Monthly Archives: June 2024

Half Way Through The Week!

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Thank you for all the lovely Birthday Wishes.  I had a lovely day doing not alot!  The weather was nice and I got to see both of my Boys and Little Man too, so a good day all round.  I also had the week off work, I did do a bit of work but not much but I did get some other jobs done which I wanted to do.  Jayne and I went for lunch which was very nice and had a lovely catch up. 

I had some lovely presents from the family and friends.  Jayne bought me a lovely plant and some earings and DH and The Boys bought me some things for the garden and some body lotions and DH got me several books which are now on my TBR shelf!  I need to get reading!

Saturday we were at the swimming open and the day went well although it was very warm outside which meant it was like a sauna inside!  The swimmers had a good session and then after it finished DH had to load everything up and go and set up for the event on Sunday at a different pool. I went with him but stayed in the car and read my book, although because it was warm I did doze off!!!! They had a hotter day on Sunday and the pool again was like a sauna!  I spent the day getting jobs done and everything sorted for the new week. 

Monday I was at Eldest’s work, which I usually do today, because their dog, Honey was at the vets for her to be spayed and I was on hand to collect her incase Eldest had a fire call.  We took her home as she was a little woozy from her Op but she was fine.  We stayed for a while and visited with The Girls and Little Man and then got home about 8.00pm.

Yesterday and today has been very warm, 26°C, and so I have spent both days at my desk with the fan going.  Coco is a mad puppy who loves being outside, she runs around for a bit and then comes in and lays on our tiled floor to get cool and then goes out again!  Although I did shut the door in the afternoon so she went and lay in her crate as it is cool in our dining room.  The rest of this week is still due to be warm and sunny but not as hot which will be very nice!

Little Man asleep with arms apart keeping cool!

I have home jobs to do tomorrow as well as the washing & ironing.  Friday I have some other jobs to do and then Saturday is supposed to be nice and warm but not hot, so we will be doing the garden because Sunday is the start of Carnival week in the village.  I will not see a lot of DH all week and I will be cooking and leaving dinner out for everyone to eat when they get in.  The Boys have for many years helped out at the various events but not this year as Youngest is busy with his business and swimming coaching and Eldest is busy with his work and being an on-call firefighter so they will not be around this year.  I am going to spend the weekday evenings and the following weekend, getting some more jobs done especially if it is warm.

I hope you lovely lot are having a great week and the weather is being kind to you.  A good friend flew out on Sunday (after spending all day with us on Saturday at the pool) to Alberta, Canada to see her brother and sister-in-law who she has not seen for a while.  She was busy packing summer things until her sister-in-law sent her a picture a week ago with it snowing!  Snowing in June would you believe it?!!!!!!  

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xxx

A Little Bit of Quilting.

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I know don’t faint, some quilting here on my Quilting Blog!!!  I know it is ages since I managed to get some done!  This was actually a finish too, so a double win.

This is a Baby Quilt for our Boys Godparents, their first Grandchild a little Girl called Darcie.

It has been a year in the making as we did not know that they were expecting so it has taken a while to get it made, quilted and finished because of everything else going off, including the arrival of our Little Man!

As we knew she was a little girl I wanted to use some fabric which was particularly girly and this is Lewis & Irene – Celtic Faeries.  I love the colours and the whimsy of it.

This is the back above.

I now have Eldest’s quilt to finish which will take a while longer as it is a King size quilt for their bed!!! I have been doing the above quilt’s binding in the evening whilst dinner has been cooking and also after dinner too and it has been done quickly so am planning on doing his the same way. 

This weekend we have our swimming club’s Open tomorrow from 7.00am and then DH is out on Sunday at another Club’s Open!  I will spend the day trying to get things tidy and organised for next week.  It is a slow week which is great because the following weekend the Village Carnival starts for the week so I will not see a lot of DH but I am planning on getting the boxes from our attic sorted out during the week.  I still have a long list of jobs to get done but I am slowly ticking them off and hope to get them all done by the end of this year.

Have a wonderful weekend.  It looks like summer has arrived here for the time being as it is sunny and warm with no rain at the moment, but we are not shouting too loud about it, in case it changes again. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Flowery Wednesday!

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Thought I would show you how the flowers are doing in the garden, which is very well especially with all the rain we are having!

My Hydrangea (above) and the Pansies (below)

The other Hydrangea and Pansies

My Lavender it its pot is doing well.

This is my hardy Geranium, I put this in last year and it flowered a little bit but this year it has done really well.

The Fox Glove just coming out.

This is my Birthday Present from our good friends, Pat & Alan, we also go out for a meal for our Birthdays as well.

This lovely blue Agapanthus is from Jayne as part of my Birthday present.  James (her son and Eldest’s Best Friend from school) is a Plantsman and got it for me and I am going to put it in a pot as our soil seems to kill a lot of things.

This is our Pond and I wanted to show you how full it is after all the rain we have had!

