very afternoon!

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun ;-)

2008-06-24T17:16:00.002+01:00

Catching Up

We've had a busy time recently - and Steve has kindly covered most of them in his blog - pop on over to http://www.stevedavis.me.uk/ to see what we've been up to and to save me typing it all out again! He's also put a very honest post on there about how he's currently feeling about himself, which was difficult for me to read. He now has a plan, and I plan to be there, supporting him, every step of the way.

If you don't want to read all Steve's mutterings (hopefully this way I can avoid you all hot-footing over there an finding a video of me and Rhian playing rock band), you can look at our holiday photos , our Twickenham photos and our Foo Fighters photos with simple clicks here!

We've got more excitement to come in the next few weeks - next week we've got our 15th wedding anniversary (although we have absolutely nothing planned!), we've got a trip to Goodwood Festival of Speed, a camping weekend with a big group of friends, and it's not all that long to our main 2 week camping holiday :D And of course, after all that, is (drum roll please....) The Extension!

2008-06-24T17:00:00.002+01:00

Stupidly proud of myself!

You know how those little jobs just never get done, they're a minor annoyance, but not so much so that you need to do something about them?

About 3 years ago the runners on our "saucepan drawer" in the kitchen broke, so we've been pushing it shut (I say we, but generally it's only me that goes into the kitchen and opens drawers and cupboards - the others just come and collect food :-$) with a foot. About 2 weeks ago the front became detached (it just came off in my hand, 'onhest guv!), and it became a higher priority on my "to do" list.

Friday I raided B&Q and came out armed with wood screws, blocks to screw into the corners (I'm dead technical!) and a new set of randomly selected runners. I promptly set-to in the kitchen, screwing, swearing, screwing some more, yelling at kids who dared interupt me (What do you mean "what are we having for tea" it's only... oh erm... 6! ) until I'd completed the job. I proudly offer up my drawer to my new installed runners..... only to find they are too wide, and proffered drawer doesn't fit into proffered-up-to drawer hole :-(

Saturday saw me and Rhian on a fruitless search of all the local diy hideouts, although I am now the sad owner of my own set of screw drivers and a rather fetching pink tool box! A 2 minute inernet search reached the parts a 2 hour diy trip hadn't, and I'd order myself a lovely set of "groove runners single extension 27 x 278" for £3.38 + pp from SDSLondon.co.uk (I'm including the full details in case I ever need to order some more!).

The postie tried to deliver them this morning, so I popped and collected them from the post office this afternoon, and after only 29 minutes I had completed the fixing of the drawer (I only managed to re-attach the front on Friday - the back fell off in the process of fixing the front :-$) and had attached my lovely new, slimmer fitting, runners.

I now have the most sturdy, most smooth running saucepan drawer in the northern hemisphere.

and it's all my own work.

I need to get out more.......

ps - don't tell Steve, I think I'd just about managed to persuade him to add a new kitchen into the plans for the extension!

2008-05-08T19:20:00.002+01:00

Now this one surprised me again - but mainly as I've never really looked at my sister's face the same size as Dad's before - and I hadn't realised they had the same shaped face!

Like I needed telling..

2008-05-08T19:17:00.001+01:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

2008-05-08T19:14:00.002+01:00

This one surprised me too! Although I always think that Kira looks like Steve, and that the girls look very similar, so I suppose Rhian probably does look like Steve then!

2008-05-08T19:07:00.002+01:00

Found this site on another blog - and was very surprised with this result! Kira is generally considered to be the spitting image of her Dad!

2008-05-05T12:45:00.002+01:00

Steve has been away since Saturday morning - 9 days motorbiking the length and breadth of Scotland, lucky sod :-)

Spent a lovely day yesterday with my sister Lou, my niece Milly and Lou's partner Jon - had lunch, then a good wander around the camping exhibition. Turns out Jon is a closet camper, and we're now planning a camping weekend for the 7 of us sometime in the near future :-) Really looking forward to that!

We then went for a bike ride - popped into the Churchyard to visit Dad's stone, and check that the flowers we'd left on Wednesday (his birthday) were still OK. They were freesias, the same colours as the ones we'd chosen from the girls to have on his coffin. They were looking beautiful and smelt wonderful. We were all on our bikes, even Milly, and he would have been so proud to have seen us - he was a great cyclist before the cancer hit, and only 1 month before his diagnoses him and Mum spent a month cycling round France. After the church we popped into Alice Holt. Milly got tired so she, Lou and Kira found a place to build a camp, while Rhian and I went for a quick burn! I'd forgotten how much I enjoy cycling, and the sense of freedom it gives you. The girls bikes are now at Mum's too, so hopefully we can pop over there after school and weekends and actually use them! The trouble with cycling from here is that it's just too hilly, and the roads are too busy, whereas Mum's is mostly flat and far quieter!

After the woods we decided to go to the park, although unfortunately somehow Rhian managed to fall off her bike (she's almost as bad as my Mum, who was always falling off!) and skinned her elbow. She claims there was "something" in her wheel - but I could see no evidence lol! Luckily, apart from the elbow, the only thing damaged was her pride!

Talking of cycling (tenuous link coming up!) last weekend I did my motorbike compulsory basic training, so I could (if only Steve would let me!) ride a 125 with L plates for the next 2 years! I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I really wasn't as bad or as nervous as I thought I would be. Steve, very sensibly, says I need to do some proper lessons and pass a test before I do anything else - my pleadings that I needed practice fell on dead ears, and my ebay search for a cheap 125 was cut short lol!

I've just been looking at the calendar and the next few weeks are going to be busy - friends for lunch, camping in the Isle of Wight, a family trip to England v. Barbarians at Twickers, Foo Fighters at Wembley, to name most of them!

Oh, oh, OH! I nearly forgot - we've booked a builder!!! yay! I'm dead excited - he can't start now until the end of September, what with builders mucking us around with quotes etc, but he can start, and he can start for a price we can afford! It also gives us plenty of time to sort out the finance!

2008-04-18T09:04:00.002+01:00

Nearly through the school holidays!

Must be time for a quick update!

Even Kira said that the 2 week holidays have gone past quickly! The girls have been at playscheme most of the time, but I had the day off last Friday and took them iceskating, and today we are off to the Aquadrome :-)

Quotes have come in, well, 2 out of the 3 anyway, and one is much cheaper than the other, so I guess that's the way we'll be going! Need to check that we are actually going to be able to borrow some money, with all the "credit crunch" that's going on at the moment!

Poor Sid, one of our kittens we got last September, just after Dad died, was hit by a car and died on Sunday morning :-( We had a call from the people 3 doors down who found him dead and stiff (and curled up like he was asleep), and Steve went down to pick him up. We then took his body down to the vet for cremation. Poor Sid - Elvis is a little bit lost now - Sid was his "bro" and they were always scrapping and chasing each other about.

Steve and I have been talking a lot recently about a possible move - still very much at the early discussion stage, but watch this space!

Steve is off on his bike trip 2 weeks tomorrow! then only a couple of weeks after that and we're off to the Isle of Wight - I'm quite excited!

2008-03-24T16:39:00.002Z

Happy Easter

We've had a busy one!

Friday saw us having lunch with Catherine and Paul, then straight to dinner with Mel and Pete!

Saturday we went to Ruth and Andy's for lunch, and yesterday we had lunch at Mum's!

It's been a great long weekend, seeing lots of friends and chatting and eating in excellent company all weekend :-)

We're also waiting on quotes from builders for the extension - and I'm just seriously hoping they come in at a price we can afford, or I'm going to be really disappointed! We've been building up to "the extension" for 10 years, and have been really excited about it for the last 7 or 8 months, and if we can't afford it I'm just going to cry!!

2008-02-26T14:51:00.002Z

Weird Stuff

So I'm not particularly weird or posh!

2008-02-26T14:41:00.003Z

Grampy

Mum and I never made it up to see him on Sunday - he passed away in hospital at about 5.30 am on Sunday morning.

Apparently he had a large tumour in his stomach, and that was what had been causing all his recent problems.

I am so glad we saw him only 2 weeks ago - he was really pleased to see us and we all had a good chat with him.

I do feel a bit odd though, as if I ought to be more involved in arrangements and things, as we would have been if Dad was still here. The rest of the family (Grampy's brothers and sisters) are arranging the funeral as they are all in the area, and he appointed his youngest brother as executor when Dad's diagnoses got worse last summer. At the moment we don't even know when the funeral is going to be :-$

He was 87, so had lead a long, and I think happy, life. He had some tales to tell about flying Lancaster's during the war, and last year he actual got to sit in his old seat in one of the last surviving planes at an airbase in Lincolnshire.

RIP Grampy :-(

2008-02-26T14:40:00.001Z

MySpace Tests

How posh are you?

2008-02-23T10:52:00.002Z

It's been a while!

Without me realising it almost 2 months have passed since I was last here!

What's happened?

Not a lot!

We did spent a beautiful weekend at a "shed" near New Milton on the South Coast last weekend - when I say shed I am actually talking about a 3 bed, 2 bath lodge, with all mod cons! The weather was cold, but without a cloud in the sky, and we spent a lot of time just walking along the beaches you could walk to from the site, swimming (the girls went 4 times over the weekend!) and eating out :-)

The previous weekend we drove up to visit Grampy on the Sunday. He's really not very well at all, and in fact Mum phoned me earlier today to say he was rushed into hospital last night, so Mum and I might pop up to see him tomorrow :-(

We've booked our August holiday - we're off to a campsite near Woolacombe on the North Devon coast. The girls really wanted to go back to Burrowhayes, but we decided that the slope was just too much to cope with for another fortnight, so we pulled rank and booked somewhere further along the coast! Hopefully there are nicer beaches and more things to do, so I am really looking forward to it. I really need to pull my finger out and book something for our May holiday too, but I'm struggling to find some motivation at the moment!

We got our planning permission! I'm really keen to get moving, but we need to get the "building regulations" paperwork from our architect, but he is the slowest man on the planet (we were warned before we started with him!), and although he said he'd put them in the post on Monday, they've failed to materialise (which is no surprise!), but we need them to start getting quotes from builders.

And the birthdays are nearly upon us again! Kira wants to take a couple of friends ice skating, and Steve's told me that we're doing "something" on the day before my birthday, but to ask no more questions!

2008-01-01T20:01:00.000Z

Happy New Year!

Another year over! How did that happen! Alot happened in 2007, mainly loosing my dear old Dad, so we won't dwell on that :-(

There's a lot to look forward to for 2008 - holidays to book and go one and hopefully an extension approved and built :-) We haven't had any objections from our neighbours, the highways department are happy, the town council "have no objections in principal, but are concerned about possible issues relating to neighbours "residential amenity" - whatever that may be?! If it's to do with taking their light, that's not a problem as the sun goes round the other way. Anyhow, we'll hopefully know one way or the other soon, as they've said we should get a decision on 23rd January.

I'm back at work tomorrow :-( Not looking forward to it - but it will be fine (fingers crossed!). The girls are both back at school on Thursday, and Steve is off on Friday as well- they're forecasting snow for the end of the week, so hopefully it will settle and he'll actually get a chance to play in it! Each time it has snowed recently it's thawed by the weekends :-(

Happy New Year everyone - I hope 2008 is a happy and healthly year for you all.

2007-12-24T21:32:00.000Z

Merry Christmas!

Here we are - it's Christmas Eve!

We are completely ready - Steve and Rhian stuffed the (enormous) turkey earlier today and peeled the vegetables, Kira and I laid the table. I wrapped all the presents at the end of last week.

The girls are now in bed, having put on their Christmas PJs (the only present they are allowed to open today), watched Polar Express (while drinking hot chocolate), put out the mince pie, carrots and milk, sprinkled the reindeer dust, and Steve read them the night before Christmas :-) I love the traditions!

Tomorrow we have 9 of us for lunch, including Mum (hopefully, she's got a rotten flu-like thing going on). It's going to be really hard for her especially, but we've made sure there's no gap around the table where Dad should be, and we're all sitting in different places from last year (it's the same people this year, apart from Dad : ( ).

We popped up and saw Dad (well, his stone) this afternoon. It brings it home again :-(, but I feel we've said "Merry Christmas" to him now, and he know he's not forgotten.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone - have a drink for me with your lunch tomorrow!

2007-12-06T14:16:00.000Z

Countdown to Christmas!

It's not so long to go now! Steve and I had the afternoon Christmas shopping last Friday, and the bulk of it is now well and truly done - Yay! Just some teeny weeny bits that need doing still, and then it's just the wrapping!

I had a bit of fun last night with this - Steve, me and the girls as you've (hopefully) never seen us before!

Christmas Tree goes up next week - not looking forward to having to stop Sid and Elvis climbing up it and knocking decorations off it!

2007-11-22T22:06:00.000Z

Is this me?

Your Score: 7 - the Adventurer

Thanks for taking the test !

you chose AX - your Enneagram type is SEVEN (aka "The Enthusiast").

"I am happy and open to new things"

Adventurers are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

How to Get Along with Me

Give me companionship, affection, and freedom.
Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter.
Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories.
Don't try to change my style. Accept me the way I am.
Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people.
Don't tell me what to do.

What I Like About Being a SEVEN

being optimistic and not letting life's troubles get me down
being spontaneous and free-spirited
being outspoken and outrageous. It's part of the fun.
being generous and trying to make the world a better place
having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures
having such varied interests and abilities

What's Hard About Being a SEVEN

not having enough time to do all the things I want
not completing things I start
not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career
having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies
feeling confined when I'm in a one-to-one relationship

SEVENs as Children Often

are action oriented and adventuresome
drum up excitement
prefer being with other children to being alone
finesse their way around adults
dream of the freedom they'll have when they grow up

SEVENs as Parents

are often enthusiastic and generous
want their children to be exposed to many adventures in life
may be too busy with their own activities to be attentive

Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele

The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
Harper SanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages

You liked the test?
so S P R E A D I T ! tell everyone!!! (use Quick-Paste below)

you wanna know MORE?
so check out, what Wikipedia says about your type...

...even more you'll find in Google

or do you prefer to

You are not completely happy with the result?!
You chose AX

Would you rather have chosen:

BX (NINE)

CX (TWO)

AY (EIGHT)

AZ (THREE)

Link: The Quick & Painless ENNEAGRAM Test written by felk on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Thoughts?

2007-11-04T16:31:00.000Z

She's a Poet and we didn't know it

Kira came to me this morning with a poem she'd written - one of those ones where you use the letters of the word as the start of each line. It went like this...

Sunny
Umbrellas on the beach (turns out she'd copied this bit from a book)
Mum hates
Meat
Eat the
Rat

Um.... not quite the lovely poem I'd expected lol!

Her next one, with a bit of guidance about the fact that these poems were supposed to be related to the word you were using, was much better...

Christmas Presents are good
Happy people get presents
Room is decorated
Ice is outside
Santa does come and bring presents to you
Time is fast
Mums are happy
Air is frozen
Santa is tired

Presents obviously feature pretty high on her Christmas radar :-0

2007-10-29T17:56:00.000Z

Quickie!

Just an extremely quick update!

click on this to look at the photobook I've pulled together that shows the highlights of the year so far! (It was the easiest way I could think to get the holiday photos on here!)

And Dad's fund for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice actually ended up at £1,670! He would have been so proud!

The ceremony on Friday went really well - was more emotional that I think any of us were expecting, but was lovely. Mum says she feels better now that he's "back in the village".

2007-10-20T12:54:00.000+01:00

Round Up!

It's been a while since I've managed a proper post!

If you also read Steve's blog hopefully you'll have seen we gave Dad a good send off - he would have been very happy with the arrangements, and absolutely flabbergasted at how many people turned up - he was so unassuming I don't think he would have believed he would have attracted such a crowd! Everyone has been very generous, and the fund in his memory for Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice is well over £1,000 - so thank you to everyone who donated.

Life without Dad is strange - there are moments when I forget he's gone, and it suddenly hits me. Obviously I have other things going on in my life to distract me, but Mum is still really struggling, given that she has to face day-to-day existence without the one person who was always there to share it with her.

We are having a short service on Friday to inter his ashes at Rowledge Church, and there will be a stone there - so we will all have a focal point if we need to be with him, if you know what I mean.

Extension Plans

We are finally moving forward with this, and after a couple of minor tweaks, the plans should be going to planning permission within the next month. Hopefully we will end up with an extra half again on the length of the living room, a 2nd toilet and a lovely big 4th bedroom, which means Kira can actually have a full-sized bed! I'm still not quite sure how we're going to afford it, but it's much needed so I'm sure we'll find a way.

School

Both girls are firmly ensconced in their new schools, and are both enjoying themselves (although Rhian, at nearly 12, would never actually admit to that fact!). Kira is doing really well, and was very chuffed to discover last week that she was being put in the top group (of 3) for maths :-) She is borderline though, but the teacher thinks she will cope well and will up her game to keep pace! Parent's evening for Kira was a joy, and she's doing well, making new friends and keeping out of trouble :-)

Teeth

The tooth fairy has been busy round here recently - although she can be a little forgetful! Rhian has lost 4 teeth, and Kira has lost one. Kira has finally got some teeth to fill her massive gap, which I will miss, but will make it easier for her to eat corn on the cob (was I particularly cruel to laugh at her?). The tooth we expected to come through OK has done, with a full quota of enamel, and the one we expect to be rather wonky broke cover yesterday - so it's a "wait and see" game on that one, but it has actually come through - 6 months after the supernumary was taken out!

That'll do for now as I've got to go and collect Rhian from a party (!), and then I think I need to go Boot shopping!

I'll be back! and perhaps I'll even get round to posting some holiday photos - although that seems like an age ago!

2007-10-11T22:11:00.001+01:00

Memories of Dad

I've been pulling together the photos we've got of Dad electronically, and am having them printed up into a "photo book".

The final book is also available online here

Will find time for a proper post shortly

2007-09-02T16:55:00.000+01:00

Introducing....

Sid and Elvis :-)

9 weeks old, very sweet, and hopefully a lovely distraction for us all.

We'd decided a couple of months ago that we would get 2 kittens when we got home from holiday, and Steve left me alone this morning with nothing to do but surf the free-ads, and the rest is history! and don't ask about the names - sadly Sid was my suggestion but Elvis was Steve's!

2007-09-02T07:47:00.001+01:00

Goodbye Dad

After my post last Saturday, things happened quickly. The girls and I spent a lovely day with Mum, Dad, Lou and Milly. We spent a lot of time up with Dad, and while he was confused at times, he had a good afternoon, enjoying Rhian combing his hair, whipping her with a towel, chatting with Kira and Milly about Milly's Pepper Pig house. Kira organised a card for him and got everyone to sign it - and signed it herself for "Steeve" as he wasn't there! He even came downstairs and sat on the sofa for a while.

We stayed for a bit when Lou had gone (as he'd just struggled all the way downstairs - I didn't want him to feel as if he'd come downstairs and now everyone was going home). By the time we left he was back in bed, so I popped up to say goodbye, with the girls following me up. Poor Dad was curled up in bed so, so sad saying to me that he wasn't going to see the girls grow up and he desperately wanted to. I told him that wherever he was he would see them, and that they would certainly never forget him. The girls came in and he hugged them, and told Rhian to make something of her life, and Kira to "be good", and we all cried for a bit. Now we know that he was actually saying goodbye to them.

I went back on Monday evening to give Mum a break, and see how things were. He was still much the same, although he had had a difficult day.

Tuesday I was back at work, and the girls had had a good day at playscheme. We'd just had tea all together and got the girls to bed, when Mum phoned and said that the nurses had said that Lou and I ought to get there as soon as we could. I phoned Lou, then just ran around the house trying to change my t-shirt for some reason, until Steve caught up with me and just told me to go. When I got there they had just put the syringe driver in to replace his pain medications, and it included a sedative and an anti-sickness drug (he had just been sick before I arrived). He was very agitated, and so, so scared. We had a very, very difficult night with him, taking it in turns to sleep - although I think we only managed a maximum of 2 hours each. By the morning though he had fallen into a deep sleep, and we just sat with him. Steve took the girls to playscheme, and I stayed with Mum, Lou and Dad. Lou and I had a fun morning, trying on several occasions to stop him trying to get out of bed - which he was really not happy about. He was generally in good humour though - and still told the nurses that he was "not too bad" when they asked how he was - typical Dad! Things showed no signs of changing any imminently, and after a discussion with the nurse it was agreed that I would collect the girls from playscheme, and come back for the night shift when Steve got home from work. I was tired that I collected the girls, explained what was happening, then sat them in front of a DVD and collapsed into bed. I'd been asleep for about 20 minutes when the phone rang, it was Lou saying I needed to be back there as soon as I could again, but it would be OK to wait until Steve got home. I phoned Steve and he left work straight away, and I got back to Mum and Dad's at about 5pm. Dad was very agitated, and the nurses were there giving him a bigger dose of the sedative to try and settle him down. This worked beautifully and he fell into what appeared to be a deep sleep.

As he was so peaceful at about 11, after the twilight nurses had given him another sedative dose and rolled him onto his side, Mum snuggled up with him for the night, and Lou and I went to bed (well, I went to the sofa!) I woke up at about 1.30, after hearing Mum on the phone - Dad was very, very agitated again, and the night nurse was coming out. A lovely lady called Kate came and gave him a sedative, and noticed that he was actually in pain as well, so gave him another pain killing injection. That settled him again, and we all went back to sleep until about 4.30, where he was getting agitated again. Kate came back at about 5.30, and topped him up again, which again settled him. We then resumed our various sleeping positions, until about 8 o'clock, when we decided we'd all had a good sleep and we should get up (although nobody had actually made it as far as getting changed or anything!) Mum had a bath, and the day nurses came in at about 9.30 - and advised that Lou would be OK to head back to Battersea for the day to do some bits she really needed to do, and to see Milly. Steve had taken Kira to playscheme and then had gone to work, and Rhian had gone to the science museum with Tallis. I dropped Lou off at the station, then popped home to get washed and changed, and I stuck a few bits into my bag for another overnight stay, then headed straight back to help Mum. The nurses had only just left - but they'd told Mum that he wasn't happy with them as they'd given him a bed bath, and shaved him (he hated by unshaven) and generally fiddled about with him a lot - and that he would be tired and grumpy! He was very grumbly, but he was still settled. He didn't appear so heavily sedated - he wasn't agitated, but he was responding with sounds to things we were talking to him about - we talked to him all the time the last few days. We had lunch, then Mum snuggled back down with him for a sleep. I left them to it and sat downstairs checking emails. About 2.30 I became aware that he was getting noisier, and after about 5 minutes I realised I couldn't hear Mum, and that she would normally be reassuring him he was OK. I went up, and Mum was so exhausted she was sleeping through it all - I did check she was breathing! I sat with him for a couple of minutes, then decided to phone the nurses to come out for him again.

Lou phoned to say she was on her way back - Mum slept through that as well! I just sat with Dad, talking and talking to him, and he was still responding with noises - and I will always treasure those minutes we had, just me and him. Mum woke up and I told her what was happening. The nurses arrived about 3.45, and I went to pick Lou up from the station. Lou and I got back about 4.20, driving past Jan the nurse on Lickfolds Road. We drove past Mel, Gill, Joe and Seth as well, so we stopped for a quick chat with them too.

We got inside and went upstairs and told Dad we were all back - Mum was quietly talking to him so we left them, and Lou went for a fag and I brought the washing in. I was putting the washing away and called to Mum to see if it was OK to go in the room - she said to come in, so I explained that Lou was just going to sleep for half an hour - she just shook her head and said I don't think she's got time.

Dad's breathing had completely changed, and it was only tiny, gentle breaths, so peaceful. He was still responding and Mum told him that she thought she might have a ruby put into his wedding ring when she had it made the right size. He seemed to approve of this.

We all sat there with him, and gradually the little breaths got littler, and further apart. Several times there was a longer gap and we all held our breaths, but then he'd just take another one.

The penultimate breath he shut his eyes gently, and the last one came.

It was so peaceful, so beautiful, and so, so sad.

Such a kind, patient, loving, generous, unassuming man - and he will be very much missed.

I am very glad that the girls have known him, and will always remember him.

Sorry, I don't think this has been very eloquent, and it is here more for my benefit than anyone elses - I guess it will be painful reading and I might delete it at some point in the future, but I felt it was something I needed to write down.