This is my Clematis which I thought had died last year and as you can see it now has gone mad with all the rain!  It flowers in the Autumn with small bell like flowers and I will try and get a picture of them.

Jayne and I had a lovely lunch at a pub called The Grouse & Claret out in Derbyshire and a lovely drive there and back, although it was not sunny!  So much for Summer.  I think our summer is going to be like this the whole way through with rain and cooler temperatures, although it is supposed to be warmer towards the end of this week and the weekend.  It will be, of course, because we are at a swimming pool for our swimming club Open all day Saturday and DH is at another pool all day Sunday!  Just when the weather will be good to get some gardening done! The following weekend we have Saturday available and then Sunday will be the start of the Village Carnival so nothing will be done that week or the following weekend!  Hey ho!!!

Happy Wednesday. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

A Lazy Week.

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I am supposed to be off this week from work and getting some nice jobs done as opposed to Work and Home Jobs!!  Of course the best laid plans and all that, yesterday I ended up doing some work and a basket full of ironing!  But at least it got done.

They were all here on Saturday night for Partner’s Birthday.  Sure enough it rained most of the day and it was so wet we could not sit outside, Flaming June!!!  I did get her cake made though.

Even if I do say it myself, it tasted good and it came out a very light cake!

I decorated our dining table for the evening.

As it was also Father’s Day on Sunday DH and Eldest had their presents too as well as Partner’s.

Honey came as well so Coco had a friend to play with although they both ended up in their crates for a little while for them to calm down a bit.  It would have been great for them to both be running round outside which they did get to do for a short while before it rained again.

Has it stopped raining yet Mom? (I still think she is part Kangaroo!!!!)

Jayne and I are out for Lunch today for our Birthdays.  Can’t wait.

I hope you lovely lot are having a great week. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Happy Father’s Day.

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Happy Father’s Day

My Daddy & Mom on their wedding day.

DH, The Best Daddy in the World.

Eldest on his first Father’s Day!

Youngest, The Best Uncle!

To All the Daddies who are there for children even when they are not related and to all the Daddies in Heaven, we love you all.

Have a Wonderful Father’s Day

Hugs & Love, Susie, Eldest, Youngest & Coco xxxx

Going Head in Sand Mode!

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Yes I am heartily sick of all the political news now, especially with our General Election for July 4th, which is in the middle of our Village Carnival Week!  They use our Village Hall all week for the various events but the Election team hold the voting in the Village Hall too so it is going to be a very busy day!  Our papers and news are full of the various policital points and not much else!  Well I suppose it goes along with our cold, rainy weather!!!!

I have not had chance to get in my sewing room for a while now but I am taking next week off work so will hopefully get some bits done then.  Also going to take the week to have a rest as it has been fraught for the last few months. 

Blaze’s new Bed, Play Tunnel, blanket and toys to keep him entertained.

Here is Blaze

Youngest’s Girlfriend is also moving in with us over the weekend and she has managed to transfer her job from where she is now to Derbyshire which is great news.  She is also bringing her C A T, but we are calling him the little black dog, so Coco does not go mad.  They have had a couple of days of introduction and they have both done really well.  Blaze, the little black dog (!), is used to dogs but Coco has not had any experience of C A T but I am sure they will get on really well after the first few weeks.  They are both young so that helps!  I will let you have some more pictures when they have moved in.

Off to get home jobs done now and then dinner.  Tomorrow is cake making day!  Have a wonderful Thursday.

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Baking To Be Done.

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I have quite a bit of baking to do before the weekend.  It is Eldest’s Partner’s Birthday Saturday and she loves Victoria Sponge cake, so I am going to make Nigella Lawson’s version,below.Nigella always puts a spin on traditional recipes and this one she puts pieces of fruit on the jam and before the cream goes on.  I am going to be using strawberries as they are in season at the moment and June is meant for strawberries!  I will remember to take pictures before we cut it. 

We are going to get a Takeaway for main so all I have to do is dessert and another favourite of my family is a no bake cheescake which has orange zest in and again has strawberries on top it is such a refreshing pudding. 

Also have a few other cakes I want to make whilst I am in baking mode!  A lemon drizzle cake which I am also going to modify and put a layer of lemon curd in and some of my Christmas cookies (I know it is early but they are great any time of the year!) and I also have a request for some cheesy stars which I usually make at Christmas as nibbles which I thought I would do for Saturday too.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

The Cheesy Stars on the right

Still keeping up with all my jobs so baking will be done on Friday.  The weather still looks to be raining on Saturday, so we may be sitting inside which is not a problem, it would have just been nice to be outside it is summer supposedly!  They are saying that the jet stream is sitting too low at the moment so we are getting cold air from the Artic instead of warm air from the south!  It certainly has been very cool in the evenings!

I hope you are all having a lovely Wednesday.  Today is Jayne’s Birthday and we are going out next Tuesday for Birthday Lunch together, can’t wait! 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Good Grief Charlie Brown!!!!

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Well after a bit of a wrangle and a lot of finger pointing WordPress did eventually sort out the issue with my Blog, which was of their doing not mine!!!!  I like how whenever you are dealing with Help Desks that the first thing they say is well it is your equipment/software/how you are using the thing!  It happens often here when you ring British Telecom the first thing they say is that it could be your telephone and if so then you have to pay!  Like not being able to make calls is anything to do with a handset I have in our home!!!!  Give me strength!

Anyhoo it looks like it is back to normal for the moment!

We managed to get some more jobs done in the garden and here are quite a few pictures from the weekend.  We look as if we are going to have one of those summers where we get a few nice days amid lots of rain again!  It helps the garden because as you will see the plants are loving it and are very green, not so good for us who want to sit outside and enjoy some sunshine.  We did sit out on Sunday for a while which was nice.  Eldest, Partner, The Girls and Little Man came for Sunday Lunch and then Youngest got back too.  It was lovely afternoon and Coco played ball with her two Boys which she loved and did not have a sleep at all during the day, so by Sunday evening she was absolutely wacked!!!  Here are the garden pictures.

My Lavender in its pot.

This is my Clematis which flowers during the Autumn/Winter.  I thought it had died last year but left it and it has gone mad this year and now looks very healthy!

My Tomato Plants

This is Coco’s Viewing Point!

My third Rhododendron in flower

This varigated tree, above and below,  started off as a little stick which I planted and it has now grown into this lovely tree.  It is not very big but provides a lovely dappled shade on our patio during the summer.

The Squirrel always tries his luck on the bird feeders but they are squirrel proof so he ends up sitting on top of the feeder hanger.  Treacle used to hate him so much and yet Coco does not bother about him in the garden, she just watches him running around!!!!

My fox glove.  Love the pink but I did have a lemon coloured one but it did not seed itself!

I love Hydrangeas but they do not like our soil, so we decided to put one in each pot and I am hoping they will do well in them.

This week our weather is a bit of sunshine but still lots of rain.  Saturday is the same and it is Eldest’s Partner’s Birthday so they are coming to us and we are having a Takeaway!  We were hoping to sit outside but that does not look like it is going to happen!  It is my Birthday next week so we are combining the two events and Sunday is Father’s Day, so celebrations all round.  My Mom thought it was great when my Birthday was June because she thought I would have all my Birthday parties outside.  Well over the years I had parties I think I made two or three outside the rest were inside because, you guessed it, it rained!!  They call it “Flaming June” but for us it is the annoying kind not the hot kind!!!!

Latest picture of Little Man, the one above I love.  He has started to roll.  The one below is when he rolled in his sleep!!  When I put him in his Moses Basket on Saturday he was starting to roll!!!  Won’t be long before he is up on his knees and crawling.  Eldest was walking properly well before his first Birthday and I think Little Man will be taking after him!

I have done really well with home and work jobs this week; got them all done and am keeping up to date with them too.  It always stresses me out when I get behind with things so at the moment everything is a-okay!!!

I will show you pictures of Saturday next week.  Still have some jobs left in the garden to do but of course it is an ongoing job!!  I hope you lovely lot had a good weekend and a good week to come. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

What the……….

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I don’t know what has happened to my Blog and why it has changed without me changing it! 

I am contacting them to see what they are playing at now!  Hang in there with me!

 

Susie

Wednesday Again!

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I think someone must be wizzing on the weeks, no sooner is it Friday and suddenly it is Wednesday again?  I honestly don’t know where the weeks go to.

The Girls were on half term spring break last week, so I went over to bake with them. I took three lots of things over to do with them, Rice Crispie chocolate cakes, Fairy Cakes and my Dad’s favourite cake, Rock Cakes.

Chocolate Rice Crispie Cakes

Fairy Cakes, hand decorated by The Girls.  I think they would sell really well

Rock Cakes

They all went down really well.  I have said that when they come here the next time we will make a big cake. 

The weekend the weather was quite nice so we did get some more gardening done.  It is taking a while due to not doing anything with it last year except mowing the lawn!!!  I will show you pictures tomorrow.  

I have managed to keep up with work and home jobs this week and tomorrow will be home jobs day again and Friday I will be with Eldest at his work and grocery shopping.  We have a bonus this weekend as DH was supposed to be out all weekend at a swimming event but they have had to cancel due to lack of swimmers and they were unable to get enough officials for both days.  This is the problem at the moment that there are too many events happening.  Also the next term for school is seven and a half weeks so the children are going to be really tired and I think the parents are of the opinion that if the children don’t have to do it they won’t!

Anyway we are hoping again that the weather will be good and we can hopefully get the garden finished.  The following weekend we are celebrating Birthdays and again keeping everything crossed that the weather will be good and we can eat outside!

How is your week going you lovely lot? 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx